In Taoism,
the Tao is anywhere and everywhere. It is in anything and everything. The Tao
is in great in everything. It is in the emptiness and fullness and it is
neither. It is not biased in anything. As mentioned in Tao Te Ching 4, Tao is
like an empty bowl. This means that by virtue of its emptiness, it is able to
absorb all things. The Confucians sees the solution in giving proper names to
all things, the Taoists sees this as the problem itself. The Tao sees naming as
a distinction between all things. By virtue of giving names, all things are
divided in half. It creates superiority among things. The good is above all
evil. The beautiful is above ugliness. The master is above the slave. This is
the mediocre perspective that Tao doesn’t approve of in the teachings of
Confucianism. The mediocrity is that distinction is a bowl full of useless
nothings. Everything was created and everything perishes. The fact is all of us
are equals. The difference lies in our circumstance in the physical world. The
Tao does not abide to the superficial world unlike the Confucian way. Taoism
critiques Confucianism due to its emphasis on the physical world and its
affairs. According to Taoism, this is the source of disharmony.
Aside from
the naming, Taoism focuses on non-action. It is the action that acts
accordingly and not excessively. The Taoist teaching of non-action is doing
things just right and not to overdo. This virtue sprung from the Taoist
teaching of humility. The Tao does not aim to be in the spotlight. The Tao
performs only what is naturally expected. The Tao never stands out for extraordinary
actions. Oppose to that, the Tao stands out because for its non-competing
principle to all things. The Tao is like an episode from ‘house of mouse’, a
Mickey, Donald, Goofy show where they competed on who can paint a roller
coaster more. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck were so caught up with competing
that they lost sight with the actual task. In the end, Goofy accomplished more.
This is the virtue of non-action. The aim is on the task at hand and not the
outcome. And the way of the Tao is nature and nature always knows when to stop.
It is the action that is mastered therefore there is no need to show it off
because it is already natural to the master. This is the way of nature. Let us
see how these ideas are related to Chuang Tzu’s parable of the lost pearl:
The emperor
sent Science, Analysis, and Logic to find his lost pearl but they failed.
However, the one who found the pearl was Nothingness. How is this possible? The
first three that was sent to search were limited to what they can do. They were
limited to what they are and therefore, they do not accommodate other areas
aside from their own. Science cannot accommodate unsubstantiated information,
Analysis does not go beyond analysis and Logic does not accept non-logical
notions. On the other hand, Nothingness is not limited to these. It has a wider
scope in things. In fact, it has the scope of everything. Nothingness is the
Tao. It is the cause of being and non-being. It is in existence and
non-existence. It is what is and what is not. But with all what is and its
opposite, it is also neither. This is the greatness of the Tao.
The Tao is
expressed through Te. Te is the virtue that follows the Tao. It is the virtue
embodies the whole of Tao. It is an all-embracing quality (Tao Te Ching 21)
that one: does not discriminate anything and accepts all things. Second, it
does thing according to nature. And the way of nature is the non-action. It is
the action that only does what is required and not in excess for nature stops
when it needs to stop.
In
conclusion, the Taoist approach to a solution is the way of nature. There is
eradication of distinction and non-action. The expression through Te as it
follows nature and its all embracing quality as well as its efficiency to do
things without overdoing is the path to harmony.
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