Confucius Institute

Fall 2011 Lecture Series

University of South Florida

November 14, 2011

Daoism and Sustainability

Ronnie Littlejohn, Belmont University

Daoism (Taoism) • A way of life associated with achieving

oneness with the processes of the

universe known as dao (tao) and

acting effortlessly wu-wei 無為, not

trying to control, help things along or

untangle the knots (DDJ 55, 68)

• The teachings of the ancient masters

devoted to this quest are embodied in

two classical works: the Daodejing

(Tao te ching) 道德經, traditionally

associated with Laozi (Lao Tzu) 老子,

and the Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) 莊子,

associated with Master Zhuang (i.e.,

Zhuang Zhou 莊周).

dao

The Daodejing 道德經

A Chinese philosophical work attributed to the legendary Laozi 老子.

Composed of a collection of aphorisms gathered through time

The name of the work means

“The Dao (道） and Its Virtuous Power (de 德)”

The dao that can be put into words

is not the eternal Dao

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name. (Ch. 1)

The Dao is the inner sanctum (ao 奧) of the

universe.

It is the treasure of the good and the savior of the

bad (Ch. 62)

Who knows why Heaven (tian 天) likes and

dislikes what it does?

Even sages regard this as an unanswerable

question.

Its net is vast;

Its mesh is loose but misses nothing. (Ch. 73)

As for the Dao, it is mysterious and elusive.

Mysterious and elusive; within it is an image.

Mysterious and elusive; within it is a thing.

Experiencing it is its own evidence (Ch. 21)

Those who seek to gain the world and do

something with it, they will fail.

Because the universe is a spiritual vessel (shen qi

神器) and one cannot use it.

Those who try to use it, ruin it.

Those who seek to grab hold of it, lose it. (Ch. 29)

The Dao 道 道 可 道 非 常 道 名 可 名 非 常 名

Daoists saw the cosmos as a shifting play of forces, in which gods, ghosts, spirits,

and visible fleshly persons all interacted constantly.

Original image of Dragon and Tiger

yin 陰 and yang 陽 movement of qi 氣

Later Taiji

Incense burners (boshan lu 博山爐)

and the five sacred mountains

On the burner to the right, the

mountain is surrounded by whirling

lines made of inlaid gold

symbolizing

qi energy

The piece may be seen in the Hebei

Provincial Museum

Shijiazhuang city, P.R. China.

Daoism and Daoyin 導引 , Qigong 氣功 , Taiji quan 太極拳

Qigong exhibit Chart

from a tomb at the

Mawangdui (馬王堆)

burial site near

Changsha dating

c. 165 BCE

Healing Techniques of Masters

of the Dao

Daoist “perfected persons”

(zhenren 真人) who learned the

techniques of transformation

included healing as one of their

powers.

One method of healing used by

a master of the dao was not

centered in anatomy in a

Western sense, but in the body's

energy system (qi) and how the

body was itself a microcosm of

the processes of reality in ever

changing combinations of the

Five Phases (wu-xing).

Masters used herbs and elixirs

for healing, and there are many

examples of common persons

and rulers who sought the

masters whenever they were ill.

The earliest currently known

mention of herbal healing, qi

therapy and alchemical elixirs,

refers to their use to assist

rulers in the 300s BCE.

Dried plants and animals used for traditional Chinese medicine included dried

lingzhi, snake, turtle plastron, Luohan fruit, and ginseng

Fengshui 風水 …. When rural Chinese looked out over a landscape,

they saw a world which was a whirl of invisible powers, moving in a

space inhabited by countless beings, tangible and intangible.

Fengshui fountain, Taibei, Taiwan

As patterns for relating to this energized cosmos and its processes emerged, they gave

rise to clearly identifiable moral structures.

When this happened, Daoists developed more than just a philosophy of nature, they

created an ethic for environmental relations.

Daoists not only thought about the natural environment and its cosmic significance,

they gave attention to the relationships humans had to it.

Daoist ecological rules first surface in the widely used and circulated….

One Hundred and Eighty Rules of Lord Lao (Laojun shuo yibaibashi jie 老君說

一百八十戒), dated to c. 230-240, and attributed to revelations from Laojun (i.e., Laozi).

