Religious
Studies 1006-A
Group:
Nina Paris
Christine
Martell
Hiedi Irvine
Mike Gillingham
Alexia Meade
Greg LeFebvre
Taoism
Request for feedback:
Please feel free to let us know if the
following
piece flows well, if we were clear and precise on what we were trying
to say,
and if there is anything that anyone would like us to elaborate on.
Nina
Paris:
Taoism is both a philosophy as well
as a religious practice. Apparently, the philosophical Taoism ranged
from the
There are distinguishable
differences between the philosophy and the religion. Even still they
are quite
close. “…religious Taoism did not break with fundamental conceptions of
the
philosophers, although it remains true that these concepts were much
transformed.” (vol.14 289) As in any religion, over the years the
ideals stay
the same while the interpretation may change.
The Tao-te Ching, most likely
written by Lao-tzu, is the most recognizable piece of writing in the
Taoist
tradition. Lao-tzu is believed by many to be the founder of Taoism but
we
cannot be sure.
Christine
Martell:
The Life and
Times Of Lao Tzu
Lao
Tzu (570-490) was a Chinese philosopher, and the founder of Taoism.
Historians
speculate that the details of Lao Tzu’s life are very hard to know so
writing
the biography of Lao Tzu would be equally as difficult. It is also very
difficult to know the exact details of his life because they are
surrounded by
many legends. There are so many legends about him, in fact, that it is
hard to
separate fact from fiction. Some believe he was only a myth but for
many there
is a belief that Lao Tzu’s life and the events that surrounded his life
are authentic.
Historians have found many different identities for him, not to mention
the
various books that explain what he has done and show images of his
human face.
Lao Tzu was not a beast or any other form of a being and there is proof
that he
was a man who walked the earth.
Every legend and every hypothesis
all place him in
There are many different legends
that have been told of how the Tao-te Ching was written and produced.
One of
the legends says that when he arrived at his new residence in the
mountains Lao
Tzu “transmitted his teachings to a boarder guard who subsequently
compiled the
Lao Tzu, also titled the Tao-Te ching [Classic of the Way and Virtue]” (AllRefer.com). Another
and more elaborate legend says that
at the age of 160, Lao Tzu became increditably horrified and disgusted
with the
way of the Chou dynasty. It is written that he rode a chariot pulled by
a black
ox and Yin Hsi told Loa Tzu that he must write a book for him. It was
then and
there that Lao Tuz “wrote the 5,000 character book which is called The
Tao Te
Ching.” (Welch PG 2). Depending on
the
legend, there are variations on how these particular events surrounding
the
writing took place, but they all have the same writer and the Tao-te
ching was
created as a result.
The specific date of his birth is
unknown but scholars place his birth between 600 and 300 B.C.E. There
are few
accounts of what actually happened, but one in particular is that which
is
written in Holmes Welch’s book “Taoism: The Parting of the Way”. It
reveals an
interesting legend of Taoism and Lao Tzu.
It tells of a mother who gave birth by a plum tree and “He had
been
conceived some sixty- two years before when his mother had admired a
falling
star, and after so many years in the womb, he was able to speak as soon
as he
was born.” (Welch). Pointing to the very plum tree where he was born he
declared “I take my surname from this tree.” (Welch).
But as a result of his hair being white at
this young age he was named Lao Tzu roughly translated “Old Boy”.
Upon leaving his position as a
curator and living in the mountains he had no desire to build a school
but
people came anyway and eventually became his disciples. He refused to
set his
ideas down in writing because he believed that “written words might
solidify
into formal dogma. He wanted his philosophy to remain a natural way to
live
life with goodness, serenity and respect.” (www.lucidcafe.com/library)
One of the men who became a follower was named Confucius, “who was some
fifty-three years his junior”. They would often arrange meetings and
would
speak about many things. Confucius did not have a very high regard for
Lao Tzu,
and he was heard saying, “I understand how birds can fly, how fishes
can swim,
and how four-footed beasts can run. Those than run can be snared, those
that
swim may be caught with hook and line, those that fly may be shot with
arrows.
But when it comes to the dragon, I am unable to conceive how he can
soar into
the sky riding upon the wind and clouds. Today I have seen Lao Tzu and
can only
liken him to a dragon.” (Welch PG 2). But Lao Tzu did teach many people
in the
way of Confucius and Taoism and once said, “ If, when I give the
student one
corner of the subject, he cannot find the other three for himself, I do
not
repeat my lesson.” (Welch PG 9).
