Taoism: Pursuing Happiness

Taoism

The first chapter of Pursuing Happiness, editors of Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski. I stumble the first reading about a religious of Chinese and it was quiet interesting. The material was translated from the book of The Tao Te Ching by a translator name Stephen Mitchell. With the entire little stories got me thinking of how Taoism was relate with the stories was provide in the book and how effect with the Chinese cultural. The studies I choose be discuss about what is Taoism, a brief origin history, and the beliefs of the religion.

Taoism (or the Daoism) is a religious and philosophical tradition of the Chinese formed around 3rd or 4th centuries B.C.E. They indicate of living in harmony with nature, humanity and the divine emphasized. The Tao means “the way”, “the path” or “the way things are”, and can be found in other Chinese philosophies and religious. Everything about Taoism comes from The Tao Te Ching written by Laozi (or Lao Tzu) and father of Taoism. The book explains what to know about the Tao, how the Taoist disciple’s should follow the Tao, and which is his/her main

goal(s). The book kept developing over time: Chuang-tzu put ideas in Tao Te Ching for example meanings in short stories, most of them fiction, parables and metaphors. Here is a quote from the book of Tao: The Watercourse Way by Alan Watts:
Taoism [is] the way of man's cooperation with the course or trend of the natural world, whose principles we discover in the flow patterns of water, gas, and fire, which are subsequently memorialized or sculptured in those of stone and wood, and, later, in many forms of human art.
A historian by the name of Shima Qian (145-86 BCE) tells a story about Lao-Tzu, a curator for the Royal Library in the state of Chu. He was a natural philosopher and believe that people could live in harmony if only they could understand each other feelings and not them self. Lao-Tzu was impatient with the people that had pain and misery and how corrupt the government is, he decide to go into exile. Traveling through China western path, he stumble a gatekeeper by the named of Yin Hsi. Yin knew about Lao Tzu been a philosopher and ask to write him a book before leaving the civilization forever and Lao agreed. Lao sat down on a rock next to the gatekeeper and wrote the Tao Te Ching. He felt the writing was finish and gave it to Yin as he disappears into the mist. The historian does not continue the story, but if the story is true, Yin Hsi could have made multiple copies and distributed to the public. Taoism was not an official religious until the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) under the rule of emperor Xuanzong (712-756 CE). Taoism was left out the Tang Dynasty and was replaced by Confucianism and Buddhism. Today, it still a practice throughout China and many other countries.
There are other relating Chinese text to Taoism for example the Chang-Tzu (also by Zhuangzi) written by Zhuang Zhou and the Daozang.

All these text are relating to each other for observing the nature and the belief of humans innately been good. There is no “bad people” in the text of Taoist principles, only if people that are behaving badly. Given the proper education and understanding the guidance of how the universe is work, therefore anyone can be a “good person” just living in harmony in earth and each other. According the beliefs, the best way to live is accepting what life brings you. A person adapts the changes to life easy, then the person will be happy; if the person resists the changes, the person will become unhappy. The ultimate goal is to live in peace in the way of the Tao and to recognize everything that life happens should be accept as part of your eternal

force.
In conclusion, The Tao Te Ching is a book based on the Taoism and the meaning of it, learning history about the philosophy and religious, and what is Taoism’s beliefs.