These are the most important of the moral teachings directly connected to the

environment in the Precepts.

14. You should not burn [the vegetation of] fields, nor of mountains and forests.

18. You should not fell trees with disregard [for the mountain, water, and wildlife].

19. You should not wantonly pick herbs or flowers [but not exhaust this resources].

36. You should not throw poisonous substances into lakes, rivers, and seas.

47. You should not wantonly dig holes in the ground and thereby destroy the earth.

53. You should not dry up wet marshes.

79. You should not fish or hunt without care for preserving the game.

95. You should not dig up hibernating animals and insects in winter.

97. You should not climb in trees to look for nests and destroy eggs.

98. You should not use cages to trap birds and other animals.

100. You should not throw dirty things in wells.

101. You should not seal off pools, streams, and wells.

109. You should not light fires in the plains and destroy the grassland.

116. You should not defecate or urinate on living plants or in water that people will drink.

121. You should not carelessly take baths in rivers or seas and leave the water unclean.

132. You should not disturb the peacefulness of birds and [other] animals.

134. You should not wantonly make lakes by use of dams.

The Numinous Treasure (Lingbao 靈寶) Daoist movement was a result of

Ge Chaofu’s vision of the otherworld in the 300s.

The text ascribed to him is entitled Scripture on the Weight of Merit and

Virtue as Based on the Precepts of the Three Primes (Taishang dongxuan

lingbao sanyuan pinjie gongde qingzhong jing 太上洞玄靈寶三元品戒功德輕重經). There are a number of environmental precepts in this text.

It is wrong to slaughter the six domestic animals or kill any living being.

It is wrong to shoot down wild animals or birds in the sky.

It is wrong to burn the mountainsides in order to hunt.

It is wrong to set traps to catch fish and other animals.

It is wrong to throw food or drink into fresh water.

It is wrong to burn down or destroy fields or mountain forests.

It is wrong to cut down trees or idly pick leaves, fruits, and plants.

It is wrong to throw poisonous and filthy things into fresh water and thus

harm living beings.

Also in the 300s. there is evidence of a numerical method of merit

accumulation tied to good and evil deeds known as a “ledger” in the work

entitled, Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi 抱朴子, c.316), by Ge

Hong.

.

This work is

designed to aid in

the attainment of

immortality,

blessings, and

success in this life.

Here for perhaps

the first time, good

and evil deeds are

ranked and

assigned moral

weights, and 300

merits will make

one an earthbound

immortal, while

1,200 merits will

make one a

celestial immortal.

Ge Hong

Growth in Use of the

Morality Books and

Ledgers

If the influence of books is measured by the number of copies in which they

appear, one of these texts will probably be assigned the first place of all

publications on the globe, far exceeding those of the Bible and Shakespeare:

Tract of the Most Exalted on Action and Response (Taishang Ganying Pian 太上感應篇 ). This work presents itself as revealed instructions for Taishang

Laojun

The words ganying 感應 in the title of this text refer to “action and response.”

This is the Chinese way of speaking about sowing and reaping.

Normally, the result of action is of direct effect on the agent, but if unrealized

in his/her life, they are transferred to children and grandchildren. Laojun says

there are spirit-lords who are record keepers in charge of recording good and

evil deeds and determining the length of a person’ s life.

Tract of the Most Exalted on Action and Response

In “The Description of Evil-Doers” section of this work, Laojun describes

evil-doers in this way:

•“They shoot the flying, chase the running, expose the hiding, surprise

nestlings, close up entrance holes, upset nests, injure the pregnant, and

break the egg.”

•“They prepare cattle for food, without festive occasions; they scatter and

waste the five grains.”

•“They misdirect the water in rivers and springs” (and cause flood and

disaster to nonhuman life forms).

•“They kill tortoises and snakes without cause.”

•“They hunt in the mountains and forests with fire.”

•“They employ drugs to kill trees.”

Daoist Giving Away the Tract at Mt. Tai

Display of Free Morality Books in Quanzhou, Fujian

The Tract is still today being

distributed at temples and read by

the common people in China

Exhortation to Goodness (Yiwen Quan Shan Jing Yi Zhu) is a

commentary on the Tract of the Most Exalted on Action and Response. The Exhortation very carefully prescribes what animals can be raised for

slaughter: the goat, sheep, pig, and chicken. The moral problem is not

that animals are eaten, but whether the eating is on a permitted

occasion, whether slaughtering them diminishes or threatens the end of

the animals, and whether their death is humane.

