A-History-of-China-17

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While	the	West	has	set	up	the	ideal	of	individualism	and	is	suffering	now
because	it	no	longer	has	any	ethical	system	to	which	individuals	voluntarily
submit;	while	for	the	Indians	the	social	problem	consisted	in	the	solving	of	the
question	how	every	man	could	be	enabled	to	live	his	life	with	as	little
disturbance	as	possible	from	his	fellow-men,	Confucianism	solved	the	problem
of	how	families	with	groups	of	hundreds	of	members	could	live	together	in
peace	and	co-operation	in	a	densely	populated	country.	Everyone	knew	his
position	in	the	family	and	so,	in	a	broader	sense,	in	the	state;	and	this	prescribed
his	rights	and	duties.	We	may	feel	that	the	rules	to	which	he	was	subjected	were
pedantic;	but	there	was	no	limit	to	their	effectiveness:	they	reduced	to	a
minimum	the	friction	that	always	occurs	when	great	masses	of	people	live	close
together;	they	gave	Chinese	society	the	strength	through	which	it	has	endured;
they	gave	security	to	its	individuals.	China's	first	real	social	crisis	after	the
collapse	of	feudalism,	that	is	to	say,	after	the	fourth	or	third	century	B.C.,	began
only	in	the	present	century	with	the	collapse	of	the	social	order	of	the	gentry	and
the	breakdown	of	the	family	system.
7	Lao	Tz[)u]
In	eighteenth-century	Europe	Confucius	was	the	only	Chinese	philosopher	held
in	regard;	in	the	last	hundred	years,	the	years	of	Europe's	internal	crisis,	the
philosopher	Lao	Tz[)u]	steadily	advanced	in	repute,	so	that	his	book	was
translated	almost	a	hundred	times	into	various	European	languages.	According
to	the	general	view	among	the	Chinese,	Lao	Tz[)u]	was	an	older	contemporary
of	Confucius;	recent	Chinese	and	Western	research	(A.	Waley;	H.H.	Dubs)	has
contested	this	view	and	places	Lao	Tz[)u]	in	the	latter	part	of	the	fourth	century
B.C.,	or	even	later.	Virtually	nothing	at	all	is	known	about	his	life;	the	oldest
biography	of	Lao	Tz[)u],	written	about	100	B.C.,	says	that	he	lived	as	an	official
at	the	ruler's	court	and,	one	day,	became	tired	of	the	life	of	an	official	and
withdrew	from	the	capital	to	his	estate,	where	he	died	in	old	age.	This,	too,	may
be	legendary,	but	it	fits	well	into	the	picture	given	to	us	by	Lao	Tz[)u]'s	teaching
and	by	the	life	of	his	later	followers.	From	the	second	century	A.D.,	that	is	to	say
at	least	four	hundred	years	after	his	death,	there	are	legends	of	his	migrating	to
the	far	west.	Still	later	narratives	tell	of	his	going	to	Turkestan	(where	a	temple
was	actually	built	in	his	honour	in	the	Medieval	period);	according	to	other
sources	he	travelled	as	far	as	India	or	Sogdiana	(Samarkand	and	Bokhara),
where	according	to	some	accounts	he	was	the	teacher	or	forerunner	of	Buddha,
and	according	to	others	of	Mani,	the	founder	of	Manichaeism.	For	all	this	there
is	not	a	vestige	of	documentary	evidence.
Lao	Tz[)u]'s	teaching	is	contained	in	a	small	book,	the	Tao	Tê	Ching,	the	"Book
of	the	World	Law	and	its	Power".	The	book	is	written	in	quite	simple	language,
at	times	in	rhyme,	but	the	sense	is	so	vague	that	countless	versions,	differing
radically	from	each	other,	can	be	based	on	it,	and	just	as	many	translations	are
possible,	all	philologically	defensible.	This	vagueness	is	deliberate.
Lao	Tz[)u]'s	teaching	is	essentially	an	effort	to	bring	man's	life	on	earth	into
harmony	with	the	life	and	law	of	the	universe	(Tao).	This	was	also	Confucius's
purpose.	But	while	Confucius	set	out	to	attain	that	purpose	in	a	sort	of	primitive
scientific	way,	by	laying	down	a	number	of	rules	of	human	conduct,	Lao	Tz[)u]
tries	to	attain	his	ideal	by	an	intuitive,	emotional	method.	Lao	Tz[)u]	is	always
described	as	a	mystic,	but	perhaps	this	is	not	entirely	appropriate;	it	must	be
borne	in	mind	that	in	his	time	the	Chinese	language,	spoken	and	written,	still	had
great	difficulties	in	the	expression	of	ideas.	In	reading	Lao	Tz[)u]'s	book	we	feel
that	he	is	trying	to	express	something	for	which	the	language	of	his	day	was
inadequate;	and	what	he	wanted	to	express	belonged	to	the	emotional,	not	the
intellectual,	side	of	the	human	character,	so	that	any	perfectly	clear	expression	of
it	in	words	was	entirely	impossible.	It	must	be	borne	in	mind	that	the	Chinese
language	lacks	definite	word	categories	like	substantive,	adjective,	adverb,	or
verb;	any	word	can	be	used	now	in	one	category	and	now	in	another,	with	a	few
exceptions;	thus	the	understanding	of	a	combination	like	"white	horse"	formed	a
difficult	logical	problem	for	the	thinker	of	the	fourth	century	B.C.:	did	it	mean
"white"	plus	"horse"?	Or	was	"white	horse"	no	longer	a	horse	at	all	but
something	quite	different?
