Taoism

In the seventh and eighth centuries Taoism was the major religion in China. Taoist tradition has been divided into many different branches. It is used as a religion but it also as a technique of control. The two main branches are philosophical and religious. The two branches have risen to great complexity known as the Taoist religion. I am concerned with the Taoist religion in the form as the philosophical part of Taoism, the mystical Taoism. In my paper I am trying to figure out the bases of the religion and how the first emperor was affected by the Taoist religion.
I think Taoism is the most practical and realistic religion. Even though it is not always logical. Taoism is immensely complex, vast, and interesting. It understanRAB what being a human really is. It lets a person live for the right reasons and have a full understanding of his place on the earth.
I have found that there is not one set definition for Taoism. The word Taoism is over two thousand years old. All of the Chinese philosophies used the word but the context in which the word is used varies. Tao originally meant “the way”, to a Taoist Tao is regarded as a substance or non-substance. One context in which a Taoist knows the word Tao is in the sense of a method and a course of conduct.
Taoist writings are wise and mystical. They are written in a poetic form. The Taoist bible is 1,120 volumes long. The Chuang Tzu is a compilation of Taoist writings from the time period around 300B.C. Some think it is the finest writing of Taoist thought. It is a very interesting book filled with Taoist ideas and beliefs. The Chuang Tzu says “While the Tao always seems to be in flux, the balance of its forces is forever the same, so that in a larger sense it is unchanging, and it is absolutely indivisible”(Creel 1970pg.2). (Which I see as if a person wishes to be one with the Tao you must fully understand, and in every way connected to the Tao). One cannot only be half heartedly into the ideas and realities of the Tao or it is not so. Chuang Tzu goes on and says, “It follows that it cannot be described in worRAB or even comprehended by thought. It also follows that apparent lesser objects, like me and you exist only as inseparable parts of the great whole, and we are as old, and as young as the heavens and the earth”(Creel,1970Pg.2). I think that it means the Tao came before all of the world and heaven that we know of. And the Tao is like the feelings of love we sometimes feel. The love can get so strong but others don’t realize it. There is nothing big enough you could do to express it and you could never say enough and feel you have fully explained the total value of it. But that’s just my personal thoughts on my analysis of what the Chuang Tzu is saying. The Chuang Tzu teaches a lot about Taoism. I thought this was very interesting the Chuang Tzu says, “In the universe all things are one. For him who can but realize this indissoluble unity with the whole, parts of the body mean no more than so much dust and dirt, and death and life, end and beginning, are no more to him than the successor of day and night. They are powerless to disturb his tranquility.” (Creel1970 pg.51)
Mystic intuition is how you know the Tao exists. “The Tao is unknowable, and in it’s essence, and the most enlightening sage is ignorant”(Creel1970 pg2). The Taoist philosophy says that all things are relative, right and wrong aren’t justifiable, and everyone has his own true and false. Taoists believe that things are such as benevolence and righteousness are foolish and more than likely to do harm. Taoism says human heartedness and morality aren’t natural. To the Taoist these things are irrelevant.
People should follow wu wei. Chuang Tzu says, “Do nothing and everything will be done” (Creel 1970 Pg4). This statement is very true and I can picture it in a Taoist way. (And in my own way of doing things. The two are very different.) . Every action produces a reaction. “If one has understood Tao i.e., The way the universe works, one can detect things at an exceedingly early stage in their development. Indeed one can deal with a thing before it is there” (Welch, 1957 Pg.25)”. I believe that this is true. The Taoist had and still has an advantage over the ordinary man. The man looks at things and knows what others have done and he knows how to do it. But this is all the ordinary man sees. The Taoist understanRAB the Earth and its ways. “To deal with the hard while it is still easy, with the great while it is still small”. (Welch1970Pg25)? That reminRAB me of writing this paper. I wish I lived my life as a Taoist. I would’ve fully understood that I could’ve written this paper and that I had plenty of time instead I waited and now it is stressful to me.
Taoism literally follows the course of nature. Taoism has the answers to satisfy our wonders and worries. No matter which way it goes it is with the great powers of nature the power that is within you. “Hold fast to the unfetted wholeness which is yours carry out your own ideas, bend only with the Tao” (Creel1970Pg4). This statement makes me think about the influence of other people on the decisions I make in my life. Taoism teaches people not to want power and material things. Chuang Tzu repeatedly says, that one should be selfless. Selflessness gives people strength. It takes thoughts of jealousy and self-pity and denies them. These feelings and thoughts never stand a chance with a Taoist. It is hard and it takes work. But to a Taoist being selfless is the way.
The Taoist calls the perfect person the sage. The sage or true man is he who is one with the Tao. The Taoist’s call this the un-carved block. It is the ultimate goal of all Taoist. He lives by everything the Tao teaches and in every step he takes he is in unity with the Tao. He does so not so he can succeed but he knows it is the way. He is set in his ways and at total happiness and total peace. Nothing can take him out of the state he is in. It is to go back to the simplest form of oneself. It is when man returns himself back to his original nature.
So these are what I see as important factors and ideals of Taoism as a philosophy. It gave me a chance to understand what Taoism is. The Taoism religion is much more in depth than I have given here but it has served my purposes. Although there is one more side of Taoism that I have not yet mentioned. This subject is immortality. Immortality is meant for a person to be forever deathless and ageless. The earliest findings of the thought of immortality date the whole way back to the Zhou Period.
