Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Books of Taoism

Disclaimer: This is all written by me as an essay for my world religions class. It has been graded by my teacher and is now being posted purely for your entertainment.


The most common first language in the world is Chinese. One of the many Chinese religions is Taoism. Though Taoism as a religion might not be well known by the westernized civilization, many westerners use symbols and words from Taoism every day including chi and yin-yang. However, despite its influence on Chinese civilization, Taoism has been hard to define. Taoism talks about how life is ever changing. This being said, most of our contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is deeply rooted in the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu, but there are many other Cannon books that have been a part of Taoist culture throughout the ages.

The Tao Te Ching is also known as the Daodejing or Dao De Jing and provides the basis for Taoism. It is a brief text of just over 5,000 Chinese characters. Literally translated Tao Te Ching can be broken into Tao, the way, Te, strength or virtue, and Ching, scripture. The Tao Te Ching has been translated into English more times than any other Chinese document, this being said it is almost impossible to render an ancient Chinese text properly into English without losing some part of it. The Tao Te Ching is thought to be written in the sixth century BCE by Lao-tzu. Disappointed with court life, he left for the western mountains on top of an ox. When a guard asked for his teachings he gave him the Tao Te Ching. The text is now thought to be written by multiple people and was possibly started in the fourth century BCE.

The second most influential book in Taoism is the Chuang-tzu. The Chuang-tzu was named for its fourth-century BCE author, Master Chuang, otherwise known as Chuang Chou. The Chuang-tzu is addressed more towards the individual than to the ruler. This work took the Taoist position of Lao Tzu and developed it further. He even speaks of the Immortals, which are the “perfected individuals who live on mountains, feed on the wind, sip the dew, and experience ecstatic flight.” In the Chuang-tzu, a new notion was brought into Chinese philosophy. He believed in life as dynamic and ever changing. Like the Tao Te Ching, it is thought that only seven of the chapters were written by Chuang Chou and the other twenty-six chapters were the works of his students.

Other than the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-tzu, there are many other widely accepted Canon texts. In the year 471 CE, the first Tao Ts’ang or Taoist Canon was brought together. The first Taoist Canon had some of the Tao Te Ching in it, but also had interpretations by later masters in it. This first Taoist Canon had 1,200 scrolls and included writings on alchemy and immortality as well as philosophical essays and folktales. The second Taoist Canon was compiled in 748 CE. The Tang emperor Tang Xuan-cong ordered scholars all over China to collect Taoist works. The scholars returned with 7,300 scrolls. In 1016, the Second Canon was revised under the direction of the Song dynasty. Some of the works that were collected in the Second Canon were thrown out and so the Third Canon was then only 4,565 scrolls long. The final Canon was produced in 1444 by the Ming dynasty. This work of 5,318 scrolls is the largest body of scripture in the world. However, much of the Tao Ts’ang is not able to be understood today. The Tao Ts’ang is full of cryptic symbols and has many references whose meanings have been long lost. The modern Tao Ts’ang is still the primary source for Taoist thought. It still contains the root of Taoist belief. It also contains the tales and parables as well as rituals and practices.

Though the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-tzu are the root to Taoist thought, the modern Tao Ts’ang is still the primary source for Taoist thought. Though some of these books are impossible of being perfectly translated to English, there are many that are close enough to be read by English speaking people. Although the Tao Te Ching is the most translated Chinese text and is regarded by Taoist as the essential guide to living an ethical life, all three text are very important to the Taoist religion.

No comments:

Post a Comment