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Tiffany Price
Intro to Philosophy
Mr. Izrailevsky
http://tiffanyprice.yolasite.com
Lao-tzu the Chinese Philosopher
I chose to write my paper on the extremely amazing Chinese Philosopher Lao-tzu
because he is so wise and insightful. Lao-tzu’s philosophies are about great balance and respect.
Lao-tzu is a Chinese legend who wrote the second most popular book in all humanity called
“Tao-Te-Ching” translation by Stephen Mitchell is filled with extraordinary philosophical
poetry. This book is also the most influential book in Chinese History. The Tao is the way of all
life, Te is the fit use of life by men, and ching is the text or classic. Lao-tzu didn’t want to write
this book because he intended this book to be about a topic that cannot be explained in words at
all. But he did write the book due to a promise he made. Many believe that he never existed, all
though historians can point out several possible historical identities. His name Lao-tzu means
the old master and the teacher. Lao-tzu was around during 6th century B.C. and he retired from
working for the government. He became the classical visiting philosophy teacher and Lao-tzu
met Confucius who is a much younger philosopher, Lao-tzu didn’t like him at all. Lao-tzu
studied the archive’s books avidly and his insights grew when he was the keeper of the Imperial
Archives appointed to him by the king of Zhou in Luoyang. Lao-tzu was one of the sages and
lived during the Warring States which was total chaos included civil wars, violence, widespread
political and social turmoil. During this destructive time period the Asian sages which includes
Lao-tzu, Confucius, and the Buddha asked “Where is the way?” The sages wondered if there
was a way back to proper conduct and social order? In the book “Archetypes of Wisdom” it
explains further that the sages perform a complex social function which includes physician of
the soul, prophet, preacher, philosopher, and fellow seeker. Lao-tzu believed a person’s conduct
should be managed by instinct and conscience.
The first and most important of Lao-tzu’s philosophy is the Tao. The idea of the Tao is
that your head chooses a path to go forward on. In the book “Archetypes of Wisdom” for this
class it explains that the Tao is “the One that is natural, eternal, spontaneous, nameless, and
indescribable. As a way of life, it denotes simplicity, spontaneity, tranquility, weakness, and
most important of all, non-action also known as wu wei. By the latter is not meant literally
“inactivity” but rather “taking no action that is contrary to Nature”-in other words, letting Nature
take its own course.” Lao-tzu identifies the value of inaction which includes restraint, patience,
and silence. These inactions are harder to achieve but are far more rewarding to you as a person.
Also the value of nothingness includes frugality and simplicity. These values are excellent to
live by because most of the world is consumed with things and money which can always be
taken away from you. These actions and things are the way of the emptiness metaphor. These
actions and things are already clear they are seen mainly as good but are mostly bad. There are
three important symbols of the Tao, The first and most commonly used is water which is always
happy at the lowest level. It can’t be destroyed and it can overcome rocks and stones with
flexibility. Water often represents Yin which is the dark, night, intuitive, passive slow, art, and
the female side of Yin and Yang. The second is fire the flame is used in contrast to water and
always represents Yang which is the bright, day, logical, aggressive, fast, science, and the male
side of Yin and Yang. The Yin and Yang symbol is easily recognizable and well known by the
perfect balance and harmony. The last is the uncut block of wood which is the symbol of being
able to adjust to situations with no preconceived plan. Life throws us curve balls and how we
adjust and deal with these struggles can make or break us. The Tao also has three important
treasures which are Benevolence, Frugality, and never trying to be number one. The amazing
thing about these treasures are that you can have them now and keep them forever. Unlike the
capitalist’s three treasures that include stocks, cash, and debentures which were as useless to
Lao-tzu as gold, frankincense, and myrrh were to Jesus. Lao-tzu knows that the most valuable
things in life cannot be bought or are worldly but are the good things we do for ourselves and
others. Taoism has long been associated with Feng Shui which is Chinese geomancy, alchemy,
and astrology because these have been practiced in Taoist temples and institutions for a very
long time. Feng Shui, alchemy, and astrology also show great balance and harmony just like the
Tao.
