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Taoist Philosophyfor the 21st Century
An Alternative Way to View Life, Society, andthe World
You-Sheng Li
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Culture background is different
A way to see different cultures is to
look their visual arts.
Visual arts represent what they
see and what they want to see intheir world.
The artists represent their culture
and their people.
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Ri h d E Ni b tt f th U i it f
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Richard E. Nisbett, from the University ofMichigan, and his colleagues in cooperationwith Chinese did some comparative studies toshow the difference between Chinese andWestern people. They found:
Chinese and English native speakers use different parts ofbrain when they are doing simple arithmetic. The Chineseuse a brain region involved in the processing of visualinformation while the English speaker, languageprocessing area of the brain.
When watching a photograph, American students
pay more attention to object in the foreground of the scenewhile Chinese spend more time studying the backgroundand taking in the whole scene.
Conclusion: Chinese see the world as something to live in,and enjoy, and Western, something to work on, and so they
need a focus.
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Comparisons of India,
West, and ChinaIndia West ChinaGod World IUniverse God Sky+ancestor
Neither souls souls+bodiesReligion Science philosophy
Caste Secondary Two levels
Invasion expansion uprising
Backward forward stay there
Caste club clan
Frame of
thinking
society
Other authors
Th i t lt i Chi
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The main stream culture in Chinesehistory is ComplementaryConfucianism/Taoism, and Taoism
is the basis and is the key Confucianism developed on the
basis of Taoism, Lao Tzu was
Confucius teacher. In Chinese history, intellectuals were
Confucian in the government office
but Taoist at home.
To understand Chinese culture from
the Western view, Taoism is the key,
which marks the difference between
the East and the West.
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What is Taoist philosophy
Taoism is a philosophy, a religion, and a way oflife. It emphasizes the natural way, harmony, andeffortlessness. Taoism aims at the oppositedirection in comparison with the Western
civilization. It was founded by LaoTzu, Chuang Tzu and other
philosophers from the sixth century to the thirdcentury BC based on ancient Chinese traditions
In the second and third centuries AD, it developedinto a major religion. From then, there were threemajor religions, namely Confucianism, Buddhism,
and Taoism in China
T i i i ith M i
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Taoism in omparison with Marxism---Different ways to view life and society
Taoism: Spare time, relaxing, the wholehuman nature. Only two things to aim at:
Aesthetic pursuit (pure enjoyment), and a
long healthy life.From the view of individuals, emphasis onpsychological experience.
Marxism: Working time, economic pursuit,
the part of human nature which helps us tocompete and survive.
From the view of society, emphasis onmaterialism, economic growth .
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The striking features of Taoism as areligion (Ancient & Modern) The fundamental belief of Taoist religion is that
you do not have to die physically, which isessentially what behind the modern medicineand science. (long healthy life)
Taoist religion is based on the ancient Taoistphilosophy, which is famous for their atheisticview against Mohism and Confucianism
The birth of Taoist religion in the second andthird centuries was associated with a massiveuprising of peasants.
One of the major parts of religious practice of
Taoism is sex.
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My education background allows me tolook at and interpret Chinese Taoist
philosophy from biology, not frombiological view but from the biologicalworld, in which man is only a member. I worked in the field of human genetics for many years
I graduated from far the best medical school in China.
Chinese traditional medicine is also a way of life, aphilosophy. The philosophy of the Chinese traditionalmedicine is Taoism.
All my talk today is nothing new to the real essence ofTaoism but only an interpretation in modern terms, whichhas been ignored by most scholars. You do not need to payattention to every word I say, but get the main idea.
T i i b d i i
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Taoism is based on primary society,and Taoism advocates the separationof primary and secondary societies
Primary society is genetically coded society,and was the only society before civilization .
Any secondary society, like modern society,is created by man with a designed ideology,laws and social power to control humanbehaviour. In the same way, we form variousclubs. Secondary society has nothing to dowith our genetics, and is a pure creation ofman.
Primary society suits human nature well,and secondary society does not. In theprimary society, pursuit: aesthetics+health.
