Women’s Bodies in Taoism
“I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” This powerful statement by Henry Emerson Fosdick so simply defines the concept of a common Chinese religion. Taoism is a religion practiced by many Asians and by people around the world. It is a religion that is so beautifully complex and yet based on principle as simple as breathing in and out. This paper will outline some basic information on the Taoist tradition, examine the views of the female body in Taoism as presented by Barbara Reed and my own critique of the tradition will be provided.
A brief history of Taoism is required in order for us to pursue these goals. To begin with, Taoism originated from a man named Lao Tzu. He wanted to deeply come to an understanding of how one could induce human beings to live together. Tradition says that he developed such a theory but there was no one around to listen to him. In turn, he hopped on his water buffalo and rode to Tibet. When he arrived, he found a border guard and Lao Tzu taught the guard his philosophy. The guard agreed with all Lao Tzu stated and he encouraged Lao Tzu to write his teachings down.
The word Tao means “The way”. This is the entire basis of the Taoist tradition, finding harmony, living peaceably and being creative during the flow of nature.
Taoists have a goal as living life for “the way”and achieving immortality.
The Taoist tradition has two sacred texts. Both of these texts “extol the way of nature as the path of happiness.” says Barbara Reed in Women in World Religions.(161) The Tao te ching is the basic text for Taoism. It has been translated to mean “The Way an...
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... History, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1970.
Reed, Barbara, “Taoism”, Sharma, Arvind, eds. Women in World Religions, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1987.
Schipper, Kristofer, The Taoist Body, University of California: Berkley and Los Angeles, CA, 1993.
Smith, Houston, The World’s Religions, HarperCollins, San Francisco, CA, 1991.
Tortchinov, Evgueni A., The Doctrine of the “Mysterious Female” in Taoism: a Transpersonalist View, Department of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University,
Russia, reprinted from, Everything is According to the Way: Voices of Russian Transpersonalism, Bolda-Lok Publishing & Educational Enterprises, Brisbane, Australia, 1997. http://etor.h1.ru/mystfem.html
Young, Serinity, eds. An Anthology of Sacred Texts By And About Women, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, NY, 1993.
After watching the documentary The Long Search: Taoism: A Question of Balance—China, I am totally surprised by the details in the video, which explain every single aspect of people’s daily life in Taiwan as religious, especially Taoist. Since China does not consider itself as a nation of religious beliefs and practices, I do not actually think of what Chinese people do everyday as religious. However, after studying Religions in China for a semester, I finally realize that all the Chinese traditions and beliefs have evolved as a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. As a result, it all makes sense to see in the video that Taoism is a dominant religion that has deeply influenced individuals’ life in Taiwan.
Philosophy is a complicated subject. Since the beginning of human existence, many tried to come up with theories about life, happiness, reality and knowledge. From philosophical ideas different beliefs sprung, and existence of different religions followed. Every theory raised by a philosopher attracted different followers. In today's modern society aside from major religions, there are thousands of others that suggest that their explanations to universal questions are the only accurate ones, and all of these religions seek to gain more followers to join their "way". One of these religions is the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Taoism has it roots in China, where the founder of Taoism Lao-Tse was searching for a way that would avoid the constant feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted his society during his lifetime. The result was his book: Tao-te-Ching. Lao-Tse described Taoism as a path or a way which one must follow in order to reach inner serenity and peace. In order to reach these inner goals one must live in harmony with nature and natural process that creates the balance in the universe.
"Main Concepts of Taoism: Yin and Yang." Taoism and the Taoist Arts. April 2002. http://www.taoistarts.net/main.html#yin LeGuin, Ursula K. The Lathe of Heaven. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 2000.
Traditions in Chinese culture are long-rooted and are taken very seriously from generation to generation. However, there must always be room for modern change in order for society to grow and strive across the globe. In Bound Feet and Western Dress the conflict between Chinese traditions and modern change arises. With this conflict it is important to discuss the different meanings of liberation for men and women and they way in which Chang Yu-I was able to obtain liberation throughout her life.
“The whole character of Chinese popular religion flows in the direction of plethora of rituals and obligations without much discernable doctrinal underpinning” (Corduan, 2012, p.410). The Chinese popular religion has gravitated away the gods of Buddha and Daoism and captured the philosophy of luck and materialism (Corduan, 2012), while it “is less concerned with philosophical issues and
...ccording to it. It is the level of understanding and respect a Taoist has with nature, everyone around them, and everything. This mystery is the last feature that is important to defining a religion.
