The Philosophical Ground of the Religions of Daoism

1
The Philosophical Ground of the Religions of
Daoism Confucianism

• Mary I. Bockover
• Professor of Philosophy
• Humboldt State University
• Arcata, California, USA
• 12-26-06

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Chapter 14 of Laozis Daodejing

• What cannot be seen is called evanescent
• What cannot be heard is called rarefied
• What cannot be touched is called minute.
• These three cannot be fathomed
• And so they are confused and looked upon as one.
• Its upper part is not dazzling
• Its lower part is not obscure.
• Dimly visible, it cannot be named
• And returns to that which is without substance.
• This is called the shape that has no shape,
• The image that is without substance.
• This is called indistinct and shadowy.
• Go up to it and you will not see its head
• Follow behind it and you will not see its rear.
• Hold fast to the way of antiquity
• In order to keep in control the realm of today.
• The ability to know the beginning of antiquity
• Is called the thread running through the way.
  (D.C. Lau)

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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe
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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all

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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all
• Gave birth to the One, and from the One came the
  two (yin and yang), and from the two came the
  10,000 things (wan, or everything)

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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all
• Gave birth to the One, and from the One came the
  two (yin and yang), and from the two came the
  10,000 things (wan, or everything)
• Gives rise to a metaphysic or cosmology that
  has Dao as the first principle and final end of
  all things

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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all
• Gave birth to the One, and from the One came the
  two (yin and yang), and from the two came the
  10,000 things (wan, or everything)
• Gives rise to a metaphysic or cosmology that
  has Dao as the first principle and final end of
  all things
• Is ultimate reality, so rarified that it cannot
  be perceived (or named)

8
Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all
• Gave birth to the One, and from the One came the
  two (yin and yang), and from the two came the
  10,000 things (wan, or everything)
• Gives rise to a metaphysic or cosmology that
  has Dao as the first principle and final end of
  all things
• Is ultimate reality, so rarified that it cannot
  be perceived (or named)
• Entails what is and what is not, being and
  non-being, change and non-change, but is prior to
  the opposites -- is prior to all distinction
  and differentiation that we refer to as life

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Dao (Tao) The Way of the Universe

• The source and sustainer of all
• Gave birth to the One, and from the One came the
  two (yin and yang), and from the two came the
  10,000 things (wan, or everything)
• Gives rise to a metaphysic or cosmology that
  has Dao as the first principle and final end of
  all things
• Is ultimate reality, so rarified that it cannot
  be perceived (or named)
• Entails what is and what is not, being and
  non-being, change and non-change, but is prior to
  the opposites -- is prior to all distinction
  and differentiation that we refer to as life
• Is referred to in negative or yin terms as
  vacuity, being empty, receptive, what is not,
  what we dont have, what we dont know, what we
  cant experience, what does not exist (at least
  in tangible form)

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative
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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world
• Dao is the normative essence of reality that
  drives such change

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world
• Dao is the normative essence of reality that
  drives such change
• Dao comes before the One too before any
  distinction or differentiation

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world
• Dao is the normative essence of reality that
  drives such change
• Dao comes before the One too before any
  distinction or differentiation
• Spiritually, knowing the relation between yin
  and yang calls for a mystical experience beyond
  ordinary distinctions and words, an experience
  that cannot be named (can be thought of as simple
  and childlike too)

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world
• Dao is the normative essence of reality that
  drives such change
• Dao comes before the One too before any
  distinction or differentiation
• Spiritually, knowing the relation between yin
  and yang calls for a mystical experience beyond
  ordinary distinctions and words, an experience
  that cannot be named (can be thought of as simple
  and childlike too)
• Dao is ultimately real, however, so rarified that
  it takes a direct spiritual experience for it to
  be understood

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Yin-Yang Receptive-Creative

• The One refers to the harmonious blending of yin
  and yang
• Metaphysically, the One is the great ultimate
  or unity of all Being
• This unity consists of opposite yet
  complimentary forces that optimally produce
  harmonious change in the world
• Dao is the normative essence of reality that
  drives such change
• Dao comes before the One too before any
  distinction or differentiation
• Spiritually, knowing the relation between yin
  and yang calls for a mystical experience beyond
  ordinary distinctions and words, an experience
  that cannot be named (can be thought of as simple
  and childlike too)
• Dao is ultimately real, however, so rarified that
  it takes a direct spiritual experience for it to
  be understood
• What is ordinarily experienced is the power (de)
  Dao has on life and the world we live in in
  producing change that is harmonious or not

