Photo: The Three Vinegar Tasters, a painting depicting Kongzi, Buddha, and Laozi. The expressions on the three masters' faces are said to represent their takes on life: sour in Kongzi's due to his belief that humanity is fundamentally useless without strict control, bitter in Buddha's because he believes that life is primarily about suffering, and sweet in Laozi's because Daoism believes that life is fundamentally good.
A Very Brief Overview of Daoism
The Daodejing (or Tao Te Ching, or Laozi in keeping with the tradition of naming the work after its author), often translated as The Classic on the Way and Virtue is the foundational document of Daoism. Little is known about its pseudonymous author, Laozi (which translates to “old teacher”); according to popular legend, he wrote it as he was leaving China for good in response to political turmoil.
Despite this obscure origin (or perhaps in a sign that this story is apocryphal), Laozi’s writings attracted a following, and Zhuangzi and Wenzi both added their own entries to the Daoist canon. Zhuangzi’s book of the same name delves into Daoist cosmogony and includes some parable illustrations of Daoist philosophy and ethics (the “de” part of the Daodejing). His direct contributions are known as the “inner” chapters of the Zhuangzi and those added by his students later the “outer” chapters.
The Daodejing stands in substantial contrast to its contemporary philosophies, Confucianism and Mohism, all of which emerged during the Hundred Schools of Thought, a period of major philosophical output in pre-modern China that wrestled with the decline of the political situation into the chaotic Warring States period after the failure of the Zhou dynasty. Scholars in the Hundred Schools struggled to find a way to return to stability; Kongzi (Latinized to Confucius) stressed adherence to tradition and loyalty to the family unit and state. Mozi insisted on what might be called radical equality and also the appeasement of ghosts. Daoism, meanwhile, stressed individualism and living in harmony with nature.
The debate was eventually settled temporarily by Legalism, which enjoyed substantial state support after Qin Shihuangdi united the warring states and suppressed all other philosophies during the relatively brief period between assuming power and dying from all the mercury he took in a counterproductive bid at immortality. Confucianism emerged as the big winner in the dynasties that followed, but Daoism survived alongside it. It was not uncommon for folks to be Confucianist in public and Daoist in private.
Daoism: Philosophy or Religion?
We can try to answer this question by analyzing the core Daoist canon or examining how the school of thought has been carried forward (and arguably muddled and diluted) through history. It’s generally argued that the Daodejing is a philosophical text rather than a religious one; Laozi does not preoccupy himself with questions of the supernatural or the afterlife and doesn’t provide anything that might lend itself to incorporation into a concrete religious practices.
The apparent agnostic nature of the text means that Daoism in the narrow sense has lent itself very well to syncretism and become Daoism in the wide sense. Laozi’s teachings were incorporated relatively readily into traditional premodern Chinese religious practices, where Laozi entered the pantheon as a demigod-like figure and belief in ritual and magic melded with the more philosophical teachings of the Daodejing (some western sources refer to this process as a “distortion”). This branch is sometimes called “jiao” or ritual Daoism. The philosophical branch is known as “jia” Daoism.
It’s in this philosophical branch that things get messy. Daoism got picked up by Buddhism, becoming Chan, and later Zen Buddhism as the latter continued its eastward journey to Japan. Meanwhile, preoccupations with immortality and the supposed mystical powers that come with attaining unity with the Way (possibly echoes of Buddhism’s preoccupation with attaining enlightenment) manifested in the form of Daoist alchemy. As opposed to Western alchemy, Daoist alchemy believed that immortality could be attained by mastering an esoteric set of meditation exercises. Exemplars of this branch include 18th century practitioner Liu Yiming, author of The Secret of the Golden Flower among others. Another set of practices known as The Bedroom Arts also arose during this period, about which the less said the better.
Okay, but what is Daoism Really? An Overview of Fundamental Concepts
- The Dao: Typically translated as the Way in English, the Dao is the underlying set of principles that govern the order of nature and its many expressions. The goal of Daoism is to find alignment with the way, made somewhat difficult because it is both sublime and ineffable. In what’s often translated as the first line of the Daodejing, Laozi writes “The Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way.” Any form of philosophy not rooted in direct experience is therefore discussing only lesser emanations of the Way.
- Yin and Yang: Though neither original to nor confined to Daoism, its frequent discussion of duality and the interplay of opposites have resulted in the yin-yang symbol (less naively referred to as the Taiji; or, to Robert Jordan fans, the Aes Sedai symbol but upside down and with dots in it) being associated with Daoism. Male and female, light and dark, and heat and cold are complimentary forces that must be harmonized both within and outside the sage
- Nondiscrimination: The sage does not preoccupy herself with good and bad, as embodied in a famous folkloric narrative:
One day the sage’s neighbor’s mare ran away. The neighbor lamented his misfortunate to the sage, but the sage serenely replied “How do you know this is a bad thing?”
The mare returned several days later, bringing with her a magnificent wild stallion. The neighbor rushed to the sage to report his fortune, but the sage merely replied “How do you know this a good thing?”
A week later, the neighbor’s son was thrown from the stallion and broke his wrist. The neighbor again rushed to the sage, but the latter asked again “How do you know this is a bad thing?
While the son convalesced, recruiters from the imperial army arrived to conscript able-bodied men. Because the son’s wrist was broken, he was spared. The sage smiled.
- Wu wei: Translated as “without action” or “without striving,” the sage allows things to become rather than forcing them into being; when the sage leads, her followers believe that they are accomplishing everything by themselves. Practicing wu wei becomes about freeing oneself from attachment to outcomes.
