Foundation of Taoism/ What is The Way?

Foundation of Taoism/ What is The Way?

Therefore let there always be non-being, so we may see their subtlety, And
let there always be being, so we may see their outcome. The two are the same,
But after they are produced, they have different names. Teaching 1, Pg. 97.

The overarching question when reading The Way of Lao Tzu is to wonder what exactly The Way purports to be. Confucius' Analects are far more practical, at least in their application to daily life. The Analacts were written for the edification and upbringing of true gentlemen. The purpose of The Way is not, however, to serve as a practical handbook for life. It does not seem to be a teaching tool as Lao writes “Abandon learning and there will be no sorrow.”(Teaching 20, Pg. 154) Nor is it a religious text as the commentary notes that Taoism is atheistic. The author suggests that The Way is important for its ethics and the gaining of moral lessons. It is very difficult for a Western mind to grasp an understanding of what is going on here, if the claim that The Way is an ethical treatise is true. It seems that there is little foundation for a moral code based on the cardinal ideas of being and non-being. For a Westerner, this is a gross contradiction in terms. A thing (if the Tao can be properly termed “a thing” which I highly doubt) cannot “exist” as both being and non-being at once. This idea, however, is central to Taoism and The Way.

It may be appropriate to compare the formulations of the Tao to the formulations that authors like Dionysius give to God. For Dionysius, God is darkness and light at the same time, without contradiction. Every name that can be thought of can be attributed to God, as well as the denial of everyone of these same names. Trying to name the essence of the Tao is similar to trying to give names to the ineffability that is the Christian God. Perhaps the analogy of wind is an appropriate one. The Tao is like wind in that one can see its effect, but whenever one tries to capture it, it slips through one's fingers.

Viewed in this light, one can see perhaps see The Way as a handbook to the ethical life. While the Taoist foundation is an ineffable one, this is really no different from the foundation for Christian ethics: namely an ineffable God. The Way then can be read perhaps as the rituals that are necessary for one to lead an ethical life. Obviously, rituals here do not have the same strict sense as in Confucius or the Christian mode of thought, but rather ritual in the sense of living one's life as a ritual i.e. a life that conforms with the Tao. It is a ritual life that loves faithfulness, order, competence, timeliness, etc. (Teaching 8, Pg. 113) that is the prescription for the Taoist's “best man”.

Word Count: 455 (including internal citations)