Austria, Gerome Rafael D.

FINAL PAPER

1POL1 Ma’am Marella Ada Bolanos

In the world today, individuals seem to seek the meaning in everything that they
are able to grasp in their day to day lives. This attempt to try in finding meanings of
different matters is the problem that is seen through the lenses of Taoism. In this
philosophy, it is known that we need not to relentlessly understand everything of our liking
and choosing for it can entail that we are forcing the concept of the dao. Taoism is a
philosophy that centers itself towards the dao, in which is the primordial mover of all
things. It is not only a mere principle in Taoism because it is highly considered as the very
center of the philosophy that enshrines itself towards humanity because it has the
certainty of having and being able to govern life itself whether human or natural. Lao Zi
was the founder of this philosophy and is regarded as the “old master” who’s identity is
not known entirely by many because there weren’t credible accounts that would validate
that he lived among us.1 Lao Zi’s works can be seen and grasped through the dao de jing.
It is known as the second most translated book after the bible for it withholds Chinese
wisdom. In this book, it contains poetry that reveals itself in various complexities such as
its vision, challenge, aesthetics and emotion which can really move an individual towards
his choosing alongside ‘the way’, the dao. 2Although it is translated in many languages, it
still has that subjectivity for the works in the text are created depending on one’s
interpretation. The dao is supposed to be nameless and as well as the one that can
ultimately guide individuals to progress and not to regress.

1 Alfredo P. Co, Blooming of A Hundred Flowers Philosophy of Ancient China, (Manila:

University of Santo Tomas, 2002.)
2 Chen, Y. (2009). Revealing the Dao of Heaven through the Dao of humans: Sincerity in

The Doctrine of the Mean. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 4(4), 537–551.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-009-0035-0
 Lao Zi’s concept of the dao in Taoism is considered as an absolute entity that
can affect the entirety of individuals. It is said to be nameless because in the event
wherein it is given a name, it will then limit its role to that specific term. This is problematic
because it boxes the dao to certain specificity that it avoids itself to be. Having that in
mind, it loses the very essence of ‘the way’ 3 for its known to be absolute and limitless
which really destroys its principle. One instance that would depict that the dao should
remain nameless is when one considers it as a road towards illumination, but this example
would only address that the dao is a path towards something and is also a means to get
to somewhere some point in time. Another example would be labeling the dao as a mother
will most possibly show and imply that it can nurture and care for the people as if they
were her children. These instances show that by labeling it, it loses its sense of
universality and absoluteness for it is already deemed specific like that of a road and by
that of a mother. The dao is absolute4, and by boxing it to a specific label strips away the
very purpose of the dao. Some may argue that considering it as a road can lead people
to illumination. And some people may even say that the dao has the actuality to be like a
mother that can nurture and are for the people in order for them to not act stagnantly in
society. But it doesn’t work that way, it is because the dao is not to be seen that way for
it can constitute that it can only touch upon few lives under that very scope of the given
label. The essence is stripped because it is meant to be for something greater, something
that is able to create more ripples of change in the life on an individual through helping
him to find his essence. The dao is and should always be nameless so that it is not
restricted by the given attributions to it. In knowing the value of its namelessness, one
should also be able to find his passion through spontaneity.

3 Chen, Y. (2009). Revealing the Dao of Heaven through the Dao of humans: Sincerity in
The Doctrine of the Mean. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 4(4), 537–551.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-009-0035-0

4 Alfredo P. Co, Blooming of A Hundred Flowers Philosophy of Ancient China, (Manila:

University of Santo Tomas, 2002.)
 Lao Zi’s Dao de Jing prove emphasizes on the movement of the individuals
through wei-wu-wei with regards to the concept of the dao.This wei-wu-wei concept is to
be regarded upon as "to be by not being," "to do by not doing," and "to act by not acting”5.
Having this in mind, it enshrines the value of paradoxical expression that both gives out
two entirely opposite meanings that can probably confuse the individual, but it shouldn’t
because we must all act in accordance to what we feel we’re drawn into. It somehow
shows the authenticity that we strive to be. "Practice non-action; do the silent deed; have
ambition to be without ambition; turn small things into great; make much out of little.”6
This line emphasizes on the fact that people should indeed give importance to non-action
for it can really benefit the individual and then his society at large. When considering
acting without acting is about finding one’s passion that can make an individual actualize
his fate in accordance to the movement of the dao. An example for this would be a man
choosing career paths for the future because in this particular scenario he will then have
to pick and decide what kind of job he wants to land into. One may say: “follow the job
wherein there is high pay”, “follow a job that has a lot of benefits” or “follow the job wherein
you follow your passion”. The latter should always be given light for that people can
actually know that they are being without being, and that their action will then be
considered as inaction because the movement that individuals do is somewhat not seen
as a mere task that needs finishing, but it is something done without spite. This shows
that following one’s passion has the innate ability to let the dao take over and do its natural
course.

The dao surely grounds us certain in this world full uncertainty; and this grounding
proves us to be ascertain in our passion so that we may really head towards the dao, the
inexplainable, the absolute, and the end. Things are said to be unescapably to unfold by

5
Reid, G. (1917). Taoism, an Appreciation. The Biblical World, 49(2), 78–88.
https://doi.org/10.1086/475692

6
Chen, Y. (2009). Revealing the Dao of Heaven through the Dao of humans: Sincerity in The
Doctrine of the Mean. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 4(4), 537–551.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-009-0035-0
 themselves through the course of the dao because it “weaves perpetual spell on its
readers”7. The dao posit to us that having it to be nameless makes it absolute and through
that it may really be beneficial to us for it implies that it can make us find our own truths
though the course of the dao. “For indeed the higher the truth, the less it can be described
in one expression or definition”; this just emphasizes that once we have already searched
for our own paths, we can now subject ourselves to the dao. Individuals should be in
search for their own truths without having to force something that they’re not capable of
doing and by not going about their passions because through this they will be one with
reality, their own reality.

7 Alfredo P. Co, Blooming of A Hundred Flowers Philosophy of Ancient China, (Manila:

University of Santo Tomas, 2002.)