Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
How much do you know about true Taoist culture?
Nowadays, when many people hear of Taoism, they mistakenly think it is just for telling people's fortunes, reading feng shui, and worshipping immortals, not realizing that true Taoist culture is broad and profound, with a long and rich history.
The Tao Is Taoism's Highest Object of Faith!
Taoism is a native religion that takes the Tao as its highest object of faith and bears the distinctive features of Chinese culture. It is the cultural root of the Chinese people and a source of wisdom for Eastern humanistic society.
Taoism is China's homegrown religion, with a long history and rich doctrines, and an important part of traditional Chinese culture.
Its ideas—honoring the Tao and valuing virtue, clarity and stillness and non-action (wuwei), equal and universal compassion, the Tao following naturalness, embracing simplicity and preserving the genuine—have not only deeply influenced the culture and thought of the Chinese people but also offer profound lessons for solving many of the problems facing the world today.
The Unity of Heaven and Humanity
The concept of the unity of heaven and humanity was first expounded by Zhuangzi and later developed by the Han Confucian Dong Zhongshu into a philosophical system, which became the main body of traditional Chinese culture.
In the history of Chinese thought, the unity of heaven and humanity is a fundamental belief.
The Chinese cultural scholar Ji Xianlin explained the unity of heaven and humanity as follows: heaven is great nature; humanity is human beings; unity means understanding each other and forming a friendship.
Fortune-telling, feng shui, worshipping immortals, and other such Taoist activities are only a very small part of the outward expression of Taoist culture.
Revering Heaven and Following the Ancestors
Revering heaven and following the ancestors is the core belief and highest summary of the rites of Zhou. “Heaven” means the heavenly gods and the Heavenly Emperor; “ancestors” means the ancestors of the ancestral temple.
Sacrifices in ancient China had strict boundaries of rank: only the Son of Heaven could sacrifice to the gods of heaven and earth; feudal lords and high officials could sacrifice to mountains and rivers; while gentlemen and commoners could sacrifice only to their own ancestors and to the door gods, the Stove God, and the Earth God.
The Qingming Festival and the Middle Prime Festival are days for honoring ancestors, and honoring ancestors is the most direct way for the Han Chinese to declare themselves descendants of the Flame and Yellow Emperors.
Inherited Burden Under the Way of Heaven
The Taoist doctrine of “inherited burden” (chengfu) comes from the Scripture of Great Peace (Taiping Jing). It means that if ancestors accumulate virtue and do good, their blessings extend to their descendants; if forebears repeatedly commit faults and do evil, their descendants will innocently suffer calamity.
As the saying goes: “A family that accumulates goodness will surely have abundant blessings; a family that accumulates evil will surely have abundant misfortune.”
Returning to Simplicity and Genuineness
Taoism holds that human nature is originally simple and pure, close to the nature of the Tao; that is why people often say children are innocent.
But as people grow older, thoughts and desires keep sprouting, and with the varied influences of the social environment and the temptations of lust and wealth, the original vital essence is steadily consumed and the original simple nature is clouded.
If desires go further without limit, they will seriously harm one's mind and nature and one's health and life, turning one away from the Tao. Studying and cultivating the Tao means returning one's mind, nature, and life to a state of simplicity and purity.
Be Like Water
Water has the highest goodness. “The highest good is like water” comes from chapter 8 of Laozi's Tao Te Ching:
“The highest good is like water. Water is good at benefiting the myriad things and does not contend; it dwells in places that people disdain, and so it is close to the Tao. In dwelling, be good at choosing the ground; in heart, be good at depth; in giving, be good at benevolence; in speech, be good at trustworthiness; in governing, be good at order; in affairs, be good at ability; in action, be good at timing. Because one does not contend, there is no blame.”
“The highest good is like water” is goodness at its highest level: like the nature of water, it benefits all things without contending for fame or gain.
Clarity, Stillness, and Non-Action
The Taoist doctrine of clarity and stillness transforms and corresponds with turbidity and movement. With its nature of clarity and stillness, the Tao gives birth to and nurtures all things, never thinking of what reward it should receive or what it wants to gain, treating all things without desire.
If human society likewise governed the world and cultivated the self with the idea of clarity and stillness, the world would be harmonious and peaceful, people would enjoy better rest and renewal, and life would be elevated.
Therefore, those who study and believe in the Tao must first learn to know clarity and stillness, taking constant clarity and stillness as the standard of their conduct; only then can they realize their pursuit of spiritual practice and attainment of the Tao.
My Life Is in My Own Hands
Starting from the pursuit of long life—“the immortals do not die”—Taoism established a subject-centered view of life summed up as “my life is in my own hands” and “immortality can be learned.” It advocates bringing one's own initiative into play, striving without rest and struggling fearlessly until one reaches the ideal state of long life without death.
The Tao Follows What Is So of Itself
The Tao Te Ching says: “The Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to the myriad things.” The Tao existed before all phenomena. “One” is the one qi, the primordial qi that is the root of all things; with this primordial qi the myriad things can be born, and life is the concrete manifestation of the Tao in the world.
Zhang Daoling, the Founding Celestial Master, says in the Xiang'er Commentary on the Laozi: “The Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, life is great. Of the four great ones, which is the greatest? The Tao is the greatest. Within the realm there are four great ones, and life occupies one of them. Of the four great ones, why is life made to occupy one? Life is another body of the Tao.”
Life stands alongside the Great Tao and alongside heaven and earth because it is the manifestation of the Tao, another body of the Tao. The Founding Celestial Master deeply realized the close relationship between life and the Tao, gave great significance to “life,” and, out of care for life, raised human life to a standing equal to that of the Tao. As for the relationship between the Tao and life: following it forward, “the Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to the myriad things”; modeling on it, “humanity follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows what is so of itself”; and returning back, “attain the utmost emptiness, hold fast to stillness; as the myriad things arise together, I watch their return. Things flourish in abundance, and each returns to its root.”
This is also the complete expression of the law of the Tao following naturalness. It profoundly reveals the true meaning of the arising and development of cosmic life and of the development and change of human society. Centered on the Tao, the origin, form, value, ideals, and meaning of life are each unfolded on different levels.
Taoist folk customs: fortune, emolument, longevity, and joy; good luck and all as you wish.
The core aim of Taoism: the Way of the immortals values life; help the world and save people.
The Taoist theory of creation: the Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to the myriad things.
The Taoist principle of conduct: humanity follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows what is so of itself.
The Taoist principles of nurturing life: heaven and humanity share the same structure; yin and yang in harmony; body and spirit nourished together; all things considered as a whole.
The Taoist paths to becoming an immortal: cultivating perfection through the way of the elixir, taking medicines and refining qi, accumulating virtue and doing good, helping the world and saving people, and achieving meritorious deeds.
Therefore the true core of Taoism lies in its cultural thought—it is not just fortune-telling, feng shui, and worshipping immortals!