Taoism

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Taoism
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Taoism
Two Characters Forward and Head
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Taoism
The Vinegar Tasters

• One of the three great traditions of China along
  with Confucianism and Buddhism
• 20 million followers, primarily in Taiwan
• In 1991 about 30,000 Taoists lived in North
  America

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History

• Context 5th c BC
• Political crisis The just before or during of
  the era of warring states warlord-ruled
  provinces sections of the Great Wall built.
• Weakening Zhou dynasty
• Religious crisis accompanied social confusion.
• Life harsh and chaotic, and the great minds of
  the time focused on regaining peace and stability.

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History

• Founder(?) Lao Tse (604-517 BC)
• Lao Tse Old sage
• His life roughly parallels that of Confucius.
• He also sought for a way that would avoid the
  feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted
  society during his lifetime.

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History

• Legends
• Native of Ch'ü-jen, which is in modern day Hunan
  Province
• Born a wise old man of 72 with white hair
• Mother carried him for 82 years

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History

• Tradition
• Little history of his life
• Keeper of the Royal Archives
• Became disenchanted with society and government
  and decided to leave civilization and retire in
  solitude. 
• Set out riding a water buffalo
• Convinced by a gatekeeper to write his philosophy
  which is the Tao Te Ching
• Arrived in India and instructed the Buddha in the
  way of enlightenment

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History

• A second founder?
• Zhuangzi (3rd c BC) he is believed to have
  produced the text (often spelled Chuang Tzu)
  bearing his name.
• Know nothing of him outside his text.

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Important Texts

• A Taoist Canon
• Classical
• Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) late 4th c and later
• Mostly dialogical stories some fanciful.
• The Tao-te-ching (Lao tzu)
• Origins in oral tradition from 6th to 4th c BC
• Attributed to Lao tzu who was actually a pious
  fiction. (Kirkland at the U of Georgia)
• Many other texts created associated with various
  sects and Chinese dynasties.

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Philosophical Taoism

• Tao-chia
• Mystical teachings about the Tao
• Never institutionalized, passed on from teacher
  to student
• Popular in the West
• In many ways the opposite of Confucianism

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Philosophical Taoism

• The Tao
• Tao (pronounced "Dow") The path or the way
• It "refers to a power which envelops, surrounds
  and flows through all things, living and
  non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes
  and nourishes balance in the Universe. It
  embodies the harmony of opposites
• ("Our Beliefs," Western Reform Taoism at
  http//wrt.org/beliefs.htmltao)

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Philosophical Taoism

• Tao
• Tao is the first-cause of the universe. It is the
  natural force that flows through all existence.
• Taoists seek answers to life's problems through
  inner meditation and outer observation.
• Impersonal, natural

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Philosophical Taoism
Things are born and die . . . they are now empty
and now full, and their physical form is not
fixed . . . Time cannot be arrested. The
succession of decline, growth, fullness, and
emptiness go in a cycle, each end becoming a new
beginning. This is the way to talk about the . .
. principle of all things.
(Chuang Tzu)

• The Cosmos
• All matter is manifestation of the Ultimate
  Reality or Tao.
• Reality is characterized by incessant change and
  transformation.
• Duality Yin Yang
• Drawn from traditional Chinese thought

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Yin Yang

• Yin yang Ancient Chinese sun chart
• Two poles of existence which are opposite but
  complementary, and which exist in everything.
• The phenomenal world arises through the
  interaction of Yin Yang

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Cosmos

• The Five Elements (Wu Hsing)
• The interplay of the male generative principle of
  yang and the female life-bearing powers of yin
  creates the Five Elements of the cosmos.
• The elements earth, metal, fire, wood and water
• The five interact with one another to form the
  others in a process of constant change.

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Philosophical Taoism

• Knowledge
• Ineffability The Tao can not be described, it
  is beyond words or any conceptual understanding.
• Mystical or esoteric The Way of ultimate
  reality
• Seeks intuitive wisdom, rather than rational
  knowledge a contempt of reasoning and
  argumentation

A dog is not reckoned good because he barks
well, and a man is not reckoned wise because he
speaks skillfully. Disputation is a proof of
not seeing clearly. (Chuang Tzu)
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Philosophical Taoism

• Knowledge
• Taoist observe nature in order to discern the
  characteristics of the Tao.
• Those who follow the natural order flow in the
  current of the Tao. (Huai Nan Tzu)
• Change in nature manifests the dynamic interplay
  between the polar opposites yin and yang.
• Early Taoism states that education is unnecessary
  and even destructive.
• Meditation Inner alchemy

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Conduct

• Wu-wei "Non-action"
• Refraining from action contrary to nature
• Non-action does not mean doing nothing and
  keeping silent. Let everything be allowed to do
  what it naturally does, so that its nature will
  be satisfied. (Chuang-tzu)
• By not going against the grain of things one is
  in harmony with the Tao and one's actions will be
  successful.
• The example of water
• It moves gently forward, rises to its level,
  adapts to its surrounding
• When still, it becomes clear
• It has great power, wearing down the hardest stone

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Conduct

• Non-interference
• The result of wu-wei
• Directed to rulers

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Conduct

• P'u "uncarved block
• Perceiving all things with a simple, clear and
  unbiased mind
• The ultimate reality and our existence is
  elemental and uncomplicated.
• Complexity brings trouble
• Simple living

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Philosophical Taoism

• Good and Evil
• Good and evil are just empty conceptual
  abstractions that have no permanent independent
  existence.
• Reject the concept of good against evil
• On the reality of good and evil, good
  necessitates evil according to the Taoist notion
  of the interdependence of all dualities.
• Good is the balance and harmony of dualities,
  evil is disharmony brought about by human action.
• The sage knows the reality of Good and Evil,
  whereas the fool concentrates on the concept of
  good and evil.
• Alan Watts "The menu is not the meal."

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Philosophical Taoism

• Goal
• The Tao is the natural flow of the cosmos. Nature
  follows the Tao, humans with their conscious
  wills go against the Tao.
• The goal of the Taoist is to harmonize with the
  Tao and thereby become one with the cosmos, with
  nature, with all things.
• No duality of salvation vs damnation

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Philosophical Taoism

• No concept of a personal deity
• No creator of the universe
• There is no prayer since there is no personal God
  to hear pray.

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Religious Taoism

• Tao-chiao
• Institutional
• From 2nd c on through a bewildering array of
  sects and teachings
• The initiated priests view the many gods and
  spirits as manifestations of the one Tao which
  can not be represented.
• Ritual traditions
• Ritual healing of illness especially mental
  illnesses.

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Religious Taoism

• Seeks ways to achieve longevity or even physical
  immortality
• Employs medicinal herbs, body movement, and
  alchemy.
• May be shamanistic

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Influence

• Science
• Nutrition
• Acupuncture
• Movement arts Tai Chi, martial arts

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Response

• The problem of ineffability
• "Those who know don't say, and those who say
  don't know. (Lao-tzu)
• If the Tao is truly inexpressible, how is it that
  attributes of the Tao are expressed?
• The Tao and the God of the Bible
• Moral relativism
• "In their own way things are all right . . .
  generosity, strangeness, deceit, and abnormality.
  The Tao identifies them all as one.
• The origins of personhood
• Good and evil