Confucius's	way	of	bringing	human	life	into	harmony	with	the	life	of	the
universe	was	to	be	a	process	of	assimilating	Man	as	a	social	being,	Man	in	his
social	environment,	to	Nature,	and	of	so	maintaining	his	activity	within	the
bounds	of	the	community.	Lao	Tz[)u]	pursues	another	path,	the	path	for	those
who	feel	disappointed	with	life	in	the	community.	A	Taoist,	as	a	follower	of	Lao
Tz[)u]	is	called,	withdraws	from	all	social	life,	and	carries	out	none	of	the	rites
and	ceremonies	which	a	man	of	the	upper	class	should	observe	throughout	the
day.	He	lives	in	self-imposed	seclusion,	in	an	elaborate	primitivity	which	is	often
described	in	moving	terms	that	are	almost	convincing	of	actual	"primitivity".	Far
from	the	city,	surrounded	by	Nature,	the	Taoist	lives	his	own	life,	together	with	a
few	friends	and	his	servants,	entirely	according	to	his	nature.	His	own	nature,
like	everything	else,	represents	for	him	a	part	of	the	Tao,	and	the	task	of	the
individual	consists	in	the	most	complete	adherence	to	the	Tao	that	is
conceivable,	as	far	as	possible	performing	no	act	that	runs	counter	to	the	Tao.
This	is	the	main	element	of	Lao	Tz[)u]'s	doctrine,	the	doctrine	of	wu-wei,
"passive	achievement".
Lao	Tz[)u]	seems	to	have	thought	that	this	doctrine	could	be	applied	to	the	life
of	the	state.	He	assumed	that	an	ideal	life	in	society	was	possible	if	everyone
followed	his	own	nature	entirely	and	no	artificial	restrictions	were	imposed.
Thus	he	writes:	"The	more	the	people	are	forbidden	to	do	this	and	that,	the
poorer	will	they	be.	The	more	sharp	weapons	the	people	possess,	the	more	will
darkness	and	bewilderment	spread	through	the	land.	The	more	craft	and	cunning
men	have,	the	more	useless	and	pernicious	contraptions	will	they	invent.	The
more	laws	and	edicts	are	imposed,	the	more	thieves	and	bandits	there	will	be.	'If
I	work	through	Non-action,'	says	the	Sage,	'the	people	will	transform
themselves.'"[1]	Thus	according	to	Lao	Tz[)u],	who	takes	the	existence	of	a
monarchy	for	granted,	the	ruler	must	treat	his	subjects	as	follows:	"By	emptying
their	hearts	of	desire	and	their	minds	of	envy,	and	by	filling	their	stomachs	with
what	they	need;	by	reducing	their	ambitions	and	by	strengthening	their	bones
and	sinews;	by	striving	to	keep	them	without	the	knowledge	of	what	is	evil	and
without	cravings.	Thus	are	the	crafty	ones	given	no	scope	for	tempting
interference.	For	it	is	by	Non-action	that	the	Sage	governs,	and	nothing	is	really
left	uncontrolled."[2]
[Footnote	1:	The	Way	of	Acceptance:	a	new	version	of	Lao	Tz[)u]'s	Tao
Tê	Ching,	by	Hermon	Ould	(Dakers,	1946),	Ch.	57.]
[Footnote	2:	The	Way	of	Acceptance,	Ch.	3.]
Lao	Tz[)u]	did	not	live	to	learn	that	such	rule	of	good	government	would	be
followed	by	only	one	sort	of	rulers—dictators;	and	as	a	matter	of	fact	the
"Legalist	theory"	which	provided	the	philosophic	basis	for	dictatorship	in	the
third	century	B.C.	was	attributable	to	Lao	Tz[)u].	He	was	not	thinking,	however,
of	dictatorship;	he	was	an	individualistic	anarchist,	believing	that	if	there	were
no	active	government	all	men	would	be	happy.	Then	everyone	could	attain	unity
with	Nature	for	himself.	Thus	we	find	in	Lao	Tz[)u],	and	later	in	all	other
Taoists,	a	scornful	repudiation	of	all	social	and	official	obligations.	An	answer
that	became	famous	was	given	by	the	Taoist	Chuang	Tz[)u]	(see	below)	when	it
was	proposed	to	confer	high	office	in	the	state	on	him	(the	story	may	or	may	not
be	true,	but	it	is	typical	of	Taoist	thought):"I	have	heard,"	he	replied,	"that	in
Ch'u	there	is	a	tortoise	sacred	to	the	gods.	It	has	now	been	dead	for	3,000	years,
and	the	king	keeps	it	in	a	shrine	with	silken	cloths,	and	gives	it	shelter	in	the