“Tao” means
“the way” and “Taoism” means “the way of life”. It is a
philosophy as well as a religion of China which is stated to
have been founded by Lao Tse in sixth century B.C. a little
earlier than Confucianism. In importance, however, Taoism has
been second to Confucianism.
As a philosophy
its influence has been tremendous. It has supplemented and
enriched Confucianism and contributed to the growth of Buddhism.
It has provided spiritual inspiration and moral standards for
the Chinese, while imbuing Chinese poetry, landscape painting,
and other art forms with its love of nature and sense of
serenity. As both a philosophy and a religion Taoism has
supplied strength and refuge to the old, the poor, and the
oppressed, and also to rebels and secret societies.1
Comparing Taoism
with Confucianism, the world Book Encyclopedia says: “According
1o Confucianism, people can live a good life only in a
well-disciplined society that stresses attention to ceremony,
duty, and public service. The Taoist ideal, on the other hand,
is a person who avoids conventional social obligations and leads
a simple, spontaneous, and meditative life close to nature.”
The Authors of
“Great Religions By which Men Live” compare the founders of
Taoism and Confucianism as follows:
“Both Lao tse
and Confucius were concerned with the social and moral
weaknesses of their generation. Lao-tse met the challenge of
life with the radical view that the institutions and customs of
his day were unnatural and thus to be avoided. Confucius, a true
conservative, taught that the best from the past should be kept
and properly improved. In the past lay the key to the present
and the future. He did not seek to start either a new religion
or a new system of ethics.”
“For one thing,
their personalities were very different. In all the problems
they faced, the dissimilarity of their outlooks determined the
differences in the solutions they gave. While Lao-tse tended to
be an "individualist," Confucius believed that man's entire
responsibility was social. Man was not man apart from his
fellows. Harmony for man, therefore, meant harmony with other
men. Lao-tse believed that man’s responsibility was to
understand himself and to get himself directly in harmony with
the Tao. But Confucius believed that man’s responsibility was to
cooperate with others and to perform the duties society expected
of him. Such co-operation was rooted, of course, in the Tao, but
the human level of experience was the medium through which human
beings expressed their belonging to the universe. When a person
developed his capacity for harmony with his fellow human beings,
then he could understand universal harmony.”
[Back
to the start of this chapter]
The alleged
founder of Taoism, Lao-tse or Lao Tzu, is said to have been born
in Honan, a province of China, about 604 B.C. who served at the
important post of curator of the imperial archives at Lohyand,
the capital city. Stories tell us that he was visited by
Confucius and that the two great philosophers of the day
conversed together. Tradition attributes to Lao Tzu the
authorship of ‘Tao Te Ching’ a 5000 word fascinating little book
which forms the bible of Taoism. Another philosopher Chuang Tzu,
in 4th and 3rd century B.C., raised Taoism
to new heights with his ideas and philosophy.
[Back
to the start of this chapter]
1- ‘Tao’ means
simply ‘way’ or ‘way to go’. It has also been translated as
‘nature’ or ‘the way of nature’. It is the way the universe
moves and has its being. Tao is all-inclusive, everlasting and
good, but indescribable. It is not a thing but creative process.
A person who grasps the meaning of Tao follows the doctrine of
Wu-Wei (doing nothing) which urges non-interference with nature.
Man is happy and free when he preserves his own nature by
avoiding anxiety about life and death and living a simple and
spontaneous life. It is through gentleness, humility and
non-struggle that a man gains nobility of soul, serenity of
mind, harmony of emotions and freedom of spirit. Lao Tse is
reported to have said:
"You seek
wisdom, goodness, and contentment. In the ways you are trying to
attain them, you are blind and foolish. Can you not see that
wisdom is trust, goodness is acceptance, and contentment is
simplicity? This is the way of the world.”2
2- According
to Taoists,
if Tao were
allowed freely to operate within men, then everything would be
at its best, for the Tao is the way of perfection: perfect
balance, perfect harmony. It is the way – there is no other.3
The Tao is the
source of all created things. It is responsible for bringing all
things into existence, even the Chinese gods. The Tao itself has
never been considered as a god. The Tao is reality. It existed
before there was any universe. It created all existence and
continues to keep it in operation through the release of its
energy. Rise and fall, flow and ebb, existence and decay –
through such an alternation of the Tao's energy, existence began
and will continue. Even so, the Tao never forces a person to act
in a certain way. The Tao simply operates. That is all.
3- Taoism was
so named because Lao-tse and his followers were insistent upon
the Tao as the way of life. "Getting back to nature" was their
goal – “nature” being understood to mean the natural and proper
way of all things. So completely did the early Taoists follow
this line of belief that they went about China calling for the
end of human ceremonies and customs and even civilization
itself, because these were the result of interfering with
nature.4
4- The early
Taoists frequently referred to a past Golden Age," when men had
lived in peace and harmony because they were natural, free from
artificiality, simple – in short, men of Tao. The good things
that all men seek had been lost when that age had passed. Men
would find them only when they returned to the simplicity and
utter naturalness that had characterized the Golden Age.5
"Nature" is the
key to all the Taoists' answers to the questions life makes us
ask. A person's highest good and his sincere happiness are to be
found through conforming with the way of all nature, the Tao.
