The Way And Its Power

The Tao Te Ching represents one of the most significant texts in the context of
non-Western cultural, political, and religious development. It provides the first
presentation of an ideal, utopian society not based on Confucianism, reveals the
beginnings of Marxist thought, and portrays an elegant description of a way of living in
harmony with nature and the world in order to achieve immortality, the ultimate
fulfillment of humanity.

Lao Tzu begins in verse 1 by telling what the Tao is not. He says if you can name
it, classify it, or in any other way pin it down, then it is not the Tao. Since the unnamed
is the ultimate reality behind all reality (Verse 4), to name it would be to limit it and the
Tao is limitless. Put in Lao Tzu’s words, “I don’t know its name,/ I’ll call it Way,/ and if
I must name it, name it Vast.” (Verse 25) Lao then takes verse 25 and makes certain that
the reader is aware that to describe the Tao in any way would be to limit it. The Tao is a
creation that is a paradox in and of itself and yet is the seminal creation of paradox. In
verse 34 he goes on to say, "It never makes itself vast/and so becomes utterly vast." This
is a technique frequently used in the Tao Te Ching while describing the nature of the Tao.
Even Lao Tzu refutes his own naming of the Tao.

In a similar way, we see him reverse the typical viewpoints of things such as soft
and weak with those of hard and strong. He shows the Tao as yin and Confucianism as
the yang. In verse 76 he says, "Things great and strong dwell below./ Things soft and
weak dwell above." And then in verse 78, we see him further this analogy with the
addition of the concept of water. Water is a very important aspect to Taoism because
water is free-flowing, it molds to the contours of the objects it is contained within.
"Nothing in all beneath heaven is so soft and weak as water./ And yet, for conquering the
hard and strong,/ nothing succeeds like water."

As presented by its alleged author Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching attempts to portray
a unique view of the world surrounding the typical Chinese readership immersed in

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Confucianism. While the Tao Te Ching is not always entirely explicit in its definition of
what the "Tao" is, it is quite effective in saying what the Tao is not. It positions itself on
the opposite end of the spectrum from Confucianism and clearly references Confucian
thought as being somehow inferior or not flowing with the "Tao" (way). For example,
Verse 7 states, "If you aren't free of yourself/how will you ever become yourself?" In
effect, this verse serves as a revocation of the Five Relationships of Confucianism. Verse
18 reveals further differences between Confucianism and Taoism when its says, "When
the great Way is abandoned/we're faced with Humanity and Duty." "When familial
harmony ends/we're faced with obedience and kindness." Essentially what is meant here
is that when the Tao is abandoned, social constructions, artificial in themselves, are
necessary to maintain peace. The result of this pronouncement is to criticize
Confucianism's focus on social structures that avoid chaos but are not the Tao. Verse 65
also critiques Confucianism with its emphasis on knowledge. Lao Tzu says, “Ancient
masters of Way/never enlightened people./They kept people simple minded…Use
knowing to govern/and your plunder the nation,/but use not-knowing to govern/and you
enrich the nation.”

Now that we understand that the Tao is like the free-flowing nature of water, is
formless, is vast, and yet is nameless, we can begin to grasp the interaction between
humans and the Tao. To understand the Tao, humans must first release themselves from
the societal structures that confine their actions and the knowledge that imprisons their
minds. To begin to understand yourself you must understand that "If you aren't free of
yourself/how will you ever become yourself?" (Verse 7) If you become tied up in the
Five Relationships and the Rectification of Names from Confucianism, then you will be
unable to understand the true nature of yourself. You have trapped yourself in a structure
that has created a social self and not a natural self. To understand the Tao, the way of
nature, you must return home, to your natural self.

The Tao Te Ching teaches that the goal for humanity is to learn to act within the
Tao using a principle called wu-wei to guide their actions, which should be non-actions.
Wu-wei, often translated as "nothing doing", can be interpreted as the singular

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prescription for living within the Tao. The goal, ideally, is to have your actions have no
effect, and therefore, as they have no effect, they in no way affect the Tao. This creates
harmony and peace within oneself, one's surroundings, and in all nature. Perfect
understanding allow a Taoist to use the principle of wu-wei in all aspects of life and in
every action they take. In this way, the Tao can be realized to be the ultimate reality
behind all reality. By being in harmony with Tao, creation is Tao while at the same time
setting the precedent for Tao. Verse 8 further describes the way for humans to act as
"When you never strive/you never go wrong." And in verse 81 he says, "The Way of
heaven is to profit without causing harm,/ and the Way of a sage to act without
contending." Clearly, we see this concept of wu-wei reiterated repeatedly with a number
of different techniques for expressing the same concept to ensure that the reader comes to
more fully understand the nature of nothing doing.

Unlike Confucianism, social hierarchies in any form are clearly not favored by the
Tao. Instead, the Tao presents a picture of a flat society in Verse 3 when it says, "Rules
to good governing, create a flat societal structure, remove ambition/desire/read so they
can be more natural." Consequently, no one has any more honors than anyone else does.
Everyone is an equal in the Taoist view of society. The Confucian 'rectification of
names' is seen as divisive in its splitting apart of peoples. Furthermore, the Taoist clearly
integrated the tradition developed originally in Moist thought of a "Universal Love." The
Taoists saw all humanity as one large family group and rejected the biological family
centric view that Confucians took. As such, one might speculate as to whether Taoists
were more favorable to women being treated as equals. If the Five Relationships of
Confucius are rejected, then the notion of a husband as superior to his wife must also be
rejected as the husband-wife relationship is the second most important of the
relationships in Confucianism next to the relationship between the ruler and the ruled.

