The founder of Taoism was Laozi, whose family name was Li and given name was Er. He lived in the later years of the Spring and Autumn Period, and worked as an archivist in the Imperial Library of the Zhou’s court. His masterpiece Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and Its Virtue), although with only about 5,000 characters, had a significant impact upon the thoughts of later genearations. Laozi applies “Tao” to elucidating the origin and evolvement of the universe. Moreover, Laozi maintained that the characters and law of “Tao” could be applied to guide people’s thinking and behavior, which should be in conformance with the nature, Laozi believed that what appears soft and weak can actually defeat what is hard and strong, inasmuch as what looks fragile is hard in nature. …show more content…
Zhuangzi, whose give name was Zhou, once worked as an official in charge of painting work at the town of Meng in the Song State. In the boo bearing his name, Zhuangzi succeeded to and developed Laozi’s viewpoint that “Tao is defined by nature”, and claimed that everything exterior can be equated with self, and life and death are equal. What Zhuangzi had been pursuing is a spiritual realm of absolute freedom. Since there are so many similarities between Laozi and Zhuangzi in terms of thinking, descendants usually mention them
Confucius, founder of Confucianism and Lao Tzu father of Taoism are two of the most popular philosopher whose ideas are observed by many people around the world. While they contradict each other on their ideas, with a closer look they both talk about human thinking; human thinking in regards to everything and anything associated within the nature. Confucianism is based on human nature, associated with man’s everyday life, and social aspect. In the other hand, Taoism is more concentrated in the higher power, the universe and the spiritual world.
Tao-te Ching (in English pronounced “dow deh jing”) is believed to be written by Lao-tzu (6th century B.C). However, it is not for certain that he wrote the book. Lao-tzu is translated as “Old Master”. He was born in the state of Ch’u in China. It’s been said that he worked in the court of the Chou dynasty. The day that he was leaving the court to start his own life, the keeper of the gate urged him to write his thoughts as a book. Lao-tzu’s work mostly illustrates Taoism –a religion founded by Chang Tao-ling A.D. 150. His main purpose in this piece is practicing peace, simplicity, naturalness, and humility. Lao-tzu believes that people are overloaded with temporal objects in this world. He recommends his readers to let go of everything
The philosophy of Lao-tzu through the Tao Te Ching lie in natural, balance, merge, integration of nature and human, as well as all creature’s relations. Lao-tzu thinks man and nature create each other in the “Tao”. Man cultivates himself as cultivating the nature. Man and nature are united in essence. Therefore, Lao-tzu states that “They both do no harm to one another, So virtue merges and returns” in
Taoism was one of the first major systems of beliefs in China, showing us that after an extended period of the focus on building a lucrative government, the people of China were changing and trying new ways of life. This shows a shift in the focus from the strictly governmental ways of Confucianism to the more mystical beliefs of Taoism. With this change of beliefs in China, Confucian ideas such as the need for strictly political knowledge, were partially taken down by Taoism, which cast politics to the side. This altogether allows us to begin to understand the change in period
Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.) and Laozi are some of the most renowned Chinese philosophers of all times. Laozi is considered by many scholars as a contemporary of Confucius. Indeed, the philosophies of the two scholars share a lot in common one of them being that they are critical of the world they live in because of disorder, which they attribute to deviation from the “way” of the golden period. Also, both their philosophies see the state of “nonaction” as the perfect spiritual state of man as characterized by harmony between his inclinations and those of the “way”. However, despite these similarities, Confucius and Laozi significantly differ in the sense that while the former advocates for
In “The Daodejing,” Laozi, similar to many prominent Chinese philosophers before and after his time, discusses his unique perspective of the “Way.” There is much controversy, however, regarding whether Laozi was the actual author of this text or was even a real person, and “his” work is thought to have been a composite. (For the purpose of clarity, throughout this paper, the author(s) of “The Daodejing” will be mentioned as Laozi.) Laozi’s vision of the “Way” is exceptionally challenging to define using words because of its metaphysical nature. Although this term is somewhat difficult to envision, it is what mankind should aspire and take action to be aligned with. According to Laozi, in “readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy,” the “Way” (or dao) is the “source, sustenance, and ideal state of all things in the world” (Laozi 158). It can be best thought of as the underlying guiding force of all events that occur in the universe, and mankind is closer to the “Way” when they realize that all things are interconnected and have an effect on one another. As might be expected, this vague definition isn’t a foolproof depiction of the eighty-one chapters in the “Daodejing,” but one is able to grasp a basic understanding of Laozi’s ineffable doctrine. Although numerous chapters are meaningful and could provide substantial analysis, this paper will focus in on Chapter Twelve. Ultimately, this chapter adequately and efficaciously compresses the teachings of “The Daodejing” into
Laozi calls this chapter “the father of my teaching” (Laozi, 446), I agree with his statement because it shows how people don’t like losing or gaining things, but how one thing can lead to more and more and there’s no changing this natural process. “Tao produced the
In the world of Chinese philosophy, one cannot find better words than those spoken by Lao Tzu or Confucius. While they seem similar, they are indeed different in many ways.