When one is natural, he is relaxed within and able to accept
what life offers. When one is ambitious or aggressive, he
contradicts his true nature. In the ensuing civil war within
himself, he strikes his possible happiness a fatal blow.6
5- According to
the Taoists, there are three things – three treasures they
called them – that are the supreme guides of man to Tao, which
are love, moderation and humility. Being loving, one can be
brave; being moderate, one be ample; not venturing to go ahead
of the world, one can be the chief of all officials."7
6- Lao-tse is
stated to have defined the man of Tao as under:
He is cautious,
like one who crosses a stream in winter;
He is hesitating, like one who fears his neighbors;
He is modest, like one who is a guest;
He is yielding, like ice that is going to melt.8
7- Chuang-tse
was fishing one day when some high officials of the government
of his province came to visit him. As he continued to fish, they
flattered him by speaking of his wisdom and offered him a high
governmental post, which would bring him recognition and respect
from many people. Without interrupting his fishing, Chuang-tse
asked the gentlemen if they knew of the sacred tortoise, dead
over three thousand years, which the prince kept safely enclosed
in a chest on the altar of his ancestors. Then he asked them,
“Do you think this tortoise would rather be dead and have its
remains revered, or be alive and wagging its tail in the mud of
its pond?”
"It would
rather be alive," they replied, "wagging its tail in the mud."
"You may be on
your way," said Chuang-tse. "I prefer to wag my tail in the mud
in my own pond”.9
8- Chuang-tse
once told a story about a man who struck out on his own, instead
of yielding in confidence to the Tao. This man was so afraid of
his shadow and he so disliked his own footsteps that he
determined to get away from them. However, the more he moved,
the more footsteps he made. And despite his fast running, he
never left his shadow behind. So he decided that he was going
too slowly. He ran his fastest, without pausing for rest. As a
result, he weakened and finally died. He did not know that he
could have lost his shadow in the shade and put an end to his
footsteps by keeping still. Foolish indeed was he. Woe to the
reformers and the moralists who come preaching of purity and
goodness, says Chuang-tse – they run from their own shadows.10
9- The man who
lives by Tao will not use force, for force defeats his higher
aims. The man who tries to shape the world into what he wants it
to be damages himself and others in the attempt. He who insists
or strives for something gets involved in his own efforts and
merely loses the value of the thing he seeks. Thus he damages
his ideal, defeats his purpose, and fails miserably.11
10- Man should
learn from a pond of muddy water. No amount of stirring can
clear it. But when it is left alone, it becomes clear by itself.
So it is with men and with nations. Rulers particularly must
understand this. Lao-tse once said that one should govern people
as he would cook a small fish – gently. Too much cooking, too
much handling make it fall to pieces or destroy its flavor. As
for the people who presume to teach others, they must also grasp
this idea.
He who thinks he knows a lot about others may think he is wise.
But only he who knows himself has hold upon the true and the
important. The person who is truly wise is the one who does not
know that he is wise. Thinking that we know, when actually we do
not, is a special sickness to which all men are prone. Only when
we become sick of such conceit and fraud can we cure ourselves
of the sickness.12
[Back
to the start of this chapter]
Taoism has a
hereditary priesthood. The priests conduct public rituals,
during which they submit the people’s prayers to the gods of
folk religion. The chief priest, who is in a trance, prays to
divinities on behalf of the worshipers. These divinities are not
former human beings but represent aspects of the Tao.13
The members of
some Taoist groups have sought to attain immortality through
magic, meditation, special diets, breath control, or the
recitation of scriptures. The Taoist search for knowledge of
nature has led many believers to pursue various sciences, such
as alchemy, astronomy, and medicine.14
[Back
to the start of this chapter]
Taoists do not
believe in God. According to them, there is no personal God and
such gods as men imagine are mere emanations of Tao which gives
life to all things. Tao is being. However, Taoism could not
maintain its purity when it came into contact with the world
especially when from 4th century rivalry between
Taoists and Buddhists started in China. Later Lao Tse became a
divinity and indeed one of a Trinity (Jade Emperor and Ling Pao
being other two members) each worshipped in the form of idols.
Soon there was worship of the forces of nature: the stars, the
sun, the moon and a thousand other deities among whom Confucius
was also one.
The universe is
believed to be kept in balance by the opposing forces of yin and
yang that operate in dynamic tension between themselves. Yin is
female and watery: the force in the moon and rain which reaches
its peak in the winter; yang is masculine and solid: the force
in the sun and earth which reaches its peak in the summer. The
interaction of yin and yang is believed to shape all life.15
1- Encyclopedia Americana
2 to
12- Great Religions By Which Men Live
13,
14- World Book Encyclopedia
15-
The Hutchinson Encyclopedia