“I declare myself to be of those who from the darkness to the light aspire.” 

Last time I introduced  and offered some historical context for the second great figure in the development of Taoism, Zhuangzi. Today we will begin our investigation into his teachings with respect to ultimate reality which I think divides nicely into the following categories:

1. Epistemology
2. The nature of ultimate reality
3. Human participation in ultimate reality
4. Immortality

EPISTEMOLOGY

Zhuangzi’s epistemology comes down to three main principles: (1) the limits of language and the importance of perspective in the use of words, (2) the pitfalls of logic and human-developed knowledge, and (3) the absolute truth of Tao.

First Zhuangzi sees language as a tool of limited usefulness. Language functions to convey meaning, but the meaning of words used in language is not constant, but contextual and thus the truth of statements is perspectival and always must be qualified.² Consider the following humorous allegorical example:

“A bait is used to catch fish. When you have gotten the fish, you can forget about the bait. A rabbit trap is used to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, you can forget about the trap. Words are used to express meaning, when you understand the meaning, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a man who forgets about words to talk with him?”

Because of this variability of words’ meanings, he doubts the effectiveness of language to transmit profound thoughts and experiences. Therefore he urges us to be sparing of words (although he of course left some 100,000 behind!) and, needless to say, Tao is inexplicable in words.⁴

Second, Zhuangzi is critical of human logic. Logic as “ the explaining of the whole in terms of the part is a gigantic immodesty…the intellect can never avail to understand ultimate things.”⁵ Hu shih, a modern commentator, calls this the ‘logic of no-logic’ where must learn to evaluate only the whole.⁶ Zhuangzi uses the example of our distinction between opposites such as right and wrong or men and things which he tells us are false once the Tao is recognized.⁷ Relativity is not unequalness as all things follow the Tao, but since each thing varies as seen by self and by others, there is no absolute “this” or “that.” In the end Zhuangzi thinks logic is nonsense compared to experience of the Tao.⁹

Moreover philosophical problems are less due to the nature of things than limits of our thought – brains imprisoned relative to immensity of the cosmos.¹⁰ Philosophical disputation stimulates, but is futile.¹¹ Beauty, truth, morality and utility are relative between individuals and to each individual at different times.¹² This is compounded by errors of anthropomorphism;  Nature is the highest reality.¹³ The solution is to seek a mental state of clarity or ming.¹⁴

(continued next post)

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¹Quoted by Julian Marias in his book History of Philosophy, Dover Publications, New York, 1967, page x.

² McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, pages 22-24.

³Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 313.

⁴Durant, Will, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963. ISBN0-671-54800-X, pages 689-690.

⁵Ibid., page 690.

⁶Magill, Frank N. and McGreal, Ian P. (editors), Masterpieces of World Philosophy. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1990. ISBN 0-06-270051-0, page 101. I am reminded of The Empire Strikes Back when Yoda tells Luke “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

⁷Ibid., page 97.

⁸Ibid., page 98.

⁹ Palmer, Martin (translator), The Book of Chuang Tzu. Penguin Books, New York, 2006, ISBN-13; 978-0-140-45537-3, pages xx-xxi.

¹⁰Durant, Will, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963. ISBN0-671-54800-X, page 690.

¹¹McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 21.

¹²Ibid., page 23.

¹³Palmer, Martin (translator), The Book of Chuang Tzu. Penguin Books, New York, 2006, ISBN-13; 978-0-140-45537-3, page xxiv.

¹⁴McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 23.

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“This, too, is Nature’s way.”  

In our investigation of the Taoist concept of ultimate reality and its access points, we have already reviewed the I Ching and the Daodejing.  Both use the word Tao for that which underlies  the fundamental processes and order displayed in Nature including the constant of change. Tao is likewise for both that which generates and regulates the universe and its supreme triangle – Cosmos, Nature, and humankind – through Te (power or virtue). Optimal human participation in Tao depends on four factors:  (1) key virtues such as humility and selflessness, (2) conduct informed by philosophical inaction or limited prudent action (wu-wei), (3) synchronization with Nature and the Way, and (4) an internal turning and emptiness that makes room for the One and All. Within this existential edifice, one can locate the summum bonum of Taoism – the ‘sublime’ or the ‘subtle’ – and achieve the status of the Sage and an eternal existence akin to immortality through union with the Tao.

