Installment #1
In my first installment, I wrote
about Lao Tzu. A man who is widely considered a myth or legend to many
historians today. This does not diminish the Taoist way any less. It is
difficult to gauge how many people adhere to the Taoist teachings as many
internet sources tend to disagree; some say 2 million, some say 6, one site
claims its possible there is 173 million followers. The internet makes things
so complicated that it makes any one site unreasonable compared to another. For
all we know, these online researchers are jumbling up people who follow Confucius
and those who follow The Tao (“The Way”). So, it would probably be a good idea
to try to untangle everything that modern culture tangles up. For this second
installment, I will be explaining the Taoist Faith/Philosophy, along with comparing
and contrasting Confucianism and Taoism so that way there is a clearer
understand of what each religion or philosophy represent.
The
first thing I wanted to get out of the way was this symbol:
I’m sure many
students of philosophy have seen the Taoist symbol Yin and Yang. But it’s
origins are surprisingly not Taoist at all. The origins of the yinyang idea are obscure
but ancient. In the 3rd century B.C.E. it formed the basis of an entire school of
cosmology, whose main representative was Zou Yan. Upon reading through the
website “Ancient History Encyclopedia” and other encyclopedias, they said that
he believed that life went through and was made up of five phases/elements -
fire, water, metal, wood, earth - which continuously interchanged per the
principle of yin and yang. There is mention of him in the Shiji but it is brief and does not offer much as to who he was but
this idea of Yin and Yang followed through much of Chinese culture, even
seeping into Confucian and Taoist thought. But the Taoist religion and
philosophy pull more from this symbol due to their stronger connection with
nature and its position on life. I tend to mix Yin and Yang up, but the idea is
this: Yin = feminine, black, dark, north, water (transformation), passive, moon
(weakness and the goddess Changxi), earth, cold, old, even numbers, valleys,
poor, soft, and provides spirit to all things. And Yang = masculine, white,
light, south, fire (creativity), active, sun (strength and the god Xihe),
heaven, warm, young, odd numbers, mountains, rich, hard, and provides form to
all things. The Taoists favor yin whilst Confucians favor yang in keeping with
the prime focus of their respective philosophies. The Taoists seem to emphasize
reclusion to gain a bigger sense of the universe whilst Confucians believe in
the importance of engagement in life.
So,
what else could Confucius and Laozi possibly disagree on? Or agree on? In the broadest
sense of each Religion/Philosophy they are put thusly: Confucianism mainly
deals with interpersonal relationships, social conduct, and a lot of rules; while
Taoism mostly deals with a person’s relationship with nature, the universe, and
going with the flow that comes with it. According to an article written by a
grad student at the University of Hawaii, “Confucianism clearly defines what is
proper and what is "right". Daoism does not define with words what is
right or wrong; it encourages you to find out for yourself what it means to be
in harmony with nature”. The Tao Te Ching
offers another insight between the two. It states that Confucius and Lao-tzu
did in fact meet to discuss the Imperial Archives and other rituals. But Laozi
was unimpressed by the “beautiful robes” worn by Confucius, and did not agree
with looking back on the past. "Put away your polite airs and your vain
display of fine robes. The wise man does not display his treasures to those he
does not know. And he cannot learn justice from the Ancients." Laozi in
this instance seems like a very straight forward kind of guy… until you read
some of his quotes. "Without going out of your door, you can know the ways
of the world. Without peeping through your window, you can see the Way of
Heaven. The farther you go, the less you know. Thus, the Sage knows without
traveling, sees without looking, and achieves without struggle." Or "Be
still like a mountain and flow like a great river." That last one reminds
me of what Bruce Lee once said about being like water.
To
flow like water is to follow the current, or its path. That is the essence of
the Taoist teaching. The Tao, or “The Path”, is similar to Buddhist idea of finding
the “middle way”. Laozi believed that the way to happiness was for people to
learn to "go with the flow." Instead of trying to get things done the
hard way (Confucianism), people should take the time to figure out the natural,
or easy way to do things, and then everything would get done more simply. This
idea is called "wu-wei", which means "doing by not doing".
But in this teaching, he was trying to reach another goal. Laozi was against
wars, government, etc., because he believed in The Tao and that everything in
the universe was connected by a special energy that many scholars just labeled
as the “Life force”. This life force is where a lot of Taoists introduce the
Yin and Yang as the Light and Dark sides of the life force. One cannot exist
without the other. But when war is fought and blood is spilt, it disrupts this
energy and Laozi hated that people reveled in that. This partly explains his
leave during the fall of the Zhou Dynasty when war broke out.
But
none of this explains how exactly a philosophy from way back when, became
religious. You see, the Chinese use separate terms to distinguish between two
major trends within Taoism. Tao-chia, more commonly known as “Philosophical
Taoism,” consists of mystical teachings about the Tao, “roughly but
inadequately translated as ‘Way’” as stated by award winning Author and Speaker
Caroline Myss. And the art of wu-wei, as mentioned earlier, defined by Lao-tzu
and Chuang-tzu. “Through meditation, students of Tao-chia learn to let things
proceed as they ought. Because it is philosophically oriented, Tao-chia was never
institutionalized, passing from teacher to student without the mediation of an
organized church.” (Caroline). Philosophical Taoism tries to reduce the
friction that comes with most of life’s actions and to conserve one’s vital
energy. On the opposite end, Tao-chiao, or Religious Taoism, focuses more
pragmatically than Tao-chia on ways to achieve longevity or even immortality
through the augmentation and preservation of one’s essential vitality, or ch’i
I know this can get confusing, it was
confusing to start with when I was doing all my research. Everyone jumbles up
the history and statistics so much that there is so much to sort through. Even
finding a concrete beginning of how to explain Tao was confusing: Yin and Yang,
its correlation to Confucianism, or The Tao itself. But that should not stop
anyone from trying to learn the practices of Religious or Philosophical Taoism.
Comments
Morgan's Installment on Buddhism
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2016/11/buddhism-h02-morgan.html?showComment=1480698594726#c6702796796123355143
Robin's Installment on John Muir
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2016/11/tough-as-nails-but-as-thoughtful-as.html?showComment=1480701528451#c3093672291935383352
"The farther you go, the less you know. Thus, the Sage knows without traveling" - boy, is that anti-peripatetic!
ReplyDeleteThe yin-yang duality is irresistible, but isn't it too binary? The more I "travel" the more I realize that things are on a continuum, less either/or, more both/and. They flow together, like water. No wonder they're confusing.
This was really informational, I really enjoyed it! I wish we had more education on the different types of faiths/philosophies out there. It was nice to finally understand the yin/yang symbol!
ReplyDeletei enjoyed reading this because i myself really enjoy the eastern philosophical school of thought more than the ideas of western philosophers. I really enjoy the way that taoists search for higher meanings in life versus Confucianism which deals more with the social aspects of philosophy.
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