In the formative period of Taoism three aspects or phases can be distinguished: the 'Individualist', the 'Primitivist', and the 'Syncretist'. While differing in terms of political thought, all three exhibit a common cosmology of the Way and its Inner Power and a common practice of self-transformation, here called 'inner cultivation'. This is an apophatic practice of breathing meditation. The other great meditative traditions of the world have often presented stages of meditation along the path of self-transformation. While there is scant evidence for such stages in the Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, there is not only substantial evidence in other sources of early Taoism but also a specific rhetorical structure for presenting these stages. Evidence for this is drawn from the following texts: the twelve-sided jade knob from Chi'i; the 'Huang-Lao po-shu' from Ma-wang-tui; the Lü-shih ch'un-ch'iu; the Chuang-Tzu; the Kuan-Tzu; and the Huai-nan-Tzu.