Chuang Tzu of Taoism - the
thought process of a Chinese sage explained
I was reading Alan Watts on Taoism. The name of the book is
The Watercourse Way available at Amazon.
As I read the book I got the impression that the Taoism of
ancient China is an outlook on ourselves and the world that is
fundamentally different from our modern way of life. It is also
totally different from the way I was brought up. It is totally
different from the way people I know look at life. In fact I do
not know anybody who looks at life in this way and that
includes myself and I am interested in Philosophy.
This is like being in touch with the thinking of somebody
from another planet or galaxy. It is certainly being in touch
with the thinking of someone from a totally different culture –
that of ancient China as it existed more than 2000 years
ago.
Consider this passage from Chuang Tzu (an ancient Taoist
master):
"The man of perfect virtue in repose has no thoughts, in
action no anxiety. He recognizes no right, nor wrong, nor good
nor bad. Within the four seas when all profit – that is his
repose. Men cling to him as children who have lost their
mothers; they rally around him as wayfarers who have missed
their road. He has wealth to spare but know not whence it
comes. He has food and drink more than sufficient, but know not
who provides it ….
In an age of perfect virtue, good men are not appreciated;
ability is not conspicuous. Rulers are mere beacons while the
people are as free as the wild deer. They are upright without
being conscious of their duty to their neighbors. They love one
another without being conscious of charity. They are true
without being conscious of loyalty. They are honest without
being conscious of good faith. They act freely in all things
without recognizing obligations to anyone. Thus their deeds
leave no trace; their affairs are not handed down to
posterity."
What would you make of such a passage? This outlook is
unique to my experience as I said earlier. I have never met
anyone outside of this book who thinks in this way.
This being the case it is not surprising that I do not fully
understand this passage. However whatever I do understand is as
under:
1) "In an age of perfect virtue, good men are not
appreciated; ability is not conspicuous." This is according to
the laws of Economics – Demand and Supply. What is meant is
that in an age of perfect virtue good men are so common that
the supply (of good men) is sufficient to meet all requirement
for them. Thus it is that they are not appreciated.2) Similarly
ability is conspicuous only when it is uncommon, when it stand
out from the crowd. This is not the case in an age of perfect
virtue – ability is common and thus not conspicuous.3) "… the
people are as free as the wild deer. They are upright without
being conscious of duty to their neighbors. They love one
another without being conscious of charity…."Two points strike
me about this passage. One is that people are virtuous when
they do not have to make an effort to be virtuous. It is their
nature, their being, not something they have to force
themselves to do.A rose is a rose. It does not have to make an
effort to be a rose and smell beautiful. It is simply its
being, its nature, and that is what makes it a rose. Similar is
the case with the good man, the virtuous man, as understood by
Chuang Tzu.
This conception of virtue and goodness is so utterly
different from the way most of us are brought up. I have had
the outlook that it is my duty to be polite, to love others (or
at least restrain my hatred of them), and be ethical and
honest. It is something that I have to force myself to do at
times. Many times I feel guilty because I judge my behavior and
think it bad.
According to Chuang Tzu and Taoism all this effort and
striving is utterly useless to be a good man, a virtuous man.
The virtuous man is virtuous because that is his nature. He
does not have to make an effort to be virtuous; there is no
effort of any kind; there is no ego involved and he does not
therefore need to take pride and be conscious of his
virtue.
There are other conclusions also about the message of Taoism
that are reached by Alan Watts in his book,
Tao, The Watercourse Way They are:
1) To trust ourselves and others as we go through life. This
is an exceedingly difficult precept to live up to, especially
the part about trusting others. To learn the reason why Alan
Watts thought it necessary please read the above book on
Taoism.2) Govern a State as you would cook a small fish –
lightly.3) The best state to be in is when there is no ego, no
wanting, no striving; just a process of living and being.4)
There is nothing to strive for. There is no need even to strive
to be ethical and virtuous and happy. The very fact that you
are making an effort means that you are not virtuous (or
happy).5) There is something fundamentally flawed with our
modern way of living. In this modern world we live for a large
number of years but constantly fear death. Also we are unable
to be happy and live in the present and are constantly
planning, worrying and striving for a better tomorrow. There is
something fundamentally wrong with this approach.
As I said earlier Taoism in particular and the ancient
Chinese outlook to life in general is totally different from
our modern habitual ways of thinking feeling and acting. This
is what makes it valuable. There is much that we can learn and
savor here.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful
to you.
Stay tuned for more in this continuing
series.
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