Ideas of the Tao

The ideas and attitudes toward life, human nature, society and civilization in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Mo Tzu's Mo Tzu stand in complete contrast. The Tao suggests that the human being in his original, natural state was attuned to everything around him, and what he needs to do to return to that state is, essentially, leave everything alone: "The sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practices the teaching that uses no words" (Lao Tzu II). The Mo Tzu, on the other hand, suggests that "human beings are contentious . . . because they are selfish" (Hucker 86-87). The only way to correct that natural selfishness is through imposition of a militaristic society in which "people [are] regimented into total obedience to their rulers, and rulers in turn should be totally obedient to Heaven and the spirits" (Hucker 86).

In truth, there seems to be almost no point at which the views of the two works coincide. Control is the ultimate goal of the Mo Tzu, while giving up control is the goal of the Tao. This essential difference colors every aspect of life, human nature and society in a comparison of the two works and the world views of the authors.

The Tao does not ignore politics, but what it has to say is an indictment not of the people (as in the Mo Tzu, not of human nature which needs to be corrected by leaders, but is an indictment of the leaders themselves for even wanting to be leaders. The following passage encapsulates the Tao's attitude toward civil

Related Essays

Ideas of Nature in Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism .... Repeatedly, the ....-Te-Ching returns to the idea of rejection of material goods, material ideas, in particular artificial, conventional, and political "wisdom .... (2111 8 )

Ideas & Ways of Taoism & Neo-Confucianism The purpose of this research is to examine the ideas and ways of Taoism with .... born 571 BC (Yutang 6), although the spiritual thought expressed in .... appears to .... (3517 14 )

The of Physics .... considered to be far apart, but in Fritjof Capra's book The .... of Physics .... The fundamental conception of the Upanishads centers on two fundamental ideas: 1) the .... (3556 14 )

Ideas of the Good in Confucian & Aritotelian Traditions The purpose of this research is to examine the ideas of the good in human experience in .... In turn li was the mark of one who followed the Way, or ...., which was .... (2519 10 )

Eastern and Western Thought .... In the West, the new scientific ideas of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries challenged the prevailing assumptions of the Aristotelian .... The .... of Physics. .... (2091 8 )

larly promoted. They will say "We, too, then, must become righteous" (Watson 19). In fact, what will more likely occur is that the enraged rich will attack the leader verbally, or undermine his power, or kill him. Mo Tzu's philosophy holds that people are selfish by nature but can be educated or forced into being good. However, bad people cannot be forced to be good, any more than an oak tree can be forced to be a cedar. The bad person can change his behavior to appear good, and he can decide of his own free will to become good, but he cannot be forced to be something he does not want to be. The latter truth is the truth which underlies the Taoist view not only on the human being but of nature as a whole. Force does not work in any case. At times, the Tao seems to be arguing even against laws themselves as a mean of ensuring order in civilization: "The more taboos there are in the empire/ The poorer the people. . . . The better known the laws and edicts/ The more thieves and robbers there are" (Tao LVII). Mo Tzu would likely be frustrated and enraged by the Tao and its insistence on keeping hands off the activities of human beings. Mote asks, "What good to us then is the tao?" and answers "None" (69). Such mysticism would ha

Category: Philosophy - I