april 8 - china

confucianism: confucius (6th c. BCE)

daoism: laozi (6th c. BCE)

Daoism:

yin-yang symbol

what is daoism (taoism)?

why the different spellings? Pinyin transliteration (Dao), Wade-Giles transliteration (Tao)

aspects: philosophy, religion, practice

(more of a western view on Daoism)

Philosophical Daoism: concerned with ideas

Religious Daoism: associated with rituals, beliefs

compartimental isolation errors

  • historically daoism was understood (by westerners) to have two distinct branches: philosophical and religious

  • no exactly correct. any adequate account of the tradition must include

spiritual practices and rituals play an important role in cultivating understand for the holistic practice of daoism (tai-chi — also considered a spiritual practice)

esoteric (inside, internal, hidden)

  • preference for practice/lifestyle away from society

  • maintain privacy

  • not for public consumption

two main texts:

  • laozi or tao te ching

  • zhuangzi (chuangtzu)

  • these texts bear the names of their alleged authors; however, scholars today believe both texts consists of disparate parts composed by different authors/ composite works

philosophy of laozi

  • contains cryptic statements/ poetic stanzas

  • about 5000 words

  • some scholars prefer to treat is as a secular text

tao te ching

  • asks humans to return to nature/learn from the ways of nature

  • nature as a model

  • we are creatures of nature

  • the dao (tao) or "the way” — doesnt refer to a god but rather to a fundamental principle that governs the universe and emphasizes living in harmony with the natural world.

the dao

  • the Dao (Tao) that one can speak of is not the [actual] Dao

  • Cannot be encapsulated in words

  • Can be experienced, but not accurately described — it transcends language and thought, guiding the spiritual path of those who seek understanding.

dao

  • the term ‘dao’ is Laozi replaces the term ‘heaven’ from earlier times — heaven wasnt really reference to as a place, more of a concept representing the natural order and the ultimate source of all things.

  • the dao is referred to as ‘the mother of all things’ — they’re basically using their own words to describe the wheel of life in hindu or budhism

  • the dao strives for balance

shared elements: philosophy-religion

  • self-discipline

  • quest for transcendence of the ego-self

  • the assumption that religion and politics in society are embedded in one another

  • practice of wu-wei

wu-wei

  • “action-less action”

  • doing no action in contrast to the flow of the Dao

  • alignment “in tune” with the Dao

  • ideally, the state of mind achived

  • here, realizing we are already permeated with the Dao and accessing that awareness

Tao te ching — how to wu-wei

  • suffests a measure of asceticism

  • purify the senses/ practice moderation

  • nature/civilization

ying-yang — flowing into one another - not apposing separate forces

  • balance

  • movement

  • alternating push-pull forces

  • in daoist terms, we exist within the dao/we are not separate from the dao or each other

  • this is not a system of ‘dualism"; which implies the notion of ‘separate and distinct’

Laozi and Zhuangzi:

Laozi speaks to the ruler

  • conveys the idea that the ruler should be a sage-rules, setting a wise example for society to emulate

  • rulership should not become overly entangle in the exercise of making many prescriptions for society/ and social conduct (especially Confucianism)

Zhuangzi — seemed to have the personality of a non conformist

  • contemporary of Mencius — one of Laozi’s deciples

  • regard the Dao as the principle underlying and governing the universe

the Zhuangzi

  • collection of essays (with humorous anecdotes)

  • makes intense plea for spiritual freedom

  • self-transcending liberation from one’s mind

  • according to Zhuangzi, such freedom can only be attained by attuning to the Dao through nature

Laozi and Zhuangzi

  • both have been called ‘mystics’

  • path/goal: mystical union that transcends distinction s

  • between oneself, other and the universe

  • by uniting with the Dao via one’s experience of experientially

Zhangzi’s teachings

  • when one lives according to the law of nature, → one must respect natural laws, including the acceptance of death as a natural part of life, and respect life-cycle of all living things

daoist texts

  • the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi (humorous anecdotes), both works are collections of disparate texts written at different times by differing authors

we are part of nature and the web of life

  • observing nature helps people to connect and recall unconditioned way of being

    • apart from the constructs and ideologies that shape our view of ourselves and other in a social world of human interactions

  • spiritual wisdom

  • emotional tides

Dong Zhongshu

  • Confucianism as state orthodoxy

  • ‘naturalist’ model

  • Dong took idea from both Mencius and Xunzi + combined them with the Naturalist concept of Qi (chi) or the vital life force energy. this natural energy operate through the dynamics of motion and balance; the dance of ying-yang

how shall we interpret the term ‘Immortality”?

  • regard for physical longevity

  • quest for immortality is quest for transcendence

  • ‘long life realized through spiritual death of the individual self”

  • professor Huai-Chin Han states: ‘immortality does not mean indefinite physical longevity; it indicates the eternal spiritual life.’

Cosmology

  • around the 2nd century, the supreme divinity was known as the Taiyi “Supreme Unity”

  • Han period

Daoism and Buddhism

  • doctrines were reinterpreted in terms of yin-guo (karma) and lunhui (rebirth)

  • both lay and monastic institutions were established

  • first Daoist temple was built in the 5th century CE.

Taiji quan (tai chi chuan)

  • becoming aware of the subtle energy within the human body

  • chi

  • physical method for attuning one’s energy to the all

Chi Gong (Qi Gong)

  • pronounced ‘chi gong’, qi gong

  • qi gong is an internal process that has external movements. qi means ‘life force’ the energy that powers our body and spirit

  • gong means ‘work or gather’

  • qi gong together means 'working with the life force,' emphasizing the practice's aim of cultivating and balancing energy within the practitioner.

Daoist practices and spiritual cultivation

  • studying the teachings with a learned master:

    • maditation

    • qigong breathing exercises

    • art of calligraphy

    • medicine

    • tai chi chuan

    • art of music

acupuncture and herbology

  • the system manipulating the flow of chi (of qi) vital energy or life force for optimal health

  • based on an eastern system of meridians mapped within the human body

  • these are channels for the flow of vital energy; when obstructed this is said to cause ‘dis’ ease within the body

  • daoist pharmacopeia

    • centuries of herbal indexing to catalogue the healing properties of plants