Besides the importance that Lao Tzu
brung to the World’s history he still remains a mystery to many. ). One
of the
legends says that in the end, Lao Tzu became saddened by the evil of
men and he
set off into the desert on a water buffalo leaving civilization behind.
A story
from Chuange-tzu tells us in some detail of Lao-Tzu’s death.” The
funerals of
the master are described here, with many grieving disciples.
Nonetheless -
Legge concludes - this narration might be just another of Chuang-tzu's
fancies:
"to give him the opportunity of setting forth what, according to his
ideal of it, the life of a Taoist master should be, and how even
Lao-tzu
himself fell short of it".”
(Lao-tzu-Biographical
Note)
Hiedi
Irvine:
Translating
Lao-Tzu
Sometimes referred to as the Book of
the Way and Virtue (Dao0de-jing) but most commonly called the Lao-Tzu,
It is
the most frequently translated Chinese book into Western languages.
There are currently
300 translations of this text. Several language scholars attempted to
translate
Lao-Tzu, because of it being written in Ancient Chinese there are many
different interpretations. For every different Chinese character there
are
different meanings therefore by having had several different scholars
interpreting it causes there to be very different translations.
An example of this that I found very
interesting is provided below written by Imre Galambos:
Pathless path,
nameless name
Translating Laozi
The Tao that can be spoken of...
Here we immediately have a problem. The simplicity of this phrase in
Chinese is
both amazing and beautiful: dao ke dao. Grammatically, it could be
rendered
into English as something like "the tao that can be tao-ed". Tao, or
Dao, literally means "road, path, way". It also means "to speak,
to say", which makes perfect sense if we insert it into the sentence.
This
is how Legge translated it. The problem is that this meaning appeared a
thousand years later than the book was written, so it could not
possibly mean
"to speak" in this context.
Some commentators think that the second "dao" could mean "to
lead" which was pronounced the same, although written with an extra
radical. In
If we accept this interpretation, then the line would go "the way that
can
lead", which constitutes a semantically valid phrase. However, the same
structure is repeated in the second part of the first verse, saying
"the
name that can be named", in which case the same word is used both as a
noun and a verb; because of this, we would expect that in the first
half of the
verse the same word is used too. It should be something like the "road
that can be roaded", we just have to figure out what could
"roaded" mean. According to classical Chinese grammar, the noun
"road" could be understood as "to treat like a road" or
"to view as a road". Then the correct interpretation would be to talk
about the "path that can be viewed as a path" which also makes sense.
If, for example, we take the word "shu" which means "to
write" and "writing, book" at the same time, we see that the
noun meaning is the result of the verb meaning -- the book is formed by
writing. In case of the word "dao" this would mean that the road is
formed by "roading" it, making it more like a road. Indeed, there is
a comtemporary Chinese proverb saying that "the path is formed by
having
people walking on it" (dao xing zhi er cheng), which is exactly the
same
idea. Thus a possible interpretation is to translate the second -
verbal -
instance of "dao" as "to walk on", resulting in the string
"the road that can be walked on".
...is not the enduring and unchanging Tao
The problematic word in the phrase is "chang" translated here as
"enduring and unchanging". It could also be understood, however, as
"common, ordinary", which would reverse the meaning of the entire
phrase. The "enduring and unchanging" way is the creator of the
universe, while the "common or ordinary" way is a road leading from
one village to the other. Clearly, the phrase wants to establish the
difference
between these two aspects of the word "dao" but it is vital to
understand which one is which. There could be several possible
interpretations:
"The path that can be regarded as a path is not the great eternal
Path." - The road that is seen as a road under our feet is different
from
the great Tao I am going to be speaking about.
"The path that can be regarded as The Path is not an ordinary path."
- The road that is understood as the Great Tao is different from the
ordinary
road where the donkey carry rice to the market.
"The Path that can be regarded as The Path is not the greate eternal
Path." - The Tao that can be conceived as the Tao cannot be the great
Tao
because that is inconcievable. The great Tao cannot be understood by
the mind,
cannot be expressed in words.
After 2500 years of debate and guessing, scholars of the book came
across some
new early manuscripts excavated on the territory of the ancient state
of
The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
The structure of this sentence is the exactly the same as that of the
first
one, only "dao" (path) was substituted with "ming" (name).
