There is a Daoist lineage beyond specific lineages. This is the lineage of which
individual lineages are expressions. The lineage-beyond-lineage (wupai pai 無派派) should
not be taken as synonymous with Perennial Philosophy, New Age hybrid spirituality,
or Popular Western Taoism (a different “lineage”), which would have one believe that
there is a “Dao-ism” outside of the religious tradition which is Daoism. The lineage-beyond-lineage
is the historical and energetic continuum that connects Daoist adherents and communities
committed to practice-realization. It is maintained, reestablished and transmitted
in many forms: persons, communities, immortals, scriptures, places, revelations,
and so forth. It is formed and reformed through personal practice-realization. The
lineage-beyond-lineage becomes manifest in the world through the Dao’s numinous presence
embodied in specific beings. It is recognized through a talismanic resonance between
one realized being and another.
