Dejan Tomanic

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Following the “Tao”: A Report on Chinese Taoism
Dejan Tomanic

For more than two millennia, the philosophical and religious traditions of Southeast Asia

as a whole have been strongly influenced by the ideas and wisdom of Taoism. Taoist expression

and ideology can be considered intertwined with the diverse cultures of Asia, in various forms,

ranging from ethics and proprietary customs, traditional medicines, and even feng shui. For

many, the ultimate goal is to become one with the Tao by practicing the fundamentals of Taoist

disciplines in order to produce harmony between one’s self and the Universe as a whole.

The traditions of Taoism, as originally transcribed in Old-World China, are directly

attributed to the teachings of the “Old Master,” Lao-Tsu. Lao-Tsu, or Laozi as he is sometimes

called, is the traditionally recognized originator of the tenets of the “Tao”, or the “Way.” Author

of the Dao De Jing, the practice of following the Tao would be nothing without the core

philosophical beliefs asserted in his most famous work. The original manuscripts written by

Laozi are said to have been untitled, so the opening lines were used as its title: Dao meaning

“way”, De meaning “virtue/power”, and Jing meaning “classic.” In other words, the

manuscripts written by Laozi have taken on “The Classic of the Way of Virtue and Power” as

their title in Chinese culture.

The Dao De Jing is intentionally complex and ambiguous. Organized into 81 chapters or

sections of poetry, it is written with only 5,000 Chinese characters. It combines topics as wide-
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spread as advice for political leaders and rulers to practical, everyday wisdom for the common

man. The variety of possible interpretations is thought to have been consciously assured as to

avoid any superiority of ideas over the course of time. Perhaps because of this ambiguity,

Taoism is largely subdivided into two categories: Religious and Philosophical Taoism.

However, it is important to note that Taoism, in a sense, transcends religion in the

Western sense of the Abrahamic religions. In fact, much like Buddhism, which owes its

transcendence into China to ingrained Taoist beliefs, it is more of a way of life rather than an

indoctrinated religion. Philosophical Tao bases itself on the writings of Laozi’s Dao De Jing and

Zhuang Zhou’s classic Zhuangzi. It is generally considered a school of thought that focuses on

the transcendent overlying themes of the Dao in terms of the balance of the Universe. Religious

Tao is slightly harder to describe. According to ReligionFacts.com, religious Tao has its roots in

a number of organized religious movements over the course of Chinese history, stretching over

large spans of China’s Dynastic records. These two versions of the same underlying Tao has led

to difficulties in the categorization of Taoist schools and sects. Although many modern scholars

have abandoned the categorization of Taoism into two separate but interlocked ways of thought,

perhaps for that very reason, it is still useful in understanding the complicated nature of Taoism,

in my opinion.

Both schools of thought, though, have many of the same core beliefs. Both, of course,

originate from the same concepts of the natural world and human involvement in the universe
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outlined by the works of Laozi and Zhuang Zhou. Both schools describe the Tao as “the

mystical source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful

yet supremely humble, being the root of all things” (Laozi.) According to the Dao De Jing,

humans have no special place within the Dao, being just one of its many "ten thousand"

manifestations. In most circles, it is stated that people are “born into a state of imperfect purity,

but capable of seeking the Tao and doing good.” The human condition is to have desires and

free will, and therefore to be able to alter one’s own nature. Many act "unnaturally", upsetting

the natural balance of the Dao.

Both schools of thought have also incorporated many of the same symbols into their

respective points of view. The Yin-Yang, or Taijitu, has become familiar throughout the world

as the symbolism between “light” and “dark”. Taoism and Confucianism forged this symbolism

concurrently in similar time-periods in Dynastic China (ReligionFacts.) The concept of Yin, the

light, and Yang, the dark, are said to illustrate how “contrary and seemingly polar forces are

interconnected and dependant on each other in the natural world, and ultimately give rise to one

another” (Osgood.) Manifestations of the Yin and Yang can be seen all around us. Male and

Female, Cold and Hot, Low and High, Good and Evil, are all considered manifestations of either

Yin or Yang. In the grand scheme of the Universe, Yin and Yang are seen as complimentary

opposites interacting within the greater whole as part of an ever-changing, fluid system. This

concept is vividly illustrated in the Dao De Jing a number of times:

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“We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.
We turn clay to make a vessel;
But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.
We pierce doors and windows to make a house;
And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.
Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of
what is not.”
--(chap. 11, Laozi)

Everything in the Universe has aspects of both Yin and Yang, but depending on the

nature of the object, one or the other may manifest itself more easily. In this case, emptiness is

the Yang, whereas Yin is manifested in the tangible objects. Both serve an interdependent

purpose.

Today, because of difficulties in the categorization of religious views associated with

Taoism, there are anywhere from 20 million to 400 million Taoists estimated worldwide, most of

whom live in China, Taiwan or Southeast Asia. Taoism is also increasingly influential in the

West, especially in the fields of alternative medicine like acupuncture, social movements like the

spread of feng shui, and martial arts teachings like Tai Chi.

According to Holmes Welch, a sociologist/anthropologist who dedicated much of his

professional career to studying the merits of Taoism, "It is a famous puzzle which everyone

would like to feel he had solved.” In Taoist terms, though, the Universe is forever in a state of

flowing and ebbing. Somehow, I feel like the very core of following the Tao is recognizing the

inability to ever truly solve the Universe, as the Universe itself is ultimately unsolvable.
Dejan Tomanic

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WORKS CITED

Anonymous. "Facts on Taoism." Religion, World Religions, Comparative Religion - Just the

Facts on the World's Religions. ReligionFacts, 2004. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

Laozi, Peter Kwok Man. Ho, Martin Palmer, Jay Ramsay, and Chan Kwok. Lap. Tao De Jing.

New York, NY. Barnes & Noble, 2002. Print.

Osgood, Charles E. "From Yang and Yin to And or But." Journal of Language 49.2 (1973):

380–412 . JSTOR. 16 Nov. 2008. Web. 17 November 2010.