According to Lao-tzu the greatest leaders are unknown to their people. When these great
leaders organize their objectives in harmony with the Tao; their people will work and believe
that their projects are accomplished entirely of their own efforts making everyone involved
content and happy. This is because people don’t like to be told what to do in a hostile way. This
reminds me of the saying you catch more bee’s with honey than with vinegar. The next best
leaders are those that praise and love their people. The next are the leaders that are feared. And
lastly the worst leaders are hated and despised by all. The Tao is the highest philosophy for a
person or a society to achieve, following this is virtue, compassion, and rituals. Without these
things there would be anarchy and chaos. It is extremely important to have these great leaders
who work in great harmony with the Tao. There is an amazing quote from Lao-tzu in the book
“Archetypes of Wisdom” that says “When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty.
There arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, there arises the
recognition of evil. Therefore: Being and non-being produce each other; Difficult and easy
Complete each other; long and short contrast each other; High and low distinguish each other;
Sound and voice harmonize with each other; Front and back follow each other.” This quote has
so much truth and insight. It gives great examples of excellent harmony of certain attributes that
you wouldn’t think would normally go together. Everything is connected whether in a good or a
not so good way. When I think about this quote it makes me feel like everyone has each of these
things in their life or even within them. Lao-tzu suggests that we adopt an astonishing method of
“getting mind out of the way” to stop judging, classifying, arranging, and labeling.
Another extremely important philosophy of Lao-tzu is Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang
operate together in a never ending cycle of coming together. The sage knows that today’s
unfortunate circumstances will change into something good. This is true because everyone has
trials and tribulations that are tough to deal with but things do get better. Lao-tzu advises his
readers to lean more towards Yin rather than Yang multiple times. This is not surprising
because Lao-tzu is known for possibly being a feminist. Earlier in this paper I gave a few
examples of Yin and Yang. Here are some more examples of what Yin is? This includes Bent,
Soft, Weak, Small, Still, After, Empty, Below, Ignorance, Female, Nothing and Doing Nothing.
Here are some more examples of what Yang is? This includes Straight, Hard, Strong, Big,
Moving, Before, Full, Above, Knowledge, Male, Something, and Doing Something. According
to Lao-tzu Yang should be resisted. It is completely understandable that he leans more towards
Yin because it is more connected to wu wei. Wu wei is the value of non-action towards anything
that is unnatural or demanding. In the book “Archetypes of Wisdom” it explains that good and
bad exist in an everlasting exchange, and the names we give these conditions depends on our
temperaments and circumstances. An amazingly good example of this is that rain is good in a
time of drought; but rain is extremely bad in a time of a flood. Good and bad are relative
opposites that can change according to our reactions to these things. The bad is the necessary
other side of good and the good is the necessary other side of the bad. What is intriguing about
Lao-tzu is that he preaches his “doctrine without words” as a strategy for surviving in difficult
times by turning away from common values and reversing common priorities as explained in the
book “Archetypes of Wisdom.” This makes me like Lao-tzu even more because he is unique
about how to survive in a bad situation that you can’t control and doesn’t conform to the typical
actions and values of the other people living in the same time and situation. Lao-tzu is a positive
philosopher who looks on the bright side of things.
In conclusion, Lao-tzu was a very peaceful philosopher that is one reason why I enjoy
researching and finding out new things about him. It was a really hard decision deciding which
philosopher is my favorite and who to write my paper on because there are so many amazingly
great philosophers. I didn’t even know what philosophy was and all about until taking this class.
I am so grateful to have been able to learn so much about so many amazing people in the history
of philosophy. The excellent thing is that all the philosophers have different backgrounds, and
grew up so different. Yet they all share one thing which is the love and dedication to philosophy.
It is so wonderful to know that some of these philosophers didn’t except any money even when
they were struggling immensely financially. They did that all because of their love of teaching
and philosophy. And one philosopher named Soren Kierkegaard even chose philosophy over his
one true love because he was so compassionate about it. I also like that the philosophers we
have talked about are well educated and intelligent. The positive values that they all have are
very intriguing. I was pleased to learn that Lao-tzu was the creator of Yin and Yang because I
know the symbol very well and had heard of this part of his philosophy before the lecture about
him and researching his philosophies further. I am so happy I chose to take this class it has
opened my eyes immensely to so many philosophies and points of view. Such as all the different
religious views and insights of these philosophers. I would like to continue learning about
philosophy and they many different philosophers. I aspire to read Lao-tzu’s book Tao-te-ching
translation by Stephen Mitchell, the Meditations written by Markus Anrelins and The varieties
of Religious Experience written by William James. Philosophy is a lifelong dedication that these
philosophers have all lived of course some more extreme than others. There is a saying that I
like that really reminds me of Lao-tzu which is treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Therefore treat others good because no one likes be treated badly.