Religious Taoism

1. Religious Taoism Spatio-Temporal Dimensions

2. Strands of Taoism (Smith typology) Non-formal “self-help” groups • Philosophical Taoism (Lao-zi and Zhuang-zi) • Hygienic/yogic Taoism (personal dimensions of yin-yang cosmology) Institutionalized “other-help” churches • Religious Taoism (spatio-temporal dimensions of yin-yang cosmology)

3. Strands of Taoism (Smith typology) Non-formal “self-help” groups • Philosophical Taoism (Lao-zi and Zhuang-zi) • Hygienic/yogic Taoism (personal dimensions of yin-yang cosmology) Institutionalized “other-help” churches • Religious Taoism (spatio-temporal dimensions of yin-yang cosmology)

4. Strands of Taoism (other names) • Philosophical Taoism (eremitic Taoism) • Hygienic/yogic Taoism(alchemical and monastic Taoism) • Religious Taoism(priestly Taoism)

5. 1. Spatial Dimensions of Yin and Yang2. Temporal Dimensions of Yin and Yang spatio-temporal dimensions of yin-yang cosmology

6. 1. Spatial Dimensions of Yin and Yang • mountains and valleys / light and shadow • the placement of cities, homes, graves

7. Etymological background: yin and yang

9. Wu-xing -- Five Phases 行 xing Five Phases / Processes / Changes / Elements

11. YANG ORDER OF PRODUCTION • wood > fire • fire > earth • earth > metal • metal > water • water > wood

12. YIN ORDER OF OVERCOMING • metal / wood • wood / earth • earth / water • water / fire • fire / metal

13. wood fire earth metal water growing of wood burning of fire enveloping of earth hardening of metal moistening of water Chinese vs. Greek “Elemental Theory” 五行 xing as “locomotion” 彳 “Pictograph showing a person taking a small step”

14. Orientation of human habitations: feng-shui (geomancy) • “wind and water” • “habitation”: living and dead

17. 19th century Western characterizations of feng-shui • “a mere chaos of childish absurdities and refined mysticism, cemented together, by sophistic reasonings, into a system, which is in reality a ridiculous caricature of science” • “an abyss of insane vagaries” • “a perverse application of physical and meteorological knowledge” • “the biggest of all bugbears”

18. Feng-shui and Ecological Consciousness • Nature as a living, complementary force • Natural beauty and form • Links between topography and architecture • An ideal of cosmic, social, and ecological harmony

19. “a mere chaos of childish absurdities” East Wing, National Gallery, Washington, DC (I.M. Pei)

20. “a ridiculous caricature of science” Hong Kong (New Territories)

21. “an abyss of insane vagaries”

22. “a perverse application of physical and meteorological knowledge” Beijing Blur Hotel designed by Pei Zhu

23. Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong) • “the biggest of all bugbears”

24. “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium (Beijing) Ai Wei-wei

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26. 2. Temporal Dimensions of Yin and Yang Festivals of the Calendar (all dates lunar) • 1/1 Spring Festival: the Chinese “New Year” • 5/5 Double Yang Festival: Water/Cold Food • 7/15 Mid-Year Festival: Ghost • 11/15 Festival of Rebirth of Yang: Gods

28. The Chinese Festival Year 5/5 summer (season of gods) 7/15 (domination of yin) 1/1 (re-emergence of yang ) (reemergence of yang)11/15 winter (season of ghosts) (excess of yang)

29. Festivals of the Calendar (all dates lunar) 1/1 Spring Festival: the Chinese “New Year”-- celebrating the re-emergence of yang 5/5 Double Yang Festival: Water/Cold Food -- overcoming the excess of yang 7/15 Mid-Year Festival: Ghosts -- observing the domination of yin 11/15 Festival of Rebirth of Yang: Gods -- encouraging the re-emergence of yang

30. Spring Festival (1/1)

31. Double Yang Festival (5/5)

32. In Toucheng, the first Chinese settlement on the Lanyang Plain, the Ghost Festival culminates with the tradition of setting up towers and climbing them. YUE LAN (HUNGRY GHOST) FESTIVALSeventh Moon, Day 15(August/September) For one long lunar month during the Hungry Ghost Festival, ghosts are said to roam the earth. Throughout this month Chinese people do their best to avoid late nights to steer clear of the spirits. In some areas of Hong Kong, visitors can see small roadside fires, where believers burn paper money and other offerings to appease the restless spirits. Ghost Festival(7/15)

33. Festival of Rebirth of Yang (11/15)

34. Major Themes of the Taoist Classics • “Anti-Confucianism” • Zi-ran: Naturalness and Spontaneity • Wu-wei: Non-action • The Dao • Pu: The “Uncarved Block” • Uselessness • Hua: Transmutability • The Perfect One

35. 7. Transmutability the Kun fish and the Peng bird 鯤

36. "Little Understanding and Great Understanding" (Ch. 1, Free and Easy Wandering) In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is Kun (北冥有魚，其名為鯤). The Kun is so huge I don't know how many thousand miles he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is Peng (化而為鳥，其名為鵬). The back of the Peng measures I don't know how many thousand miles across and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven (南冥者，天池也)... When the Peng journeys to the southern darkness, the waters are roiled for three thousand miles. He beats the whirlwind and rises ninety thousand miles, setting off on the sixth-month gale...

