Tao Te Ching (Daode Jing)

A philosophical classic by Lao-Tzu, the Tao Te Ching is the single most important text of Chinese Taoism. According to tradition, the sage composed its approximately 5, 000 words in the 6th century BC at the request of a gatekeeper who wanted a record of his teachings. The book is now considered to date from the 4th century BC. Laced with richly poetic imagery, it counsels balance, restraint, simplicity, and the avoidance of activity and desire as the means of achieving harmony with the natural currents of the Tao, or universal way. In ancient China Lao-tzu's thoughts rivaled those of Confucius in popularity, and his book has elicited hundreds of commentaries and translations.

- Grolier Academic Encyclopedia, Vol. 19, published by Grolier International 1983, P28

Taoism

Taoism, along with Confucianism, is one of the two major indigenous religio-philosophical traditions that have shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years.

In the broadest sense, a Taoist attitude toward life can be seen in the accepting and yielding, the joyful and carefree sides of the Chinese character, an attitude that offsets and complements the moral and duty-conscious, austere and purposeful character ascribed to Confucianism.

Taoism is also characterized by a positive, active attitude toward the occult and the metaphysical (theories on the nature of reality), whereas the agnostic, pragmatic Confucian tradition considers these issues of only marginal importance, although the reality of such issues is, by most Confucians, not denied.

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Viewed from this common tradition, orthodox Confucianism limited its field of interest to the creation of a moral and political system that fashioned society and the Chinese empire; whereas Taoism, inside the same world view, represented more personal and metaphysical preoccupations.

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In the case of Buddhism – a third tradition that influenced China – fundamental concepts such as the nonexistence of the individual ego and the illusory nature of the physical world are diametrically opposed to Taoism.

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Basic Concepts of Taoism

Man and the universe: Tao is a key term in all Chinese thoughts, including the Confucian. In common usage it means “way,” also the Way to be followed and, by extension, a code of behaviors and a doctrine. The philosophical notion of Tao expressed the religious sympathy and complete solidarity that unites nature and man.

In the magical arts that influenced Taoism, Tao designated the magic feat of bringing Heaven and Earth, the sacred powers and man, into communication with each other. In this sense, Tao was an art and a power, specifically the power of the magician and the King. Tao also was the universal force in the cosmos, expressed, in the human realm, in the power of the exemplary ruler. The “Way of the King (wang tao) consisted in periodical ritual actions intended to restore order in nature by imitating the “Way of Heaven” (t’ien tao).

This is what Lao-tzu called the Tao [tao, - my note] that can be named. He used the name Tao also, however, for the ineffable reality, experienced in ecstasy, that lies at the origin of the universe and behind or within appearances. This permanent Tao (ch’ang tao) comes nearest to what other religions and mysticisms call the Absolute.

The microcosm – macrocosm concept ….

Return to Tao

For society, any reform means a type of return to the remote past; civilization is considered a degradation of the natural order, and the ideal is the return to an original purity. For the individual, wisdom is to conform to the rhythm of the universe. The Taoist mystic, however, not only adapts himself ritually and physiologically to the alternations of nature but creates a void inside himself that permits him to return to nature’s origin. Lao-tzu, in trance, “wandered freely in the origin of all beings.” Thus, in ecstasy, he escaped the rhythm of life and death by contemplating the universal return. “Having attained perfect emptiness, holding fast to stillness, I can watch the return of the ever active Ten Thousand Beings,” the number 10,000 symbolizes totality.

Change and transformation … An [The, my note] unchanging unity (the permanent Tao) was seen as underlying the Kaleidoscopic plurality.

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- From the New Encyclopedia Britannica in 30 volumes, Macropedia, Knowledge in Depth 15th edition.