Taoism

TAOISM. - Under this name are designated the doctrines of a philosophical and mystical character set forth in the works of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu (whose compilation is commonly traced back to the 4th-3rd centuries B.C.), and the Taoist religion, regarded as a later degeneration of the former, whose constitution as an organized Church is ordinarily attributed to Chang Tao-ling

(b. in 34 A.D. - d. in about 156 A.D.). In Chinese the thinkers are designated as Tao Chia and the religion as Tao Chiao (the doctrine of the Tao), but the two terms are often confused with one another and ordinarily it is the second that prevails. In truth the Taoist religion is held by some to be contemporary with and even prior to the three "philosophers," who probably represented a more cultured current within the sphere of religious beliefs. Tao, moreover, is a very vague term: it means "road, way, principle, method, etc...," and so numerous are the translations proposed by Western authors that it may seem appropriate to consider it untranslatable, all the more so since by the Taoists themselves it is defined as "the nameless."

The starting point of Taoist thought is the aim of preserving life and of avoiding every injury to one's own person: it is, therefore, an individualistic and egoistic conception which from the most ancient times manifested itself in the form of "flights from the world" on the part of individuals who in the eremitic life sought peace and health. Toward the second half of the 4th century B.C. the Tao Te Ching was perhaps compiled, a work ordinarily attributed to Lao Tzu, a figure of whom very little is known.

It seems that he bore the name Erh, the byname Tan and the surname Li: Lao Tzu literally means "old philosopher." Tradition says he was keeper of the royal archives of Chou and that in that capacity he received a visit from Confucius, who was younger than he, and who is said to have been astonished by his wisdom. In all probability, however, this episode is to be ascribed to those numerous inventions of the Taoists who tended to exalt their religion especially at the expense of Confucianism.

In the Tao Te Ching are set forth, in the form of brief paragraphs, often of very obscure interpretation, the principles of prudence, of humility, of being content with little. The book appears as a golden exposition of the principle of "living hidden," of inaction, the latter understood in the sense of doing little, of not overdoing (sui-sui). Man should carry out his activities in a natural and spontaneous manner and restrict himself only to the strictly necessary, reducing his desires. Only thus will he be able to avoid failure. The simplicity and innocence of the child (who has little culture and few desires) are characteristics that every man should have: whereas, however, for the child or for the humble people such simplicity is a gift of nature, for the sage it is a conquest of the spirit, it is the consequence of a conscious process of self-education.

Applying these principles to politics, it follows that the wise ruler is the one who governs little and lets the people do what it can and what it wants; who issues few laws, establishes few prohibitions, does not encourage studies, banishes intelligence and skill from his kingdom. In ch. 3 of the Tao Te Ching this is stated very clearly: "The sage governs the people by emptying their minds and filling their bellies; by weakening their intelligence and strengthening their bones. He strives to render them without culture and without desires." The problems of this world arise from the fact that one acts too much, one wants to do too many things. Lao Tzu, on the other hand, maintains the paradox: "Do nothing and there will be nothing that is not done." In an age of terror and disorders such as that of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., when the feudal kingdoms were at war with one another, the doctrines of Lao Tzu oppose with their skepticism the optimism and moralism inherent in Confucian teaching. Whereas according to the latter there is over human actions an immanence of Heaven that rewards virtue and punishes evil actions, for Lao Tzu the universe does not care about human affairs and it is the task of man and of the ruler to to know how to insert oneself into its course without obstructing it with attempts at reform.

These concepts of Lao Tzu are set forth in magnificent literary form in the works attributed to Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu. However, in these texts, alongside the exposition of this practical morality and of parts of a philosophical character, there are numerous passages from which emerges the broadest substratum of religious beliefs. The evolution of Taoism and the progressive drying up of the wonderful creative capacities of the first writers led in time to a growing predominance of the religious part at the expense of the literary and philosophical value of the texts. Especially during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) the Taoist religion appears to us in its greatest development. It sets itself the goal of leading the faithful to eternal life. Considering man, however, as composed of matter, it follows that this eternal life is not understood as the spiritual immortality of the soul, but as the material immortality of the body, to be attained in this life through practices tending to progressively replace the mortal organs with immortal organs, so that at a certain point the entire mortal body is replaced by an immortal body in which the bones and flesh are of gold and jade. At this point the faithful, having become immortal, ascends to heaven, ordinarily in broad daylight and from the top of a mountain, or else, and this is the more frequent case, dies. But his is a feigned death called "liberation of the corpse": what is buried is a sword or a staff that has temporarily assumed the form of a corpse, while the immortal body has already departed to go and live with the other immortals. Naturally, on the part of the faithful, the observance of certain practices was necessary in order to transform the mortal body into an immortal one. Such practices could be bodily and spiritual. The former consisted of respiratory, gymnastic, sexual, dietary, and alchemical practices. The latter, the most complicated and destined in time to fall into disuse, were directed to the preparation of a pill called the pill of immortality, based on cinnabar, which alone could make one immortal by the most direct route or, as the texts say, a "flying immortal." In reality, whoever took it sometimes fell, struck down by the poison, unless he had previously accustomed his organism to it by taking small doses. The other practices were much more interdependent among themselves: the respiratory ones consisted of difficult exercises of inspiration and expiration during which the faithful had to try to retain the inspired air as long as possible and to make it circulate through all parts of the body. Special gymnastic exercises served to loosen the joints better and to make easier the passage of the inspired air through the body. The dietary practices, finally, consisted in eliminating cereals and also meat from one's diet: the ideal was to be able to reach the point of nourishing oneself on air, pine resin, some herb or medicinal plant. The spiritual practices consisted in leading a pure, virtuous and charitable life (and in this they appear as a deviation from the principles set out above), as well as in devoting oneself to exercises of meditation aimed at realizing a kind of mystical union of the faithful with the deities or with the Tao. There is, however, a lack of systematic coherence in the texts that speak of the practices for attaining immortality, and this means that some prescriptions are in conflict with others. Thus it is with sexual practices: some texts seem to praise chastity, while in others one reads the exact opposite. For obvious reasons, however, knowledge of these latter practices was transmitted mainly orally and not entrusted to writings. In such a religious system, illness seems to have been conceived as the punishment for sins committed: by confessing them, often in the course of collective ceremonies, the faithful could hope to be healed on condition of performing certain good works.

