Taoist Concept of the Tao

The word "Tao" is so important to the practice of Taoism that, as Thompson writes, "Translators have . . . felt it best to leave it in transliterated form. Key terms in any great tradition are inevitably distorted or even falsified by translation, and can be grasped in something like their true significance only by seeing their operation in many concepts. In studying Buddhism, for example, such words as nirvana and sunyata are rightly considered as technical terms and customarily left untranslated. This may well be the best way to treat Tao" (Thompson 5).

The beginning of Taoism is found in the mind of Lao-Tse. According to tradition and legend, Lao-tse, the "old philosopher", was the founder of Taoism. Only one book was written by Lao-Tse, the Tao-te-Ching, and even that work was put down on paper by a follower of the man.

As Fenton et al. write, "Scholars believe that this book was probably compiled in the third century B.C. It has had great influence on Chinese thought, since it has functioned, both in the past and in the present, as a counterpoise to the Confucian approach to life. Whereas Confucius stressed social conformity and the importance of reason in solving human problems, Lao-tse stressed t

. . .
to the relative sense of the Tao, the will of God given form in that burning bush because man could not stand seeing the will of God in a more direct form. As the work by Lao-tse himself puts it, the absolute Tao is not able to be understood by the senses or expressed or thought of in words: "The Tao which can be conceived is not the real Tao" (Smith 177). The Tao in this absolute sense is "basic mystery, the mystery of mysteries, the entrance to the mystery of all life" (Smith 177). However, if the Tao were left in such an absolute sense, the way of Taoism would not have been as important through the centuries as it is in the philosophy of the East, because man would not have been able to relate to it on a day-to-day level, and therefore, the followers of Lao-tse took it upon themselves to define more clearly the Tao in relative terms to which ordinary human beings could relate. As Smith writes, "Though Tao ultimately is transcendent, it is also imminent (in the world]. In this secondary sense it is the way of the universe; the norm, the rhythm, the driving power in all nature, the ordering principle behind all life. Behind, but likewise in the midst of it, for when Tao enters this second form it 'assumes flesh' and inf
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tao Smith, Whereas Confucius, Mahayana Buddhism, Smith Tao, Taoism Thompson, Buddhism Lao-Tse, Tao Tao, Lao-Tse Tao-te-Ching, Tao God, , et al, fenton et al, fenton et, mahayana buddhism, smith 177, absolute sense, absolute tao, void mahayana, sense tao, idea tao, void mahayana buddhism, et al 237, tao empty, relative idea tao, taoist concept tao,
Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Taoist Concept of the Tao