Section Summaries of The World's Religions' Taoism chapter
The Old Master
The recognized founder of Taoism was a man known as Lao Tzu, “the Old Boy,” or “the Grand Old Master,” in English. No one knows whether he truly existed, although according to the first historian of China, Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Confucius paid him a visit once, and left rather flabbergasted, finding the man wise and incredibly bizarre. If he did exist, he certainly came across as quite the character, enigmatic as a dragon, in Confucius’ own words (Smith 197). Supposedly, Lao Tzu was headed towards Tibet when a gatekeeper at the Hankao Pass requested he write down his wisdom for “the civilization he was abandoning,” (Smith 197). Three days later, Lao Tzu handed him his book, Tao Te Ching, which became the authoritative book of Taoism. And that was it, basically, because the man did not advertise his philosophy much. Nevertheless, Taoism today is recognized as a religion, even, because of its massive following. Modern scholars speculate that multiple people wrote the document, only 5,000 characters in length, piecing it together sometime after 350 BCE, while ultimately still, taking most of the inspiration from Lao Tzu. (Smith 196-197)
The Three Meanings of Tao / Three Approaches to Power and the Taoisms that Follow
The Tao translates as the way, the path, and the path is understood on three levels: as the way of ultimate reality, the way of the universe, and the way of human life. As the way of the ultimate reality, words cannot capture Tao, bigger than humans can comprehend. It is, or is like, infinity. People who can understand it keep their lips sealed, “and those who say don’t know,” Lao Tzu writes (Smith 198). When approached as the way of the universe, Tao is the motivator of all life, nature, and the universe, the mother source of spirit and vitality that never runs out. It manifests itself in forms of nature that do eventually expire, while Tao lives on for eternity because “it has no desires for itself; thus it is present for all beings…” (Tzu, Tao Te Ching). The way of human life is concerned with how the Tao of human life interacts with the way of the universe, an ideal lifestyle greatly debated by three sects of Taoism. (Smith 198-199)
In English, Tao Te Ching means The Way and its Power, and different interpretations of the nature of its power inspired three factions of Taoist thought: Philosophical Taoism, Religious Taoism, and a third kind that is not uniform enough to have a solid name. The three schools have their own strategies for how humans can best be at one with Tao. (Smith 198)
In English, Tao Te Ching means The Way and its Power, and different interpretations of the nature of its power inspired three factions of Taoist thought: Philosophical Taoism, Religious Taoism, and a third kind that is not uniform enough to have a solid name. The three schools have their own strategies for how humans can best be at one with Tao. (Smith 198)
Efficient Power: Philosophical Taoism
Philosophical Taoism is more akin to an individualized self-help program than an organized thought movement. Followers of Philosophical Taoism seek to use te sparingly, as if there is a fixed amount of it in existence, by not wasting life power on conflicts in their relationships or with nature. To them, the best way to live in Tao is utilizing wu wei, meaning “inaction,” or “pure effectiveness,” (Smith 200). Tao Te Ching contains a passage on wu wei, explaining how, “The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action.” The less a person thrashes about in their life or against others, the more flexible they are and the more effectively they can be drawn forward by the flow of life. When an individual refrains from using force, “the hardest thing in the world,” does not have much to grapple against in the individual. (Smith 199-200)
Augmented Power: Taoist Hygiene and Yoga
The nameless, school of Taoism, the “vitality” school, believed they could expand the amount of Tao they could use by helping ch’i flow through the body via matter, movement and the mind, and in doing so, they believed they could increase longevity. They tried increasing life force by eating certain things and practicing sexual exercises and breathing techniques, the last as an attempt to pull ch’i out of the air. T’ai chi chuan was part of the the movement-related approach to optimizing ch’i flow, involving dance, yin/yang concepts, martial art, gymnastics, and more. As for the mind, they developed a Taoist meditation style that appears to find inspiration from Hinduism’s raja yoga. In Taoist yoga, one strives to eliminate distractions from the mind, build up the Tao within, and radiate Tao to the rest of the community as a way to keep it healthy. This mindset becomes more like Philosophical Taoism in that people tried to cultivate greater powers of sight to understand reality as it actually is. Refining the mind required emotions and desire to give way to calm firmness, gentle breathing during meditation that brought peace, grace, and inevitably, power. These Taoists did not promote their philosophy much, and other philosophical communities ridiculed them greatly. (Smith 200-204)
Vicarious Power: Religious Taoism
