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Daoism

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Laozi (Lao Tzu; 6th c. BCE)


Dao

• The One

• The way the universe works

•What underlies “the ten thousand things”

• Ineffable

•Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Dao

•Natural, spontaneous

•Eternal, unmovable

• Lacks moral dimension


Dao— ineffable

• 1The Dao that can be trodden is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Nameless, it is the origin of heaven and earth. Named, it is the mother of ten thousand things.


Dao— amoral

• 5Heaven and earth are not benevolent [ren]; They treat the ten thousand things like straw dogs. The sage is not benevolent; He treats the people like straw dogs.


Dao— eternal

• 25There was something indefinite existing before heaven and earth. Still, formless, alone, unchanging, Reaching everywhere without becoming exhausted, It may be called the mother of ten thousand things.

•


Dao

• I do not know its name; I call it Dao. If pressed, I call it "great." "Great," it flows constantly. Flowing, it goes far away. Far away, it returns.


Dao— law

• Therefore Dao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, The king is also great. In the universe four are great, And the king is one of them.

• Humans take their law from the earth, Earth takes its law from heaven; Heaven takes its law from Dao, Dao takes its law from what it is.


Dao and De

• Dao— the way the universe works

• De— the power, force, virtue, nature of an individual thing

• Dao —> De

• “The features of the vast De

Follow entirely from Dao.”


Twofold character of De

• Active nature— determines what a thing is & does.

• Regulating principle— determines what a thing ought to be & do.


Dao and De

• 51Dao produces ten thousand things, and De nourishes them.Their natures give them form, and circumstances complete them.• The ten thousand things respect Dao and exalt

De,Not by decree, but spontaneously.


Dao and De

• Thus Dao produces, De nourishes, grows, nurtures, matures, maintains, and covers. It produces without claiming possession, Supports without vaunting itself, Matures without controlling, This is called the dark De.


Ethical Principles

• Things naturally tend toward what they ought to be and do.

• De flows from Dao.

• De also flows toward Dao.


Noninterference

• Things naturally tend toward their own states of excellence.

• It’ll be OK! Don’t interfere.


Noninterference

• Our activity is likely to do more harm than good.

• Inactivity [wuwei] is a virtue.


Daoist Virtues

•Simplicity

•Weakness

• Tranquility

•Spontaneity

•Passivity


Daoist Virtues

• Letting nature take its course

• People too naturally tend toward excellence.


Inactivity & Justice

• 63Act without acting, Manage affairs without trouble, Taste without tasting. Consider the small great, the few many. Repay injury with De.


Daoist leadership

• Plan difficult things while they are easy. Accomplish great things while they are small. Difficult things of the world start easy. Great things of the world start small. Because the sage never does great things, He can accomplish great things.


Daoist leadership

• He who promises lightly keeps few promises. He who thinks things easy finds them difficult. Therefore even the sage takes even easy things to be difficult, So that they are not difficult.


Daoism on Government

The best rulers, the people don’t even know that they’re there.

The next best, they love and praise.

The next best, they fear.

The worst, they despise.



When rulers lose faith in their people,

People lose faith in their rulers.

Words matter.



Work done, things accomplished,

The people say, “We did these things ourselves.”


The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people.

The more tools there are, the greater the disorder.

The more cleverness there is, the more contrivances there are.

The more laws there are, the more criminals there are.


Therefore a sage says:

I do nothing, and the people transform themselves.

I love stillness, and the people correct themselves.

I have no business, and the people prosper themselves;

I have no ambition, and the people attain the uncarved wood themselves.


Critique of Confucius

• Becoming good requires no special effort.

• We don’t need training; we naturally tend to be good.



• Virtue [ren], righteousness [yi], and propriety [li] are signs that something has gone wrong.

• Act naturally— things (including virtue) will take care of themselves.



• Repay injury with De.



When De is lost, benevolence [ren] appears.

When benevolence is lost, righteousness [yi] appears.

When righteousness is lost, propriety [li] appears.

Propriety is the thin edge of loyalty and good faith,

And the beginning of disorder;


Intelligence is the flower of Dao,

And the beginning of stupidity.



Against Confucian Virtues

• 18When the great Dao ceases to be observed, There are benevolence [ren] and righteousness [yi].

• When wisdom and cleverness appear, There is great hypocrisy.

• When the six kinships are not in harmony, There is filial piety [xiao].

• When the nations and clans fall into disorder, There are loyal ministers.

Self

Family

Others


Against Confucian Virtues

• 19Renounce sagacity, discard wisdom, People will profit a hundredfold.

• Renounce benevolence [ren], discard righteousness [i], People will again practice filial piety.


Against Confucius

• Renounce artistry, discard profit-seeking, There will be no robbers and thieves.

• These three pairs adorn inadequacy.


PU


PU

Dao does nothing, yet there is nothing it does not do.

If kings and princes can hold to it,

The ten thousand things will transform themselves.


PU

If I desire this transformation,

I will express it by the nameless uncarved wood.

The nameless uncarved wood has no desires.

Without desire, at rest and still,

The ten thousand things will order themselves.


Yu Xuanji (844?–868??)

If everything is and is directed by Dao, who am I?

How should I conceive of my life? What should I do with it?

life is a “dream of joy and sorrow,” “a loosed boat floating a thousand miles.”

When times are hard, can we really trust the Dao?


At the end of spring

Deep lanes, poor families; I have few friends.

He stayed behind only in my dreams....

How do we get the life we want?

I am a loosed boat floating a thousand miles.


daoism - daniel bonevacbonevac.info/301/daoism.pdf · daoist leadership • plan difﬁcult things...

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