[28] King, Babylonian Religion, p. 165. [↑]
CHAPTER XVI
Myths and Doctrines of Taoism
Taoism and Buddhism—The Tao—Taoism and Confucianism—Lao Tze and Osiris—The “Old Boy” Myth—Lao Tze goes West—Kwang Tze—Prince who found the Water of Life—The “Great Mother” in Taoism—Taoism and Egyptian Ptahism—Doctrine of the Logos—Indian Doctrines in China—Taoism and Brahmanism—Metal Searchers as Carriers of Egyptian and Babylonian Cultures—The Tao and Water—The Tao as “Mother of All Things”—Fertilizing Dew and Creative Tears—The Tao and Artemis—The Gate Symbol—Tao and Good Order—The World’s Ages in Taoism—Taoists rendered Invulnerable like Achilles, &c.—The Tao as the Elixir of Life—Breathing Exercises—The Impersonal God—Lao Tze and Disciples deified and worshipped.
There are three religions in China, or, as native scholars put it, “three Teachings”, namely Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Pure Taoism, as taught by Lao Tze, is, like the Buddhism of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, metaphysical and mystical. It is similarly based on a vague and somewhat bewildering conception of the origin of life and the universe; it recognizes a creative and directing force which, at the beginning, caused Everything to come out of Nothing. This force, when in action, is called the Tao. It is so called from the time when it began to move, to create, to cause Unity to be. The Tao existed before then, but it was nameless, and utterly incomprehensible. It existed, some writers say, even when there was nothing. Others go the length of asserting that it existed before there was nothing. We can understand what is meant by “nothing”, but we cannot [[298]]understand what the Nameless was before it was manifested as the Tao.
The Tao is not God; it is impersonal. Taoists must make unquestioning submission to the Tao, which must be allowed to have absolute sway in the individual, in society, in the world at large. Taoism does not, like Buddhism, yearn for extinction, dissolution, or ultimate loss of identity and consciousness in the nebulous Nirvana. Nor does it, like Buddhism, teach that life is not worth living—that it is sorrowful to be doomed to be reborn. Rather, it conceives of a perfect state of existence in this world, and of prolonged longevity in the next. All human beings can live happily if they become like little children, obeying the law (Tao) as a matter of course, following in “the way” (Tao) without endeavouring to understand, or having any desire to understand, what the Tao is. The obedient, unquestioning state of mind is reached by means of Inaction—mental Inaction. The Tao drifts the meritorious individual towards perfection, out of darkness into light. Those who submit to the Tao know nothing of ethical ideals; they are in no need of definite beliefs. It is unnecessary to teach virtue when all are virtuous; it is unnecessary to have rites and ceremonies when all are perfect; it is unnecessary to be concerned about evil when evil ceases to exist. The same idea prevailed among the Brahmanic sages of India, whose Krita or Perfect Age was without gods or devils. Being perfect, the people required no religion.
Confucianism is not concerned with metaphysical abstractions, or with that sense of the Unity of all things and all beings in the One, which is summed up in the term “Mysticism”. It maintains a somewhat agnostic, but not irreligious frame of mind, confessing inability [[299]]to deal with the spirit world, or to understand, or theorize about, its mysteries. It recognizes the existence of God and of spirits. “Respect the spirits,” said Confucius, “but keep them at a distance.…” He also said: “Wisdom has been imparted to me. If God were to destroy this wisdom (his system of ethics) the generations to come could not inherit it.”
Whether or not Confucius ever heard of the system of Lao Tze is uncertain. If he did, it certainly made no appeal to him. His own system of instruction was intensely practical. It was concerned mainly with ethical and political ideals—with political morality. He was no believer in Inaction. The salvation of mankind, according to his system, could be achieved by strict adherence to the ideals of right living and right thinking, and a robust and vigorous application of them in the everyday life of individuals and the State.
The reputed founder or earliest teacher of Taoism was Lao Tze, about whom little or nothing is known. He is believed to have been born in 604 B.C., and to have died soon after 532 B.C. Confucius was born in 551 B.C., and died in 479 B.C. There are Chinese traditions that the two sages met on at least one occasion, but these are not credited by Western or modern native Chinese scholars. Confucius makes no direct reference to Lao Tze in his writings.