Daoism
Daoism developed, along with Confucianism, during the Warring States period of Chinese history, from the 5th to the 3rd centuries bc. This was one of the times when China’s usually strong central government was weak and civil wars were frequent among feudal lords of small Chinese states. Taoist philosophy was a reaction against the chaotic violence and the arbitrary laws and strict social hierarchy in the states. It encouraged people to seek harmony with nature and with other human beings through a simple life and through calm meditation on the unity underlying all things in the universe.
The early Taoist philosophers were a relatively small number of sages, such as Yang Zhu (Yang Chu); Laozi (Lao-tzu), the legendary founder of Taoism; Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu), Laozi’s disciple; and Liezi (Lieh-tzu). Their philosophy is expressed chiefly in two texts: the poetic Daodejing (Tao-te Ching) and the Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu). The Daodejing, translated as the “Book of the Dao and the De” or the “Classic Book of the Way and Its Virtue,” has traditionally been attributed to Laozi. The Zhuangzi, essays elaborating the Daodejing, is named after the author of its first seven chapters.Taoist philosophy is based on the Dao or Tao, an ancient Chinese concept that means “way,” “path,” or “natural working of the universe.” Taoists consider the Tao an original Oneness in things, an eternal underlying foundation of being from which the many parts of the universe continuously spring and into which they continuously return. The process occurs by means of the De, or energy, of the Dao.
Taoists explain the operation of the De in terms of two other ancient Chinese principles: the dark, negative, female yin and the bright, positive, male yang. They believe the two opposing forces of yin and yang combine in different proportions to produce all the endlessly varied things in the universe, before these things return once more into the Dao.According to Taoist thought, human beings are an integral part of the universe and, by nature, are in harmony with its operations. Unfortunately, they have fallen from this condition into self-assertive, aggressive, competitive actions that lie outside the natural harmony of all things. Thus, the ills of the world are produced. People perform inconsiderate and harmful acts toward their neighbours. As they organize into societies, through turbulent competition a few grow wealthy and many are forced into poverty. Oppressive rulers develop, and laws seek to regulate the citizens by defining socially undesirable acts as crimes. Communities and societies located close to one another compete, causing war. Taoists believed that most of the organized efforts to correct the situation—including the codes developed by Confucius and Mozi (Mo-Tzu) to regulate society, learning, or virtuous actions—simply added to the disharmony by their aggressive striving to shape people’s actions.
The only true solution, in the Taoist view, must begin with the individual’s conscious refusal to participate in the turbulent, aggressive, and assertive ways of life. This refusal is called wuwei (“not doing”). Wise individuals, then, seek to fulfill their potential harmony with the Dao by a quiet and sensitive contemplation of the natural tendency in things, making their life like a smooth-flowing river, clear and undisturbed in its movement. They try always to do only as much as their natural impulse requires, never straining for further achievement. They relate to other people in a spirit of natural kindness, tolerance, and humility, never striving to dominate themTaoists who become leaders leave their people free, so each one can fulfill his or her individual nature. The highest social organization desired by Taoists was a small state containing isolated and independent villages of free individuals who would not compete with other villages or states for land or trade and who would thus not feel the need for war
The Taoists felt that by being relatively inactive and humble, like the Dao, the individual will be most truly active and in control, as the Dao is. “The Dao is ever inactive, and yet there is nothing it does not do.” “The way of Heaven is not to contend and yet to be able to conquer.” The calm contemplative life led by believers sometimes included meditation that led to a mystical experience of union with the Dao. Taoist sages often withdrew to lonely mountain retreats for more solitary contemplation. Throughout Chinese history, Daoism inspired gentle, mystically inclined individuals, including many of China’s greatest painters and poets.
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