It seems that grammatically we do not have a realy problem anymore, we
can
translate the sentence as "the name that can be used to name things, is
not the constant Name." But what does it mean? What name? The book
talks
about the Way but it does not really talk about names. Maybe the book
was not,
but the entire country was talking about the importance of names. One
of
Confucius's great pursuits was to "rectify the names" (zheng-ing).
This could be understood more as setting the terms right,`a key issue
before
going into a heated debate. In those times a name was understood as a
tag that
was attached to an object, sort of like today's nouns.
So in the opening words of his book, Laozi is saying that the great
unchanging
Tao is something different from the everyday road. He sets his
terminology
straight, making sure that there is no confusion. Then, in the second
sentence,
he explains that although he is going to talk about this great Tao,
there are
no words (names) that can be used to name it. In other words, it is a
disclaimer stating that despite the fact that the whole book is about
the Tao,
any discussion on the subject is pointless because words are not
adequate to
describe the truth.
Written
by Imre Galambos[1]
In ‘Sacred Texts of the World: A
Universal Anthology’, there are examples of the difference in
translations
provided, such as viewing the universe: the book ‘the ten thousand
things’,
‘heaven and earth’, and that which is ‘beneath heaven.’
Also, there have been numerous
attempts to translate the word ‘Tao’, such as ‘principle’, ‘logos’,
‘reason’,
and most accurately, ‘the way’
Writer and Linguist L.G. Kelly once
said that “Without translation, there is no history of the world.” This
proves
to be true although the translations provided for the Lao Tzu texts
differ,
without them, we would never have learned that this Sacred Text, which
the
Chinese hold very dear to them, even existed.
Mike Gillingham:
Sacred
Text #4 Taoism
Although the religion of Taoism has
many books or texts that hold a certain relevance to the religion, they
claim
that the only book that is essential to the Taoism beliefs is the book
called
the Tao-te Ching.
The book was written by one author,
in three days and is only five thousand words in total but contains the
most
important thoughts of the Taoist beliefs, that being of the physical
body and
the social body. The book is very philosophical, and it is basically
about the
traditions and beliefs of Lao-Tzu, who is also known as the old master.
“The Tao-te Ching contains no proper
names, no historical references, no signature. It says only the
essential and
the universal” (pg. 185, Schipper). There are many ideas as to where
the books
ideas have come from, however the book by Schipper claims that this
comes
mostly from ancient oral traditions. “The sayings are full of
paradoxes: my
words are very easy to understand and easy to practice, but no one in
the world
is able to understand them or practice them.” (Schipper, pg. 185). This was a very strange quote because these
writings are studied very often, even today. This quote was in the book
a few
times, and I am really not sure what it means, but I think that maybe
you are
supposed to take the writings as you want and how you see them so all
in all
nobody will have the same opinions and beliefs of the readings.
Alexia
Meade:
Main
Teachings of the Tao-te Ching
The Tao-te Ching is a sacred book
“that is more a brief periodical statement of philosophy than a
scripture.”
(Hoffe and Woodward; 1998; 189). It is one of the most influential
books in
Chinese Literature, and it teaches the following themes:
The first teaching is “The Basic
Unity Behind The Universe Is a Mysterious and Undefinable Fire called
the Tao”
(Hoffe and Woodward; 1998; 191). The Tao means “the way” or “the way of
nature”, and this is Taoists early goal-to understand the Tao.
The second teaching of the Tao-te
Ching is “Life Is The Greatest of all Possessions.” (Hoffe and
Woodward; 1998;
191). Early Taoists believed that any other possessions would decay, so
life
was the most important possession. This thought lead Taoists to search
for a
way to lengthen life. As a result, magical practices and dietary
regulations
were created.
The third teaching is “Life is to be
lived Simply.” Because life is the greatest possession, there is no
need to
live extravagantly, therefore, life must be lived as simply and as
quietly as
possible. Taoists believed that innocence was the ideal way to live and
therefore, “looked upon the innocence of a child as an ideal toward
which all
human beings should strive.” (Hoffe and Woodward; 1998; 192).
Following the third theme, the
fourth teaching was “Pomp and Glory to be despised.” (Hoffe and
Woodward;
1998;192). Taoists believed that one should live a simply life and that
it is
better to be humble and small or imperfect, then to stand out from all
the
rest.
