TAOISM
LIVIN IN HARMONY WITH THE WAY
OF NATURE
YIN AND YANG
TAOISM
• HARMONY WITH THE UNIVERSE
• LIVING IN HARMONY WITH TAO, THE WAY OF
NATURE
• MADE UP OF TWO DISTINCT STRANDS
– PHILOSOPHICAL – BASED ALMOST ENTIRELY ON
THE CLASSIC TEXTS, TAO TE CHING & CHAUNG
TZU
– POPULAR/RELIGIOUS STRAND: LONGEVITY MEDITATION; BREATHING EXERCISES; EATING
CERTAIN HERBS AND MINERALS
MYSTICAL TEXTS & SAGES
• ORIGINS DATING BACK TO TIME OF
CONFUCIUS (551 TO 479 BC)
• FOUNDERS
– LAO TZU
– CHUANG TZU
LAO TZU
LAO TZU – THE OLD MASTER
• BORN IN 604BC
• CONCEIVED BY A SHOOTING STAR
• WAS “82 YEARS OLD” WHEN BORN, WITH WHITE
FLOWING HAIR
• WORKED A S A GOVERNMENT ACTIVIST
• CONFUCIUS SAID TO COME TO HIM FOR ADVICE
• CHIDED CONFUCIUS FOR HIS AMBITION AND
ARROGANCE
LAO TZU – THE OLD MASTER
• BEAME DISENCHANTED WITH CORRUPTION
OF GOVERNMENT
• LEFT CAREER AND HOME
– STOPPED AT HAN–KU PASS
– KEEPER CONVINCED HIM TO WRITE DOWN HIS
WISDOM BEFORE LEAVING
– THREE DAYS LATER RETURNED WITH THE TAO TE
CHING…AND PROCEEDED ON HIS WAY
TAO TE CHING – FOUNDATIONAL TEXT
•
•
•
•
•
TAO TE CHING = LAO TZU
EIGHTY-ONE SHORT CHAPTERS
3RD CENTURY BC
BRIEF/PROFOUND…READ IN AN AFTERNOON
IDEAS PONDERED FOR A LIFETIME
TAO TE CHING
• Those who know do not speak
Those who speak do not know (Chapter 56)
Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom
And it will be a hundred times better for
everyone. (Chapter 19)
PARADOXES – ASSERTION THAT SEEMS ILLOGICAL AND
CONTRADICTORY ON THE SURFACE, YET CONTAIN DEEPER
TRUTHS …KNOWN MORE THRU INTUITION THAN FROM
LOGIC
TAOISM - MOST THOUROUGHLY MYSTICAL OF ALL RELIGIONS
CHUANG TZU
CHUANG TZU – TAOISM’S SECOND
FOUNDER AND HIS TEXT
• LIVED FROM 369 T0 286 BC
• CHUANG TZU NOT AS FAMOUS AS THE TAO TE
CHING
• MORE HUMOROUS YET PROFOUND LESSONS
AND STORIES
• CENTRAL THEME RELATIVITY OF
THINGS…WHO IS TO SAY EXACTLY WHAT IS
GOOD?...ETC
CHUANG TZU
• Once Chuang Chou dreamt that he was a
butterfly. He did not know that he had ever
been anything but a butterfly and was content
to hover from flower to flower. Suddenly he
awoke and found to his astonishment that he
was Chuang Chou. But it was hard to be sure
whether he was really Chou and had only
dreamt that he was a butterfly, or was really a
butterfly, and was only dreaming he was
Chou. (Chapter 2)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TAO
• TAO TE CHING = “BOOK OF THE WAY”
• TE = ACCOMPANYING CONCEPT…ACQUIRED
THRU LIVING IN HARMONY WITH TAO
• RELATIVITY BASED ON BALANCE OF YIN AND
YANG…LIKE OPPOSITE POLES OF A MAGNET
TAO: THE WAY OF NATURE
• IMPOSSIBLE OF PRODUCING A FULL
EXPLANATION OF TAO
• “UNIFIED SOMETHING” FROM WHICH ALL
THINGS ARISE
• UNSEEN FORCE
• ORIGIN AND ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE
• EXISTS BEFORE AND BEYOND …TRANCENDENT OF
HUMANITY AND THE REST OF CREATION
• “MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE” – PERVADES THE
NATURAL WORLD
THE UNIVERSE IN BALANCE:
YIN & YANG
• YIN
– NEGATIVE; PASSIVE; FEMININE; EARTHLY
COMPONENT; CHARACTERIZED BY DARKNESS AND
WEAKNESS
• YANG
– POSITIVE; ACTIVE; MASCULINE; HEAVENLY
COMPONENT; CHARACTERIZED BY LIGHT AND
STRENGTH
YIN & YANG
• COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER
• NEITHER IS SUPERIOR
• TAOISTS BELIEVE BECAUSE OF THE HUMAN
CONDITION…MAKES US OVERINDULGE IN
YANG ASPECTS OF LIFE
• EACH HAS ELEMENTS OF THE OTHER
• NEED TO EMBRACE THE YIN
YIN & YANG
Know the strength of man
But keep a woman’s care
Be the stream of the universe!
