Are Ideas and Words Sufficient to Understand and Communicate Religious Truths?

Taoism

Journal Reflection 3 is due no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT.

Are ideas and words sufficient to understand and communicate religious truths?

Many of Jesus’ parables and teachings go against normal ways of thinking and acting. People were shocked, even offended by them. Do most have the wrong ideas and values? Are conventional ideas and values actually bad, even dangerous?

What is a human being’s true identity? To what degree does society form our identity? Is this our “true” identity, or is it something else?

“Does society always and inevitably corrupt? Are individuals better off without social structures and conventions?

What qualities signify a great leader?

Objectives

When you complete this module, you should be able to:

•Explain Taoism’s origins in relationship to Confucianism.

•Summarize the teachings of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching.

•Discuss the differences between Chuang Tzu, philosophical and religious Taoism, and Ko Hung.

•Identify salient features of contemporary Taoism and Taoism in the modern world.

•Summarize the origins, beliefs, and practices of Shinto.

The Tao is the Answer

At the same time as Confucius, others were offering alternative solutions to China’s problems. They believed that knowing and living in harmony with the Tao (pronounced Dow) was the answer. Confucius identified the Tao with the virtues and practices of an earlier, pristine and golden age of Chinese civilization. Others were saying that the Tao lies elsewhere.

The Tao is an ancient Chinese concept of ultimate reality, the source, sustainer, and force behind all things. Tao literally means something like “way”, but it has different specific meanings. It can mean the “way” of ultimate reality or the divine, similar to the use of the “word” (or logos) in Greek philosophy and the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Tao can also mean the “way of the cosmos” or “way of nature.” It can also have the more individual connotation of “way of life” or “way to personal liberation.”

Early Taoism

The first Taoists were individualists who abandoned society as hopelessly lost. They viewed social life as burdensome, weighing people down with duties and obligations to family and others. These cause more unhappiness than happiness. They saw the Tao as the way of nature, uncorrupted by human culture. Hence they took to living as self-sufficient hermits in the woods, seeking their own happiness, freedom, and peace by living alone in harmony with nature:

"Po-ch'eng Tzu-kao [as feudal lord] refused to pluck one hair out of his head to benefit things. He gave up his kingdom and became a hermit farmer....Men of antiquity did not prefer to sacrifice one single hair to benefit the world. Nor did they choose to have the world support them. If everyone refrains from sacrificing even a single hair and if everyone refrains from benefiting the world, the world will be in order" (Yang Tzu qtd. in Wing-Sit Chan 310).

What do you think? Is society good or bad for the individual? Are the duties and conventions of Confucian a help or hindrance to people? Why? Consider these things as you read and journal this week.

Wing-Sit Chan, ed. and trans.A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963. Print

Zhuang Tzu and Philosophical Taoism

Over time, those in the Daoist movement started to reflect on their beliefs and practices to produce a more systematic set of doctrines (Creed). Zhuang Tzu was in all likelihood a historical figure who lived in the late 300s BC. For Zhuang Tzu, people are trapped in false identities constructed by society. Our true identity and worthy is not in artificially constructed relationships of power, wealth, and prestige. The good life is not in having, but in being—being in natural unity with all things.

Our ideas and language wrongly divide the unbroken unity and non-duality of the Tao in all things. The Tao is mysterious and cannot be contained in word and concepts. The Tao is infinite, unformed potentiality. It is emptiness, not content. This means that human culture is artificial and produces an illusion of division when all is actually One. Even conventional morality that distinguishes between right and wrong is misguided.

What do you think? Is our sense of individuality and separation from everything else misguided? Is our ego socially constructed? Consider these topics for your journaling this week.

Wrongly Dividing the One Tao

"There is nothing that is not so-and-so. There is nothing that is not all right. ...The Tao identifies them all as one” (qtd. in Wing-Sit Chan 184).

"How can the Tao be so obscured that there should be distinction of true and false? How can speech be so obscured that there should be a distinction of right and wrong? Where can you go and find Tao not to exist? …Tao is obscured by petty biases and speech is obscured by flowery expressions" (qtd. in Wing-Sit Chan 182).

"There is nothing that is not the 'that' and there is nothing that is not the 'this.'…the 'that' is produced by the 'this' and the 'this' is also caused by the 'that.' This is the theory of mutual production….When 'this' and 'that' have no opposites there is the very axis of Tao. Only when the axis occupies the center of a circle can things in their infinite complexities be responded to. The right is an infinity. The wrong is also an infinity" (qtd. in Wing-Sit Chan 183).

Wing-Sit Chan, ed. and trans. A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963. Print.

Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu’s existence is more in doubt than Zhuang Tzu’s. To Lao Tzu is attributed the famous Taoist text, the Tao Te Ching (pronounced Dow De Jing). The Tao Te Ching is primarily a work in political philosophy. Variously translated, the title means something like “The Book (Jing) of the Way (Tao) and the Power (De).”