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(No Transcript)
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The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

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The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity

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The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)

23
The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)
• Hence, Daoists focus on yin principles earth
  (kun), receptivity, and the feminine, childlike,
  simple, dark, empty, weak, paradoxical,
  mysterious, changeless or actionless aspects
  of life

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The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)
• Hence, Daoists focus on yin principles earth
  (kun), receptivity, and the feminine, childlike,
  simple, dark, empty, weak, paradoxical,
  mysterious, changeless or actionless aspects
  of life
• This is in contrast to the traditional Chinese
  focus on yang principles heaven, creativity, or
  the masculine, sagely, cultured, light, full,
  strong, definite, tangible, everchanging and
  active aspects of life

25
The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)
• Hence, Daoists focus on yin principles earth
  (kun), receptivity, and the feminine, childlike,
  simple, dark, empty, weak, paradoxical,
  mysterious, changeless or actionless aspects
  of life
• This is in contrast to the traditional Chinese
  focus on yang principles heaven, creativity, or
  the masculine, sagely, cultured, light, full,
  strong, definite, tangible, everchanging and
  active aspects of life
• In truth, yin and yang are different aspects of
  the same ultimate reality that we mistakenly
  distinguish as being separate in kind

26
The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)
• Hence, Daoists focus on yin principles earth
  (kun), receptivity, and the feminine, childlike,
  simple, dark, empty, weak, paradoxical,
  mysterious, changeless or actionless aspects
  of life
• This is in contrast to the traditional Chinese
  focus on yang principles heaven, creativity, or
  the masculine, sagely, cultured, light, full,
  strong, definite, tangible, everchanging and
  active aspects of life
• In truth, yin and yang are different aspects of
  the same ultimate reality that we mistakenly
  distinguish as being separate in kind
• For example, dark is really just less light,
  receptivity is essential to creativity, and, as
  death is a part of life, life is a part of death

27
The Way Ultimate Spiritual Reality

• The Dao or Way of the World is tri-part
  traditionally consisting of the way of heaven,
  the way of earth, and the way of humanity
• Taoists redefine this traditional distinction by
  referring to a Way that is beyond tian or
  heaven, and by not deifying the way of humanity
  (rendao) as superior to the rest of creation (the
  many, myriad, or 10,000 things)
• Hence, Daoists focus on yin principles earth
  (kun), receptivity, and the feminine, childlike,
  simple, dark, empty, weak, paradoxical,
  mysterious, changeless or actionless aspects
  of life
• This is in contrast to the traditional Chinese
  focus on yang principles heaven, creativity, or
  the masculine, sagely, cultured, light, full,
  strong, definite, tangible, everchanging and
  active aspects of life
• In truth, yin and yang are different aspects of
  the same ultimate reality that we mistakenly
  distinguish as being separate in kind
• For example, dark is really just less light,
  receptivity is essential to creativity, and, as
  death is a part of life, life is a part of death
• Like Dao, death is darker than any mystery is a
  mysterious change about which we know very
  little

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Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi)

• Chuang Tzus wife died and Hui Tzu went to offer
  his condolence. He found Chuang Tzu squatting on
  the ground and singing, beating on an earthen
  bowl. He said, Someone has lived with you,
  raised children for you and now she has aged and
  died. Is it not enough that you should not shed
  a tear? But now you sing and beat the bowl. Is
  this not too much?
• No, replied Chuang Tzu. When she died,how
  could I help being affected? But as I think the
  matter over, I realize that originally she had no
  life and not only no life, she had no form not
  only no form, she had no material force (chi,
  qi). In the limbo of existence and
  non-existence, there was transformation and the
  material force was evolved. The material force
  was transformed to be form, form was transformed
  to become life, and now birth has transformed to
  become death. This is like the rotation of the
  four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter.
  Now she lies asleep in the great house (the
  universe). For me to go about weeping and
  wailing would be to show my ignorance of destiny.
  Therefore, I desist. (ch. 18, 631b-32a Wing
  Tsit Chan)

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Chapter 5 of Laozis Daodejing

• Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the
  myriad creatures as straw dogs the sage is
  ruthless, and treats the people as straw dogs.
• Is not the space between heaven and earth like a
  bellows?
• It is empty without being exhausted
• The more it works the more comes out.
• Much speech leads inevitably to silence.
• Better to hold fast to the void. (D.C. Lau)

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The Daoist Religious Experience

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The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao

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The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao

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The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)

