TaoismAn Introduction

"Certain Chinese philosophers writing in, perhaps, the -5th and -4th centuries, explained ideas and a way of life that have come to be known as Taoism - the way of man's cooperation with the course or trend of the natural world, whose principles we discover in the flow patterns of water, gas, and fire, which are subsequently memorialized or sculptured in those of stone and wood, and, later, in many forms of human art. What they had to say is of immense importance for our own times when in the +20th century, we are realizing that our efforts to rule nature by technical force and "straighten it out" may have the most disastrous results." (From "Alan Watts: "Tao - The Watercourse Way", Pantheon Books, 1975, xiv)

Three Taoist Approaches• Philosophical/School Taoism (efficient

power)• “Vitalizing” Taoisms (augmented power)• Religious Taoism (“vicarious” power)

* This is Huston Smith’s characterization.

Taoism/Daoism and Confucianism are both syncretistic “philosophies” that arose around the sixth century BCE in response to the declining power of the Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1027-256 BCE).

They find their roots in:•Ancient Chinese Religion(s)•Buddhism•Folk magic•Ancestor worship•Divination (I Ching)

“Heaven” (Tian, T’ien), emperor as “The Son of Heaven

“Way” (Dao, Tao)

TianConfucianismTaoTaoism

Two ancient Chinese concepts of “Ultimate Reality”

Transliterating Chinese Characters:

British Scholars (19th cent.) developed the Wade-Giles system.

The Pinyin system was developed in China in the 1950’s and is generally preferred.

Lao Tzu• “Lao”= old, venerable/ “Tzu” = master • Legendary “history”

– born with white hair– lived to be 200 years old– visited by Confucius– at Hankao Pass gatekeeper insisted

he write down his teachings.• Sixth Century BCE?

Chuang Tzu• ca. 370-386 BCE• Traditional author of The Chuang

Tzu– 7 “inner” books– 15 “outer” books– 11 “mixed” books

• Identification with entire universe/not social conformity.

• Perspectivism: true knowledge is perpetually elusive

• Emphasized “wu-wei”• Butterfly Dreaming

The Three Meanings of Tao• Tao is the way of ultimate reality.• Tao is the way of the universe: the norm,

the rhythm, the driving power in all nature, the ordering principle behind all life.

• Tao refers to the way of human life when it meshes with the Tao of the universe.

Ultimately, Tao is ineffable.

Te• Virtue• Power• For Taoists . . . it is the means through

which the Tao becomes manifest, actualized, and realized

Philosophical Taoism• Goal(?): to align one’s

daily life to the Tao: • Wu Wei- “pure

effectiveness” “active inactivity” “creative quietude” “going with the grain”

• “A Good Traveler Leaves no Tracks” (ch. 27)

• “The Watercourse Way”

Nothing in the world is softer than water,

Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.

This is because nothing can alter it.

That the soft overcomes the hard

And the gentle overcomes the aggressive

is something that everybody knows

But none can do themselves.

Therefore the sages say:

The one who accepts the dirt of the state

Becomes its master.

The one who accepts its calamity

Becomes the king of the world.

Truth seems contradictory.

(Ch. 78, trans. Muller)

Other Taoist Values• Rejection of self-assertiveness and

competition– “Standing on tiptoe you are unsteady” (24)

• Avoidance of aggression– “If you want to grab the world and run it/I

see that you will not succeed” (29)• Naturalism, naturalness, simplicity• Relativity

Yang YinSun MoonDay NightMale Female

Hard (river bank) Soft (river)Active Passive

Discipline, order Spontaneity, flowing

Though opposites, they give birth to each other.

Confucius and Lao TzuConfucius Lao Tzu

Goal Cultivated Dignity (Learning)

Spontaneous Simplicity (Unlearning)

Method Reanimation of Classical Values

Reversal/Letting Go, Return to Original Nature

Result Moral Perfection Mystical Individuality

Politics Moral Charisma Laissez-Faire

Confucianism and TaoismConfucianism Taoism

Tao

teaching/the way (path) human beings should follow

unproduced Producer, source of all cosmic order/reality

Te

quality possessed by wise, virtuous people

the means through which the Tao becomes manifest and actualized

Historical Varieties of Taoism•Celestial Master Taoism (ca 150 CE, appearance of Lao-jun, Zhang Daoling and his grandson, Zhang Lu; first form to take on institutional trappings, priests, etc.)

•Magical Taoism (Ge Hong, 4th cent. CE, alchemy)

•Supreme Clarity Taoism (365 CE, Yang Xi, meditation, et al)

•Numinous Treasure Taoism (founded by Ge Chaofu, 402 CE, incorporates Mahayana Buddhism)

Vitalizing Taoisms• Increasing the “quota” of the

Tao (ch’i): “breath” (lit.); “vital energy”

• eating special foods, herbs—macrobiotic diets

• acupuncture• sexual “experiments”• through bodily movements: t’ai

chi chuan• Taoist yoga• Feng Shui

Religious Taoism• “Taoism for the masses”:

dealing with ghosts, famines, and floods

• Much in common with Chinese folk religion which it “institutionalized” starting around 2nd c. CE

• Seek the Tao (and thus immortality) through liturgical and alchemical means: share Taoist concern with harmonizing the fundamental energies in the universe

The Immortals and the Pantheon

•The Immortals•Laojun (Lao Tzu, in Celestial Master Taoism)•The Three Pure Ones; Lords of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, symbolizing the three energies of the human body:

•Jing (semen, vital essence)•Ch’i (breath, vital energy)•Shen (spiritual consciousness)

•Jade Emperor •Dark Lord of the North•Queen of the West•Kwan Yin

Spiritual EmbryoSome Taoist practice a sort of internal alchemy aimed at giving birth to a “spiritual embryo” that will emerge as an immortal at the time of death.

This involves conserving jing (semen) to mix with ch’i. (Sometimes by having sex without orgasm, or orgasms without ejaculation.)

Other practices focus on visualization techniques (e.g., marrying a young girl dressed in black down from the heart to a young boy dressed in red up from the kidneys, uniting yin and yang.)