Nurfadzilah Yahaya Daoism Taoism The period roughly between 600 and 300 b.c.e.. in Chi-na is called the era of the Hundred Schools of Phi-losophy, the term hundred meaning “many.” It was
Trang 1the birthplace of Abraham and is also where Moses
was buried
See also Syriac culture and church
Further reading: Fawaz, Tarazi, and C A Bayly Modernity
and Culture from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean
New York: Columbia University Press, 2002; Ma’oz, Moshe,
et al Modern Syria: From Ottoman Rule to Pivotal Role in
the Middle East Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 1999;
Weiss, Walter M The Bazaar: Markets and Merchants of the
Islamic World New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998.
Nurfadzilah Yahaya
Daoism (Taoism)
The period roughly between 600 and 300 b.c.e in
Chi-na is called the era of the Hundred Schools of
Phi-losophy, the term hundred meaning “many.” It was
an age of political and social change and turmoil as the
Zhou (Chou) dynasty was breaking down, which
led thinking men to develop philosophies to explain,
accommodate to, or change the state of affairs Two
out of these philosophies, Daoism and Confucianism,
would endure as dominant and complementary ways of
life for the Chinese for more than two millennia
While all schools of philosophy were seeking the
way, or dao, one among them would appropriate the
word for its teachings While Confucians sought to
re-turn society to the golden age of antiquity through
mor-al reform and study, others sought escape to a simple life, living as recluses and being content with nonac-tion; their philosophy is called Daoism It is diffi cult
to fi nd reliable information about early Daoism How-ever, scholars accept two books as the earliest works on
Daoism: the Laozi (Lao Tzu) or the Daodejing (Tao-te Ching), which translates as the “Canon of the Way and Virtue,” and the Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu).
The Laozi’s purported author was a man called Laozi
(Lao Tzu), which means the Old Master; he supposedly was a senior contemporary of Confucius and had worked
as archivist at the royal court There is no proof that Laozi existed, and the short, cryptic book of about 5,000 words attributed to him seems to be a composite work that is
no older than the fourth century b.c.e It teaches that the mystic Dao is the source of all being, which must be in-tuitively understood by leading a passively yielding life It
is a terse and enigmatic work susceptible to many inter-pretations Its political philosophy teaches the sage ruler not to interfere in the lives of the people, give up warfare and luxuries, and passively guide the people to lives of
in-nocence and harmony with the Dao Modern laissez-faire
ideals fi nd similarities with Daoism
Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), which means Master Zhuang, lived around 369–286 b.c.e Very little is known about him, and the book that bears his name is witty, full
of paradoxes and imagery The message of the book is
a plea for the freedom of the individual and his libera-tion from egotism so that he can come to understand the underlying unity of the Dao and thus achieve happiness that is beyond death
Even though Daoists taught nonaction and passiv-ity, they were nevertheless human enough to preach their view in competition with other philosophical views One can hardly imagine a country governed by the laissez-faire Daoist philosophy Nevertheless, when Confucianism became China’s offi cial philosophy after
c 100 b.c.e., Daoism continued to hold its attraction because of its imaginativeness and perhaps as an anti-dote to the serious-minded ideals taught by Confucius Daoist philosophy has been a leavening agent in Chi-nese life, a consolation for those who suffered failures and a relief to the many duties that circumscribed life
In this way Confucian and Daoist philosophies supple-mented and complesupple-mented each other
Neo-Daoism is a movement that began in the East-ern Han dynasty (25–220 c.e.) One part of this move-ment undertook to harmonize Daoist teachings with Confucian social and moral ideals that made it possible for a Confucian offi cial to be both a conscientious
pub-The city of Damascus lies within a fortifi cation of walls and is one
of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
106 Daoism