Definition of Tao
- Tao (pronounced "Dow") can be roughly translated into
English as path, or the way. It is basically indefinable. It has to be
experienced. It "refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and flows
through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural
processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the
harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no
light without dark, no male without female.)
- Proper action does not come about from explicit propositional knowledge or rules of action; proper action comes from intuition.
Story of the Cook and the Tao
A prince
admired the skill of his cook. The cook replied: ‘What your servant
loves is the Tao, which I have applied to the skill of carving. when I
first began to cut up bullocks, what i saw was simply whole bullocks.
After three years’ practice, I saw no more bullocks as wholes. Now, I
work with my mind, not with my eyes. the functions of my senses stop;
my spirit dominates. Following the natural markings, my chopper slips
through the great cavities, slides through the great cleavages, taking
advantage of the structure that is already there. My skill is now such
that my chopper never touches even the smallest tendon or ligament, let
alone the great bones. . . . At the joints there are always
interstices, and the edge of the chopper is without thickness.
Lao Tzu (604-531 B.C.E.)
"Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river."
- Perhaps a mythological figure
- Was reputed to be the keeper of the archives at the Imperial Court
- Saddened at the lack of natural goodness in humans, he left for Tibet
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| Lao Tzu |
-
At the border, he was asked by a guard how to lead a good life. The
result was the writing of the central text of Taoism, Tao Te Ching.
(The Way and its Power)
His Philosophy
- Human influence creates unnatural action (wei) by shaping desires (yu)
- In a sense, saw humans as a blight on a perfect order
- Skeptical of our abilities to perceive and see the natural order of things
- Existential skepticism
- "What
is man's life for? What pleasure is there in it? Is it for beauty and
riches? Is it for sound and colour? But there comes a time when beauty
and riches no longer answer the needs of the heart, and when a surfeit
of sound and colour becomes a weariness to the eyes and a ringing in
the ears.” –Yang Chu
- Tranquility=Tao (The Way)
- All Striving/Action are in Vain, Counterproductive
- One should endeavor to do nothing (wu-wei)
- When
we act with spontaneity, we are acting in accordance with The Way.
Doing nothing means following the shape and flow of things and to not
pit oneself against the natural flow of things.
- By
“doing nothing”, one could accomplish everything The Tao abides in
non-action, Yet nothing is left undone. If kings and lords observed
this, The ten thousand things would develop naturally. If they still
desired to act, They would return to the simplicity of formless
substance. Without form there is no desire. Without desire there is
tranquillity. In this way all things would be at peace. –Lao Tzu
- Rejection of Confucian belief that we can regulate and control life.
Chuang Tzu (399 B.C.E.-295 B.C.E.)
- Self Transformation as central to Taoism
- Seeking Wealth and Glory are vain follies
- "Do
the heaven's revolve? Does the earth stand still? Do the sun and the
moon contend for their positions? Who has the time to keep them all
moving? Is there some mechanical device that keeps them going
automatically? Or do they merely continue to revolve, inevitably, of
their own inertia? "Do the clouds make rain? Or is it the rain that
makes the clouds? What makes it descend so copiously? Who is it that
has the leisure to devote himself, with such abandoned glee, to making
these things happen?"
- Reality and Appearance are Often Interchangeable/Indistinguishable
- "Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with
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| A Butterfly? A Man? |
myself, but I did not know that I was Tzu. Suddenly I awoke, and there
was I, visibly Tzu. I do not know whether it was Tzu dreaming that he
was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that he was Tzu. Between Tzu
and the butterfly there must be some distinction. [But one may be the
other.] This is called the transformation of things.
- Yin/Yang
- Balance
of Opposites in the Universe "It represents the balance of opposites in
the universe. When they are equally present, all is calm. When one is
outweighed by the other, there is confusion and disarray."
- Humans tend to unbalance Yin/Yang
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