The Exhortation says some animals are not to be eaten, for example,

Since horses may be ridden or used to carry burdens humans

would otherwise have to bear, they should not be killed and eaten.

Likewise, the ox and water buffalo assist in the plowing and

harrowing of land, and thus must not be killed

According to this text, the most moral among the Han are those who

have not eaten the meat of cattle or horses for thirty generations of their

ancestors.

The point of the Exhortation is that some animals are not permitted as

food because of the function of those animals in the cosmic order and

their contribution to its sustainability.

The writer of Exhortation shows a high degree of sensitivity to animals.

He writes, “ if you have a cow and kill its calf, you will cause the mother to go

crying from the tops of the hills to the bottoms of the valleys in search of it, a

most pathetic state of affairs.”

He goes on to say that humans have a responsibility to keep cowsheds clean of

dung and water.

Moreover, he calls it a bad deed to ride horses until they are exhausted, or plow

with oxen or cattle until they are weary. He says persons should ensure that

there is sufficient hay and water for their animals, and that they have enough salt

and rest.

But this is no animal rights argument. Daoists do not think of moral interactions

in terms of the rights of one agent in relation to another. There is nothing in the

Daoist tradition which suggests that animals have some inherent rights, nor even

that they have derivative or contractual rights.

This whole way of thinking is alien to the tradition. Daoists have specific moral

regulations about the treatment of animals and features of the environment, but

the rationales for human conduct toward them are based on sustainability and

interconnectedness of all things in the cosmic order.

Morality and Ledger Books in China’s Village Lecture System

Building on Ge Hong’s ledger, a good example of the sort of ledger that joined with

the Tract, and which was used in the village lecture system, is that done by Yuan

Huang and entitled, Determining Your Own Fate.

In this ledger, five merits are awarded for “saving the life of a creature capable of

repaying human kindness.” Such creatures include oxen, dogs, and horses. On

the other hand, only three merits are awarded for, “saving the life of a creature that

does not have the power to repay human kindness.”

In order to understand the significance of these types of conduct, some

comparisons are in order. Other five merit deeds include: urging persons to cease a

court case, transmitting to a person some method for improving his life, and using

one’ s skill to cure a mild illness. Other three merit deeds include: accepting a

wrong done to yourself without anger, being slandered without complaint, and

preventing (out of compassion) the beating of a person who nonetheless deserves

it.

As for demerits, one demerit is awarded for refusing to allow animals to rest when

they are tired, or for killing a small insect for no reason. Interestingly, this is the

same number of demerits awarded for breaking a promise, omitting to stop a thief in

the act, and cheating an ignorant person.

Five demerits are given for killing an animal capable of repaying human kindness

and three demerits for killing those which cannot do so.

The influence of Daoism in the early twelfth century grew dramatically and is

represented in the reign of Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1125 CE, born Zhao Ji).

Huizong’s promotion of Daoism is legendary. He wanted to make the Song

dynasty capital of Kaifeng into a Daoist city. He created immense gardens in

the city, modeled after his vision of the paradise of Daoist immortals on

Kunlun. He decreed the establishment of a network of temples dedicated to

the god Taishan, the principal spirit of the Eastern Peak (Dongyue 東嶽) whose

job it was to oversee the moral order of merit and demerit.

“Cranes of Good Omen” painting by Song Huizong now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang

Taishan’s 76 Departments of the Moral Order

The numinal spirit, Taishan, is associated with the mountain by the same name.

Taishan is one of the 5 sacred peaks of Daoism: it is the Eastern Peak

(Dongyue 東嶽). Taishan was understood to be the lord of a bureaucracy of

spirit beings whose responsibility it was to insure the enactment of the action

and response teachings found in the morality books and ledgers.

Dongyue Miao 東嶽廟 ,

Beijing

Dongyue Guan 東嶽館 ,

Jiangkou

Two temples honoring Taishan’s Kingdom and 76 departments by which he ensures the moral fabric

of the world

Taishan oversees those divinities who record, count, and weigh out the

deeds of humankind and who control their prosperity, longevity, and

punishment.

