The Way to Immortality

The Theory of Human Nature and Destiny of Ge Hong, a Religious Thinker

Bibliographic Data

ID4313871
AuthorsYuan Gao (0000-0001-8565-1790, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume16
Issue5
Pages570
Publication date2025-04-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel16050570
OpenAlexW4410008156
LanguageEN
References cited8

Ge Hong, a religious thinker, has a philosophy of life that integrates Confucianism and Daoism that is reflected in his theory of human nature and destiny. It is embodied in several related concepts. First, "human nature and destiny are inherently natural". This means that human nature and destiny are inevitable and determined. On the one hand, Ge Hong denied this concept to demonstrate the possibility of immortality; on the other hand, he accepted it in terms of whether an individual could become an immortal. This gave his thought a distinct dualist feature. Second, the "law of human nature and destiny" served as the foundation for discussing the rationality of the cultivation of immortality during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Ge Hong also used the law to demonstrate the rationality of the way to immortality. Third, the essence of the way to immortality can be presented through the theory of human nature and destiny, which is to transform humans into immortals through certain means, known as "transforming life and destiny

Art · Astronomy · Immortality · Literature · Physics · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Philosophy

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