(Prenote on spelling of Chinese words: Chinese script is not phonetic, but pictographic in its origins. This means that the same Chinese character can be pronounced many ways. Until recently, most Western scholars had agreed on a system for transliteration into our Latin alphabet called “Wade-Giles”, which I used in most of my earlier publications. But now most scholars have switched to a system sponsored by the mainland Chinese government called pinyin. This can be the source of confusion.
Some main equivalences:
Wade-Giles Tao Te Ching is now pinyin Daodejing
Wade Giles Lao Tzu is now pinyin Laozi
Wade-Giles Chuang Tzu is now pinyin Zhuangzi.
Taoism is now Daoism
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Intro to the Daodejing
The Daodejing was probably written down around 350-250 b.c. in China. Along with another early work the Zhuangzi, it is the oldest classic in the Chinese Daoist tradition. It is also one of the most popular religious classics worldwide, having been translated more often than any other classic except for the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita.
The Daodejing consists in 81 numbered sections or “chapters,” each chapter consists in a collection of short sayings most likely stemming from an oral tradition. This style makes it especially liable to multiple interpretations, bringing one scholar to say “More than any other classical Chinese work, perhaps, the Daodejing has been ripped from its historical, cultural, and concretely experiential context, and employed (like a set of transcultural Rorschach images) to tickle the fancy of Mystical Everyman.”
My own research, published in Tao and Method, tried to apply and extend methods developed in modern biblical studies to the study of this work. Among other things, this meant trying to reconstruct the historical, cultural, and experiential context of this work, and interpret it in this context.
The following is an abbreviated account of this historical and social context that I arrived at, published in the Wiley-Blackwell Enclyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion.
First, some history:
During the period from roughly 1000-700 b.c., China was unified under the rule of a single Emperor of the Chou Dynasty. The Chou Dynasty Empire was divided into many smaller states, with each state governed by a noble family who ruled on behalf of the Emperor, in a system similar to the “feudal” order of medieval Europe. An idealized picture of this “united China” maintained its hold on Chinese thinkers long after the system itself had disintegrated.
Starting in the 8th century b.c. the Chou Empire began to disintegrate. The Emperor lost all effective control. Noble familes within each state competed with the official ruling family for power, and the heads of the various states waged constant territorial wars against each other, each vying to reunite the now fragmented empire under his own rule. Over time, larger states swallowed up smaller ones, so that by 300 b.c. only seven large states remained. The latter part of this era is called the “Warring States” period because of the great unrest.
However, this period was also a time of considerable material progress and prosperity. And the self-destruction of the nobility during this time gave rise to great opportunities for those lower on the social scale to advance to positions of power, influence, and wealth. One of these groups was a class of men called shih, drawn from ambitious peasantry or dispossessed nobility, who became professional soldiers, administrators, and advisors to the new rulers of the various states during this period.2 It is from this group that most classical Chinese philosophers came.
The Warring States period came to an end in 221 b.c. when a military leader from the Western state of Ch’in conquered the other states and reunited the Empire under his military dictatorship. His dynasty was subsequently replaced in 206 b.c. by the Han dynasty (206 b.c. – 220 a.d.), and it was this dynasty that finally established the pattern of Chinese political organization that was to last until 1912: An Emperor who ruled through a large corps of elite specially trained government administrators and advisors, open (in theory at least) to all ranks of Chinese society. It was this corps of that inherited the role of Warring States shih.
The hundred schools contend.
Some Warring States shih undoubtedly focused on purely practical matters. But others were very idealistic, and had hopes to reform Chinese political life by infusing it with high moral and spiritual ideals. They intended to do this through the administrative positions they aspired to hold, and through the advice they hoped to offer to contemporary rulers. The earliest and most famous of such idealistic shih was the group that gathered around Confucius (Kungzi, circa 550-480 b.c.). By the time of the Warring States there were probably hundreds of such small groups of men, typically gathered around one or more highly respected shih teachers, often travelling from state to state hoping to gain positions of influence where they could convince local rulers to reform their policies. Intense discussion within, and debates between, these groups gave rise to most of what we know today as classical Chinese philosophy.
There were several groups who claimed to practice “the Tao of Confucius,” emphasizing Benevolence, Uprightness, and Etiquette, and supporting family loyalties and social amenities. The Mohists, a very large and well organized group capable of deploying its own private army to come to the aid of unjustly victimized states, emphasized a utilitarian social morality motivated by love for all people equally. The fa-chia (usually translated “realists”, or “legalists”) devised political strategies based on analysis of political and economic forces, and emphasized legal and administrative governmental structure rather than the personal virtue of the ruler. Attempts by these groups to formulate doctrines and counter-doctrines gave rise to a specialized focus on language, stimulating the earliest Chinese “logicians”.3 Most of the philosophers known to us from this period were greatly preoccupied with questions of leadership and social organization. Other shih, however, became disillusioned and withdrew from political life entirely. Among these are some Taoist groups described in the Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), another book roughly contemporary with the Tao Te Ching and expressing similar ideas.