Around 350 BC to 250 BC is when immortality was first taken seriously. The earliest ideas of immortality were derived from Chuang Tzu, because he talked of places were people never die and super-humans. Even though he himself did not believe in immortality. Some people now were in the pursuit of immortality. Some of them had Taoist beliefs but they added a few new ideas to the religion. These people started a new religion was called Neo-Taoism. The Philosophical Taoist’s beliefs stayed unchanged. Neo-Taoism is different from Philosophical Taoism in many ways. The Neo-Taoist’s expressed their beliefs and ideas in many different ways. They used metaphysics, aesthetics, and like the Taoists religion. The Neo-Taoist believed in immortality. The Taoist way to immortality involved not just meditation but, also the search for the magic pill or elixir. The elixir along with meditation would then insure an everlasting life capable of being a spirit. It was also a fact that a person wishing to be immortal must live in places where people do not venture, places like deep in the mountains or in marshes. Immortality can only then be achieved if the person has done what he is supposed to. At this time immortality was thought of as only physical (body and soul, not just soul). The elixir of immortality was made up of drugs and herbs. These things are said to have assisted the elixir cinnabar, gold, silver, and varieties of a plant called chih, jade and pearl. Each master (magician) had a different recipe for the elixir. Immortality was not a quest that the ordinary man could afford. A man must have had great wealth to try to find the elixir. Ssu ma’Chien said that all of the emperor’s seemed to have a great interest in the quest for immortality. People believed that there was a land of immortals. The land was supposed to be in the Eastern Sea. It was an island with tree covered mountains all around like a fence. On the island there was said to have been palaces of pure solid gold, bushes that fruited gold and jewels, birRAB with feathers of gold, and great streams filled with wine and sweet dew. The immortals were made up of a supramundane substance. These immortals could walk through walls, fly, and turn into a spirit. They also were not affected by fire, they could change shapes (like turn themselves into a rock if it pleased them) and at any given time they could go anywhere in the world if the wanted to. Being immortal gave them the power to do practically anything. It is also said that there is not an existing person or thing that could tell an immortal what to do. That is pretty interesting. To me it sounRAB like Anne Rice was reading about ancient Chinese and Taoist immortality when she wrote the Vampire Chronicles.
The First Emperor was the sole ruler of China from 221 to 210 BC. He unified China, built the Great Wall, burned books, and laid the political foundation that would last for two millennia. He also had roaRAB built so travel would be easier and centralized currency, weights, and written language (among other things). The First Emperor did great things but he also did it because he thought he was great. He did things for his reputation so that he would be remerabered as being so powerful. He didn’t take very good care of the people and he even used them to do the large-scale projects he thought of.
The First Emperor had almost been assassinated. After this threat on his life was on his shoulders he became afraid of dying. Close to his own death the First Emperor disliked death so much that nobody dared to mention the word around him. In 221BC after he unified China the thousanRAB of fang shih (immortality specialists) rushed to the great leader. They offered to help him search for the elixir of immortality. The First Emperor soon found that his search for immortality would not be an easy one. As soon as the First Emperor heard of the island of the immortals he sent unmarried men and women to see to search for it. The First Emperor also had all documents/reports of magical herbs and fungi sent to him. As time past the First Emperor realized that the people he sent out to search for the island of the immortals would not be coming back. They had taken their chance to flee the country or maybe even died at sea. The First Emperor’s search for immortality intensified. The fang shih suggested to him that maybe since he was ruling the country and not practicing quietism that he was holding himself back. They also told him he would be avoiding evil spirits, which he feared and, they mentioned his chances of seeing an immortal would be greater. So the First Emperor took their advice and moved to a palace he had built in form of the heavens. He then had several more palaces built with roaRAB with walls around them so when he traveled he would go undetected by other people. After some time the fang shih doubted the First Emperor’s capabilities for becoming immortal and they fled. He got angry and had 460 fang shih and scholars killed. The First Emperor continued his search for immortality. He traveled to the mountains then to the coast. One day he caught a big fish which, was said to one of the keys to immortality. He died with in hours of catching the fish. A strange thing is that the servants or whoever was with him kept his death a secret. A month or so after his death he was finally buried in the immensely great torab he had waiting for him. I know I didn’t mention it yet but it was one of the greatest projects that The First Emperor accomplished. The construction on the torab began shortly after he became the official ruler. The First Emperor’s torab was a project that took 37 years to complete and used 1,000,000 laborers. The Historical RecorRAB say that along with the actual torab of the First Emperor the terra-cotta army which is situated into three subterranean pits, and auxiliary burials, sacrificial pits, and many other structures. The First Emperor’s torab is said to be an underground palace filled with rare and exquisite treasures. Images of the sun, moon, and stars are painted on the ceiling and on the floor rivers and seas of mercury are said to be found. Candles that were to stay lit for a long time were placed in the torab to signify daylight. There are all of those things and more. Well the First Emperor’s torab has not yet been found. But everything else has been. Excavation on the torab began in 1974. The terra-cotta army has been found. There are around 7,000 troops that make up the army. They were all in formation for battle. Over 20,000 bronze weapons were also found in possession of the terra-cotta army. Life sized bronze chariots and horses been found. Thirty wooden chariots have been found. Six thousand life-sized pottery horses were also in the pits excavated so far. Rare and precious animal remains have been found as well as real horses remains. The constructors of the torab were also buried in the torab to conceal the contents and entrances.
In conclusion I believe that the First Emperor’s search for immortality had a great affect on the torab he built. The terra-cotta army may have been the to scare off evil spirits or even to prove how powerful he was to the other immortals. As I said earlier the First Emperor caught the big fish on the coast. That fish was a sign that he would now become an immortal. I think probably after drinking an elixir he died from the chemicals or something that was in the elixir. He had such a great torab built so that once he became immortal he could cherish it. I also agree that he built such a big torab to show his power. But I think he had intentions of being an immortal. And probably transforming while he rested in his torab.