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The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)
• Has religious consequences that run even deeper
  for life and death are mysteries to be
  experienced instead of ideas to be confirmed

35
The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)
• Has religious consequences that run even deeper
  for life and death are mysteries to be
  experienced instead of ideas to be confirmed
• Death is just another change that is a part of
  life and leads back to the void

36
The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)
• Has religious consequences that run even deeper
  for life and death are mysteries to be
  experienced instead of ideas to be confirmed
• Death is just another change that is a part of
  life and leads back to the void
• Daoist emptiness in not literally nothing though
  non-being or non-change refers to a different way
  of being and changing (like the yin-yang
  relation)

37
The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)
• Has religious consequences that run even deeper
  for life and death are mysteries to be
  experienced instead of ideas to be confirmed
• Death is just another change that is a part of
  life and leads back to the void
• Daoist emptiness in not literally nothing though
  non-being or non-change refers to a different way
  of being and changing (like the yin-yang
  relation)
• This Way is mysterious, but can be experienced as
  beautiful, perfect, and complete (formless yet
  complete, latent in it are the forms)

38
The Daoist Religious Experience

• Things come into being, and pass from being --
  returning to Dao
• This is the way of life, and there is no
  justice in it the way of life and the way of
  humanity are at odds because we have lost our way
  and cannot change Dao
• Has practical consequences seen in our failing to
  live in accordance with the Way (what is against
  the Dao will surely perish)
• Has religious consequences that run even deeper
  for life and death are mysteries to be
  experienced instead of ideas to be confirmed
• Death is just another change that is a part of
  life and leads back to the void
• Daoist emptiness in not literally nothing though
  non-being or non-change refers to a different way
  of being and changing (like the yin-yang
  relation)
• This Way is mysterious, but can be experienced as
  beautiful, perfect, and complete (formless yet
  complete, latent in it are the forms)
• Daoism calls upon us to BE ALIVE -- to simply
  appreciate what it means to be living -- but
  paradoxically this is done by fully entering into
  the mystery as a lived experience

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Chapter 41 of Laozi Daodejing

• When the best student hears about the way
• He practices it assiduously
• When the average student hears about the way
• It seems to him one moment there and gone the
  next
• When the worst student hears about the way
• He laughs out loud.
• If he did not laugh
• It would be unworthy of being the way.
• Hence the Chien yen an old proverb has it
• The way that is bright seems dull
• The way that leads forward seems to lead
  backward
• The way that is even seems rough.
• The highest virtue is like the valley
• The sheerest whiteness seems sullied
• Ample virtue seems defective
• Vigorous virtue seems indolent
• Plain virtue seems soiled
• The great square has no corners.
• The great vessel takes long to complete

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Daoist Principles Practices
41
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life

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Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes

43
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life

44
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)

45
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)
• Purification of mind body to rarify spiritual
  energies (qi)

46
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)
• Purification of mind body to rarify spiritual
  energies (qi)
• Respect for the natural interdependency of all
  things for all things are what they are, only in
  relation to each other, and ultimately, in
  relation to the Great Dao itself

47
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)
• Purification of mind body to rarify spiritual
  energies (qi)
• Respect for the natural interdependency of all
  things for all things are what they are, only in
  relation to each other, and ultimately, in
  relation to the Great Dao itself
• Goal to cultivate ones self beyond the gross
  body and (as celestial immortals) to be in
  harmony with the subtle and mysterious
  transformations of the Dao (the dynamic unity of
  being or everchanging cosmic spiritual processes)

48
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)
• Purification of mind body to rarify spiritual
  energies (qi)
• Respect for the natural interdependency of all
  things for all things are what they are, only in
  relation to each other, and ultimately, in
  relation to the Great Dao itself
• Goal to cultivate ones self beyond the gross
  body and (as celestial immortals) to be in
  harmony with the subtle and mysterious
  transformations of the Dao (the dynamic unity of
  being or everchanging cosmic spiritual processes)
• Daoists seek not to interfere with the natural
  rhythms of life human life is seen as occurring
  within the larger patterns of the natural world
  and the whole cosmos