The opening paragraph of Chapter 15 of the Chuang Tzu contains the following description of the several main lifestyles adopted by different groups of Warring States shih:
[Shih who, out of scupulous concern for their moral integrity, refuse to have anything to do with politics:] To have strict ideals and high-minded ways, to feel alien from the times and different from the ordinary masses, to discourse loftily and criticise vindictively, interested only in their strong convictions — this describes the ways favored by the shih of mountains and valleys, men who condem the age, and who wither away or drown themselves [in despair].
[High-minded Confucian reformers:] To preach Benevolence and Uprightness… being respectful, temperate, modest, deferential, interested only in improving themselves — this describes the ways favored by shih who go putting the world to rights, the men who teach and advise, the “Learners” both of the wandering and the stay-at-home kind.
[Egotistic shih and political schemers:] To talk of great achievements and establishing great reputations, to make ruler and minister observe the formalities, and reform the ways both of superior and subject, interested only in maintaining order — these are the ways preferred by shih at court, men who put kings on their thrones and strengthen their states, those who acheive great successes, conquering more territories.
[Shih who have withdrawn from the world to live a simple and happy private life:] To head for the woods and marshes, dwell in the unsettled wilderness, just fish and live untroubled, interested only in Doing Nothing [wu wei]– these are the ways preferred by shih of the rivers and seaside, men who shun the times, untroubled idlers.
[Shih who became preoccupied with various yogic techniques for strengthening vital energy and increasing longevity:] To huff and puff, exhale and inhale, blow out the old breath and draw in the new, practice the ‘bear-hang’ and the ‘bird-stretch’ postures, interested only in attaining long life — these are the ways preferred by shih of ‘guide-and-pull’ exercises, men who nurture their bodies, hoping to live as long as Grandfather Peng.
The origins of the Tao-te-ching.
My own research4 into the question of the the Tao Te Ching’s origin suggests that it consists mainly of sayings from the oral tradition of a Warring States shih school, which (following A.C. Graham) I will call the “Laoist” school, after its legendary but otherwise unknown author Laozi (Lao-tzu), who may not have existed. In any case, the sayings in this book were probably coined probably by several anonymous teachers in the school, and artfully arranged by teachers in eighty-one “sayings collages” that make up our present book. It was not originally addressed to the general public, but to members of this school itself, who would have been already familiar with the meaning of its many enigmatic sayings.
On this view, then, the Tao-te-ching was probably written by a group sociologically similar to the groups of shih that we know about that gathered around Confucian teachers like Confucius and Mencius, although the content of its teachings are quite different and in some cases directly opposed to Confucian teachings. The following is a sort of composite description of these kinds of shih, describing those characteristics that Confucian and Laoist shih had in common.
Shih-idealists with ambitions for political reform.
They were alienated idealists. By “alienated”, I mean that they did not look upon traditional social life, or the existing political order, as a source of authoritative norms. Nor did they look on participation in ordinary socio-political life as something sufficient by itself to give meaning to one’s life. They were idealists, in that the quest for norms and sources of meaning superior to those of conventional society, was a very central part of their lives. New norms they developed served as a basis for their claim to be instructors of those in authority, deserving (in the Laoist case at least) the leadership status of new “Emperor”, spiritual “Norm of the World”.
They had a very strong sense of social responsibility. The Chuang Tzu puts the following words into the mouth of a shih- idealist asking permission from his teacher to go “correct” the ways of a feudal lord:
I have heard that the ruler of [the state of] Wei is very young. He…thinks little of how he rules his state, and fails to see his faults. It is nothing to him to lead his people into peril… His people have nowhere to turn. I have heard you say, Master, ‘Leave the state that is well-ordered and go to the state in chaos!’ I want to use these words as my standard, in hopes that I can restore his state to health.
Even though shih-idealists like this often have no official position, and are often of lower-class origin, they feel that the burden of ensuring the health of the entire Empire rests on their shoulders alone. In their eyes, those in official positions of authority (many of them usurpers) are for the most part completely inadequate to this task. Shih-idealists often travel from state to state, wherever they feel their services are needed, and wherever they have some hopes that they can influence local government — either as advisers or as administrators in government service. In this they are partly relying on an important part of Chou-dynasty (1122-222 b.c.) ideology: The Emperor must have wise counselor/”teachers” who constantly remind him of his moral responsibilities and correct him when they see him abusing his office or setting a bad tone for the people. Formerly, however, such counselors were the highest ranking officials, drawn from the Emperor’s noble kinsmen.
