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NOTES Excerpts from

TAO TE CHING

Introduction to the Taoism and the Tao Te Ching

The Chinese word tao (pronounced "dao") means the Way. Confucians used the term tao

to speak of the way human beings ought to behave in society. In other words, tao, forthem, was an ethical or moral way. From the point of view of Taoism, however, the

Confucian concept oftao was too limited. Taoists preferred to understand the tao as the

Way of nature as a whole. They believed that Confucians, by insisting on a purely human

way, exaggerated the importance of man and failed to pay attention to the lessons which

Nature has to offer about time and change, gain and loss, the useful and the useless.

The basic idea of the Taoists was to enable people to realize that, since human life is

really only a small part of a larger process of nature, the only human actions which

ultimately make sense are those which are in accord with the flow of nature. Their

sensitivity to the way of nature prompted them to reject human ideas or standards which

might lead to an overly assertive mode of behavior or too strong a commitment to the

achievement of worldly goals. For Taoists, such unnatural assertiveness was the root

cause of violence and aggression.

Their solution to the problem of how human beings should behave is expressed in the

typically Taoist doctrine of wu wei or non-action. This did not mean doing absolutely

nothing but doing nothing unnatural, nothing that was out of keeping with the Tao.

Taoists characteristically favored the spontaneous and the simple. One of their favorite

images was that of the uncarved block(puh). Suggesting a block of wood which is uncut

and uncrafted, the uncarved block is associated with an original simplicity and wholeness

which is purely natural. From a Taoist point of view, Confucian concern with civilization,

culture and moral cultivation reflected a bias toward artificiality and toward unnecessary

and arbitrary distinctions. Since morality came into being only after distinctions began to

be made by human beings, and among them, it is far inferior to spontaneous conformity

to the tao.

What Confucians regarded as essential to being human - the practice of ritual (li) - the

Taoists saw as just so much contrivance and arrogant insistence on the man-made as

opposed to the natural. They advocated that, rather than dwelling on the practice of

ritual, each individual should cultivate his own te, the virtue or power that is received

from the Tao.

One of the most important figures in the shaping of classical Taoism is that of Lao Zi,

which simply means "the elder" or "the old man." Nothing certain is known of him. Some

accounts of Lao Zi suggest that he lived in the sixth century BCE and that Confucius

actually visited him in search of philosophical advice. However, there is no real evidence

to support this view, and recent historians have tended to believe that most of the stories

surrounding him are purely legendary. One legend about Lao Zi has it that toward the endof his life he left China for the West. As he was passing through the gates at the border,

the gatekeeper begged him to write something to leave behind. Complying with this

request, Lao Zi is supposed to have written the eighty-one chapters of a book called the

Tao Te Ching, one translation of which is The Way and Its Power.

Note on translation

Dont be confused when you encounter tao and dao. They are the same word, only

translated using different systems. In the older system called the Wade-Giles, you would

see tao, Tao Te Ching, and Lao Tzu. In the newer Pinyin, it is dao, Daodejing, and Lao Zi.

We prefer the Pinyin, unless the term has grown so popular under the Wade-Giles.

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Guide Questions (use the following to guide your reading)

1. Describe the Way. What is it like? What is the natural state of the world?2. The popular symbol of Taoism is the tajitu oryin yang. How do we see this in their philosophy?3. Note the ways Taoism differs from Confucianism. In what ways do they completely disagree?4. How does non-action accomplish everything that needs to be done?5. Explain the significance of water in Taoist philosophy.

Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching (as translated by DC Lau)

2

The whole world recognizes the beautiful as the beautiful, yet this is only the ugly;

the whole world recognizes the good as the good, yet this is only the bad.

Thus Something and Nothing produce each other;

The difficult and the easy complement each other;

The long and the short off-set each other;

The high and the low incline towards each other;

Note and sound harmonize with each other;

Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practises the

teaching that uses no words.

The myriad creatures rise from it yet it claims no authority;

It gives them life yet claims no possession;

It benefits them yet exacts no gratitude;

It accomplishes its task yet lays claim to no merit.

It is because it lays claim to no merit

That its merit never deserts it.

3

Not to honor men of worth will keep the people from contention;

not to value goods which are hard to come by will keep them from theft;

not to display what is desirable will keep them from being unsettled of mind.

Therefore in governing the people, the sage empties their minds but fills their bellies,

weakens their wills but strengthens their bones.

He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the

clever never dare to act.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

17

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

Next comes the ruler they love and praise;

Next comes one they fear;

Next comes one with whom they take liberties.

When there is not enough faith, there is lack of good faith.

Hesitant, he does not utter words lightly.

When his task is accomplished and his work done

The people all say, 'It happened to us naturally.'

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19

Exterminate the sage, discard the wise,

And the people will benefit a hundredfold;

Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,

And the people will again be filial;

Exterminate ingenuity, discard profit,

And there will be no more thieves and bandits.

These three, being false adornments, are not enough

And the people must have something to which they can attach themselves:

Exhibit the unadorned and embrace the uncarved block,

Have little thought of self and as few desires as possible.

41

When the best student hears about the way

He practises it assiduously;

When the average student hears about the way

It seems to him there one moment and gone the next;

When the worst student hears about the wayHe laughs out loud.

If he did not laugh

It would be unworthy of being the way.

Hence the Chien yen has it:

The way that is bright seems dull;

The way that is forward seems to lead backward;

The way that is even seems rough.

The highest virtue is like the valley;

The sheerest whiteness seems sullied;

Ample virtue seems defective;

Vigorous virtue seems indolent;

Plain virtue seems soiled;The great square has no corners.

The great vessel takes long to complete;

The great note is rarefied in sound;

The great image has no shape.

The way conceals itself in being nameless.

It is the way alone that excels in bestowing and in accomplishing.

49

The sage has no mind of his own.

He takes as his own the mind of the people.

Those who are good I treat as good.

Those who are not good I also treat as good.

In so doing I gain in goodness.

Those who are of good faith I have faith in.

Those who are lacking in good faith I also have faith in.

In so doing I gain in good faith.

The sage in his attempt to distract the mind of the empire seeks urgently to muddle it.

The people all have something to occupy their eyes and ears, and the sage treats them all

like children.

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57

Govern the state by being straightforward;

Wage war by being crafty;

But win the empire by not being meddlesome.

How do I know that it is like that?

By means of this.

The more taboos there are in the empire

The poorer the people;

The more sharpened tools the people have

The more benighted the state;

The more skills the people have

The further novelties multiply;

The better known the laws and edicts

The more thieves and robbers there are.

Hence the sage says,

I take no action and the people are transformed of themselves;

I prefer stillness and the people are rectified of themselves;I am not meddlesome and the people prosper of themselves;

I am free from desire and the people of themselves become simple like the uncarved

block.

75

The people are hungry:

It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes

That the people are hungry.

The people are difficult to govern.

It is because those in authority are too fond of action

That the people are difficult to govern.

The people treat death lightly:It is because the people set too much store by life

That they treat death lightly.

It is just because one has no use for life that one is wiser than the man who values life.

78

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water.

Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.

This is because there is nothing that can take its place.

That the weak overcomes the strong,

And the submissive overcomes the hard,Everyone in the world knows yet no one can put this knowledge into practice.

Therefore the sage says,

One who takes on himself the humiliation of the state

Is called a ruler worthy of offering sacrifices to the gods of earth and millet.

One who takes on himself the calamity of the state

Is called a king worthy of dominion over the entire empire.

Straightforward words seem paradoxical.