37. … The cicada and the little dove laugh at this, saying, "When we make an effort and fly up, we can get as far as the elm or the sapanwood tree, but sometimes we don't make it and just fall down on the ground. Now how is anyone going to go ninety thousand miles to the south!“ If you go off to the green woods nearby, you can take along food for three meals and come back with your stomach as full as ever. If you are going a hundred miles, you must grind your grain the night before; and if you are going a thousand miles, you must start getting the provisions together three months in advance. What do these two creatures understand (之二蟲又何知)? Little understanding cannot come up to great understanding; the short-lived cannot come up to the long-lived (小知不及大知，小年不及大年).

38. Dreams: Hua-consciousness painting by Lu Zhi (16th c.) Asian Art Museum San Francisco

39. "The Butterfly Dream" (Ch. 2, Making Things Equal) Once Zhuang-zi dreamt he was a butterfly (昔者莊周夢為胡蝶), a butterfly flitting and fluttering around (栩栩然胡蝶也), happy with himself and doing as he pleased (自喻適志與). He didn‘t know he was Zhuang Zhou (不知周也). Suddenly he woke up (俄然覺) and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou (則蘧蘧然周也). But he didn’t know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou (不知周之夢為胡蝶與，胡蝶之夢為周與). Between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly there must be some distinction (周與胡蝶，則必有分矣)! This is called the Transformation of Things (此之謂物化).

40. Spontaneity: Hua as model for living • Responding to change • Acting effortlessly • Moving purposelessly • Going where there is least resistance • Responding to a shifting situation

41. 8. The Perfect One Zhen-ren 真人

42. The Great Awakening (Zhuangzi, ch. 2) He who dreams of drinking wine may weep when morning comes; he who dreams of weeping may in the morning go off to hunt. While he is dreaming he does not know it is a dream, and in his dream he may even try to interpret the dream. Only after he wakes does he know it was a dream. And someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a dream. Yet the stupid believe they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, that one herdsman -- how dense! Confucius and you are both dreaming! And when I say you are dreaming, I am dreaming, too, and words like these will be labeled the Supreme Swindle. Yet, after ten thousand generations, a great sage may appear who will know their meaning, and it will be as though he appeared with astonishing speed. 夢飲酒者，旦而哭泣；夢哭泣者，旦而田獵。方其夢也，不知其夢也。夢之中又占其夢焉，覺而後知其夢也。且有大覺而後知此其大夢也，而愚者自以為覺，竊竊然知之。君乎，牧乎，固哉！丘也，與女皆夢也；予謂女夢，亦夢也。是其言也，其名為弔詭。 萬世之後，而一遇大聖知其解者，是旦暮遇之也。

43. The Taoist Sage • “Godlike” qualities • Unaffected by life and death • Emotional equanimity • “A mind like a mirror” • “Sitting in forgetfulness” • “The fasting of the mind”

44. Confucian Heaven ceremony action society male adulthood moral perfection "build" "establish" being education hierarchy named North knowledge the ancients Taoist Nature, Tao simplicity non-action individual female infancy & old age spiritual tranquilty "nourish" "return" non-being self-transformation unity nameless South intuition pre-history Contrasts between Confucianism and Taoism

45. Remnants of Taoism in Contemporary Chinese Culture

46. Taoist responses to contemporary global issues • violence arising from ethnic and political conflict • urbanization and its attendant ills (from crime to unsightly cityscapes) • ecological degradation and the worldwide decrease in forested or virgin land • medical technologies which preserve life, but often at great material and spiritual cost • greed and avariciousness, expressed both personally and nationally • sexual ethics which are often distorted on the one hand by demeaning images and attitudes or, on the other hand, by religiously motivated prudishness • lifestyles focused on personal achievement in highly artificial environments, with little opportunity for physical exercise, creative expression, or communion with nature (Nadeau, p. 110)

47. Taoism as an Emerging World ReligionTaoism as Anti-Judaism, Anti-Catholicism and Anti-Victorianism (Nadeau, p. 122) • Freedom • Aestheticism and artistic expression • Naturalism • Holistic health and macrobiotic diet • Non-competitive sport • Ecological consciousness • Sexual expression • Spirituality and feminine images of the divine