Lao Tzu.--Meanwhile, other influences had been helping to divert the
attention of the Chinese people from the simple worship of God and of
the powers of nature. The philosophy associated with the name of Lao
Tzu, who lived nobody knows when,--probably about B.C. 600--which is
popularly known as Taoism, from Tao, the omnipresent, omnipotent, and
unthinkable principle on which it is based, operated with Confucianism,
though in an opposite direction, in dislimning the old faith while
putting nothing satisfactory in its place. Confucianism, with its
shadowy monotheistic background, was at any rate a practical system for
everyday use, and it may be said to contain all the great ethical truths
to be found in the teachings of Christ. Lao Tzu harped upon a doctrine
of Inaction, by virtue of which all things were to be accomplished,--a
perpetual accommodation of self to one's surroundings, with the minimum
of effort, all progress being spontaneous and in the line of least
resistance. Such a system was naturally far better fitted for the study,
where in fact it has always remained, than for use in ordinary life.
In one of the few genuine utterances of Lao Tzu which have survived the
wreck of time, we find an allusion to a spiritual world. Unfortunately,
it is impossible to say exactly what the passage means. According to Han
Fei (died B.C. 233), who wrote several chapters to elucidate the sayings
of Lao Tzu, the following is the correct interpretation:--
"Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish (i.e. do not
overdo it).
"If the empire is governed according to Tao, evil spirits will not be
worshipped as good ones.
"If evil spirits are not worshipped as good ones, good ones will do no
injury. Neither will the Sages injure the people. Each will not injure
the other. And if neither injures the other, then there will be mutual
profit."
The latter portion is explained by another commentator as follows:--
"Spirits do not hurt the natural. If people are natural, spirits have
no means of manifesting themselves; and if spirits do not manifest
themselves, we are not conscious of their existence as such. Likewise,
if we are not conscious of the existence of spirits as such, we must be
equally unconscious of the existence of inspired teachers as such; and
to be unconscious of the existence of spirits and of inspired teachers
is the very essence of Tao."
Adumbrations of Heracleitus.--In the hands of Lao Tzu's more immediate
followers, Tao became the Absolute, the First Cause, and finally One in
whose obliterating unity all seemingly opposed conditions of time and
space were indistinguishably blended. This One, the source of human
life, was placed beyond the limits of our visible universe; and in order
for human life to return thither at death and to enjoy immortality, it
was only necessary to refine away corporeal grossness according to the
doctrines of Lao Tzu. Later on, this One came to be regarded as a fixed
point of dazzling luminosity, in remote ether, around which circled for
ever and ever, in the supremest glory of motion, the souls of those who
had successfully passed through the ordeal of life, and who had left the
slough of humanity behind them.
The final state is best described by a poet of the ninth century A.D.:--
Like a whirling water-wheel,
Like rolling pearls,--
Yet how are these worthy to be named?
They are but illustrations for fools.
There is the mighty axis of Earth,
The never-resting pole of Heaven;
Let us grasp their clue,
And with them be blended in One,
Beyond the bounds of thought,
Circling for ever in the great Void,
An orbit of a thousand years,--
Yes, this is the key to my theme.
Debased Taoism.--This view naturally suggested the prolongation of
earthly life by artificial means; hence the search for an elixir,
carried on through many centuries by degenerate disciples of Taoism. But
here we must pass on to consider some of the speculations on God, life,
death, and immortality, indulged in by Taoist philosophers and others,
who were not fettered, as the Confucianists were, by traditional
reticence on the subject of spirits and an unseen universe.
Spirits must exist.--Mo Tzu, a philosopher of the fourth and fifth
centuries B.C., was arguing one day for the existence of spirits with a
disbelieving opponent. "All you have to do," he said, "is to go into
any village and make enquiries. From of old until now the people have
constantly seen and heard spiritual beings; how then can you say they do
not exist? If they had never seen nor heard them, could people say that
they existed?" "Of course," replied the disbeliever, "many people have
seen and heard spirits; but is there any instance of a properly verified
appearance?" Mo Tzu then told a long story of how King Hsuan, B.C.
827-781, unjustly put to death a Minister, and how the latter had said
to the King, "If there is no consciousness after death, this matter will
be at an end; but if there is, then within three years you will hear
from me." Three years later, at a grand durbar, the Minister descended
from heaven on a white horse, and shot the King dead before the eyes of
all.
Traces of Mysticism.--Chuang Tzu, the famous philosopher of the third
and fourth centuries B.C., and exponent of the Tao of Lao Tzu, has the
following allusions to God, of course as seen through Taoist glasses:--
"God is a principle which exists by virtue of its own intrinsicality,
and operates spontaneously without self-manifestation.
"He who knows what God is, and what Man is, has attained. Knowing what
God is, he knows that he himself proceeded therefrom. Knowing what Man
is, he rests in the knowledge of the known, waiting for the knowledge of
the unknown.
"The ultimate end is God. He is manifested in the laws of nature. He is
the hidden spring. At the beginning of all things, He was."
Taoism, however, does not seem to have succeeded altogether, any more
than Confucianism, in altogether estranging the Chinese people from
their traditions of a God, more or less personal, whose power was the
real determining factor in human events. The great general Hsiang Yu,
B.C. 233-202, said to his charioteer at the battle which proved fatal
to his fortunes, "I have fought no fewer than seventy fights, and have
gained dominion over the empire. That I am now brought to this pass is
because God has deserted me."