The Accidental Daoist Augmenting Zhuangzi’s Knack Experience

Abstract

This paper examines the relation between the knack experience as described in the classic Daoist text, the Zhuangzi, and the Alexander Technique as originally developed by F. M. Alexander. A closely read comparative study, it identifies an access to the knack experience in the Alexander Technique that overcomes the charge of specialization leveled by some Daoist scholars, while remaining congruent with the wider Zhuangzian project. The terminologies of the two traditions are progressively interwoven over the course of the paper, leading to a core knowledge at their intersection, and leaving the door open to a larger set of commonalities as yet unidentified.