Central to the book are paradoxes to offer social and political lessons. The world is in a constant of state of change. The world is fluid and plastic, not fixed and concrete. Our fixation is the problem. These paradoxes are meant to “throw us off,” to give a sense of vertigo. The way of nature, the Tao, is also one of mutual interaction and reciprocity. We yield to the world and to each other, contributing to one another and being changed bit by bit.

Wei Wu Wei

According to the Tao Te Ching, yielding, not power, is the way of the Dao. Passively going with the flow is better and more effective than actively resisting. The Dao moves and causes all things by “acting without acting.” This seems like inaction, being acted upon, but it is not. Passively going with the flow, the Dao moves everything by a hidden and flexible power. Passive “going with the flow” is really the most powerful form of action. It is also hidden.

“The Way (Dao) never acts yet nothing is left undone” (Tao Te Ching, verse 81)

“One who seeks knowledge learns something new every day.

One who seeks the Tao unlearns something new every day.

Less and less remains until you arrive at non-action.

When you arrive at non-action,

Nothing will be left undone” (Tao Te Ching, verse 108)

This weiwuwei (“acting not acting”) is a central theme of Taoism. The sage in step with the Tao “goes with the flow,” thereby acting effortlessly. Thus acting, one experiences no friction in life because one is perfectly well-adjusted.

The Dao and the Ruler

The Tao Te Ching is instructing rulers during China’s Warring States period. It urges rulers to act as the Dao does: leading and influencing others by “active non-action.” Lead passively and in a hidden way, not with active and open force:

“Mastery of the world is achieved by letting things take their natural course. You cannot master the world by changing the natural way” (Tao Te Ching, verse 109)

"Desiring to lead the people, one must follow behind them" (Tao Te Ching, verse 160)

“The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist” (Tao Te Ching, verse 39)

“When he (the wise ruler) has accomplished his task, the people say: ‘Amazing!

We did it all by ourselves’!" (Tao Te Ching, verse 41)

This natural activity will inevitably replace strife and war with peace and harmony.

The Futility of Words and Concepts

The opening verses of the Tao Te Ching are notoriously difficult to translate, but literally go something like this: "Way way no Way; Name name no Name." This expresses the Daoist view of the wrong-headedness of thinking that ultimate reality can be named logically and discussed simply like anything else without distorting what one is discussing. The Dao is mysterious, evading every word and concept. For this reason Tao Te Ching is replete with rich symbolism and imagery, calling itself a “teaching without words” (verse 99).

The Futility of Words and Concepts

The opening verses of the Tao Te Ching are notoriously difficult to translate, but literally go something like this: "Way way no Way; Name name no Name." This expresses the Daoist view of the wrong-headedness of thinking that ultimate reality can be named logically and discussed simply like anything else without distorting what one is discussing. The Dao is mysterious, evading every word and concept. For this reason Tao Te Ching is replete with rich symbolism and imagery, calling itself a “teaching without words” (verse 99).

Shinto

Shinto is the prehistoric native religion of Japan. Its beliefs and practices are ancient, but they were not formally written down and codified until the Middle Ages when literacy came to Japan through Buddhist missionaries. Shinto is essentially a form of Animism or belief in myriad spirits, called “Kami,” everywhere, who influence human affairs for well-being or for woe. Shinto cult focuses primarily on dealing with the spirits, in order to gain their favor and blessing. Shinto shrines include shiny and elongated objects, which are thought to attract the Kami. Metal, precious stones, and loud noises are thought attract the Kami. So, for instance, Shinto priests—who alone can enter the shrines and ring a bell to draw the Kami.

Shinto 2

As in many places in the Far East, from ancient times women served as mediums for communication with these spirits. Women shamans, called “Miko” in Japan, practiced focus medicine, divination, communication with the spirits, and exorcisms. Sociologists of religion have identified this as one of the many ways in which marginalized and oppressed groups—women, minorities, the poor—exercised power and influence in the religious realm because they were barred from such power and influence elsewhere in society.

Shinto also has a set of myths to answer ultimate questions, such as the origin of the world and of humanity. In one myth, Japan was created by a god who dipped his spear in mud, and the mud that dripped from the end of the spear formed the Japanese islands.

REL 223 Module 5 AVP Script

Taoism

Slide 1

Welcome to our presentation on Taoism.

Slide 2

Slide title: The Emergence of Taoism

Slide content:

Text:

 Critique of Confucianism

 Society is Corrupt

 Return to Unadulterated Nature

Image: cave painting of Asian warriors

Narrator: Taoism emerged as a diverse movement during China’s Warring States Period (475 BC – 221 BC). The movement agreed that the current chaos was due to the values Confucianism was promoting. They all saw the Tao, not as the ethical, social, and political ways of ancient Chinese civilization, but rather as the way of nature; unadulterated by human customs, societal structures, and values. For the Taoists, Confucianism was the problem, not the solution.

