Wisdom as an Inner Attitude

Sima Chengzhen’s understanding of wisdom opens a question that goes beyond the framework of Daoist spiritual practice and remains surprisingly relevant in contemporary society. His thought that “it is difficult not to use wisdom,” once wisdom has revealed itself, does not mean a rejection of knowledge, but rather points to the danger of its instrumentalisation. For him, wisdom is not a means of gaining prestige, influence, or authority, but an inner disposition that is confirmed precisely through its restraint.

Such an understanding stands in clear contrast to many traditions in which knowledge has been closely connected with public recognition. Already in the classical academic world, learning often meant social capital, enabling an individual to attain higher status, political influence, or moral authority. Although the ideal of the scholar presupposed service to the community and the search for truth, the acquisition of knowledge was always also connected with its public demonstration — through debate, teaching, writing, and intellectual competition.

In contemporary society, this tendency has become even stronger. Digital communication and social networks create an environment in which knowledge is no longer only content, but also a form of public image. Academic achievements are increasingly accompanied by demands for personal visibility, while on the other side a culture of influencers has emerged, in which the value of information often depends on its visibility, likeability, and market reach. Knowledge becomes part of a personal brand, and its presentation is often more important than its substance.

In this context, Sima Chengzhen offers a radically different ideal. Wisdom is not meant to be constantly displayed or confirmed before others. Its true value is shown precisely in the absence of any need for self-affirmation. He therefore warns that the greatest challenge is not to attain wisdom, but to resist the temptation to use it as a means of personal assertion. Wisdom that seeks an audience, according to this logic, is already losing its natural spontaneity.

This thought directly continues the Daoist principle of wuwei (无为), unforced action. Just as the sage does not intervene unnecessarily in the flow of the world, so too does he not use his wisdom to persuade or dominate others. His influence is not the result of rhetorical skill or social exposure, but arises from the very quality of his presence. The paradox of Daoist wisdom is therefore that its effect is greatest precisely when it does not seek to have an effect.

Such an understanding offers an important corrective to contemporary ideas of success and influence. At a time when social and digital mechanisms encourage the individual to continually reveal themselves, their achievements, and their knowledge, the Daoist ideal proposes a different measure. The value of true wisdom does not depend on its public visibility, but on its ability to remain inwardly grounded and non-instrumentalised. It is precisely in this restraint that its ethical dimension and its lasting relevance are revealed...

Sima Chengzhen (司马承祯, 647–735) was one of the most important Daoist masters of the early Tang dynasty and the twelfth patriarch of the Shangqing school (上清, Supreme Clarity). He was born into the prominent Sima family, known for its learning and state officials. Early on, he devoted himself to Daoist practice and studied with masters of the Shangqing tradition, especially Pan Shizheng (潘师正), one of the most distinguished representatives of this lineage.

He spent most of his life in the mountains, especially on Mount Tiantai, where he devoted himself to meditation, inner alchemy, nourishing life (yangsheng), and writing. Despite his withdrawn way of life, he enjoyed great esteem at the imperial court. He was invited by the emperors Gaozong, Ruizong, and Xuanzong, who valued him as a spiritual adviser, but he repeatedly declined permanent service at court and returned to solitude.

Sima Chengzhen made an important contribution to the systematisation of Daoist practices. He devoted particular attention to meditation, calming the mind (zuowang, “sitting in forgetfulness”), and gradual moral and spiritual refinement. His work brings together classical Daoist ideas and Confucian ethics, reflecting the characteristic intellectual synthesis of the Tang period.

Among his most important works are Zuowang lun 坐忘论 (Treatise on Sitting in Forgetfulness), Tianyinzi 天隐子, and Fuqi jingyi lun 服气精义论 (Treatise on the Essential Meaning of Cultivating the Breath). Zuowang lun in particular is regarded as one of the foundational texts of the Daoist method of sitting and dissolving consciousness, as it systematically presents the stages of inner cultivation that lead from ethical self-discipline, through the calming of the mind, to union with the Dao.

Because of his influence on the development of Daoist theory and practice, Sima Chengzhen is regarded as one of the key figures of medieval Chinese Daoism, and his works remain an important source for understanding the relationship between meditation, ethics, and the concept of wisdom in Chinese philosophy. 

Rector of SDT, Yuan Weiqi