Author: D. Sader

Dreams

Chuang Tzu was a leading Taoist thinker. His teachings are collected in a book, Chuang-tzu. This story appears in Chuang-tzu.

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Tzu. Soon I awoke, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.

Explain what you think this story means.

Fish Story

The Taoist teacher Chuang Tzu was walking with a friend over a bridge. Chuang Tzu saw some fish darting about and said, “That is happiness for a fish.”

His friend said, “You’re not a fish! How do you know what makes a fish happy?”

Chuang Tzu responded, “You’re not me! How do you know I don’t know what makes a fish happy?”

What was Chuang Tzu saying to his friend?

On Politics

Chuang Tzu, the Taoist thinker, was offered a job at the emperor’s court. He responded:

Sir, have you seen a sacrificial ox? It is decked in fine garments and fed on fresh grass and beans. However, when it is led into the Great Temple, even though it might earnestly wish to be a simple calf again, it’s now impossible.

What do you think Chuang Tzu meant by this?

Understanding the Universe

The Taoist thinker Chuang Tzu lived about 2,500 years ago, at a time when people knew very little about the world around them. Still he tried to understand the phenomena of nature. He wrote:

Do the heavens revolve? Does the earth stand still? Do the sun and the moon contend for their positions? Who has the time to keep them all moving? Is there some mechanical device that keeps them going automatically? Or do they merely continue to revolve, inevitably, of their own inertia?

Do the clouds make rain? Or is it the rain that makes the clouds? What makes it descend so copiously? Who is it that has the leisure to devote himself, with such abandoned glee, to making these things happen?

Given what you know about Taoism, why do you think Chuang Tzu might have been interested in the workings of nature?

In Front of the Chariot

The Taoist teacher Chuang Tzu often used stories to present important ideas. Here is one of these stories.

A praying mantis was standing in the road when a chariot came along. The insect thought he could stop the chariot by waving it away. But the charioteer did not even see the mantis, and it was crushed.

The Taoist lesson is that it is important to know when you can affect events and when you can’t.

Write about a time when you stepped in front of a “charging chariot.” When did you think you could affect something when you were actually powerless?

Yin and Yang

The concept of balance is important in Taoism. Everything in the universe is a balance of opposite forces. Night is balanced by day; summer is balanced by winter.

Often the opposite is necessary for completion. For example, a cup holds liquid because it has solid sides, but it also needs a hollow centre to function. If the entire cup were solid, we couldn’t put liquid into it. The cup must be both substance and space.

Taoism refers to these opposing, balancing elements of the universe as yin and yang. Yin is associated with darkness, yang with light. These are not aspects of good and bad, though; they are merely two sides of the same thing.

You can use your own breathing to experiment with yin and yang. We need air in our lungs in order to live. But to take air in, we need to push air out. We need empty lungs before we can fill them.

Take a deep breath; fill your lungs completely. Hold the breath for a moment. Now try to breathe in without first emptying your lungs. What happened? Describe the experience.

The Yin-Yang Symbol

The yin-yang symbol shows the opposite, balanced forces of the universe important in Taoism. Yin and yang are in tension, but they are not in opposition to each other. When both yin and yang are equally present, all is calm. When one is outweighed by the other, there is confusion.

Even in this symbol, the dark, yin side has a spot of white. The light, yang side has a spot of black. According to Taoism, nothing is absolutely dark or bright, good or bad. Everything contains both yang and yin.

Do you think this symbol conveys the idea of opposite, but balanced, forces?

Yin and Yang: Opposites or Pairs?

There are many ways of looking at the Taoist idea of yin and yang. Instead of thinking about characteristics like light and dark as opposites, it is better to think of them as pairs. Light and dark are a pair that belongs together. They help to define each other.

Think about the opposite sensations of head and cold. Write about heat depending on cold for its identity.

The Energy of Qi

According to Taoism, things such as water, food, and sleep are necessary for life. Life itself, though, is a breathlike force call qi (pronounced “chee”). Qi is the energy that flows through the universe and all living things.

Do you think there is an energy in all living things?

Qi and Balance

In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that disease is caused by an imbalance of qi, or living energy.

Like a steady river, qi needs to flow and circulate evenly in the body. Qi does not flow when there are blockages or drains. To heal a patient, doctors of traditional Chinese medicine correct the flow by touching points on the body where qi is generated.

Does this explanation of heath make sense to you?