Around the 2nd century of our era, Chang Tao-ling began to preach in the province of Szechwan a doctrine (according to some perhaps influenced by religious ideas coming from Persia) which he and his followers were able to insert well into the religious current of Taoism. Legend says that he, having obtained the recipe for becoming immortal, ascended to heaven at the age of over one hundred and twenty. Since his priests demanded the obol-tax of 5 tou (a measure of capacity) of rice per year, his cult was called "the religion of the five tou of rice." The movement, under the religious aspect, concealed a substratum of socialistic and revolutionary ideas and resulted in a great rebellion that threatened to spread throughout all of China and to overthrow the Empire but, subsequently, was confined and subdued.

Under the influence of Buddhism, Taoism began to organize itself as a conventual religion. The students of the Tao, called Tao-shih, gathered in common dwellings called Kuan (a term that even now designates Taoist convents), at first with their women, then, as the Buddhist influence made itself felt more strongly, alone until celibacy became the rule, though not always respected in practice. Even today Taoist monks are called Tao-shih. Communities of women were also formed, which, however, in time were suppressed. Ordinarily the convents arose in the great cities and on the tops of mountains: in the latter the ancient traditions were preserved longer.

In this transformation of theirs, Taoism was favored by the rulers themselves, eager to set it up, as an "indigenous" religion, against foreign Buddhism. Especially during the T'ang dynasty (618-907) there were Taoist emperors. In imitation of Buddhism, Taoism created a pantheon in which the deities were stars, planets, ancient heroes, spirits presiding over various human activities, animals, plants. Above all presided a supreme triad composed of the Jade Emperor (Yü Huang Shang Ti), Lao Tzu and Tao Chih. Again in imitation of the Buddhists, the Taoists took care to collect all their writings in the monumental collection known under the name of Tao-tsang, while the religious doctrine increasingly concentrated around the principle of the reckoning of rewards for every benefit performed and of penalties for every sin committed, a reckoning that a deity noted down during a man's life in order to decide his sending after death to paradise or to hell. Such a distortion of the ancient nature of Taoism and the tendency, on the other hand, to welcome from a foreign religion the elements that could prove most useful did not, however, prevent religious struggles and rivalries between Taoism and Buddhism, rivalries that in the centuries closer to our own slowly died out.

Alongside the conventual religious there are the Taoists who live alone and who constitute the lowest part of the Taoist clergy. They may have a family and practice the trade of soothsayers, of enchanters, of exorcists, of masters of the art of Feng Shui (v.), of healers, etc. They especially have depended, in a somewhat vague manner indeed, on the T'ien-shih (Master of Heaven), by some Western authors called, quite improperly, "pope" or "supreme pontiff of Taoism." He resided on Mount Lung-hu in the province of Kiangsi, devoted to practices of low sorcery; to the sale of incantations, of amulets; to the granting, in exchange for payment, of diplomas of initiation. The dignity of T'ien-shih was conferred around 424 A.D. on the Taoist K'ou Ch'ien-chih. Subsequently, during the T'ang dynasty, there was in 748 an official recognition of the title, which was attributed to the descendants of Chang Tao-ling. The emperor T'ai Tsu (1368-98) of the Ming dynasty is said to have abolished this title, considering it disrespectful to heaven, and to have replaced it with that of Chen-jen (true man). The ancient title nevertheless remained, though not officially recognized. The position of the T'ien-shih increasingly declined: in the 19th century he lost the right to be summoned to audience at Court, and this was one of the most serious blows dealt to his prestige. All of Taoism, however, was by now in decline. The Republic recognized no privilege for the T'ien-shih and indeed confiscated his properties, expelling in 1927 from his possessions in Kiangsi the one who considered himself the 63rd successor of Chang Tao-ling. From then on this unworthy personage lived in a modest Taoist temple in Shanghai.

With regard to the Taoist religion, considered superstitious and corrupt, the republican government from 1911 onward has not had an official attitude that was too favorable. Taoist temples, especially in the cities, following in this the fate of many Buddhist temples, have very often been requisitioned to be used as schools and barracks. The great convents on the "sacred" mountains, destinations of pilgrimages, such as Mao Shan in the province of Kiangsu, T'ai Shan in the province of Shantung, Hua Shan in the province of Shensi, have been able to preserve themselves both because they are far from inhabited centers and because they are rich in vast extensions of land. In recent years no serious attempt at renewal has occurred among the various numerous Taoist sects. Inferior in number of monks to Buddhism, Taoism has also been inferior in attempts at reform, in works of propaganda and of proselytism. If the temples on the tops of the mountains have been able to constitute still a call of faith for some cultivated spirit, the Taoism of the cities has been reduced to representing the superstition of the lowest and most ignorant classes of the population. The current communist government has finally accelerated this process of decline by confiscating the landed properties still remaining to the convents in mainland China.

Giuliano Bertuccioli