Our next great thinker in this tradition is Zhuangzi (Chuang Chou, Chuang Tzu, etc.) who, like Laozi, may be legendary. His dates are generally given as 370 BCE to about 285 B.C.E. According to Sima Qian, he lived in the Henan (Honan) province of China and was a minor official who resigned from government service and refused higher office thereafter. Some scholars consider him one of many eccentric recluses who challenged Confucian teaching during the Warring States Period.¹

The text itself, known as the Chuang Tzu, consists of 33 chapters of which only the first seven, the “inner chapters”, are thought to be by Zhuangzi’s own hand. The “outer chapters” (8-22) and the “miscellaneous chapters” (23-33) were most likely composed by later followers. Interestingly this expanded number of chapters is a reduction from the earlier 53 chapters through editing by Kuo Hsiang (died 312 C.E.). For the purpose of this blog, we will treat all of the extant text as original to Zhuangzi for our analysis.

While less aphoristic and more extended than the Daodejing, the Chuang Tzu presents a mix of parables, poetry, imaginary dialogues, and metaphorical stories rather than a methodologic system. Some experts see Zhuangzi’s work as an exploration and interpretation of the Daodejing, while others feel it is more original. Whatever the case, the text features sufficient epistemology, logic, analogy, and dialectic to delineate Zhuangzi’s philosophical thinking.

Next time we will pick up with his major points.

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¹Magill, Frank N. and McGreal, Ian P. (editors), Masterpieces of World Philosophy. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1990. ISBN 0-06-270051-0, page 97.

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Second Laozi is tells us that one gets closest to the Tao when one cultivates natural wisdom and follows the Tao. This is achieved through two modalities: (1) quietism or philosophical inaction based on the humble recognition that one’s ignorance of the intricacy and final direction of cosmic unfolding and (2) wu-wei or prudent action informed by an instinctual priority of yin over yang when intercession is necessary.

At last one may come to the highest excellence. For Laozi, Tao is logically prior to and above the world – in his words ‘subtle’ which appears to be interchangeable with the I Ching’s word, ‘sublime.’ By quietly contemplating and conforming to the Tao, one reaches apotheosis or enlightenment – the ‘subtle’. Laozi calls this human summit, the Sage, that is one who participates fully in ultimate reality as both the saint in his or her selflessness, sympathy, and humility, and the hero as the guarded wise actor in Nature who serves as a paradigm for others. This, I believe, is the second kind of change described in the I Ching – transformation.

Finally, the Sage also achieves immortality, not through striving to exist and prosper, but by endurance (‘persistence’ is the term in the I Ching) in new-found wisdom, tranquility, and concordance with the Way. Laozi therefore addresses the four fundamental pieces of the meaningful life I have proposed on this site– virtue, purpose, contentment, and participation in ultimate reality! Few other thinkers have been so comprehensive.

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³Who can miss the analogy with Hinduism’s karma ? A practical example may be modern overforesting with the consequences of global warming and loss of habitat for valuable species.

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“The thought has been constantly on my mind to find a religion that is acceptable to a scientist.”

We have now summarized the two most important foundational texts for Taoists, the I Ching and the Daodejing. This seems a good place to compare and collate them.

We remember that in the I Ching ultimate reality was a metaphysical mix disclosed in 64 ideograms: (1) cosmic order manifested as a mathematical harmony, (2) the fundamental principle that change is the only constant in the universe and manifested in two modalities – alternation and transformation, (3) the perpetual interplay of yin and yang, (4) the theory of opposites which interact in a manner analogous to magnetic fields, (5) the supreme triangle of Cosmos, Nature, and humankind, and (6) the ‘sublime’ as summum bonum. We also saw that the ethical paradigm in the I Ching entails four cardinal virtues: humility, truthfulness, perseverance, and synchronization with Nature and the Way or Tao.