He commands the gods who rule the ten Daoist courts of judgment, the 76

departments of moral order, and the spirits who enforce his decrees and

those of the numinal beings who serve him.

Taishan forges a moral universe where all actions and their results are

directly related to the merit or demerit indicated in the morality books

such as the Tract and the ledgers for counting deeds that accompanied it.

In Dongyue temples, an abacus is always above the entrance

The 76 compartments

are arranged along

the ambulatory of the

central courtyard.

At least nineteen of

Taishan’ s seventy-six

departments in his

kingdom of moral

order are directly

related to

environmental

sustainability.

Dongyue miao, Beijing

Walking tour of Beijing’s

Dongyue miao with Taishan’s

76 Departments in the

ambulatory

The Department for Recording

Merits and Demerits At Dongyue Miao (the Daoist

“temple of the Eastern Peak”)

in Beijing one finds a series of

seventy-six compartments

containing life-size plaster

figures, each one molded and

painted with detail.

Court One

Before the judge, the record of

life, and the mirror that cannot lie.

Animals will testify to their

mistreatment

Ten: Insect Birth Dept. (responsible to see that

those who have done nothing good are turned into

insects in their rebirth, a form of life but a low one,

rewards those who regard insects)

Eleven: Egg Birth Dept. (takes action so that

those with more evil than good…but with some

good…. come back as low class flying birds

having to peck for food, rewards those who protect

eggs)

Sixteen: Dept. for Preservation of the Wilderness

(protects all living beings, preserves the

wilderness and the ecological environment, and

rewards those who do the same)

Twenty: Dept. of Earth Gods (supervises the

harvest and oversees the use of resources to

prevent exhausting or polluting them)

Twenty-eight: Animal Dept. (in charge of the total

amount of animals. Good deeds will bring one into

a human life in the next life, bad deeds into an

animal life...; guards against species extinction)

Animal Dept

Twenty-nine: Dept. of Forest Ghosts

and Spirits (assigned to protect those

Things living in the woods and the

forests themselves).

Forty-seven: Flying Birds Dept.

(preserves birds and encourages

humans to be kind to birds to

preserve ecological balance).

Forty-nine: Dept of River Gods

(supervises the respect for rivers and

lakes)

Fifty-two: Dept of Wind Gods (this

dept is the source of benefit and

calamity from winds)

Fifty-five: Dept of City and Township

Gods (protects the cities and towns,

and either prevents or causes floods

and calamities)

Fifty-six: Dept of Mountain Gods

(directs the spirits who protect the

mountains)

Sixty-one: Dept of Halting

Destruction of Living Beings

(punishes those who harm living

beings without cause)

Sixty-five: Mammal Birth Dept. (for

those who have an equal amount of

good and bad deeds, this dept awards

the mammal rank in rebirth and

maintains the proper number of

mammals)

Sixty-six: Water Birth Dept (for those

who have more evil than good deeds

the lowest rank of water birth is

rewarded: fish and shrimp)

Sixty-seven: Aquatic Animal Dept

(encourages humans to care for

aquatic beings)

Court Ten: The Court of the Wheel of Rebirth

Court Ten: The Court of the Wheel of Rebirth

“If you do a good thing, though you may not see the good result at the time, later it will be calculated with your rights and wrongs. Good deeds are like grass in the spring;

though you can’t see the result today, they are growing. Bad deeds are like a stone which sharpens the knife, and they will destroy you little by little.”

Taishan’s speech over the entrance of Dongyue Miao,Beijing

What we have in these Daoist precepts, beginning in the Han Dynasty 206

BCE-220 CE and extending to the present day is what we would now

call “environmental sustainability”

• Preservation and stewardship of vegetation, forests, natural resources, whether

animal or vegetable

• Rules against pollution of lakes, rivers, seas, wells

• Instructions for care in use of wet marshes as biospheres

• Rules against exhausting the resources in an area

• Guidelines for use of animals as food, including compassionate appreciation

for their pain and suffering

• A deep sense of the relative weightiness of various acts, differentiating their

moral impact on the ecosystem and the degree to which human life is extended

or shortened by how the environment is treated.

The End