From China comes two of the most profound philosophies on the planet: Taoism and Confucianism. Alive during the time of the warring states when China was imbedded in upheaval and injustice two ancient Masters, Lao-tzu and Confucius, taught their disciples how to steady themselves in a world rocked by chaos. Being contemporaries, their teachings were often viewed in comparison to one another and many felt their philosophies were opposing. Instead, I believe that Confucius was a sincere Taoist but rather than teaching Taoist spirituality, Confucius taught his disciples the practicalities of living it.

"The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.

They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water (Tao Te Ching, #15)...

The Tao is the ever-present, underlying force that binds and comforts the universe by nurturing and supporting the goodness and humanity in living beings.

"The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.

It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want" (Tao Te Ching, #6).

Lost once expressed in words, the Tao can only be explained by metaphor and example, yet only through words is our intuitive awareness of its existence affirmed (Tao Te Ching, #5).

"The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.

It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God (Tao Te Ching, #4).

The Tao represents a belief that the cosmic design exists without a designer and that nature and chance erase the necessity for strict and rigid laws. The Tao puts the responsibility of a higher power upon the individual and asks that one undertake self-mastery as their most important endeavor because it inherently betters the world.

"...See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things" (Tao Te Ching, #13).

The Tao is symbolically expressed through the yin-yang symbol which Carl Jung called the mandala of the universe. Its unified dark and light halves, separate and within one another, represent the "implicit unity of opposites" which cause a reversal of events we attempt to control.

Confucius said to a pupil, "Do you think I have come to know many things by studying them?"
The pupil said, "Yes. Isn't it so?"
Confucius said, "No. I penetrate them by their underlying unity"
(Confucius, 15:3, p. 53).

The relinquishing of control within the Tao is where the philosophy becomes a way of life because it requires that one release herself/himself from trying to manipulate things and instead, flow with them (Tao Te Ching, #30).

"...Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself" (Tao Te Ching, #15)?

Confucius said, "The way ideal people relate to the world is to avoid both rejection and attachment. To treat others justly is their way of association" (Confucius, 4:6, p.29).

Lao-tzu taught his pupils that in order to grasp the Tao one must take the middle path by avoiding excess and embracing harmony. In other words by remaining emotionally centered one’s mind could be free of attachment and suffering.

"She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart" (Tao Te Ching, #35).

Confucius seems to have been a Taoist Master because his practical, ethical teachings are infused with Taoist spirit. I believe that those who felt Confucius' absence of direct spiritual reference made him non-Taoist did not truly understand the nature of the Tao. Because the Tao cannot be expressed in words the fact that "Confucius did not talk about strange things, powers, chaos, or the spiritual" demonstrates he was being a sincere Taoist by living the life instead of talking about it (Confucius, p. 69). As explained previously, as soon as one attempts to speak about the Tao it disappears.

Confucius said, "A person can spread the Way, but the Way is not to aggrandize a person" (Confucius, 15:29, p. 87).

Confucius remarked, "I wish to say nothing."

One of his pupils said, "If you said nothing, what would the disciples have to pass on?"

Confucius retorted, "What does the sky say? The four seasons go on in it, all beings are born under it, but what does the sky say" (Confucius, 17:19, p. 49)?

In the Taoist tradition Confucius taught his disciples that man is inherently good and that virtue is a power emanating from each person. Confucius believed in the morality of man and that through courtesy and self-cultivation one could systematically enhance the individual, family, community, and society (Confucius, 14:33, p.107). I believe Confucius enhanced the ethereal definitions of Taoism by choosing family as the center of life and that he emphasized the Taoist tradition of the limitless ability of humanity rather than supernatural gods. The laws of nature were his code of conduct which corresponds to the Taoist belief that if you bring nature into your being, no matter where you are the Tao is within you. I feel Confucius utilized all of the above information to help people understand how Taoist wisdom could recreate politics, government, and familial relations (Tao Te Ching, #80).

