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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Daoism (Taoism), Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), Lecture Outline


Daoism(Taosim)
  • earliest writing associated with Daoism: Daodejing
    • 'The Classic of the Way and its Power' – by Laozi (Lau-Tzu) & Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu)
  • Laozi – supposed to have been a contemporary of Kongzi
    • may just be a legend, not a real person
    • the Daodejing possibly came into existence over many centuries
  • when was Daodejing written? No one really knows...
  • the Dao – 'the way' – can be 'the road/path'
    • 'the way things go'
    • the Dao is social
      • a moral principle
    • in Daoism, the Dao is more a metaphysical notion, suggesting the ultimate principle of nature/universe
    • 'the ultimate principle of the universe'
      • can be understood in terms of origin
    • secret: follow the Dao
    • as a Daoist, emulate nature (Confucians follow rites)
      • go with the flow, go with the harmony
      • not resisting nature
    • Daoism is not about rules
    • Daoism is quite opposed to Confucianism – Confucians want social convention, Daoist want to be natural
    • be natural follow your own nature; emulate nature – the 'flow' of the natural world
      • give up artificiality
      • forget scripted, rule governed behavior
        • reject ritual
      • quit thinking about what you are 'supposed to be doing' – and be a part of the harmony which is around you
    • Philosophical Daoism vs. Religious Daoism
      • religious Daoism – did adopt some rituals
    • Confucian: How do I fit into society? What is my role?
    • Daoist: How do I fit into nature? What is my role in the natural order?
  • The Ultimate Reality – The Dao
    • that which is natural, eternal, spontaneous and ineffable (not-describable)
    • one translation: “The Dao which can be spoken of is not the true Dao”
    • this is common in mysticism – the view that there is some ultimate reality that goes beyond bodily sense perception
      • transcendent
      • this is connected with its ineffability
      • perhaps if one can use language in a somewhat artistic way to convey that which is beyond language
    • perhaps language is best suited for communication about ordinary objects – tables, chairs, saber-tooth tigers
      • not suited to discussion of the Transcendent Reality
  • The Dao is not God! Not a personal deity; you can't pray to the Dao – it's not listening; it has no will, no plan, doesn't particularly care what you do
    • Daoism is non-theistic
    • God – omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent/loving, personal – will, conscious, plan; the creator of the universe, remains active in the world
    • god – ex. Zeus
  • if you want to be like nature,
    • you must be spontaneous, natural, and free, and that people are not
    • you will be a lot happier if you can be like the Dao
    • natural – a human quality, free from rigidness or
  • importance of water to the Dao: the flow
  • How does one become spontaneous, natural and free?
    • A 'flow' experience – the zone
    • getting in the zone when running, getting in the zone when playing music – the running or music just takes over and you aren't aware of exerting any effort anymore
    • also...takes a lot of energy to swim upstream, going against the flow
      • learn to intuit the flow of the Dao
  • the Daoist sage emulates this
    • this is the paradigm of morality
  • Daoism wants to say the fundamental nature of the universe is associated with spontaneity
    • not that is impossible to predict
      • but mostly
  • bk 1 ch1
    • “A way that can be followed is not a constant Way”
      • spontaneity/constant change
      • you can't set out to follow it
      • though don't you want to be following the Dao?
    • “following the Dao” – in some sense naming it
      • if you can't name it you can't think about it...right?
      • naming – intellectualizing, rationalizing; labeling, defining
    • “eliminate desires in order to observe its mysteries”
      • how does this relate to 'following the Dao'
    • we are being alerted to putting labels – rationality – onto the Dao, that is ever-changing
      • to understand in this way is to avoid spontaneity – to control what is
      • this comes from attempting to control nature into our desires
    • the usual way we operate:
      • I want X, if possible I will manipulate nature to bring it about
      • must understand to manipulate
    • ceasing to intellectualize will result in being with the Dao
    • following is intentional, from a desire
    • ((Buddhism))
      • wrong desire is responsible for suffering
      • wrong desire is grasping, craving, attachment
    • in wanting to eliminate desire, it sounds like buddhism
    • the Dao in its essence is the source of all things
    • “Always have desires in order to observe its manifestations”
      • an intuitive grasp of the Dao: (like point zero, from which all sprang when the void contemplated itself)
    • “these two come forth in unity but diverge in name”
      • in order to label something, it must be distinguished from other objects
      • a distinction in thought only
      • the reason you can't see the Dao is because you are too busy intellectualizing it
    • “their unity is known as an enigma”
      • enigma – something that baffles understanding but cannot be explained
  • a kind of order that doesn't entail prediction
    this sort of order is present in art, music
    • an aesthetic order (concerned with beauty)