Laozi appears to pick up with these principles, refining and remolding them into a more accessible and less symbolic system. Tao continues to be a convenient term for the ultimate reality underpinning a monistic metaphysics, which, while displayed in Nature, is wholly unfathomable. Tao generates the universe and its opposites (especially yin and yang) which are reciprocally defining and hence relative while only the Tao is undefinable and Absolute.

Tao, via its power or Te, also regulates the dynamic reversion (interchangeability) of the opposites thereby producing the eternal cycles of the universe, that instantiate the first kind of change in the I Ching – alternation. By this process and as that which turns all things from outward to inward, Te is the unifying force in the cosmos as well. In short Tao/Te informs the mathematical harmony of reality described by the I Ching. However it is worth pointing out that Tao is not God as person in either text.

Laozi never addresses the I Ching’s triad of Cosmos, Nature, and Humankind, but it is implied throughout his writing. A large part, if not the majority, of his text examines human conduct in the world. Laozi’s ethics is grounded in a natural morality, most succinctly described as modeling oneself on the Tao. He expands the virtues of the I Ching adding desirelessness, frugality, selflessness, sympathy, goodness, self-restraint (knowing when to stop), and finally spirituality (inward turning which blends the mind and spirit into a unity). This last virtue is achieved by harnessing the power of Te to actualize one’s natural potential for excellence² spontaneously and effortlessly summed up in the term wu-wei.  However this depends on one being empty – especially of desire and superfluous and erroneous knowledge – to make room for the ‘One in All and the All in One.’

(continued next post)

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¹Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 15.

²I am reminded of Aristotle’s belief that human ethics should be directed at human excellence.

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To know when you have enough is to be immune from disgrace,

To know when to stop is to be preserved from perils.

Only thus can you endure long.” ¹²

Describing Aristotelean-like prudence, Laozi warns the reader that following the Tao means recognizing what goods are sufficient for happiness and when cessation of action comports with noninterference in the course of nature. In addition, self-control with respect to desire and self-restraint with regard to actions are the two principles that bring about immortality and enlightenment.

“There is no crime greater than having too many desires;

There is no disaster greater than not being content;

There is no misfortune greater than being covetous.

Hence in being content, one will always have enough.”¹³

Laozi takes the near universal philosophical position: fulfilling desires does not lead to contentment; rather contentment originates inside oneself existentially and in turn paradoxically leads to freedom from desire.

 “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.”¹⁴

Personal virtue arises in the self, not from external things. Goodness is thus immune to external forces and need not be sought in the world.

“It has been said that he who is a good preserver of his life

Meets no tigers or wild buffaloes on land,

Is not vulnerable to weapons in the field of battle.

The horns of the wild buffalo are powerless against him;

The paws of the tiger are useless against him;

The weapons of the soldier cannot avail against him;

How is this so?

Because he is beyond death.”¹⁵

One who follows the Way – the path to virtue, goodness, and contentment – knows how to live and thereby becomes invulnerable to threats to one’s life. Immortality is not, at last, deathlessness, but a level of aliveness that transcends biological death.

“Sincere words are not sweet,

Sweet words are not sincere.

Good men are not argumentative,

The argumentative are not good.

The wise are not erudite,

The erudite are not wise.

The Sage does not take to hoarding.

The more he lives for others, the fuller is his life.

The more he gives, the more he abounds.

The Way of Heaven is to benefit, not to harm.

The Way of the Sage is to do his duty, not to strive with anyone.”¹⁶

In his final chapter, with the last words we will ever hear from him, Laozi leaves no doubt: the pinnacle of human existence is the Sage. And the Sage follows the Way seeking not knowledge, but wisdom; not contention, but harmony; not one’s own desires, but the benefit of others. Apotheosis, it turns out,  is found at the intersection of mysticism and humanism… in adherence to the Tao.

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¹²Wu, John C.H., Tao Te Ching. Shambala Publications, Boston & London, 2003, ISBN 1-57062-961-7, page 103 (Chapter 44).

