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This article is about the philosophy represented by the Chinese character 道. For other uses, see Tao (disambiguation).
Tao (道, Pinyin Tào ) is a concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy. While the character itself translates as "way," "path," or "route," or sometimes more loosely as "doctrine" or "principle," it is used philosophically to signify the fundamental or true nature of the world. The concept of Tao differs from conventional (western) ontology, however; it is an active and holistic conception of the world, rather than a static, atomistic one. In Taoism, Tao both precedes and encompasses the universe. As with other nondualistic philosophies, all the observable objects in the world - referred to in the Tao Te Ching as 'the named' or 'the ten thousand things' - are considered to be manifestations of Tao, and can only operate within the boundaries of Tao. Tao is, by contrast, often referred to as 'the nameless', because neither it nor its principles can ever be adequately expressed in words. It is conceived, for example, with neither shape nor form, as simultaneously perfectly still and constantly moving, as both larger than the largest thing and smaller than the smallest, because the words that describe shape, movement, size, or other qualities always create dichotomies, and Tao is always a unity. While the Tao cannot be expressed, Taoism holds that it can be known, and its principles can be followed. Much of Taoist writing focusses on the value of following the Tao - called Te (virtue) - and of the ultimate uselessness of trying to understand or control Tao outright. This is often expressed through yin and yang arguments, where every action creates a counter-action as a natural, unavoidable movement within manifestations of the Tao. Tao is often compared to water: clear, colorless, unremarkable, yet all beings depend on it for life, and even the hardest stone cannot stand in its way forever.
[edit] Characteristics of Tao
Tao Te Ching (TTC). The book does not specifically define what the Tao is, as a matter of principle. Fundamentally, Tao is undefinable, unlimited, and unnamable.
However, there are characteristics of Tao that are commonly noted and used to describe its functioning, particularly as guidelines for practicing te.
In terms of western philosophy, the concept of Tao would be considered immanent, but it is a universal immanence that has no strict comparison to the normal (western) use of the term. There is nothing transcendent about Tao, no part of it that is separate from the universe itself except to the extent that Tao precedes the creation of everything. Tao is similar to the notion of karma found in Dharmic faiths, but where karma is usually used as an incitement to acknowledge responsibility for the results of one's actions, Tao has the opposite place: only it completes actions, and our responsibilities lie in understanding and conforming to its nature. In religious Taoism, Tao is understood in terms of these constituents: Jing 精 corresponding to energy; Qi 氣 or flow of energy; and Shen 神 or the Spirit. The triad Jing Qi Shen 精氣神 constitutes the Tao of all that is, and are represented as deities in the Three Pure Ones. [edit] Tao and lifeWhile Tao is deeply metaphysical, it is not intended as abstract philosophy. Instead, everything in the world is considered to be a manifestation of Tao - including people, and the societies and structures they create - and Tao is viewed as a constant, active force in the universe. Because of this, Tao is not presented as a moral or ethical code, nor as a set of ideals to be attained, but rather as a functional reality that is encountered on a daily basis. Tao in practice (referred to as Te) involves conforming one's actions to the natural movements of Tao. In general, the Tao Te Ching holds that human behavior does not naturally follow the Tao:
and it consistently suggests that it is beneficial to cease trying to force the world into a given form and let the natural process of the Tao manage things:
It is useful to note that in taoist thought, Te (virtue) is not a property of people or a quality to be attained, the way that virtue is often conceived of in Western thought. Virtue is instead the natural state of Tao:
It is not achieved through action or intent, but by allowing it to be supplied. [edit] Tao in the Tao Te ChingAny understanding the concept of Tao is complicated by the age of the philosophy, and the myriad problems that causes in translating and interpreting the text. There are over 100 translations of the work into English alone, with significant differences in emphasis, insight, and even the basic structure of the document. What is known is that current version is significantly shorter than the original document, that the original document was structured in longer passages than the 81 short chapters conventionally used, and that commentary by later users has been blended with the original text. This can be seen even in the famous first lines of the text:
First, the recently discovered Mawang Dui text suggests that that the character "ch'ang" ('constant' or 'unchanging') was initially the character "heng" ('eternal'). The change is thought to have been made for political reasons: 'heng' was the name of an intermediate emperor, and using an emperor's name in other contexts was prohibited. Further, characters in Chinese often have multiple semi-related meanings which can only be distinguished in context. Tao, as noted above, can be translated as 'way', 'path', 'doctrine', 'principle', and etc. However, the text itself is elliptical and enigmatic making proper context difficult to determine. Translated literally, the above passage reads something like:
Translators, thus, are forced beyond simple translation into interpretation, if only to create sentences that sound correct in English. Add that the original text clearly had strong political and social elements, while most modern interpreters are primarily interested in the spiritual and metaphysical aspects, and the opaqueness of the concept becomes understandable. Discussion of the metaphysical aspects of Tao are largely confined to its first book - generally taken to be the first 37 chapters - and vary between lyric depictions of tao as ineffable and indescribable, and encouragements to approach the tao through observation and emulation rather than description or any intellectual formulation. See, for instance, chapter 15 which says (Mitchell translation):
and chapter 25
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