In the depths of ancient Chinese civilization, many not only things from the material world (gunpowder, paper, etc.) were born, but also categories of the world of ideas, philosophical postulates and religious dogmas.
Five centuries BC, along with Confucianism and Chan Buddhism, such a course of human thought as Taoism took shape. The main ideas summarized in his canonical text - “Tao Te Ching” - periodically become relevant for large groups of people at different times, in different countries.
The origins of the teachings
The doctrine of the Tao is one of the most mysterious and mysterious phenomena in history. Speeches, allegories, ambiguity are filled with speeches of Taoist sages, myths and legends surround the history of the emergence of Taoism.
The Chinese consider Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, to be their first ancestor, the ancestor who laid the foundation for many powerful dynasties. Allegedly, the historical facts of his life have also been preserved, his tomb exists, but only part of the robe is in it, and Juan Di himself gained immortality. Among all that the Yellow Emperor gave the Chinese, and the ideas of the philosophy of Taoism.
At the origins of the teachings was another mythical character in Chinese history - Lao Tzu. It is he who is considered to be the author of "Tao De Ching" - that poetic treatise where Taoism found the basic ideas and concepts. The description of the earthly life of Lao Tzu is fantastic and looks like a collection of legends and tales.
Deity biography
The life story of another great Teacher - Confucius - is known literally over the years. Lao Tzu is considered his oldest contemporary, there is evidence of ancient historians about their personal meeting in 517 BC. Being half a century older than Confucius, the sage reproached him for the excessive social activity that he showed, preaching Taoism, the basic ideas, the philosophy of which deny interference in public life. In other events, the biography of this ancient Chinese sage loses reality.
His mother conceived it by swallowing a rock of rock crystal, and she bore it for 80 years, having given birth in 604 BC. a wise old man. The name Lao Tzu is ambiguous, it also means “Old Baby”. His wisdom took shape over the years of service in the imperial book depository. Disappointment in the surrounding life led the elder to seclusion. He changed names, avoiding the attention of others. He was called Li Er, Lao Dan, Lao Lai-tzu and in the end decided to leave China, "having gone to the West."
main book
This expression - "go to the West" - meant death in those days, but the description of Lao Tzu’s journey contains details that give it a sense of real wandering. He rode on a black buffalo and was stopped at the border by a guard who asked the sage to share his knowledge. The sage dictated or wrote “Tao Te Ching” (“The Book of Tao and Te”) - a work where the main ideas that define Taoism are briefly but succinctly set out in eighty-one verses.
Prior to this, Lao Tzu did not express his views in writing. The appearance of “Tao Te Chin” is explained by the fact that the sage wanted to contribute to the greater dissemination of his theories. He wanted to create an alternative to the increasingly popular Confucianism. The founder of Taoism did not agree with the introversion inherent in the teachings of Confucius, an external orientation. Lao Tzu denied the primacy of power, the importance of rituals and traditions in human life. This could not but cause a negative attitude from the authorities.
There are amazing versions about the future fate of the great old man. According to one of them, he retired to Tibet, where he became the founder of Lamaism, and according to another, he went to India. There, he miraculously contributed to the birth of Gautama, or even himself was the Buddha Shakyamuni. There are even legends about Lao Tzu's travels to the places where Russia subsequently appeared.
The cornerstone concept - Tao
The concept of Tao is often vague and indefinable even for one who professes Taoism. The main ideas are briefly described by this formula of Lao Tzu: "Tao gives rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three, and three gives rise to all ten thousand things."
That is, the Tao is the beginning of beginnings, an absolute community that is in perpetual motion, like water, filling everything in this world. This is the way, the road, the fate, the law. Everything in man and in the whole cosmos is a product of Tao, cannot be without him without him.
There are two Tao. One - Tao without a name - has a visual image of a dragon or a snake devouring its tail. This symbol, popular in many cultures, means an unstoppable and eternal cycle, the movement in the spiral of time. To realize its meaning and purpose is not given to man. Its destiny is the Tao with the name - like a tiny scale in the skin of a dragon - the essence of its ultimate existence on earth. And the main thing for each person is to merge with the Tao, to become part of the eternal universal movement.
Interconnection of concepts
Things and phenomena that are part of Tao carry the soft, passive, dark, feminine power of Yin, contain the active, solid, bright, masculine power of Yang, are saturated with Chi energy. Qi, Yin, Yang, the interaction of these forces, the balance of these principles in animate and inanimate nature determines the course of all life processes. They are also fundamental concepts of Taoism.
The practice of oriental medicine, qigong gymnastics is based on the regulation of the interaction of Yin and Yang, the saturation of qi with cosmic energy.
These interactions are the basis of the doctrine of the organization of the human environment - Feng Shui. Some schools of Taoism do not recognize this teaching because of the postulate that it is impossible to apply general rules for different parts of space and the special individuality of each person, the uniqueness of her Path.
Attitude to power and the principle of "non-action" Wu-wei
On the issue of relations to power and the state, a special difference is identified between such concepts as Confucianism and Taoism. The main ideas can be summarized in the form of a hierarchy of rulers, based on an assessment of their activities on the Taoist scale of values.
The best of the rulers is the one about whom they know that he is - and nothing more. The second is the one who is loved and admired. They are afraid of the third. The worst is the one who is despised. If everything is fine in the country, you may not know who is at the helm. This version of public relations is extremely inconvenient for the authorities.
These conclusions follow from another important dogma of Taoism - the principle of "non-action" (in Chinese - "U-wei"). To some scientists, another translation seems to be more correct - non-intervention. It causes fewer associations with doing nothing, with laziness, which are also a sin in China. But the essence is the following: the goal of both man and the emperor is not to interfere with his actions to merge with a higher essence - the Tao, which itself determines the entire course of events.