  • b. 1ch. 2
    • “when beautiful strives to be beautiful, it is repulsive”
    • (water is a feminine element)
    • Daoist government: don't intervene with force, find a way to bring it into harmony
    • wu-wei – actionless action, minimal action
    • “to have and to lack generate each other. Difficult and easy give form to each other. Long and short off-set each other. High and low incline into each other. Note and rhythm harmonize with each other.”
    • “and by not lingering, merit never deserts them”
  • nameless ~ formless – when things acquire names, they acquire forms
    • early Daoists did not call themselves Daoists
    • name-language-convention-form
  • all the stress in our lives is from resisting the Dao
  • The Dao often compared with water
    • ex. ch. 32
    • what does water do?
      • water flows downhill effortlessly
    • If you let it out of a hose, it goes the easiest way
    • if there is an obstacle, you go around it
    • even a stone is gradually eroded by water, which always takes the easy way and goes around confrontation
    • no confrontation – often we perceive a conflict – we beg for confrontation especially with people
    • Daoism: if you think life is too hard, you are having a hard time, there is something you cannot see
    • wu-wei is not passivity – it is economy of action; the water is not inactive, it just goes the natural way
      • minimal effort, maximum results
      • perhaps because there is no conflict
  • desire – in Daoism – (connection to effort)
    • if I have a desire that X occur:
      “I desire X”
      I desire cold beer
      I do not have cold beer,
      As I pursue the cold beer I initiate change
      • the opposite of understanding the changes that are already taking place and cooperating with these
    • is it against the Dao to make this change come about?
    • Desire involves intervention, as in things are going a certain way and you are trying to control it
  • wu-wei: listening: paying attention
    • rather than jumping in and trying to change things before we understand what's happening
  • opposites generate each other – complement/need each other
    • 'night begets the day begets the night'
    • in nature – cycles; transitions between opposites
    • female-male
    • dark-light
    • yin-yang
    • soft-hard
    • emptiness (nonpresence – is capacity, has potential [to be filled])
      • emptiness becomes a potential for power
    • to have and to lack generate each other – opposites
  • self-conscious: trying to create yourself for other people
    • cannot be what you are
    • Spontaneity vs. Self-Consciousness
    • ch. 7 “is it not because they have no thought of themselves that they are able to perfect themselves”
  • Feng Shui – creating something – house, garden, etc. - as to maximize energy flow
    • important: wind chimes, flowing water
  • the Dao itself does not change; nature is in flux, the Dao is somehow behind it, what makes change possible
  • Ch. 11 – Dao is the hub of the wheel, nature flows in a circle around it; if the hub moved, the wheel would be unstable
    • the emptiness is a useful emptiness
      • normally we think of emptiness as inert; in this case emptiness is potential
      • an active emptiness (maybe) (?)
    • the spokes of the wheel are carrying all the weight, there is no stress in the center, it is empty
    • *in the west, especially talking in spiritual/religious terms, there is a distinction:
      material vs. non-materialist
      physical vs. spiritual/mental
    • in the Daoism:
      presence vs. nonpresence (emptiness)
    • problem in the west: mind-body dichotomy
    • the center of the wheel is non-material, yet still part of the wheel in such a way that it makes it function possible
    • passive hub still contains the potential of the wheel to function
    • the hub expends no energy
    • center of the wheel is balanced, harmonized
  • The Dao is self-so (Chinese ziran)
  • How can I 'be the hub'?
    • Be the empty center of your own environment
    • our heart/mind should be empty
    • listening is still active but not interventionary
    • Daoist ideal/sage: listen, be attentive; not active but not intervening
  • Daoist meditative practice: “forgetting”
    • do nothing and allow yourself to be what you are
    • to be self so is to be what you really are
    • being in harmony with your own nature
  • the sage is like a child/baby
    • unspoiled by convention
  • *Fiscal conservatives – don't interfere with economic activity (libertarian)
  • *Legislative conservatives – legislate as little as possible (libertarian)
  • *Social conservatives – actively anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion
  • Daoist – Jefferson – that government that governs best governs least

  • Qi (Chi) – vital energies – mentioned several times in the Daodejing
    • ch. 42, p. 183
    • something significant about 'vital energies'
    • identified with the yin and yang
female & male
    • these energies are around us
    • there is a natural flow of these energies, when we resist them, we get sick and eventually
    • yin – light, yang – dark
      • symbol suggests constant motion, transformation between the two
      • continuous cycling of opposites, in which each opposite possesses the seed of its opposite (that's what the opposite colored circle is)
  • sage is as a child – spontaneous, free, they play all the time, children are empty of all this
    • that is why the Daoist meditation is forgetting
    • forgetting all the junk that builds up

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