DAOIST NATURALISM: TEXTS AND TRADITIONS

Pauline C. LeeJuly 24, 2013

Infusing Chinese and Japanese Religion, Art and Literature

into the Undergraduate Curriculum

East West Center

“…[Daoism is]the least understood, the most commonly ignored and maligned, of all the major religions of the world.”

Girardot in Schipper 1993, p. xiv.

“…[Daoism] is an umbrella term for everything from the practice of ch’i kung to religious beliefs in gods and spirits as well as religious rituals, sometimes including shamanic practices.”

Julia Ching

“..by mocking reason and delighting in the impossibility of putting his message into words, the Daoist seems to withdraw beyond the reach of discussion and criticism…”

A.C. Graham

“[Daoism embraces] the science of alchemy, Maritime expeditions in the Isles of the Blest;An indigenous Chinese form of yoga;A cult of wine and poetry;Collective sexual orgies;Church armies defending a theocratic state;Revolutionary secret societies;And the philosophy of Lao Tzu.”

Holmes Welch

“…[Daoism] is an umbrella term for everything from the practice of ch’i kung to religious beliefs in gods and spirits as well as religious rituals, sometimes including shamanic practices.” (Julia Ching)

Confucianism and Daoism

social concerns/private concernsfamily involvement/focus on the

individualaction in society/passive reflectionattention to duty/attention to nature

formal training/informal pursuiturban administration/retirement in the

countryurban market life/rural agricultural life

seriousness/levityethics/metaphysics

Schools of Daoism

*Lao-Zhuangphilosophical

Celestial Masterspractice

*Shangqingliterary

LingbaoBuddhist

*Quanzhensyncretistic: Buddhist, Confucian,

Daoist

See Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion.

“The use of such suffixes, rampant in the study of Chinese religions (where we have the big three of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism) and elsewhere, amounts to a kind of shorthand, a convenient way to generalize over vast numbers of particulars. But it is also a sleight of hand, creating in three key- strokes an entity that, in addition to its sudden existence as a thing among other things, is further implied to have the property of systematicity and therefore to be a well-integrated and clearly demarcated whole, such that aspects or parts of the whole must resemble each other more strongly than they resemble any outside aspects or parts.”

Robert Campany, “On the Very Idea of Religions,” p. 291.

“Another way to think and speak of religions, rather than treating them as fully integrated systems and as containers into which persons, ideas, practices, and texts may be fit without remainder, is to imagine them as repertoires of resources.”

Campany, p. 313.

The Master was gravely ill. Zilu directed the disciples to attend him in the manner of retainers. When the Master had recovered somewhat, he said, “How long you go on, You, practicing these deceptions! To pretend that I have retainers when I have no retainers—who would I be deceiving? Would I be deceiving Heaven? Moreover, rather than dying in the hands of retainers, isn’t it better that I die in the hands of you, my disciples? And although I may not be entitled to a grand funeral, it’s not as though I were dying by the roadside, is it?

From Burton Watson, tr., The Analects of Confucius, p. 62. The Analects (Lunyu), of Confucius (Kongzi), ca. 551-479

BCE.

 

When Zhuangzi was about to die, his disciples expressed a desire to give him a sumptuous burial. Zhuangzi said, “I will have heaven and earth for my coffin and coffin shell, the sun and moon for my pair of jade discs, the stars and constellations for my pearls and beads, and the ten thousand things for my parting gifts. The furnishings for my funeral are already prepared—what is there to add?”

“But we’re afraid the crows and kites will eat you, Master!” said his disciples.

Zhuangzi said, “Above the ground I’ll be eaten by crows and kites, below the ground I’ll be eaten by mole crickets and ants. Wouldn't it be rather bigoted to deprive one group in order to supply the other? If you used unfairness to achieve fairness, your fairness will be unfair. If you use a lack of proof to establish proofs, your proofs will be proofless. The bright-eyed man is no more than the servant of things, but the man of spirit knows how to find real proofs. The bright-eyed is no match for the man of spirit—from long ago this has been the case. Yet the fool trusts to what he can see and immerses himself in the human. All his accomplishments are beside the point—pitiful, isn’t it?”

From Burton Watson, tr., Chuang Tzu.

Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), ca. 4th century BCE.

Wei (Action)

and

Wu-wei (Non-intentional action)

Zhuangzi莊子

(ca. 369-286 BCE)

Zhuangzi and the Butterfly

遊 (you)

“play” “wander”

DAOIST NATURALISM: TEXTS AND TRADITIONS

Pauline C. LeeJuly 24, 2013

Infusing Chinese and Japanese Religion, Art and Literature into the Undergraduate Curriculum

East West Center