49
Daoist Principles Practices

• An ecology of life
• Daoist body cultivation a nexus of interrelated
  everchanging (yin-yang) processes
• Disciplines for promoting health and long life
• E.g, Taiji quan (Tai Chi) Qigong (Ch'i-kung)
• Purification of mind body to rarify spiritual
  energies (qi)
• Respect for the natural interdependency of all
  things for all things are what they are, only in
  relation to each other, and ultimately, in
  relation to the Great Dao itself
• Goal to cultivate ones self beyond the gross
  body and (as celestial immortals) to be in
  harmony with the subtle and mysterious
  transformations of the Dao (the dynamic unity of
  being or everchanging cosmic spiritual processes)
• Daoists seek not to interfere with the natural
  rhythms of life human life is seen as occurring
  within the larger patterns of the natural world
  and the whole cosmos
• Alchemy meditation aiming to reach material
  immortality to rarify qi

50
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way
51
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic

52
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li

53
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian

54
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian
• We can make the way great (Wang Pi)

55
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian
• We can make the way great (Wang Pi)
• The human spirit has a benevolent normative
  nature that has its roots in the Great Way itself

56
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian
• We can make the way great (Wang Pi)
• The human spirit has a benevolent normative
  nature that has its roots in the Great Way itself
• The human spirit at its best IS an expression of
  harmony and unity

57
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian
• We can make the way great (Wang Pi)
• The human spirit has a benevolent normative
  nature that has its roots in the Great Way itself
• The human spirit at its best IS an expression of
  harmony and unity
• The human way or rendao is a microcosm of the way
  of heaven

58
Confucian Religion The Human Way Embedded in the
Great Way

• Confucianism is a religion, not just an ethic
• The human spirit -- ren -- requires the tangible
  ritual expression of li
• The goal is to promote harmonious human activity
  co-extensive with the harmonious way of heaven or
  tian
• We can make the way great (Wang Pi)
• The human spirit has a benevolent normative
  nature that has its roots in the Great Way itself
• The human spirit at its best IS an expression of
  harmony and unity
• The human way or rendao is a microcosm of the way
  of heaven
• The secular expression of li IS ren or the
  sacred activation of the human spirit in
  goodness and responsibility

59
Li Ren Humanity At Its Best
60
Li Ren Humanity At Its Best

• Westerners have a hard time grasping this point
  because consciousness or the human spirit has
  been internalized by a more dualistic metaphysic.
  Confucius offers us a new and different way of
  thinking about ethics and religion by having us
  think of consciousness as an objective social and
  spiritual fact

61
Li Ren Humanity At Its Best

• Westerners have a hard time grasping this point
  because consciousness or the human spirit has
  been internalized by a more dualistic metaphysic.
  Confucius offers us a new and different way of
  thinking about ethics and religion by having us
  think of consciousness as an objective social and
  spiritual fact
• For Confucius, action and spirit are
  interdependent universal human ren requires
  culturally diverse expressions of li

62
Li Ren Humanity At Its Best

• Westerners have a hard time grasping this point
  because consciousness or the human spirit has
  been internalized by a more dualistic metaphysic.
  Confucius offers us a new and different way of
  thinking about ethics and religion by having us
  think of consciousness as an objective social and
  spiritual fact
• For Confucius, action and spirit are
  interdependent universal human ren requires
  culturally diverse expressions of li
• Together, li ren point to different aspects of
  an act of communion, or harmonious human
  interaction

63
The Great Learning

• Once things are investigated, knowledge will be
  completed.
• Once knowledge is complete, opinions will be
  verified.
• Once opinions are verified, minds will be
  rectified.
• Once minds are rectified, persons will be
  cultivated.
• Once persons are cultivated, families will be
  harmonized.
• Once families are harmonized, states will be put
  in order.
• Once states are in order, there will be peace all
  under heaven.
• From the emperor to the common people, all must
  see the cultivation of their own person as the
  root of all else.
• If roots are in disarray, there will never be
  healthy branches. (Lydia Garber)

64
The Analects of Confucius

• Someone asked the Master for an explanation of
  the di imperial ancestral sacrifice, and he
  replied I dont have one. Anyone who did know
  how to explain it could rule the empire as easily
  as having it here. And he pointed to the palm
  of his hand. representing the magical effect of
  ritual in ordering things. (Ames Rosemont 3,
  11)

65
The Analects of Confucius

• The Master said, High office filled with men of
  narrow views, ritual preformed without reverence,
  the forms of mourning observed without
  griefthese are things I cannot bear to see!
  (Waley 3, 26)
• The expression sacrifice as though present is
  taken to mean sacrifice to the spirits as though
  the spirits are present. But the Master said
  If I myself do not participate in the sacrifice,
  it is as though I have not sacrificed at all
  (Ames Rosemont 3, 12)

66
The Tri-part Dao The Great Way (of Heaven), The
Way of Humanity, The Way of Earth
67

• The End