In general, the Taoists were
concerned about the quality of life as it is lived on a day to day
basis,
without much interest in the Heavens, the God’s, the rituals or life
after
death.” (Hoffe and Woodward; 1998; 194) \
Because Taoists were concerned with
the quality of life, two different kinds of Taoists were developed. The
first
group followed and practiced the philosophical writings of the Lao-Tzu,
while
the second group became concerned with immortality, and seeked to find
and
extension of the present life. This group consisted of scholars,
priests, and
magicians and many practices and rituals were created as a result.
One idea was that a special dietary
regulation was the key to immorality, and soon this group of Taoists
believed
that all solid food was poisonous. As a result, many of these Taoists
survived
off of a strict liquid diet, and some Taoists claim they were able to
survive
off of saliva and air.
Other practices believed to prolong
life were fasting and breath control, as well as alchemy. It was
believed that
a body could be preserved by a mineral, just like dead meat could be
preserved
by salt.
Greg
Lefebvre:
Taoism: Contrasts and Criticisms
Since
it’s initial
induction into
There are two forms of Taoism development
–
philosophical (around 300 BC), and religious (about 2nd
century AD).
It is thought that Taoism as a religion was now formally approved until
the 7th
century AD, primarily because of the impact of Buddhism in China during
this
difference in time (McDowell & Stewart, 1992, p.346). The
Bodhisattvas were
accredited for giving the Chinese much help in their daily lives, and
Dhyani
Buddhas were capable of admitting followers to “paradise” (Ibid,
p.346).
Perhaps the most interesting criticisms we
may be
familiar with is found in Christian believers. Robert E. Hume, author
of The
World’s Living Religions, outlines certain flaws we may see when
viewing the
Tao Te King, or Lao-tzu:
“Its not sufficiently personal and
responsible
Supreme Being.
Its founder’s
positively
ignoble example of withdrawing from difficulty,
not
organizing for
reform.
Its
inadequate
recognition of the evils in the world.
Its
inadequate
appreciation of physical facts and resources, discouraging to
scientific
inquiry.
Its
overemphasis on
inactivity (Wu-Wei), belittling to human effort.
Its lack of a
commanding
enthusiastic principle for living; mostly negative advice.
Its ethical
ideal of
indifference and irresponsibility.
Its
inadequate conception
of immortal life; merely a protracted existence.
Its lack of a
program for
the uplift of society; only a return to an uncivilized simplicity.
Its relapse
into
polytheism, demonolatry, and practice of magic” (Ibid, pp. 346-347).
Within
this contrast
of Christian beliefs, Biblical passages are shown as proof of the above
mentioned claims. For instance, Christians believe that the evil and
strife
found in our world are overcome in the faith in Jesus Christ, whereas
Lao-tzu,
is relatively unknown to anyone. The Christian Bible offers comfort to
those in
confronting problems, rather than taking a passive attitude in ignoring
these
same problems. Whereas the Lao-tzu says in Chapter 56 (according to a
translation by James Legge): “He who knows the Tao does not care to
speak
about it; he who is ever ready to speak about it does not know it”
(Ibid,
p.343). This quiet “knowledge and religious practice” is in stark
contrast to
Christian belief, whereas the believer gives testimony of faith to
others when
dealing with everyday problems, as Jesus taught His disciples in
Matthew 28:19:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (NASB).
WORKS
CITED:
Nina Paris:
·
The
Encyclopedia
of Religion, volume 14.
Editor in Chief: Mircca Eliande
MacMillian Publishing Company
·
Living
Religions
Mary Pat Fisher
Prentice Hall Publishing
Christine Martell:
·
Taoism:
The
Parting of the Way.
Welch Holmes.
Beacon Press
1957
·
www.taopage.info/tao/laotzu.html
·
www.referemce.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/L/LaoTzu.html
Hiedi Irvine:
·
Sacred Texts
of the World: A Universal Anthology.
Edited by Ninian Smart and Richard D.
Hecht.
Crossroad publishing company.
Copyright 1982
·
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html
Written by Lao-Tzu
From a translation by S. Mitchell
Updated
·
http://www.logoi.com/notes/laozi.html
Pathless
path, nameless name: Translating Laozi
Written
by Imre Galambos
Copyright
2000 Logoi.com
Mike Gillingham:
·
The
Taoist Body
Schipper,
Kristofer.
1993
Alexia Meade:
·
Religions
of the
World: 7th Edition
Hoffe,
Lewis M. and Woodward, Mark. R.
Prentice
Hall
1998
Greg
LeFebvre:
· Understanding non-Christian religions: Taoism. In Handbook of Todays Religions.
McDowell, J. & Stewart, D.
1992.