Chinese folk religion influenced Religious Taoism significantly. Magic activities traditionally performed by “free-lance soothsayers, psychics, shamans, and faith healers who came by their powers naturally,” were made official, and Lao Tzu ascended to god status, beside two other gods who delivered the holy books of Religious Taoism (Smith 205). This spiritual path was more accessible to the general public of China because it provided solutions to their various life challenges without demanding the time and dedication meditation and vitality practices asked of them. For this reason, Religious Taoism is also called Popular Taoism. Westerners quickly dismiss the church as purely superstition, prone to associating magic first with fashioning illusions as a magician does, but this sect of Taoism, magic has to do with calling upon culturally-authentic (for the time period) mystical forces to serve the people. (Smith 204-206)
The Mingling of the Powers
The common goal of how to use te, or life power, to its greatest potential connects the three schools of Taoism. In a simple summary, Philosophical Taoism seeks to get the best out of one’s given ch’i by not wasting it on useless conflict, the nameless third school investigates increasing the amount of te people can use, and Religious Taoism pursues the assistance of supernatural forces to serve the community. Followers are not as walled off as these designations suggest, however, for as far as John Blofeld knew, no Taoist he met during his twenty-year residency in China, “was not involved to some degree with all three schools,” (Smith 207). (Smith 206-207)
Creative Quietude
This section is a closer examination of Philosophical Taoism, regarding the mastery of wu wei, pairing utmost activeness and ultimate rest within. One would think the two qualities would oppose each other, but human beings can be both active and restful because their existences are not so strictly defined as that. The internal workings of humans are more ambiguous. Philosophical Taoism teaches that the more people try to do, the less success they have, and people perform wu wei as a lifestyle by releasing the ego and embracing the unpredictable will of Tao. “The way to do is to be,” it says in Tao Te Ching, and to do things better, more skillfully, one must act gently, imperceptibly. That is the mark of real accomplishment. Taoists found similarities between the Tao and water, primarily in how they flowing and flexible, and they dissolve and smooth rigid surfaces and objects. Things become clearer in water as its contents settle down, and life works that way, too. (Smith 207-211)
Other Taoist Values
Taoist philosophy emphasizes humbleness as a virtue. It does not come as much of a surprise, then, that Taoists notice the value in things for what they do not have. Best described in Tao Te Ching, “We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want,” (Novak 162). The significance of humility broadens into the principle of not being forceful in any of one’s relationships. Unlike the Western tendency to see nature as something one conquers, Eastern and Taoist thought sees nature as something to be respected and befriended, which explains why a Japanese mountain-climbing team stopped and headed back down only fifty feet away from the top of Mount Everest (Smith 212). In historical Chinese art, nature is the subject, while humans are difficult to spot. Lao Tzu dreamed of a return to a simpler civilization that was more unified with nature, without the complexities of social etiquette that take such importance in Confucianism.
Taoism also delves into the unification of opposites. In the yin/yang symbol, the dual sides create balance together. One cannot exist without the other, and as part of the same cycle, signified by the ring that encases them, the opposites ultimately evolve into one another. This applies to the concept of good vs evil. According to Taoist thought, it is not as easy as Westerners make it seem to say what is truly good or bad. What at first seem like misfortunes reveal themselves to be blessings that turn sour, and then start to taste sweet again. It is a cycle. Life and death are part of the same cycle. People are born from Tao, and they return to the infinite source upon death. (Smith 211-218)
Taoism also delves into the unification of opposites. In the yin/yang symbol, the dual sides create balance together. One cannot exist without the other, and as part of the same cycle, signified by the ring that encases them, the opposites ultimately evolve into one another. This applies to the concept of good vs evil. According to Taoist thought, it is not as easy as Westerners make it seem to say what is truly good or bad. What at first seem like misfortunes reveal themselves to be blessings that turn sour, and then start to taste sweet again. It is a cycle. Life and death are part of the same cycle. People are born from Tao, and they return to the infinite source upon death. (Smith 211-218)
Conclusion
Taoism and Confucianism compose very different, complementary aspects of a philosophy. Confucianism is about the duty one owes to another, how humans must interact amongst themselves to foster peace and order within a community, and Taoism finds glory in the simplicity of nature and advocates that humans should imitate it, be like water, or the Tao. Both philosophies and the book Tao Te Ching impacted the development of Chinese culture and continue to have a profound effect on the individual and the world. (Smith 218)