Looking for the Universal and Personal Dao: a LATAM Reading of the Laozi

The Laozi is among the most widely translated and studied texts in the field of Chinese studies. Nonetheless, research on its reception in different cultural contexts is a relatively new area of inquiry and predominantly limited to the Western (Anglo-European) world. Although Chinese studies is an emerging field within the Latin American (LATAM) academy, investigations into the reception history of Chinese pre-modern texts in the LATAM context are scarce and insufficiently documented. The history of the introduction and popularization of the Laozi in the LATAM subregion reflects the growing fascination among Latin American intellectuals toward "Oriental cultures" during the turn of the twentieth century. The "Orient," primarily represented by the classics, presented fresh worldviews that offered new spiritual and mystical experiences, inspiring new ideas for Latin Americans. This paper aims to recover a specific reading of the Laozi that gained popularity in the Latin American (LATAM) cultural context during the twentieh century, referred to as mystical/spiritual. I refer to this reading as mystical/spiritual, which, in my view, exhibits two primary characteristics: first, the universality of Laozi's message and second, the idea of Laozi as an individual and private experience. The former highlights the text beyond its cultural peculiarities, expressing a universal message that resonates with Latin American-specific concerns. An illustrative example is the interpretation of the concept of Dao as a transcultural mystical absolute. The latter characteristic pertains to the text as an individual and private experience, where its interpretation is subjective and adaptable to personal needs. Reading the Laozi provides access to the discovery of the "true self." This second characteristic is directly linked to self-cultivation practices emphasized in various Laozi translations produced in Latin America.