TAOISM Chp2

^AWith this background in mind, let us look at Taoism’s most famous book, the Daodejing (Tao De Ching) which all Taoists of whatever sort claim as their main source of inspiration and which is surely the most important Taoist text so far as we Westerners are concerned. ^top

^BThe book is very short – around 5000 characters or words. It is traditionally said to have been written by Laozi, about whom nothing concrete is known. In Chinese “lao” simply means “old” and “zi” means either master, as we saw earlier, or it can mean “son” or “boy” so Laozi might mean “old master” or “old boy.” The tradition is that when Laozi became fed up with the clumsy and corrupt bureaucratic mismanagement by government officials he left China heading westward on an ox (or water buffalo). When he reached the far Western border the border guard Yin Xi recognized him and pleaded with Laozi not to leave or if he must leave at least to leave behind some written document of his teachings. The story goes that Laozi sat down right there at the border and composed the Daodejing. ^top

^CThe Daodejing has traditionally been thought of by Chinese as a very ancient book, far older than Zhuangzi or even Confucius’s Lun Yu (Analects). In many Taoist temples throughout China there are murals depicting a young Confucius sitting at the feet of a very old Laozi. As we will discover later, one Taoist tradition even claims that when Laozi left China heading West on his ox he actually wound up in India where he instructed one very special student -- Sakyamuni Gautama Siddartha, the original Buddha!

Under the reign of King Huan, I [Laozi] ordered Yin Xi [the guardian of the western border pass] to stride on the essence of the moon and descend to India. There he entered the mouth of the wife of King Suddhodana. Taking refuge in her, he was born and named Siddharta. Rejecting his position as crown prince, he went into the mountains and cultivated the Tao. He realized the highest Tao and duly was called the Buddha.... In the time of King Kiang, I [Laozi] again returned to Middle Kingdom [i.e., China]. Teaching and converting the people of the world, I gave Confucius his law of rites and righteousness. (From Laozi’s Ascension to the West and Conversion of the Barbarians)

In fact Laozi’s book is written in the style of a very ancient book, much of it in the form of an ancient ritual chant: “Tao ke Tao fei chang Tao; ming ke ming fei chang ming” (“The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao; the name of this Tao is not really a name.”) Since the Chinese tend to think that the older the better, this antique style gives the book a kind of prestige. But most scholars today are convinced that the book is actually fairly late among philosophical texts – written (or put together) long after Confucius and even after Zhuangzi – probably in the 3rd century BC just before the unification of China under the Chin regime. ^top

Figure 16: Confucius meeting Lao Tzu, by Shih K'ang (Yuan dynasty)
image provider http://www2.kenyon.edu

^DIt is significant, for example, that many of Laozi’s verses seem to directly attack Confucianism, suggesting that the book came later than Confucianism. This dating may also help explain why much of the Daodejing is political in tone, apparently addressed to the ruler. When the feudal order, which had been decaying for hundreds of years (the Warring States period), finally came to an end with the Chin victory over its one remaining rival, a new imperial, military order was established which called for new methods and ideas of how to govern. As typically happens in times like these, individuals (often called “philosophers”) arise with advice for the new rulers (advice which the rulers seldom take very seriously). Confucianists urged the new rulers to find a new foundation for the old moral order of the feudal period – a new foundation based on universal moral education (based in turn on a theory of a universal human nature shared by all human beings) and government based on traditional feudal virtues (which Confucianists argued turned out to be those virtues required by our common human nature for anyone and any society to be happy and successful). The Mohists (followers of Mo Ti) argued that a better approach was to abandon the old ways in favor of a principle of universal love – if everyone loved other people, families, ethnic groups, and regions as much as they loved their own families, ethic groups, and regions, the whole world would better off and better governed. The Legalists urged the ruler to do whatever he liked so long as he could back this up by a firmly enforced system of laws. The Taoists supported the idea that the least government was often the best. ^top

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