L h i ll i h f l T l d
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Let the state remain small with a few people. Tools andother artefacts are numbered in tens and hundreds yet
people wont use them. Life is valued high, and
nobody ventures far to risk it. There are boats andchariots yet people have no desire to ride on them;there are arms and weapons yet people have noreason to marshal them. Let us revert to the knot-
string method for recording. Enjoy the tastiness ofyour food, admire the beauty of your clothing, delightyourself with your home and its environment, and behappy with your culture. The neighbour states are so
near that people can see each other and hear eachothers chickens and dogs yet people reach old age
and death without interaction. (Lao Tzu, Chapter80) (Secondary in nature by men)
Ch T I h l h d f l tti t
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Chuang Tzu: I have only heard of letting naturetake its course but I have never heard the worldcan be governed by men. Self-containment and
self-enjoyment prevent our nature from becominginterruptive. Accepting and liking ourselvesprevents the loss of our natural virtue. If people donot change their nature and do not lose their
virtue, why do we need any humanadministration? When the ancient sage Yao ruled,everyone enjoyed themselves but lost theirserenity. When the tyrant Chieh ruled, everyone
saddened their heart but lost their enjoyment. Ifthere is no serenity and enjoyment, the Tao cannotpresent its virtue. If there is no virtue any rule ororder cannot last. (Chapter 11)
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For this talk, which is limited by time,I will talk two things to illustrate mypoint, the Taoist point of view.
1. Culture and its definition
2. The primary and secondarysociety
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A Few Words About the Definitionof Culture
You can find a lot of definitions of culture in
textbooks and dictionaries, which are all from the
Western view.
As I have said before, I study the issue of culturefrom a Taoist view, in which God, the world, and I
roll into One. Therefore, I see the biological world
including plants and animal as a whole when I
define culture. The following is one definition.
Our behaviour is determined by genetics and
culture environment, and so culture is the learned
part of our behaviour.
Culture is how to spend ones spare
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Culture is how to spend ones sparetime, the time left when the basic
biological desire is fulfilled. What we spend our spare time on is considered as
culture, or highly cultural things such as theatre, TV
shows, reading and so on. Culture has an aesthetic
nature, which is good to our health. To pursue a long
healthy life is also entering our culture.
Culture, or any other innovation including secondary
society, is created only using spare time when ones
basic desire is fulfilled. The definition has an open end, which reflects that
there is no fixed rule what culture is to going to be,
both individually and nationally. The possibility is
indefinite. We can do whatever want, and no limit.
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Conclusion: A nation or a people can
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Conclusion: A nation or a people canform an ideology, namely a philosophyof life, a set of law, and a pyramid ofsocial power to set up doing a particularthing using their spare time for hundredyears even a thousand years, and
achieving the most spectaculargrandeur.That is the nature of secondary
society, and it is why Taoism promotesthe separation of primary and secondarysociety. Taoism does not opposecivilization if it does not ruin the primary
society and make people suffer.
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Mongol_Empireaccuratefinal.pnghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Mongol_Empireaccuratefinal.png7/30/2019 An Alternative Way to view Life, Society, and the World
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Egyptian_Pyramids.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Pyramids_at_giza_01.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Pyramids_at_giza_01.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pyramids_at_giza_01.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pyramids_at_giza_01.jpg7/30/2019 An Alternative Way to view Life, Society, and the World
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1/6/2013 30In front of those pyramids we are all laboring ourselves like ants.
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Wealth does not spell Happiness
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Wealth does not spell Happiness To determine how happy a people or a nation is:
Parameters which are supposedly leading to
happiness, such as wealth, education, health.
Adrian White (Leicester, UK) studied and ranked 178
countries, and concludes: Denmark is the happiest,
and Canada, the 10th. New Economic Foundation (London, UK) used the
happy Planet Index including ecological footprint to
rank 233 countries with Vanuatu the first, Canada the
111st.
In 2003, an European institute studied 69 countries
concluding that African countries, the happiest; the
East Europe, the unhappiest, and the West Europe
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What Makes us Happy?
Freedom, democracy, tolerance, wealth, orderlysociety
Faith, relaxing, outdoor activity, always havingsomething to do, smiling and laughing, treating
surrounding people well, active life, selfcontrol, readiness to look life in an alternativeway
Being grateful, helping others, enjoying what
you have, thankful to your teacher, forgivingothers, love your family and friends, taking careof your body, control yourself in a adversesituation
The Taoist View
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The Taoist View The main part or a major part of Taoist religion is
life cultivation. Their life cultivation is religion, isalso a way of life including ideology and practice
Both Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu mentionedbreathing meditation (Chi Kong) in their classic
books To insure a real happy life, Taoism emphasizes the
effortlessness in keeping both your body and yourmind intact, not contaminated by civilization.
The real people: People who lived in primitiveprimary society are called the real people. We, inmodern society, have to study and practice
Taoism to reach the goal as real people.
Concluision: Happiness is not the same
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Concluision: Happiness is not the sameas Natural Joy, which is advocated byTaoism
Happiness cannot be measured by social
parameters such as wealth, education, and
so on, since happiness is very much a
subjective matter. Happiness cannot be measured by
subjective feeling either. How happy we feel
depends how our culture has taught us.