Being the stream of the universe
Ever true and unswerving
Become as a little child once more
(Chapter 24)
YIN & YANG
• ALL MADE UP OF BOTH
• MANY WORK THEMSELVES INTO A STATE OF
IMBALANCE
• TAO ADVOCATES VIRTUES ORIENTED TOWARD
YIN…HUMILITY, NON-COMPETITION, AND
PACIFICISM
• SAGE = PERFECTLY BALANCED INDIVIDUAL
RELATIVITY OF VALUES
• TAOISM AVOIDS ABSOLUTE MORAL
JUDGEMENTS
• GOODNESS IS MEANINGFUL ONLY BECAUSE
OF ITS OPPOSITE, EVIL
• EACH TINGED BY THE OTHER
• NO VALUE COULD EXIST, IF NOT FOR ITS
OPPOSITE
YIN & YANG
When the people of the world all know beauty
as beauty,
There arises the recognition of ugliness
When they all know good as good,
There arises the recognition of evil.
(Chapter 2)
CHUANG TZU - RELATIVITY
In Sung there was a keeper of monkeys. Bad
times came and he was obliged to tell them
that he must reduce their ration of nuts. “It
will be three in the morning and four in the
evening.” he said. The monkeys were furious.
“Very well then”, he said, “ you shall have four
in the morning and three in the evening.” The
monkeys accepted with delight. (Chapter 2)
HARMONY OF LIFE AND DEATH
• TAOISM HAS LITTLE TO SAY
• LIFE/DEATH PART OF THE HARMONEOUS
WHOLE
• ONE OF NATURE’S MANY TRANSFORMATIONS
THE WAY OF THE SAGE
• SAGE…MASTERS SIMPLICITY AND NATURAL
UNITY
• COMMON KNOWLEDGE…SEES LIFE AS A
MULTIPLICITY OF THINGS WHILE MISSING
NATURE’S BASIC UNITY.
• CAT = FULLY ATTENTIVE…RESPONDS WITH
SUFFICIENT , BUT NOT EXCESSIVE EFFORT…DOES
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
• TAOISM IS BASICALLY THE SIMPLE THING TO
DO…BUT HUMANS THINK THEMSELVES INTO
DISTRACTION
THE WAY OF THE SAGE
My doctrines are very easy to understand and
very easy to practice.
But none in the world can understand and
practice them
(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 70)
WU-WEI: DOING WITHOUT ACTING
• PRIMARY VIRTUE
• “ACTIONLESS ACTIVITY”
PURE EFECTIVENESS
YIELDING TO WIN
CREATIVE QUIETUDE
“NONACTION” … ACCOMPLISHING TASK AT HAND
“No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left
undone.”
– PERSON AVOIDS YANG TENDENCY TO ACT, EMBRACES
THE YIN, AND THEREBY MORE EFFECTIVE
–
–
–
–
–
HUMILITY AND NONCOMPETITION
• SAGE = OUTWARD IS UNATTRACTIVE AND
LACKS ABILITY
– HUMILITY CHIEF VIRTUE
– SIGN OF STRENGTH
– “THEREFOLD, THE SAGE WEARS ROUGH
CLOTHING AND HOLDS THE JEWEL IN HIS HEART”
(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 70)
HUMILITY AND NONCOMPETITION
• SAGE CHOOSES NOT TO COMPETE…BUT NOT
THE SAME AS GIVING UP THE FIGHT
• THROUGH NONCOMPETITION, THE SAGE
EMERGES VICTORIOUS
– “It is precisely because he does not compete that
the world cannot compete with him.”
(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 22)
HUMILITY AND NONCOMPETITION
“ To yield is to be preserved whole.
To be bent is to become straight.
To be empty is to be full.
To be worn out is to be renewed.
To have little is to possess.
To have plenty is to be perplexed”
“Tao Te Ching: Chapter 22)
HUMILITY AND NONCOMPETITION
• WISDOM FOR LIVING
– MUSICIAN
– ATHLETE
– MARTIAL ARTS
• JUDO=ROU-TAO=YIELDING WAY
– SOCIAL SITUATION – BEING THEMSELVES BEST
NATURALNESS & NATURALISM
• SAGE REJECTS SHOWINESS &POMPOSITY:
He who stands on tiptoe is not steady
He who strides cannot maintain the pace
He who makes a show is not enlightened
He who is self righteous is not respected
He who boasts achieves nothing
He who brags will not endure
(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 24)
NATURALNESS & NATURALISM
• TAOIST SAGE PRACTICES NATURALISM
– RESISTS TEMPTATION TO MEDDLE WITH NATURE
– ENVIRONMENTALISTS THAT DOES NOT WANT TO
“FIX” NATURE THROUGH HUMAN IDEAS AND
EFFORTS
– LEAVE NATURE WELL ENOUGH ALONE, AND
NATURE WILL THRIVE
NONAGGRESSION AND PASSIVE RULE
• NON-AGGRESSION ULTIMATELY ALLOWS THE
SAGE TO PREVAIL
• ADMITS WARFARE IS SOMETIMES NECESSARY,
BUT SHOULD BE MINIMIZED
“A good soldier is not violent.
A good fighter is not angry.
A good winner is not vengeful.
A good employer is humble.”
(Tao Te Ching: Chapter 68)
NATURALNESS & NATURALISM
• RULERS & WU-WEI…BEST NOT TO INTERFERE
WITH THE NATURAL WAY OF PEOPLE
“The best (rulers) are those whose existance is
(merely) known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in
others that others will have no faith in him”
)Tao Te Ching: Chapter 17)
TAOISM IN EAST ASIA & THE WORLD
• FOR 2000 YEARS, TAOISM CENTRAL TO
RELIGEOUS LIFE IN CHINA, SPREADING TO
EAST ASIA
• TAOISM + BUDDHISM = ZEN BUDDHISM
• FUNCTIONS ALONG WITH CONFUCIANISM
• TAOIST = YIN
• CONFUCIANISM = YANG