¹³Lau, D.C. (translator), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1963 (reprint dated 1986), Page 107 (Chapter 46).

¹⁴Ibid., page 111 (Chapter 49).

¹⁵ Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 233 (Chapter 50).

¹⁶Wu, John C.H., Tao Te Ching. Shambala Publications, Boston & London, 2003, ISBN 1-57062-961-7, page 181 (Chapter 81).

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“Tao gives them birth,

Te fosters them.

Makes them grow, develops them,

Gives them a harbor, a place to dwell in peace,

Feeds them and shelters them.

   It gives them birth and does not own them,

  Acts (helps) and does not appropriate them,

  Is superior, and does not control them.

  -This is the Mystic Virtue.”⁷

Laozi introduces the virtuous power, Te, the operative force of Tao that unifies all of existence. This ‘Mystic Virtue’ is also models principles of human conduct which comport with Tao and foster the enlightenment of the sage.

“High Virtue is non-virtuous;

Therefore it has Virtue.

Low Virtue never frees itself from virtuousness;

Therefore it has no Virtue.

High Virtue makes no fuss and has no private ends to serve;

Low Virtue not only fusses but has private ends to serve.”⁸

Laozi is telling us that true virtue for humans is informed by Te, that is, action complementary with nature rather than through motivation to be virtuous according to the standards of human-defined morality.

“In the pursuit of learning one knows more every day; in the pursuit of the way one does less every day. One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone.”⁹

Here Laozi defines the path of natural virtue and provides the quintessential description of his concept of philosophical inaction. Next he explains what action comports with the Way.

“Do that which consists in taking no action; pursue that which is not meddlesome; savor that which has no flavor.

Make the small big and the few many; do good to him who has done you an injury.

Lay plans for accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult; make something big by starting when it is small.

Difficult things in the world must needs have their beginnings in the easy; big things must needs have their beginnings in the small.

Therefore it is because the sage never attempts to be great that he succeeds in becoming great.”¹⁰

We see that philosophical inaction is not in fact complete inactivity, but action limited to only that which is essential, perfectly timed, and based on wisdom derived from the knowledge of nature and the Tao.

“I have Three Treasures;

Guard them and keep them safe:

   The fist is Love.

   The second is, Never too much.

   The third is, Never be the first in the world.

Through Love, one has no fear;

Through not doing too much, one has amplitude (of reserve power);

Through not presuming to be first in the world,

One can develop one’s talent and let it mature.” ¹¹

Laozi reveals his greatest values are compassion, frugality, and unpretentious selflessness. These we understand direct his action and inaction.

(further continued next post)

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⁷ Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 242 (Chapter 51).

⁸Wu, John C.H., Tao Te Ching. Shambala Publications, Boston & London, 2003, ISBN 1-57062-961-7, page 85 (Chapter 38).

⁹Lau, D.C. (translator), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1963 (reprint dated 1986), Page 109 (Chapter 48).

¹⁰Ibid., page 124 (Chapter 68).

¹¹Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 291 (Chapter 67).

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I thought it might be worthwhile to extract and rearrange portions of the Daodejing to demonstrate the depth of Laozi’s wisdom which challenged even Confucius. Be aware I will choose among the three translations in my possession the version I find most consistent with my particular understanding of Laozi’s message.

We begin at the beginning:

“The Tao that can be told of

   Is not the Absolute Tao;

The Names that can be given

  Are not the Absolute Names.”¹

First we learn that the word Tao does not name a thing as such for Laozi, but only serves as a word referencing that which is responsible for the origin and processes of the universe.

“There was Something undefined and yet complete in itself,

   Born before Heaven-and-Earth.

Silent and boundless,

Standing alone without change,

Yet pervading all without fail,

It may be regarded as the Mother of the world.

I do not know its name;

I style it ‘Tao’

And, in the absence of a better word, call it ‘The Great.’ ”²

Laozi reiterates ultimate reality is incomprehensible, magnificent, and finally beyond any human label. We also hear a bit of his cosmology.

“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.”³

Mysteriously Tao originates being and non-being as well as the innumerable mutually sustaining opposites which underpin the world. Everything is explained by the Way.