Lao Tzu is the father of Daoism, and his book was a philosophical writing, which was mainly about the nature and philosophy of life. Lao Tzu is the first person who answered to the problem of the origin of the universe. Lao Tzu believed that before all things in the universe were occurred, the Dao, which means the road, were naturally existed already. Lao Tzu states, “there was something formless and perfect before the universe was born…Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe…I call it the Tao” (Ch 25). Lao Tzu also explains how the universe generated by stating that “the Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things” (Ch 42).
Lao Tzu believed that human life is constantly influenced by outer forces; not unlike everything else in the universe. He knew that simplicity was key to all truth and freedom. He always encouraged those who followed him to observe and to seek to understand the laws of nature.
Though no one is completely certain, The Urantia Book Fellowship(Sprunger) many scholars believe Taoism’s foundation goes back to 604 BC, by Lao Tzu. Taoism is one of the more influential religious practices of the Eastern culture and many view it as a way of life rather than a religion. It emphasizes various themes centered on naturalness, vitality, peace, non-interference/non-resistance, refinement, detachment, flexibility, receptiveness, spontaneity, and the ways of life, speaking, and guiding behavior. Taoism represents the road, path followed in life, the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order of life that keeps the universe balanced and ordered. There are several variations of Taoism practiced around the
Yin – yang is a Chinese philosophical way of embracing human thought which considers two dimensions including humanity, character, and situations in life. This philosophy emphasizes that two complementary forces exists in the universe that are mutually opposed to one another but still remain in unity. According to “Hegelian, Yi-Jing, and Buddhist Transformational Models for Comparative Philosophy”, it is believed that the two forces are dependent on another and are well balanced (Robert 6). This paper intends to explore the major aspects of yin-yang way of thinking, how it affects the Confucius and Lao Zi ways of viewing happenings in the universe and the application of this kind of thought to the contemporary society
When first deciding to write my term paper on Taoism I thought it would be just another religion. In my research I found so many different translations that my head started spinning. There are really no known facts about the founder of Taoism, Lao Tsu, except that he was possibly a contemporary of Confucius. He was searching for a way that would avoid the constant feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted society during his lifetime. (Religious Tolerance, 2007) Since there are many aspects to Taoism in this paper I will do my best to explain what Taoism is and also explain some of its main concepts.
Zhuang Zhou, better known as Zhuang Zi to most, is a philosopher that mainly advocates Daoism. His teachings, being mainly Daoist, do echo parts of Laozi’s teachings, together with his improvisations and thoughts. His teachings come in the form of metaphorical stories, adopting the techniques of personification of various important concepts that reflects Zhuang Zi’s outlook on life and its many entities. Alike Laozi, Zhuang Zi has a passive view regarding the gain of knowledge. Knowledge, to Zhuang Zi, is attained slowly and naturally, and cannot be forced upon an individual neither can it be rushed. The best way to attain the Way is to be natural and to do and say nothing.
Mai Mai Sze presents a logical methodology breaking down the often-misunderstood complexity of Daoism. Sze describes tao “in the simplest sense…path” (The Way of Chinese Painting, 17). Continued, “Step-by-step progress requires care and deliberation and, by extension, careful and deliberate conduct or behavior from an inner motivation.” This journey was not something one could accomplish overnight; instead it is understood as a way of living out ones life to the fullest. This journey was not only into one’s own mind, but also into what surrounds them. Including tools, control of the medium was a necessity, just as restrain over the sensitivity of the brush was needed when writing Chinese characters. A minor error in a character could change the entire meaning of the symbol. Symbols are often associated with Chinese culture. From the calendar year to writing, Chinese symbolism is utilized significantly. One symbol often recognized by the Western world is the Yin Yang; however the meaning is often misunderstood. The theory of the Yin Yang is presented as a balance between Male Principle (sun, right) and Female Principle (moon, left). As the two converge inward, they also radiate outward reflecting the ideology of Tao itself. This development of proportion and attention to fine detail required