Philosophical Taoism of the Lao Tzu
Tao is the Way, or the Path. It is the everlasting rhythm of life, the unity between the polarity of non-being and being. It is hidden from the vulgar ways of the world. Only those endowed with deep spirituality can follow it diligently. It is the non-being that gives rise to and nurtures all beings. When forced to give it a name, the Tao will be the sage.
Many people, after reading the Tao-Te Ching, will think that Tao or the sage does not exist, because the Tao described by Lao Tzu is illusive and evasive. No one can ever verify the existence of Tao. However, this is not true.
According to Lao Tzu, Tao is “what is looked at, but not seen” or "what is listened to but not heard”1. Therefore, Tao does exist. As formless, Tao is nameless; as heaven and earth giving rise to all being, it is the named. Formless or nameless does not mean its non-existence. Lao Tzu said, "it is called indefinable and beyond imagination". The “imagination” and the “indefinable” has the image, the form, the essence, and the faith of Tao.2
The sage described by Lao Tzu more than two thousand years ago is so abstract, nobody has completely understood Tao. Not even a commentary book on Lao Tzu can totally describe him. As there are only about 5000 words in Tao-Te Ching, every word that Lao Tzu wrote is precious. However, why did he use up to a third of the words to describe the sage? Lao Tzu spent his whole life searching for this sage and he still could not define who or what exactly Tao is.
Lao Tzu always describes Tao as a “mother”, who has “faith”, “virtue”, “ability”, “love”, “leadership”, “righteousness”, “life”, “forgiveness”, “salvation” and so on.3 This means the Tao has the ideal human characteristics and personality.
Tao the sage, goes far beyond the ideal human characteristics and personality. Humanitarianism of Tao enables men to communicate and come closer to Him. Tao is above humanity. That is why human beings are not able to understand completely what Tao is. Tao is everlasting, transcending all determinations, cannot be spoken or named. Therefore, human beings have to fear Tao.
There are a lot of similarities between the teaching of Christ and Lao Tzu. In Christianity, God is self-existing, self-sufficient, immutable, eternal, omnipresence, and unique.4 Tao also has the features of independence, self-existence. Its immutable character does not vary with human senses, beliefs or unbeliefs.5 Tao is the origin of all creation and the force; unknowable in its essence but observable in its manifestations that lie behind the functioning and changing of the natural world. It is the basis nature of a spiritual approach to living. He stands alone and unchanging, ever present and in motion. He is the “mother” of all things, who formed the universe and nurtured ten thousand things. Man is the son of Tao. All things that arose from Tao are nourished by virtue. They are developed, cared, sheltered, comforted, grown and protected by Tao.6
The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”7 “There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live”. 8 Jesus claimed not only the Son of God, but also the son of man.9 According to the Bible, “The Word was God” and that “ Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.10 This means Jesus is the incarnate God. Christ was both “Word” and “flesh”, not one to the exclusive of the other, and thus was the perfect and only God-man. Christ made His “dwelling” with man, intimating the literalness of God’s coming to humanity. Hence, Jesus Christ also has the ideal human characteristics and personality, as what Lao Tzu said.
Tao is supremacy and is beyond everything. It transcends the wisdom of the wise. Lao Tzu says only the man who can become a newborn child can go into Tao.11 Tao transcends any image and morality. “When the great Tao is forgotten, kindness and morality arise. When wisdom and intelligence are born, the great pretense begins.”12 People who practice Tao is above the moral values.
