Taoist Thought and Ramifications

¶ … Intricacies of Daoism The meaning of Dao is the way. Those who follow this religion believe that the way is a divine path and a divine force that one must adhere to in order to transcend mortal or human concerns and to become one with the universe. The way is considered the principle force in the universe, and the cause of any number of things in existence. Thus, it is important for subscribers to this religion to become aligned with the way in order to achieve harmony and balance.

Daoism views human nature as another manifestation of the forces of the yin and the yang. The yin and the yang are the notions of opposition, positive and negative, good and evil, etc. Thus, Taoist thought views people as caught in a world in which the yin and the yang exist. They therefore can manifest these principles -- although they do not always do so in a way that is balance. Rather, they may become swayed by one side or another.

However, the goal is for humans to achieve a sort of balance between the opposition forces of the yin and the yang. Doing so involves harmonizing one's self with the way or the Dao. The human predicament or problem according to Taoist teachings stems from the conflicting forces of the yin and the yang. Humans are believed to be caught within this opposition and swayed by either side so that they are not balanced and in harmony with the universe as a whole.

The way to achieve harmony is to become attuned to the way. Doing so typically involves mediation and prayer, and a rejection of worldly pleasures and offerings for the solace of the introverted path that one can find through attunement with oneself and the way that influences the universe. There are Five Great Relationships in the Confucianism.

Those relationships include that between the ruler and those that are ruled by him, that between a husband and a wife, that between an older sibling or brother and the younger sibling or brother, that between friends, and those between spouses (husbands to wife). These relationships play an integral role towards social harmony in Confucianism because they help to set boundaries and expectations between people who have such relationships to one another.

For example, if one were simply to extend the friend to friend relationship to all those that that do not include the sort of hierarchy projected in the other relationships in this paradigm, one could have a very good fundamental basis for how society is supposed to work.

It is essential, however that these relationships are informed by Confucian virtues such as ren, shu, hsueh and li, because such virtues help to yield temperance in these relationships and to further clarify the sort of behavior and social norms that are expected. Moreover, these aforementioned virtues help to warrant what sorts of actions are appropriate.