“The way is empty, yet use will not drain it.” ⁴

The Tao is also paradoxically nothingness and infinity, without substance but inexhaustible.

“The way begets one; one begets two; two begets three; three begets the myriad creatures.

The myriad creatures carry on their backs the yin and embrace in their arms the yang and are the blending of the generative forces of the two.”⁵

We have an almost Biblical description of the arising of the universe, unified by the yin and the yang.

“Of old, these came to be in possession of the One:

Heaven in virtue of the One is limpid;

Earth in virtue of the One is settled;

Gods in virtue of the One have their potencies;

The valley in virtue of the One is full;

The myriad creatures in virtue of the One are alive;

Lords and princes in virtue of the One become leaders in the empire.

It is the One that makes these what they are.”⁶

Laozi again affirms the unity of the cosmos via the One, the Tao.

(continued next post)

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¹Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 41 (Chapter 1).

²Wu, John C.H., Tao Te Ching. Shambala Publications, Boston & London, 2003, ISBN 1-57062-961-7, page 53 (Chapter 25).

³Lau, D.C. (translator), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1963 (reprint dated 1986), Page 58 (Chapter 2).

⁴Ibid., page 60 (Chapter 4).

⁵Ibid., page 103 (Chapter 42).

⁶Ibid., page 100 (Chapter 39).

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Laozi guides us down the path of Te. It begins with adopting a natural morality: (1) hiding oneself in the lap of nature, (2) trustful acceptance of nature’s processes, and (3) the imitation of nature’s silent ways.¹⁰ One discovers the most effective way to solve problems or adversity is not by contention, but by yielding which does not mean submission or capitulation, but the taking of the “way” of least resistance.¹¹ Laozi tells us: “To hold first to the submissive is called strength.”¹² This includes knowing self-restraint and what it means to be truly content, especially by learning to abandon desires and to place oneself last. The lesson is almost Kantian: “A man can achieve his own happiness only by pursuing the happiness of others…”¹³

We revisit the Taoist paradox; outward inactivity and passivity (unseeming and unstriving), the absence of fixed purpose, and subjecting oneself to the Law permits the right outcome. “Do nothing and everything is done.”¹⁴ It turns out “Quiescence (philosophical inaction) is the Master of Motion.”¹⁵ But one must never forget: one deserves neither credit nor blame for the results of following the Way. On the contrary one is blameworthy for the bad outcomes when one fails to follow the way.¹⁶

Following Laozi’s guidance one can reach a state of contemplation that radiates virtue, the ‘Inner Princedom’ and the ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’¹⁷ Heaven is “within the deep realizations and secrecies of spirit.”¹⁸ One who connects to ultimate reality in this way achieves apotheosis and becomes according to Laozi – a sage – not a saint or a  hero as in the West, but perhaps a mixture of the two. The sage has deep knowledge of the Tao and of the cycle of life and death and thus enlightenment.¹⁹ In the end, the deep thinking and meditation of the sage allows one to model oneself on the Tao which is the ultimate goal of human life.

I end with two poignant quotes:

“Life is lived well only when man is completely in tune with the whole universe and his action is the action of the universe flowing through him.”²⁰

“To him in whom is this harmony, the secret of the Eternal is known, Wisdom is throned upon it.”²¹

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⁴Zaehner, R.C., Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions. Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1997. ISBN 0-76070-712-X, page 376.

⁵Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 347.

⁶Ibid., pages 349.

⁷Lau, D.C. (translator), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1963 (reprint dated 1986), Page 35.

⁸Koller, John M., Oriental Philosophies. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1970. ISBN 684-13668-6, page 237-238.

⁹Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 14.

¹⁰Durant, Will, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963. ISBN0-671-54800-X, page 652.

¹¹McGreal, Ian P. (editor), Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 11.

¹²Lau, D.C. (translator), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching. Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1963 (reprint dated 1986), Page 29.

¹³Ibid., pages 39-40.

¹⁴Yutang, Lin, The Wisdom of Laotse. The Modern Library, New York, NY, 1976. Page 12.