From a physicians perspective: realhappiness makes our body healthy but the
pseudo-happiness with a burning effect
harms our health.
The Happy Self Burner
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The Happy Self-Burneris a Possible Reality
There is no impassable gap betweenimagination and reality:
1. Imagination and reality are the same at thenervous cell level. Neurons only have twostatus: activated or inactivated, or theirmembrane is depolarized or re-polarized.
2. Imagination and reality are the same at thebrain level if you are lost in your imaginationwithout a strong awareness that you areimaging.
3. Imagination and reality are the same at thebody level only to certain degree. In acompetitive society, you may feel happy butour bod is still burnin awa .
The five major diseases namely
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The five major diseases, namelycancer, heart attack, stroke,psychosis, and suicide are all relatedto unhappiness. The incidence ofthose five diseases cannot be used tomeasure a persons happiness but
can be used as an indicator whether apopulation is happy or not.
Although many factors affect theincidence of those diseases whichmakes the issue a complex one butthe suicide rate was doubled in USA
and Canada in the twenty century. How can we be happy
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How can we be happy
Opportunities are far less than ambitions, which isdesigned by our society .
Ambitions is much more than opportunities, whichproduces disappointment or unhappiness.
Competitive system asks us to fight with other
people who as able and clever as we are. Suchfight will accelerate itself until we all burn out.
Are we born to work? Are we born to competevigorously? The answer is no. The civilized mind
forced us to work and compete, and thecivilization teaches us how to feel happy.
What is the burning effect of our competitivesociety on the people?
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According to the AmericanPsychological Association
43 percent of adults suffer adverse health effectsfrom stress
75-90 percent of all physician office visits are for
stress-related ailments and complaints Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death:
heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents,cirrhosis of the liver and suicide
In terms of lost hours due to absenteeism,reduced productivity and worker compensationbenefits, stress costs American industry morethan 300 billion annually.
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Comparisons of India,
West, and ChinaIndia West ChinaGod World IUniverse God Sky+ancestor
Neither souls souls+bodiesReligion Science philosophy
Caste Secondary Two levels
Invasion expansion uprising
Backward forward stay there
Caste club clan
In Heaven On earth In mind
Caste Secondary Primary
Frame of
thinking
society
Other authors
Where to find
happiness
Th P i S i t
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People had knowledge and art but only for enjoyment.
They were not for economic reason or self-ambition. Itis only aesthetic pursuit (pure enjoyment).
Culture had no power to modify human nature. There
was no enough pressure for people to change or for
the society to select certain qualities of humans in a
fixed direction.
About 150 people in face-to-face relationship, and
equality and reciprocity are the rule. There is noforceful authority.
We are born with primary society, but living in a
secondary society. We can still see the trace of
primary society in modern world: The Primary Group.
The Primary Society
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) first saw the self
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Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) first saw the self
as a social product that is formed in the process of
interaction within the primary group. Cooley
identified the primary group as those characterized byintimate face-to-face association and cooperation.
They are primary in several senses but chiefly in that
they are fundamental in forming the social nature andideals of individuals. The result of intimate
association, psychologically, is a certain fusion of
individualities in a common whole, so that ones veryself, for many purposes at least, is the common life
and purpose of the group. Perhaps the simplest way of
describing this wholeness is by saying that it is a
we.
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Aesthetic pursuit is natural and healthy
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In the ancient time, yin and yang were
in harmony. Gods and spirits werequiet and did not interfere with people.The four seasons followed their own
course. Animals and plants were notharmed. Humans lived to their full lifespan. People had knowledge but there
was no use of it. This is called the bigOne.Chuang Tzu Chapter 16
Why Taoism appeared in China but
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Why Taoism appeared in China butnot in the West
When civilization was to start, there were manypossibilities and directions. The West civilizationchose a fast moving direction motivated by
competition while the Chinese chose to stay wherethey were and emphasizes harmony.
The West broke the primary society and let theindividuals form a secondary society; The Chinese
kept the primary society relatively intact. In my opinion, the modern world with a powerless
united nations and without any fighting superpowersare like the political situation in Chinese history which
gave birth to Taoism.
The Hsia Dynasty ( ?2100-
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The Hsia Dynasty ( ?21001766 BC )
The Hsia dynasty was the first dynasty in Chinesehistory. It was founded by Yu the Great in cooperation
with all the tribes in the Yellow river valley to fight
flood. In stead of building banks and dams, Yu tried to
find a better course for the water to go to the sea.The population was about 2.4 million, but the territory
was big. No conflict due to overpopulation. No other
nation in their world competed with the super nation,
the dynasty.
