The Theology of Tao Te Ching along with Taoism and Buddhism - Essay Example

The Tao Te Ching Many people have heard of something referred to as the Tao, or sometimes the Dao. Ithas vague associations with the concept of Chinese mysticism and ancient wisdom, but most people don’t realize it is actually considered a major piece of scripture to several Chinese belief systems including Taoism, Buddhism, Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. Written sometime around the 6th century BC, supposedly by a man named Lao Tzu (which really means Old Master), no one is really sure who wrote the book or really where it came from. There are many versions of it, some of which change the order of the two major sections, and translations into other languages offer even more confusion. Essentially, though, the Tao Te Ching can be literally understood to discuss the ‘way’ and ‘virtue’ – Tao and Te – as they were classically understood – Ching. The book details a way of looking at life that is vastly different from the way we usually look at it. Written in very short chapters that appear more like poetry, it promotes a more passive point of view in that it suggests that the wise man and the leader should actually take the seat of the fool and the follower. This is because the person who thinks he knows everything is actually blind to the things he does not know and the leader who insists on being recognized publicly as such has lost sight of the goal. The lessons taught in the Tao Te Ching often sound contradictory like this, but when one stops to consider the words and the meaning they try to send, it actually makes a great deal of sense. It is the present purpose to examine these basic elements of the book and to analyze how they make sense in a modern context. When the book speaks of the Tao or the Way, it is talking about the elemental originating energy or force that created the universe and the ‘ten thousand’ things that populate it. Not only did the way bring forth the sun, moon, stars and all the animals, plants and people, it continues to contribute both in and out of everything that it produced from its first beginnings to its final ending. It builds on the premise that the end goal of all life is to become one with the Way and that the purpose of life is for the Way to more fully understand itself. In many ways, the Way can be thought of in terms of water – it is in everything and outside of everything; its presence brings life and goodness and its absence brings death and emptiness; it is a powerful force that can tear down mountains but it is also soft and yielding; it doesn’t take part in activities but it is a part of activity, etc. The recommendations and teachings of the scripture often sound very much as if the writer is encouraging the reader to be more like water. However, the Way is more profound and abstract in that it doesn’t have any discernable substance to the human experience as water does and it is more essential to our souls than our bodies although it can affect each. The Te or Virtue refers more to how we interact with each other, how we are supposed to respond to the influence of others or how the good ruler will govern his people. While it is thought of in English as something individual and somewhat private, the Chinese Te is much broader, applying to everyone because it is considered to be the action of the Tao. If one returns to the water analogy, the Tao would be the water and the Te would be the motion of the water as it flows within and without to influence the way individuals and societies work on every level. The Te is the way in which the leader influences others to behave in keeping with the Tao. What makes it so difficult to explain the Tao Te Ching is the amorphous nature of the subject it discusses as can be seen within the first chapter. It opens with the information that “the Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way, / As for names, the name that can be named is not the constant name. / The nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things; / The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. / Therefore, those constantly without desires, by this means will perceive its subtlety. / Those constantly with desires, by this means will see only that which they yearn for and seek.” These lines illustrate the difficulty of definition and description as the author acknowledges the inadequacy of language to fully capture a sense of what is meant by the word Tao. Although it is used as a means of speaking about the concept, the concept is so much bigger than words can describe that it must always be remembered that the thing is truly nameless and yet is the source of all things. This idea is conveyed in the third and following lines in which the author points out that it is the unnamed that is the source of the ten thousand things while it is only with the naming of things that humans are able to start making distinctions as creation comes to fruition. In addition, the fifth and sixth lines of the chapter, it is revealed that it is only by accepting that the unnamed can never be found and defined that the individual is able to find and understand it. The person constantly without desires is able to open themselves up to the possibilities in front of them and begin to understand how the energy flows around them and through them to make everything one. The person full of desire, by contrast, is constantly seeking the answers and a means of testing them, organizing them and making them available to others. These people are only able to see what they are looking for – proof that they are right or proof that they are wrong – and thus they are not able to gain true understanding of the Way because they cannot see the other possibilities. The Te begins with similar double-talk, but in a different direction. “The highest virtue is not virtuous; therefore it truly has virtue. / The lowest virtue never loses sight of its virtue; therefore it has no true virtue. / The highest virtue takes no action, yet it has no reason for acting this way; / The highest humanity takes action, yet it has no reason for acting this way; / The highest righteousness takes action, and it has its reasons for acting this way; / The highest propriety takes action, and when no one responds to it, thin it angrily rolls up its sleeves and forces people to comply.” Just as the Tao can only be found if one is not looking for it, so the Te can only be achieved by the one who is not actively seeking it. The virtuous person is the one who simply is virtuous rather than acting as if he were. He behaves in keeping with what his heart and spirit tell him to do because he feels the Tao and the Te working within him and responds to its prompts. When he begins to act in keeping with what is felt to be for the good of humanity, he has lost his connection to the Tao and begins to act in other ways that are felt by humans to be sound, but that are not necessarily the ways of the Tao. The Te reveals that this is the path to chaos in which society is led to a place where people must be forced to behave through an external source rather than feeling compelled from within by the examples set for them by those who live firmly within the Way. While these ideas may seem very abstract, difficult to understand and thus foreign, the concepts of the Tao Te Ching are actually very similar to my personal conception of God as a force that moves in and around the world He has created. As God the Father, he is overseer of the world and is a tremendous force within it. Although we call Him God, He is something that exists beyond time, words and description. As God the Holy Spirit, He is the Creator and the life force that brought all things into being. He moves through us and around us, but is not necessarily personally bound up with the individual concerns and problems of humanity. This is the work He leaves to God the Son, who I view as the force of the Te. Jesus came to walk among mankind and show us the way that we should behave toward one another. He “dwells in the thick and doesn’t dwell in the thin” (ch. 38) and shows us the importance of seeing people for their inner spirit and connection to us through the Tao rather than for their outward aspects that are judged by the world. Just like the Tao Te Ching, the Bible urges us to live simple lives that are not concerned with the wealth and personal interest of the material world. Where the Tao Te Ching differs, though, is in its greater emphasis on the importance of the feminine in its acknowledgment of the Mother of the ten thousand things and in its simplicity of delivery in telling us that the harder we try to control things, the harder we make things for ourselves. In the Christian tradition, this idea is summed up as ‘let go and let God’, but the Tao Te Ching explicitly explores these ideas as an essential element of living within the Way. Works Cited Lao Tzu. Te Tao Ching. Robert G. Henricks (Trans). New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Read More