They accepted fully the present socio-political structure and their officially assigned place in it. Unlike idealist political reformers elsewhere, shih-idealists did not advocate a change in the hierarchical structure of society. And, despite the fact that they regarded themselves as the true leaders of China, they did not aspire to topple those in power and personally take their place. Politically, their aspiration was to “rule from the middle”, in their capacity as advisers and administrators at all levels of government — from the lowest level of inspector of wells and fields, to the highest level of “prime minister” just below the top feudal lord who was supreme head of state.
They offered a new foundation for Chinese culture and politics, but this foundation enters public life primarily in the person of the ideal shih. Here a contrast with John Locke (1632- 1704) is helpful. Locke was an English philosopher who perhaps more than any other laid the foundations for modern secular democracies. The foundation Locke offered for this new kind of society consisted primarily of philosophical theories– theories about the natural freedom of human nature, theories about the basis for social organization and government, etc. These theories were in turn based on more fundamental theories about the nature of reality and how we come to know reality. The new foundation Locke has to offer enters public life primarily as theory — as theory to be taught to and accepted by both government officials and the people they rule, as theory to be embodied in a constitution, as theory to be followed by judges in interpreting laws, etc. If we ask ourselves, How did Locke’s thoughts and words insert themselves into concrete life?, the answer is (A) his thoughts are the result of his conscious attempts to construct a rationally based philosophical system, and (B) he wants his entire society to understand and accept these thoughts as a normative basis for social and political life.
Shih-idealists also aspired to provide a new foundation for the crumbling socio-political order they saw around them. But the foundation they had to offer inserted itself into concrete life in a way fundamentally different from the way that Locke’s philosophy did so. They relied primarily on two ideas central to traditional Chou-dynasty thought: (A) Good social organization depends on the ruler gaining the voluntary respect and cooperation of the people. He does this by his personal good qualities and charisma (te in Chinese), and by showing genuine care, concern, and competence in looking out for their needs. (B) The good ruler “sets the tone” for his society. The manner in which he conducts himself both privately and publicly establishes a certain atmosphere which subtly but powerfully influences the way the people conduct themselves. It is primarily this tone the ruler sets, rather than laws, teachings, or beliefs which authorities teach to people, that is expected to produce a good peasant-citizenry and an orderly society. The shih-idealists reflected in the Mencius and the Tao te ching regard themselves as the chief tone-setters for society. The new “foundation” they have to offer inserts itself into public life primarily in their own person then. In whatever office they hold, they strive to set the proper tone for the social group in their charge, and in this they serve also as exemplars for the rulers whom they serve. And when these rulers ask for their advice about particular political problems they are experiencing, they advise them to address these problems in a way that will also set the proper tone for the larger society.
Because the personal character of ruler-administrators was so pivotal, shih-idealists placed an extraordinary emphasis on character-formation. Personal character-formation, which Mencius calls “self-cultivation”, is to the shih what philosophical theorizing is to John Locke. It is the source of his autonomy, his right to follow norms derived from within himself rather than be bound by norms externally given. And it is the source of his critical leverage over against conventional society and its rulers, the basis on which he criticizes current practice and poses new norms to guide public policy. Good public policy in the Mencius and the Tao te ching is defined as that policy expressive of good character, or of the right state of mind, existing in the ruler. Self-cultivation differs somewhat from the Western development of “virtuous character”, in its strong emphasis on complete internalization, so that the personal qualities cultivated become part of one’s instinctive impulses (not “convictions” one must hold oneself to). This is expressed in a famous saying attributed to Confucius: “At fifteen I set my heart on learning, at thirty I attained a firm position…at seventy I followed my heart’s desire without overstepping the line.”
Perhaps because the shih-idealists as a class actually were the group with the best claim to moral respectability in Warring States China, they apparently gained considerable prestige (though probably their actual influence on politics fell very far short of their ambitions). Since the use of force and political manipulation came increasingly to replace hereditary title as a source of political power, rulers were in need of new sources of legitimation. Some may have looked to shih-idealists as a source of this legitimation, wanting to appear at least to be associated with them and to be listening to their advice, or at least supporting them. (Mencius speaks of a ruler who, while he rejects the advice of a particular shih, gives him material support anyhow, “Because I am ashamed to see him die of want in my territory”.)
The very high respect with which some individual shih were regarded, led other shih to gather around them, to learn their ideas about good government and practice self-cultivation under their guidance, and by association with them to gain credentials that would get for them the government appointments they desired. This led to the formation of many small and informal shih-schools, groups of men gathered around one or more teachers, living with or near him, and often travelling with him as he went from state to state trying to influence rulers with his advice. This is the kind of group that gathered around the Confucian shih-teacher Mencius, and this is the kind of group I believe also responsible for the Tao te ching.
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