The political lesson from the success of the
establishment of the Hsia dynasty: Follow the natural
way,--- a Taoist Way.
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The Two Level System of ChineseAncient Society from 2100BC to
475BC1.King and his clan (quasi-primary society +
intellectuals)
2. Vassals and their clans (quasi-primarysociety + intellectuals)
-------------------------------------
3. Tribal village and their clans (primary society)
(The relatively powerless king only provided a platform
for vassals to work out their difference. It is like the
primary society, also like the United Nations )
An Important Assumption
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An Important Assumption
A primary society or quasi-primary society will
form automatically if :
1. The population is less than a few hundred;
2. The society is based on face-to-face
interactions;
3. No contact with and no ideological
influence from secondary society;
4. No outside force threatening their survival.
The six criteria and quasi-primary
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The six criteria and quasi primarysocieties in the two level system The clans of the king, the vassals, and the tribal
villages were all quasi-primary societies;
The king and vassals may live a richer life but 10percent tax rate did not change the idle style of the
rural life; The king and vassals formed a face-to-face quasi-
primary society;
The vassal and the chiefs of the tribal village all
formed face-to-face primary society; Equality and reciprocity are the principles guiding the
interactions at all levels;
The administration and military conflicts were minimal.
The Two Level System of Chinese
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The Two Level System of ChineseAncient Society from 221BC to 1911AD
1.Emperor and his clan (quasi-primary
society + intellectuals)
2. Bureaucrats and their back-upintellectuals (secondary society)
-------------------------------------
3. Tribal village and their clans (quasi-primary society)
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Was
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Ming Dynasty (1368 1644) WasEstablished by Uprising Peasants
Without special permission, any governmentofficials could not go into the countryside otherwisethey would be executed.
Under the rule of the first emperor, a poor peasant,
some 100,000 officials were executed. He askedthe Ministry of Internal Affairs report to him all thefamilies that owned more than100 acres of land, atotal 14,341 households. He moved thousands of
rich families to the capital areas under hissurveillance.
According to Huang Renyu, the tax rate was aboutone percent. (what is the force to penetrate into the rural life ofChina and transform it? Capitalism.)
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The End
When I asked them, Do you feel happy?
They say, How much more can you get from life?
Its better than before.
The question for us to ponder is:
How much more do we get from life
in comparison with that old Chinese couple?
If not, we certainly can.
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China VS Europe
Population and
area
Various ethnic
groups withdifferent
languages
Long history and
relativelyindependently
developed
Similar in history and in present
Three languages in the South of China,The south and the north of China are
different
+Mongolian, and other northern minority
ethnic groups
Europe, since ancient Greece
Axial China vs Modern Europe
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Axial China vs Modern EuropeBoth started with a feudal system, and endedwith local administrative system.
Royal army defeated in485,and conquered in34
French revolution and social
reform
Industrial revolution
The split of philosophical
thinking
Large scale of war to united
China
Pope was challengedby Copernicus in402,
and Nietzche(-101&-
45) says God is dead
Social reform
Agricultural revolution
The split of
philosophical thinking
Two world wars
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New Concepts: Spare time
Definition: time left over after our basic
biological needs fulfilled: food, water,
shelter, immediate safety.
No law dictating how we spend our sparetime
Life is something between the two
extremities: basic needs and spare time
Primitive people idle more than civilizedpeople
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Spare time and basic needs
1. Social world with enemy being other people, which
is quite different from our remote ancestors and
animals who are subjected to natural rule. We are now
subjected to human rule. Our government is only a
symbol or a tip of iceberg of such human rule 2. Basic needs are the control button sought out by
both our authorities and our enemies or competitors.
Our biological nature remains with our basic needs.
3. Spare time hard to control, but our mental human
nature is remains with our spare time.
Life is something between the two: basic needs and
spare time;
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Basic needs vs Spare time
This definition includes
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Next Steps
Summarize any actions required of
your audience
Summarize any follow up actionitems required of you
This definition includesthe whole world ofbiological beings, not onlyfor humans. In spare time, plants stay there,
and animals relax and enjoy
themselves Early humans also relaxed and
enjoyed their spare time.
The Rural Life of China is Close to
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The Rural Life of China is Close toTaoist Ideal
With 475-221BC as the transition period, from2100BC to 475BC Chinese society was close
to the above six criteria, and since 221BC
Chinese society has been transforming rapidly
to a typical secondary society.
Due to the influence of Taoist philosophy, the
village life was not much disturbed in
comparison with the West except for time ofpolitical instability.
Even now, Chinese authority tends to leave
minor offences to villages and clans to handle