Confucius said, "Study eagerly with earnest faith; keep to the good way even unto death. Do not enter a dangerous state; do not stay in a chaotic state. When the Way prevails in the world, appear in public life; when the Way does not prevail, disappear. When a country has the Way, it is a disgrace to be poor and lowly there. When a country lacks the Way, it is a disgrace to be rich and noble there" (Confucius, 8:13, p. 141).

The Essential Confucius explains that "Confucius had eliminated four things: he had no willfulness, no insistence, no fixation, and no selfishness" (Confucius, 9:4, p. 117). After reading the Tao, I think that Confucius' abandonments may have stemmed from embracing Lao- tzu's Taoist treasures:

"I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world" (Tao Te Ching, #67).

Confucius worked to master his ego by eradicating those things in life which cause personal and societal suffering and chose to share his wisdom with others. His teachings are steeped in the Taoist idea that if one gives evil nothing to oppose (Tao as the reversal of opposites), it vanishes thereby allowing the inherently good in human nature to surface (Tao Te Ching, #60).

A disciple asked Confucius about humaneness.

Confucius said, "You are humane if you can practice five things in the world: respectfulness, magnanimity, truthfulness, acuity, and generosity. If you are respectful, you won't be despised. If you are magnanimous, you will win people. If you are truthful, you will be trusted. If you are acute, you will be successful. If you are generous, you will be able to employ people" (Confucius, 17:6, p. 51).

For me, the single, most glaring issue upon which Lao-tzu and Confucius differed was the idea of planning when working with the self. Confucius believed that stategization was necessary in order for people to properly refine their faults. Furthermore, he held education as the primary vehicle leading to self-mastery. Lao-tzu, on the other hand, felt that things and people should be left alone because our minds are nature incarnate and create the universe as we go. Lao-tzu called his philosophy “wu wei”, effortless effort, and felt that by remaining centered in the Tao rather than planning or expecting events to happen, we become able to perform tasks as though we are within them rather than just the active agent. He explained that when not fulfilled, tactical analysis, planning and expectation promote anger, thereby causing one to step out of the Tao .

"...Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place" (Tao Te Ching, #3).

"We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,

but non-being is what we use" (Tao Te Ching, #11).

Although Confucius and Lao-tzu did not agree upon the methods to attain self-discipline they both taught that self-mastery is vital to the individual, society, and the planet. I believe that because of Confucius' background in criminal justice at a time when police brutality was permitted, he became more didactic in his ethical teachings by stressing education and morality in hierarchical political and governmental systems in an effort to fully emphasize their importance. Lao-tzu, on the other hand, chose a more retreatist attitude stressing diet, exercise, and contemplation as steps leading to discipline, moral and spiritual health. Even though Lao-tzu and Confucius seem at odds with one another, I feel that their differing, yet complementary opposing, philosophies are typical of the underlying unity of the Tao because both teachers strove for a single goal.

Within its philosophies and religions the East has brought the West an abundance of food for thought. Here, in the West students are taught to conquer tasks, beat the rat race, and how to make a killing on the stock exchange. Meanwhile, in the East, pupils learn that the self must be mastered before all other things. Like Lao-tzu and Confucius, initially these value systems seem very opposing, yet when viewed within the Tao one can see how they represent the complementary sides of human nature: practical, intellectual, and active along with intuition, wisdom, and contemplation. The Tao exists as a presence within and without all living creatures and its unifying force is what binds together all human beings in a cosmic brotherhood. We alone allow ourselves to be carried within the Tao by deciding to let go of preconceptions, worries, and fears and by doing so we not only better the quality of our own life, we enhance the universal consciousness.

"Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever" (Tao Te Ching, #33).

Confucius said, "Hear the Way in the morning, and it would be all right to die that evening," (Confucius, 4:8, p. 79).

© Copyright Paula Vaughan
Not to be reprinted without permission.

References

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: A New English Version translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Essential Confucius by Thomas Cleary

Resources for further study

Confucius

Lao Tzu

Taoism

The Tao Te Ching