Lao Tzu believed that Tao is a natural thing. He believes that you come by it or you realize its presents and experience it. The best way for me to explain how Lao Tzu perceives the Tao is to take it directly from our reading in Molloy, “The Doa cannot be named because it has no form. But the Dao can be experienced and followed by every individual thing that has a name (213).” Lao Tzu used Tao as a way of being and living in harmony with nature. Lao Tzu believed that Tao came to you by using his teaching of Wu Wei, Simplicity, Gentleness and Relativity (217-218).
Surfers, swimmers and sunbathers use beaches for recreation. People fish off beaches for food. Since many people take their vacations at the beach, lots of beaches in tropical locations are important to their country’s economy. Entire cities, regions and countries depend on the money tourists spend while visiting the beach. Beaches are naturally very dynamic places, but people try to control them and build permanent structures, such as houses, restaurants, shops and hotels, on or near the shore. The natural erosion and deposition of beaches becomes a problem. Beaches con disappear over time, or even over night during severe storms. Beaches are areas of loose sediment (sand, gravel, cobbles) controlled by ocean processes. Most beaches have several characteristic features. First are offshore bars, which help protect beaches from erosion. Next is the foreshore, which rises from the water toward the crest of the next feature; a berm. On low-lying shores, dunes form behind beaches. Dunes look like rolling hills of sand and are blown into place by the wind. New, smaller dunes are often changing shape as the wind continues to affect them. Waves and currents move the accumulated sediment constantly creating, eroding and changing the coastlines.
Have you ever been in love before? Many would say that love is hard to come by, and even harder to maintain, while some would say the opposite. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, he explores similar concepts related to love and infatuation. Although the reader never directly hears from Shakespeare, one could infer that his own thoughts are similarly mirrored in his characters, with the play serving as a warning tale of sorts, and the various roles echoing different dangers when it comes to love, which of there are many. More specifically, Romeo Montague and his actions in the play are very intentional, as they help explain Shakespeare’s intentions and his own personal thoughts on the topic of love and its hazards, as well
In its second sense, Tao means "the way of the universe." Tao is something that goes through all beings, all of the earth. It is everywhere, all the time. It is something that flows through everything. This flowing idea links with the idea in Buddhism that Nirvana can be reached by anyone, as long as one is devoted enough and has lost all attachments.Thirdly, one life must be a certain way to work with the Tao: Tao also refers to "the way of human life" as it "meshes" with the universal Tao in its second sense.
But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society, especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism opposed to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse of women and children? Rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.
“In Tantric Buddhism, we are dealing with a misogynist, destructive, masculine philosophy and religion which is hostile to life – i.e. the precise opposite of that for which it is trustingly and magnanimously welcomed in the figure of the Dalai Lama.”[1] Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is an inherent contradiction regarding the status of women. Although in many aspects women are seen and treated as inferior to men, several of the ancient and fundamental values of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically Tantric Buddhism, emphasize equality of the sexes, universal compassion, and most importantly the significant and essential role of the woman. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have been trying to correct this contradiction for years to remove the inferior and degrading stereotype that defines them and to be seen as equal to men. Beginning with the emergence of Tibetan Buddhism from India until today, the status of women, both physically and symbolically has declined due to the patriarchal system adopted by Tibet. “The mystery of Tantric Buddhism consists in the sacrifice of the feminine principle and the manipulation of erotic love in order to attain universal androcentric power.”[2] In their patriarchal society, the symbol of the woman is used by men now as an instrument; manipulated by men in order to acquire control and power.
Even though Taoism and many other folk religions have shaped the Chinese mind, Confucianism remains, by any historical measure, its chief mentor” (Novak 113). Therefore, since the two religions grew up together, there are similarities, such as their views on humans, attempting to find harmony in life and in nature, and serve as guides for their followers through self-cultivation and improvement techniques. Confucianism believes that their congregation should have human conduct over the idea of God in their lives, whereas Taoism is formed on the belief that its congregation should create a relationship with nature. This is pointed out by Smith in Experiencing the World’s Religions, “Confucius represents the classical, Lao Tzu the romantic; Confucius stresses social responsibility, Lao Tzu praises spontaneity and naturalness; Confucius focus is on the human, Lao Tzu’s on what transcends the human” (Smith 218).
Before I dive into the past history and how it transformed the topic of Geography, I would like to first define what geography is. Geography, in simple terms, is the “study of the world, both near and far” (Bonnett, 2008, p. 1). For the greater part of the human history, the term ‘geographical knowledge’ was coined to define the survival of the human population on the local level. Knowledge regarding the local landscape meant the difference between life and death. As societies grew, so did the push for advanced technology, not only were people growing food and raising livestock, but now they could now focus on more specialized skills. They started to explore their surroundings and came into contact with other groups of people, allowing humans
Lao-Tze founded Taoism around 550 BC. The goal in Taoism is achieve Inner harmony, pea...