China is one of the most ancient civilizations in the world and the only one that has remained unbroken up to the present time. Moreover, China’s written language, which dates back more than three thousand years, can still be read today.
Over two thousand years ago one of the great heroes of ancient China made a written record of all knowledge as it was then known. His name was Sima Qian (died 86 BCE) and he was the Royal Astrologer at the court of Emperor Wu. It is from his Book of History that we first hear the story of Laozi (which means Old Master) and how the philosophy known as Daoism came to be written down.
We learn that Laozi (who was a famous scholar) decided to leave China when he was already an old man and travel westwards. Reaching the far boundary of China he met a gatekeeper who, recognizing him, asked him to write down his personal philosophy for the benefit of future generations. Laozi then wrote Dao De Jing in only five thousand or so characters. “Dao” means Way or Path whilst “De” means Morality or Ethics. The third character “ Jing” means Record. Most scholars believe that the philosophy was already ancient when Laozi recorded it.
Laozi is said to have lived in the sixth century BCE and may or may not be a legendary figure. Very early copies of his treatise have been discovered written in ink on bamboo strips and also on silk. Next to the bible the Daodejing is the world’s most translated book – probably because it is so difficult to understand and can be interpreted in so many different ways.
Unfortunately for us, the most ancient Chinese written language is so abbreviated that it is extremely difficult to translate into modern Chinese, let alone a foreign language such as English. Among other things, no indications are given for gender, singular or plural, tense, and whether a word is a verb or a noun. Also, there is no punctuation. No wonder that, of the numerous translations that exist, many are impenetrable.
The aim of this short book is not to give a new translation of the Daodejing but to set out the core of the philosophy – as I understand it – as simply as I can so that anyone can understand it easily.
The first, and most important of the four core beliefs is in The Inevitability of Change, which moves hand in hand with its partner Time. Next comes the belief that everything moves in Cycles, whilst the third pillar of Daoism is belief in the two opposites, Yin and Yang, which are inter-active and drive the process of Change. Last, but certainly not least, is its focus on the Power of Nature and the fact that mankind is both helpless and powerless in its face.
I must stress that these four pillars of Daoism contain only what seem to me the most important aspects of the philosophy, and that I have ignored a vast amount of marginal material which can be explored elsewhere.
Yes, there still exists a Daoist church with millions of members both in China and round the world, but it is no longer the simple philosophy that was expounded by Laozi and his disciples. Instead, like many other religions, it has grown all sorts of “additions” such as a Daoist Pope plus saints or immortals.
The earliest Daoism is aimed at the individual in his or her private life. It does not refer to the individual as a social being – that is what Confucianism does so well. In fact, during the first millennia and beyond we know that many members of the scholar class who ran the country adopted both philosophies at the same time. The two are compatible, so, whilst Confucianism tells an individual how he must act within the society around him, Daoism tells him how to govern his private life. At various times Daoism became the state religion of China, and has always been cited as one of their three ancient philosophies – that is, Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
For the last fifty years I have watched with fascination as the central ideas of Daoism have, one by one, become supported by modern science and technology. When I first became interested in Daoism there was no scientific validation of much Daoist thinking. Scientists were split between those who believed in the Big Bang Theory and those who favoured the Steady State as the beginning of our universe. The hypothesis that continental drift causes the movement of our continents was a wild idea put forward by Alfred Wegener in 1912 but ridiculed by the scientific community. Not until the 1950s was it accepted that the constant movement of tectonic plates causes the movement of the earth’s landmasses. Man had not ventured into space and, most important of all, computers were still in their infancy. Yet, even then, fifty years ago, my gut reaction was to think “this has got to be right”.
In the intervening years I have watched as one leap forward after another has validated the Daoist theory of how the world works: Change, Cycles, the Interaction of Opposites, and The Power of Nature. Above all, it is modern science and technology that are transforming our knowledge of the world around us. Not only are they able to take us back billions of years to the Big Bang, but they can predict the time in the distant future when all the continents will come together once more and, eventually, our Earth will return to its birthplace in the cosmos.
Why is Daoism important? Because it enables us to take the longer view and so see the bigger picture. Because it makes us look reality squarely in the face, however unsettling that might be. There are no rules in Daoism: instead, you must take complete responsibility for every action you take. But I can promise that if you are prepared to go to the core of things, and cut away the constraints of organized religion and orthodoxy, then you will emerge as a different person – a free person and a joyful person.
Here is a parable that appears in a book by Laozi’s best known disciple, Zhuangzi (died 287 BCE):-
There was a small frog living happily at the bottom of a deep well shaft. When he looked upwards he could see the sky, and this made him happy. But then he wondered if the sky was all there was. So, slowly and with great effort, he climbed up the vertical sides of the well. When he eventually reached the top and looked out he was astonished. There was another world out there of which he had had no previous knowledge.
This is why I have written this book in my old age in the hope that seekers after truth, both in the West and in the East, will take advantage of its wisdom and understand each other better.
Edinburgh 2019