¹⁵Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 351.

¹⁶McGreal, Ian P. (editor), Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 12.

¹⁷Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Pages 352-353.

¹⁸Ibid., page 352.

¹⁹McGreal, Ian P. (editor), Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 14.

²⁰Koller, John M., Oriental Philosophies. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1970. ISBN 684-13668-6, page 237-233.

²¹Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 354.

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“The unnoticeable law of the earth preserves in the sufficiency of the emerging and perishing of all things, in the allotted sphere of the possible which everything follows, and yet nothing knows. The birch tree never oversteps its possibility. The colony of bees dwells in its possibility.”

In Part II, we examined ultimate reality as offered by Laozi in the Daodejing, particularly in Book 1, the Daojing. We discovered a monism there in which the absolute and inscrutable Tao originates the unitary cosmos which in turn cycles eternally between mutually defining opposites through the Tao’s governance within all things individually and collectively.

Today we delve into the Laozi’s description of human participation in Tao by examining the other great principle of his philosophy, Te. This word is translated at times as ‘Virtue’ and others as ‘Power.’ Perhaps we may grasp the concept best as the reciprocal convergence of the two words – that is, the ‘power arising from virtue’ and ‘virtuous power.’ Te can also be defined as the natural potential for excellence instilled within each and every thing including humans but which is actualized spontaneously and effortlessly without training or outside intervention.¹

What ethic is distilled from the Tao? It has two nuances. The first is ‘quiescence’ or the abstaining  from action. Laozi explains: good order is integral to the universe and alas, we at an early stage of intellectual and spiritual evolution and as such are not yet fit to fully use the double-edged sword of the gift of Knowledge. We understand only the first steps of the Way, and while we are part of the Law, we must not contravene its processes, but instead obey them in harmony and peace.²  Stillness and silence are the signs of this manifestation of Te.

The second nuance is wu wei which we may translate as both effortless activity and virtuosity (excellent action). Wu-wei is instinctual or intuitive activity which is in harmony with the world and free of self-consciousness, cultural influences, and excessive deliberation. Laozi uses the example of the simplicity and humility of a child, and the metaphor of the uncarved block of wood (that is, unchanged by external molding). Wu wei is also the harmonious mixture of yin and yang. Human excellence occurs when one spontaneously puts oneself last so that, as in the case of water, one’s actions benefit all, and thus most resemble the Way.  Mastery is indicated by perceptiveness, caution, unpretentiousness, spirituality, and sympathy for all things.³

(continued next post)

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¹McGreal, Ian P. (editor), Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 12.

²Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 344-346.

³Ibid., pages 347-353.

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Laozi tells us our differentiation of opposites is a kind of illusion founded limits on our knowledge. Since all manifest the Tao, no thing is greater than or entirely distinct from its obverse. Nevertheless he cautions that the search for greater knowledge of some imagined superior attribute or good (such as virtue or wealth) only works against the natural flow of existence. In the end, our striving for subjective preferences (including moral codes) arising from or developed through learning, rather than wisdom, results in disharmony.

Laozi offers the example of Heaven and Earth – important opposites neither of which is intrinsically benign or malignant – both being ultimately indifferent. The Tao, it turns out, is above benevolence and partiality. Amorally obeying the ‘Law’ (the Way) is the path to harmony and peace. Endurance, not striving, is the means to continuation. He also uses the powerful metaphor of water: “its excellence is seen in its benefiting all and occupying without dissent the lowest place which none chooses.”¹³ Here is revealed another tenet of Laozi’s philosophy, the priority of yin over yang, the passive over the active.

In summary, Laozi’s monist ultimate reality is a unitary cosmos, eternally cycling between mutually defining opposites originating from and governed by the immanent, absolute, and inscrutable Tao within everything. We are left with much to think about!

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¹⁰ McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 14.

¹¹Magill, Frank N. and McGreal, Ian P. (editors), Masterpieces of World Philosophy in Summary Form. Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1961. Page 113.

¹² McGreal, Ian P. (editor) Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-06-270085-5, page 14.

¹³Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 347.

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