II. Insertion: 10%, 1% each Confucianism, despite its having a formidable defender in Xunzi, was seriously challenged by the
Daoists. In the Analects Confucius is reported to have encountered ascetics, such as the Madman from Chu,
who urged him to 1 his social responsibility, sever relationships with the human community, and
abandon the world. Since the disintegration of the political system, like the torrential flood sweeping the
entire world, could not be stopped, any attempt to change the inevitable process of history would be an
exercise in 2 . What the 3 proposed was in fact a course of action advocated by virtually all major
ethico-religious traditions: to cultivate a spiritual sanctuary outside the lived world here and now. The
Christian kingdom of God or the Buddhist “other shore” are exemplifications of this universal
transcendental breakthrough. Confucius’ existential choice to try to repossess the Way by working through
the human community as it was constituted represents 4 . The Daoist diagnostic reading of the situation was not at variance with the Confucians’, but their
approach was radically different. Laozi opted for a fundamental re-examination of the value system which
was thought to have sustained the human community. He questioned not only the unintended negative
consequences of humanism, but also the reasons underlying great humanist ideas such as humanity and
rightness. He believed that not only does power corrupt, but even the most refined culture corrupts the true
nature of being human. 5 in all positive values is a self-destructive mechanism. Yet Laozi was neither
cynical nor 6 . He directed our attention to nature, the cosmic process, Dao. He invited us to transcend
mental 7 , to resist verbalizing the Dao through conceptualization, and rather to see, listen, and
experience it.
Laozi created a new
8 strategy to evoke the ineffable Dao. It cannot be talked about, but since it
is omnipresent, it can be directly experienced. The grammar of action, or in Daoist terms non-action,
employs seemingly negative values—weakness, lowliness, yieldness, backwardness, retreat, perplexity,
submission, ugliness and feebleness—to depict the subtle,
9 functions of the Dao. Images of water,
valley, ravine, baby, womb, clay and the uncarved block give the impression that the Dao as primordiality
is
10 and inexhaustibly potent. The art of living is to emulate those natural processes that are
consistent, steady, and enduring. A precondition for such a way of life is the spiritual discipline to transform
our body into a vehicle of the Dao.
(AB) abdicate (AC) anomaly (AD) apparatuses (AE) denounce (BC) fecund (BD) futility
(BE) grunge (CD) hermits (CE) incipient (DE) inherent (ABC) linguistic (ABD) relativistic
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