When one looks at such pronouncements in the Tao Te Ching, one can see the
genesis of the ideals that let Karl Marx, the German economic and political philosopher,
to reveal his disdain for the ruling classes when he wrote of a society not based upon the
antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes. Furthermore, Verse 80 of the Tao Te

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Ching envisions an agrarian utopia where no one is jealous because all states are so
similar and where everyone has the things they need to be sustained. Such a utopia might
be analogized to Marx's view of the utopian communist state in which mankind lives in a
classless society.

The Taoists seeks to put aside concern with externals, to follow a spiritual path
and through nature find a way of living in harmony in order to reach immortality. The
Tao rejects the Confucian emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge and rewards and
replaces it with an emphasis on the return to nature. As in Verse 3, the goal is to "be
more natural." This return to nature results in a rediscovery of the self which is hidden
by social constructs, thereby masking our true natures. Verse 9 eloquently shows that
things of the world and status just make mankind nervous about losing them when it
states, "Once it's full of jade and gold/your house will never be safe. /Proud of wealth and
renown/you bring on your own ruin.//Just do what you do, and then leave:/such is the
Way of Heaven."

To find the Way of Heaven and what Verse 4 describes as "The ultimate reality
behind all reality," one must develop wu-wei. Wu-wei, often translated as "nothing
doing," can be interpreted as the singular prescription for living within the Tao. The
goal, ideally, is to have your actions have no effect, and therefore, as they have no effect,
they in no way affect the Tao. This creates harmony and peace within oneself, one's
surroundings, and in all nature. Perfect understanding allows a Taoist to use this
principle of wu-wei in all aspects of life and in every action, the Taoist takes to retire
from the world and turn to nature. Such understanding leads mankind, absent wealth and
position, to the ultimate
fulfillment--immortality.

Reaching the enlightened state and becoming one with the Tao has pitfalls. Social
constructions or anything else that keeps one from knowing one’s true self, one’s natural
self, frustrates the Tao. For example, honor, typically seen as a favorable characteristic,
is viewed negatively in the Tao Te Ching. Verse 13 states,

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 "Honor is a contagion deep as fear,
renown a calamity profound as self.

Why do I call honor a contagion deep as fear?

Honor always dwindles away,
so earning it fills us with fear
and losing it fills us with fear.

When all beneath heaven is yourself in renown

you trust yourself to all beneath heaven,
and when all beneath heaven is your self in love
you dwell throughout all beneath heaven."

Lao Tzu sees honor as creating a higher level that, in turn, necessitates the acquisition of
further honor and creates unnecessary fears of losing that honor. In this way, honor
separates mankind from knowing the true self. Ego is another example of a characteristic
that creates fear and nervousness, as do classifications, social structures, rectification of
names and desires.

The goal of Taoism is to learn to be one with the Tao, the way of nature. In
addition to the practical benefits of creating peacefulness in one’s life, this philosophy
has other benefits that came to be very important to people, namely immortality. In verse
30 Lao Tzu writes, "Things grown strong soon grow old./ This is called losing the way:/
Lose the Way and you die young." This verse clearly tells that if you are not one with the
Tao, you will die young. At this point in time, Lao has only implied that being one with
the Tao in your actions will lead to long life. Later in the Tao Te Ching he further asserts
in verse 44 that "Try it and your life will last and last." Clearly, we see that Lao Tzu is
speaking of immortality on this earth. By being in harmony with nature, which is vast
and infinite, we too as humans can become vast and infinite through our non-actions, wu-
wei.

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 In summary, the Tao Te Ching gives its followers a utopian society that is an
alternative to Confucianism, a way to live a natural life, free of social constructs, to find
oneself and to find the Way.

I find it most appropriate to leave the reader with some thoughts from the book
titled “Tao of Jeet Kune Do”, by Bruce Lee. Jeet Kune Do literally translates as “The
Way of the Intercepting Fist.” It is a martial arts style which focuses on intercepting not
only the punches and kicks of your opponent, but also his emotional tension which stems
from his fears of injury and, ultimately, death. In the opening section of the book, there
is the following quote from a Taoist priest.

Into a soul absolutely free

From thoughts and emotion,
Even the tiger finds no room
To insert its fierce claws.

One and the same breeze passes

Over the pines on the mountain
And the oak trees in the valley;
And why do they give different notes?

No thinking, no reflecting,
Perfect emptiness;
Yet therein something moves,
Following its own course.

The eye sees it,

But no hands can take hold of it—
The moon in the stream.

Clouds and mists,

They are midair transformations;
Above them eternally shine the sun and the moon.

Victory is for the one,

Even before the combat,
Who has no thought of himself,
Abiding in the no-mind-ness of Great Origin.

In conclusion, I leave you with the following thought from Bruce Lee, "Be formless,
shapeless, like water... You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a

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bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot... Now water can
flow, or it can crash, be water my friend."

Bibliography
Lee, Bruce. “Tao of Jeet Kune Do”, 1975, Ohara Publications, Inc. 24715 Avenue
Rockefeller, Santa Clarita, California.

Notes on formatting: I really despise use of double-spacing and so I used 1.5 spacing.
This paper would be astonishingly long if it was double-spaced.

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