Tuesday September 2８, 2010

Taoism/ Daoism

• To walk as a verb, road as a noun. Has many meanings, can also be interpreted as “the way”.
• For the daoists, dao has the same presence and energy as light, or presence for Westerners.
• It is ultimately beyond-wards and is more of a label than a definition.
• This Is a principle and is probably, for most daoists- impersonal than personal. It is a zhou dynasty way of thought.
• Daoists share some features with Confucius.
• They agree that the present sucks and the past was ideal.
• They wanted to fix China and they believe in a lost golden age in which humans behaved the way they should.
• The daoist view of ideal society was when they first began to farm in small villages. Small agricultural villages where every farmer worked and could attend to- was the ideal utopia. Countryside simplicity.
• There are people who are recluses and they leave to the far stretches to the country side. They live out in isolation and are “hermits”. They give themselves up to nature and this, to them, is the ideal life.
• For Confucius, being a recluse is irresponsible and selfish.
• Both (confucius and doaists) believe that nature has alot to teach us.
• On balance, for Confucius, human analytical capacities are what should be engaged most of the time in understanding the cosmos.
• A daoist is influenced by nature because they just “feel it”. They will simply just act because they feel it instinctively.
• Ex: You don't kill because you know in your heart that you shouldn’t.
• Walt Whitman: The learned astronomer.
• Most of Chinas greatest artists, painters, and poets are daoists at heart.

Basic tenets of Daoism.

• Daoists look at large cities as being unnatural. First and foremost, because cities are squares! Where in nature do you find squares?
• Daoists see cities as unnaturally large concentrations of people.
• Chaos will arise because of large concentrations of people.
• Drunks will cause problems, cities will get crowded, competition for resources, crowd diseases etc…
• People start losing their intuition to nature, when kept together in such a small area.
• Keep it simple. That is the basic recipe for fixing China. There is a book in which this is all written, and that is the : Daode Jing. Lit., way power text.
• It is small, simple and very profound.
• It is believed that Lao Zi wrote the book. Lao Zi means venerable master.
• Sima Qian writes about Lao Zi in his history.
• Says that Lao Zi was an archivist, a governor in his state. He decided that when he retired he would go, on a donkey, into the countryside and there, retire. His reputation preceded him and as he approached the las frontier, the last frontier guardsman begged him to write down his wisdom for future generations.
• Scholars believe that it is a compilation of sayings and short stories written by daoist minded individuals.
• Regardless of how the text came about, the most important thing about the book, is the book itself.
• Easy to read but hard to understand. Is often compared to the gospel of John. One of the many interpretations of the first 6 characters of the Daode Jing, is “The pathway that can be walked upon Is not the everlasting pathway”. These books are paradoxical.
• The Daode Jing is often quite mystical and asks you to consider may things that are, impossible.
• “Those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know.”
• “Cease learning and your worries will disappear.”
• Daoists can have something of an anti-intellectual vent.
• Why does it dwell on the paradoxical? It wants you to see- that there are limits to what your intellects, and brain can do. A sort of shock therapy to make you use your emotions instead of your brain all of the time.
• Daoists identify with women. Like water, soft will conquer the hard.

The political philosophy of the Daode Jing

• The Daode Jing has a method to fix China. Keep it simple.
• They have a daoist ideal age and it is written in the book.
• Curiosity is a form of discontent.
• Ren and Li. All of the virtues that Confucius talks about are an indication of you losing your way, or dao. Confucius thought is dangerous because it makes you lose your way. It is second best and superfluous.
• Doing less is better. Act only when it is absolutely necessary.
• The wisest ruler empties his peoples’ minds but fills their bellies. Weakens their thoughts but strengthens their bodies…

The Ideal Daoist Ruler

• Best ruler is the ruler whose existence is not known or present. He restrains his ambitions and holds back. Be content with mediocrity and muddle along. Do not strive for excellence.
• Next best? The one they love. (Confucius)
• The worst? The one who pushes the people into rebellion.
• Don’t overwork yourself, you will only set yourself up to crash.
• Forest Gump is the ideal daoist sage. He is simple. An un-carved block is more beautiful than a whittled one. Raw silk looks like gauze and for Daoists, it is the most beautiful of all silks.
• The Dao of Pooh- Benjamin Hoff

Daoism and the chinese thought

• What is the history between daoist and confucian thoughts?
• These 2 schools of thought compliment each other more than they contradict each other.
• Confucian ideas will run the government and China- Confucian thought is for public life. Daoist thought gives you solace as an individual. It is to be used for public life.
• The Chinese man is a confucian when he succeeds and a daoist when he fails.
• Daoists extracted principles from their book that were to be followed. They are not complete pacifists.
• They talk about guerilla warfare. You never win right away but patience is the key.
• Yin and Yang : reality is divided into pairs or aspects.
• Yin pertains to dark, wet, low profile, females, earth, cold, passive and receptive.
• Yang: light, dry, heaven, high profile, male, warm, active, aggressive.
• Daoism is Yin, Confucius is Yang. And ultimately, they are one, no two.
• Zhuagzi:
• Writes all sort of stories in which he tries to demonstrate daoist thought.
• Always writes using the 3 P’s.
• Parody- to laugh at someone
• Paradox- why does the ultimate soft overcome the ultimate hard?
• Parable- a story told to illustrate a daoist point.
• Is happier waggling his tail in the mud instead of being second in command.