Chuang Tzu agrees that nature was perfect, human beings did not know humanity or righteousness. They were naturally good and could not differentiate good from evil.13 But Chuang Tzu also said that no line can be drawn between right and wrong, no border can be fixed between great and small. “From the point of view of the Way (Tao), things have no nobility or meanness. From the point of view of things themselves, each regards itself as noble and other things as mean. From the point of view of common opinion, nobility and meanness are not determined by the individual himself.”14
Jesus also said a similar thing to an Israelite teacher. He said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.15 Man has to be born of water and the Spirit because flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." Therefore entering the gate of Tao is Christians believing in Christ because Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life.16 Jesus also said that unless we change and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.17
Tao gives inspiration to men that men cannot understand Tao unless Tao reveals himself. Tao usually uses speech to inspire people. Great Tao that comes out of the mouth becomes speech. It might be monotonous, but its benefits are always beyond imagination. Lao Tzu said, “When a superior person hears Tao, he diligently practices it. When a middling person hears Tao, he might hear it and he might not hear it. When the inferior person hears Tao, he roars with laughter. If Tao were not laughed at, it would not be Tao.”18
In the Bible, Jesus taught a parable of a sower. He said, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he scattered the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”19 This parable simply says the same thing as that Lao Tzu said. Jesus explained, “The seed on good soil stands for those with the noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”20
Wang Pi describes a superior person practice Tao diligently because he has the will to do so.21 Will is very important for a man to do something. Some people will just ignore everything that is true. It is also very dangerous for a man to live according to his own heart. Human wisdom is up to all dodges. Lao Tzu exclaims that nobody can really understand Tao unless he gets rid of all worldly possesions.22 Only the sage ruler can preserve the peace and harmony of nature in society.23
The Bible describes the worldly righteousness as dirty clothes. Lao Tzu said, “When the great Tao is forgotten, kindness and morality arise.”24 The worldly “te (goodness)”, “jen (humanity)”, “i (righteousness)”, and “li (propriety)”, are so weak that Lao Tzu had to say that only when a person loses Tao, there is te. When te is lost, then there is jen. When jen is lost, and then there is i, when i is lost, then there is li.25 Chuang Tzu also says the same. He said, “If the Way (Tao) and its Virtue (te) had not been cast aside, how would there be any call for benevolence (jen) and righteousness (i)? If the true form of the inborn nature had not been abandoned, how would there be any use for rites (li) and music?”26
The Christian’s Ten Commandments are so perfect, but in reality, it is very hard to follow. From the Christian point of view, only until Jesus Christ gave them a new heart and put in them a new spirit fulfilling the New Testament, then the fruit of the Spirit can transcends all the laws27. Lao Tzu also hoped that the sage will comes and generalize Tao until a circumstance that “A truly good man is not aware of his goodness”.28
Some people blame Lao Tzu for his teaching. “He says that nobody really understand what is Tao but yet how can he knows what Tao is? Isn’t this contradictory with what he has said?” Actually Lao Tzu says very clearly, “From the beginning until now, its name has never been forgotten. Thus I perceive the creation. How do I know the ways of creation? Because of this.”29 The Bible says, “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”30 Therefore, the greatness of Tao can be observed the surrounding nature.
It is very interesting that Lao Tzu’s teaching and Christianity is so similar as Lao Tzu has never met Jesus Christ before. Will Lao Tzu say that Jesus Christ is the sage that he mentioned in his 5000 word Tao Te Ching? Nobody can ever sure of that. One thing worth thinking about is whether we are a superior person, middling person or inferior person? Be a superior person.
References
1 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 14
2 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 21
3 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1, 25, 52, 59, 21, 51, 65, 4, 37, 34, 67, 81, 17, 73, 74, 35, 43, 77, 79, 16, 52, 62, 27, 67
4 Bible, Deuteronomy 5:26; Acts 17:25; Psalms 102:27, Hebrews 6:17, Malachi 3:6, 2 Timothy 2:13, James 1:17; Psalms 90:2; Jeremiah 23:23-24, 1 Kings 8:27, Acts 17:27, Psalms 16:8-9, Psalms 139:7-10; Deuteronomy 6:4, 32:39, Isaiah 44:6, 45:5, 45:21-22, 46:9, John 17:3
5 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1, 25, 52, 59, 21, 51, 65, 4, 37, 34, 67, 81, 17, 73, 74, 35, 43, 77, 79, 16, 52, 62, 27, 67
6 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 51, 34, 73, 79, 81
7 NIV Bible, John 1:1-4
9 NIV Bible, John 1:51
11 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 28, 49, 5, 18, 19
12 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 18, 62
13 Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, Columbia University Press, 1968, pp. 105
14 Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, Columbia University Press, 1968, pp. 179
15 NIV Bible, John 3:1-21
16 NIV Bible, John 14:6
17 NIV Bible, Matthew 18:2-5
18 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 41
19 NIV Bible, Luke 8:5-8
20 NIV Bible, Luke 8:15
21 Wang Pi, Monographs of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, No. 6, The University Press of Hawaii, 1979, pp.124
22 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 10
23 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 65, 3
24 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 18
25 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 38
26 Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, Columbia University Press, 1968, pp. 105,106
27 NIV Bible, Ezekiel 36:26
28 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 38
29 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 21
30 NIV Bible, Romans 1:20