- Social renunciation: A more controversial aspect of Daoism, as embodied in the Zhuangzi as the metaphor of the crooked tree. The sage does not make herself useful and thereby prevents her own exploitation. The tree that cannot be used for wood and that does not bear fruit isn’t cut down.
- The Three Treasures: One of the passages in the Daodejing refers to the "three treasures": humility, simplicity, and compassion (translated by Le Guin, they are "mercy, moderation, and modesty"); these principles generally form the core of discussions of ethics in Daoism.
A Note on Translation and Links
The Daodejing has been the subject of numerous translations; most are good except for Stephen Mitchell’s - I feel like he departs too much from the text in an effort to modernize it; granted, this is coming from solely having read other translations, so YMMV.
Mitchell aside, Moss Roberts and Thomas Cleary's The Essential Dao, which also has the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi, have more academically oriented translations; Moss Roberts also includes an introduction on the history of translating the Daodejing that I didn't get into because I'm already running long.
Ursula K Le Guin is a notable devotee of Daoism; her translation of the Daodejing can be read here .
I also like Ray Griggs's The New Lao Tzu , which is a more lyrical take without Mitchell's missteps (in my opinion).
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Seeing liberals on Twitter falling for the “people of wealth” idpol troll thing has inspired me to once again delete my Twitter.
Reminder that, unlike gender and racial identities, competing classes cannot coexist harmoniously any more than the standing armies of two waring nations can coexist harmoniously. These groups are constructed for the purposes of warfare and the end of the war will not come from fascistic ideas of class collaboration.
“People of Wealth” my ass
“If they want to be called that, I don’t see why we can’t just respect their wishes”
Yeah I bet they wanna not die too. Fuck their wishes.
Well they dehumanized themselves. Not my problem if I'm just calling it out.
australia recently changed "landlord" to "rental provider" in legislation
I recently changed "Australia" to "Nuclear target" in legislation.
It'sssssssssssssssss Prideeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Monthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Hello, fellow homosexuals. It is us, [MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATION]. Here to remind you that we support your lifestyle now that it has been federally legalised and it is completely socially safe, allowing for us to capitalise on your existence now it's mainstream. Look, we even changed the colours of [LOGO]! Why did we wait this long to come out and 'support' you? Haha, no more questions, homosexual. Buy our product. Buy our product. BUY OUR PRODUCT.
Ummm honey we have been doing some market research and kink isn't very marketable. Leather daddies are bad for shareholders. We're sorry but our Queer Experience™ has to be Family Friendly™.
Umm actually if you have watched the music video for YMCA you would know that police officers are gay icons. This was our gay marketing research. Our gay intern (unpaid) try to say that there was more to it but after a few meetings she agreed to tone it down a little. We are so proud of our Boys In Blue.
I'm using my turn on the lathe to manifest a company putting a ball gag on their pride logo
I'm so sorry
clip of attractive multicultural lesbians with skrillex hair laughing while enjoying PRODUCT
They can't do multicultural lesbians because western culture is barely aware of western lesbian stereotypes, let alone those of other cultures.
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I just copy-pasted @kristina's nerd call so it's technically her fault.
well i just copy pasted the other persons nerd call so its technically their fault
We're going to have to follow the thread all the way back to the source, which will inevitably turn out to be @WhoaSlowDownMaurice
voice training to sound even vaguely feminine <<<<<<<<<<< working on my impressions of metal gear characters
Damn wish I saw this thread awhile ago...been eating mercury for immortality for awhile now. The headaches make sense now.
You might want to double check and see if there have been any updates to the sources you're using for medical information. There's been a lot of research in the last 2500 years.
Omfg, I hope the queen fucking croaks, I'm tired of hearing about the fucking jubilee
One day the sage’s neighbor’s mare ran away. The neighbor lamented his misfortunate to the sage, but the sage serenely replied “How do you know this is a bad thing?” The mare returned several days later, bringing with her a magnificent wild stallion. The neighbor rushed to the sage to report his fortune, but the sage merely replied “How do you know this a good thing?” A week later, the neighbor’s son was thrown from the stallion and broke his wrist. The neighbor again rushed to the sage, but the latter asked again “How do you know this is a bad thing? While the son convalesced, recruiters from the imperial army arrived to conscript able-bodied men. Because the son’s wrist was broken, he was spared. The sage smiled.
the wise man bowed his head solemnly and spoke: "theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron"
I think the story was meant to illustrate the difficulty in trying to understand and control the flow of events when the future is so uncertain, but it's not an unreasonable critique - it seems like Daoism doesn't have much to offer as a solution for political chaos other than renunciation, as illustrated by the Daodejing's origin story. Cold Mountain, a poet who was probably turned down from the civil service and instead opted to live in the woods and drink extravagant amounts of wine, illustrates this sometimes in his poems. It's kind of an unhappy mode of being watching the world go off the rails from a distance, only really able to secure your own existence.
Day 3 of new job: the 5th person I talked to from help desk was able to reset my password so I have functioning credentials! Since I can finally login to things I had to complete training, which was 90 minutes of videos explaining what a phishing scam is over and over. I still have no work to do and got paid to sit around for 8 hours again. I almost had actual things to do tomorrow but those got canned at the last minute so I'm going to go sit around and do nothing again.
Maybe next week I'll have to do something.
A bit yeah but I bounced off of it like every book after 5th grade lmao
Thats how it was when I started my current job. Basically had no real things to do for the first month, and then ever since it's just been full throttle. So enjoy the quiet while you can! And remember, if you post off the clock, the capitalists win!
Gotta feeling hammerfell is not gonna be 99% black people like skyrim was 99% white people