 Translating the term Xuanxue remains a challenge. In view of the ambiguity of “Neo-Daoism,” “Dark Learning” has been proposed as an alternative. This is also not entirely satisfactory. Even if it is clear that “dark” does not connote something sinister, it is still problematic because while the subject of the inquiry appears dark or inaccessible to understanding, there is nothing mysterious about the inquiry itself. Innovative and abstract in some respects, Xuanxue is nonetheless committed to analytic rigor and clarity in explicating the meaning of Dao. The culture of disputation has deep roots in Chinese history, and rigorous debates on the classics became prevalent during the Han period, which fueled the development of Neo-Daoist philosophy.