Slide 3

Slide title: Schools of Taoism

Slide content:

Text:

 Diverse movement with fundamental similarities but different emphases

 Difficulty in identifying distinct “schools” of Taoism

Image: ancient Chinese coins with kanji symbols

Narrator: All Taoists drew upon older Chinese religion and advocated a return to the Tao as the way of nature, not of social convention. They differed, though, in their beliefs about what the Tao is and how to live in harmony with it.

The schools of Taoism exemplify the problem of drawing clear boundaries between religious traditions. They differed in in their beliefs (Creed), ethics (Code), practices (Cult) and institutional structures, or lack thereof (Community). With caution, Religious Studies scholars identify three somewhat distinct schools of Taoism, with fundamental similarities but different emphases.

Slide 4

Slide title: Hedonistic Taoism: Rejecting Social Conventions

Slide content: No text

Image: lit candles and incense in a Chinese temple

Narrator: We saw how troubled times in ancient China led some to leave society and seek truth and happiness in the forests. During the Warring States Period, some in China took a similar track. The earliest Taoists saw society as hopelessly lost. Society involves burdensome obligations to family and others. These, in turn, cause pain and suffering for the individual. Confucian duties and social protocols added fuel to the fire. The first Taoists wanted to return to nature, and so abandoned society, living as hermits in the woods. In these ways they bear similarities to eighteenth-century European Romanticism (Jean Jacques Rousseau) and nineteenth-century American Transcendentalism (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Because society was corrupt beyond hope, they advocated a rugged individualism, seeking to “save themselves.” Their cardinal values were seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Their name comes from the Greek word Hedone, meaning pleasure. They did not seek only physical pleasure, though, but also mental, emotional, and spiritual pleasure. Their goal was individual happiness, holistically considered. Living alone in nature was “the way.”

Yong Zih summarized their views: "What is life for? What pleasure is there? For beauty and abundance, that is all. For music and sex, that is all."1

11 Wing-Sit Chan, tr. and ed. A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton University Press, 1963), 310.

Slide 5

Slide title: Philosophical & Mystical Taoism

Slide content:

No text

Image: yin-yang symbol

Narrator: This alternative to Confucianism soon took an intellectual turn. Some developed a complex metaphysical system for understanding and teaching Taoist beliefs. The system incorporated Pre-Axial Chinese ideas like Ji (energy, “Chi”), De (power, “Te”), Yin and Yong, and the five elements. This became the “philosophical” or “mystical” Taoist school, with ZhwongZhi and LaowZhi (Lao Tzu) as the most famous representatives.

ZhwongZhi (300s BC) formalized the attack on Confucian duties and virtues. He vigorously argued that the Tao is exactly the opposite of the manmade and artificial structures of society. Manmade artificial impositions on nature do not help, but rather harm us. “Less is more.” By breaking free of society’s numerous false constructs, one can attain peace, happiness, and harmony through unity with Tao.

The Tao is ultimate reality underlying, sustaining, and moving everything. The divine Tao is everywhere, but is seen most clearly in unadulterated nature. Knowledge of, and union with, the Tao is the religious goal.

Slide 6

Slide title: Philosophical Taoist Techniques

Slide content: No text

Image: Chinese woman meditating

Narrator: To achieve this goal, the philosophical Taoists advocated self-discipline of body and mind through meditation and yoga. Scholars debate whether these practices developed independently or under the influence of Indian religion. Either way, there are many parallels between Chinese and Indian mysticism. The now popular discipline of Dai Ji (Tai Chi) originated in this context. Through such mystical practices the philosophical Taoists sought a return to the natural state of balance and harmony with nature and the Tao.

ZhwongZhi advocated a sort of meditation in which the mind become silent. Social life floods the mind with ideas and worries, obscuring one’s true nature. Through reflection and meditation, the wise person overcomes the artificial distinction between one’s ego and the rest of reality. Only by shutting off one’s senses and cutting off distractions caused by other people and society, can one realize this. This non-dual unity with the Tao also results in supernatural powers.

Slide 7

Slide title: Paradoxes in the Tao Te Ching

Slide content: No text

Image: Chinese character from the tao/dao

Narrator: Lao Tzu, the legendary author of the Tao De Jing applied philosophical Taoism to politics and leadership. His ideal of passive “acting without acting” formed a stark contrast to the power and coercion of Chinese warring feudal lords. Most people think that hard, active, visible force is true power. That passive “active non-acting” is true power is counterintuitive and paradoxical. The Tao is in lowly, hidden and humble places, not high, prominent, and proud places. The Tao overturns conventional values and expectations. The Tao De Jing uses a number of metaphors and symbols to express the paradoxical values of the Tao.