** Taoism by Huston Smith

Taoism by Huston Smith | PDF | Tao | Laozi

̖ Editor’s Note: Chapter 5 of The World’s Religions. 

TAOISM* 

Huston Smith 

No civilization is monochrome. In China the classical tones of Confucianism have been balanced not only by the spiritual shades of Buddhism but also by the romantic hues of Taoism. 

1] The Old Master 

According to tradition Taoism (pronounced Dowism) originated with a man named Lao Tzu, said to have been born about 604 B.C. He is a shadowy figure. We know nothing for certain about him and scholars wonder if there ever was such a man. We do not even know his name, for Lao Tzu—which can be translated “the Old Boy,” “the Old Fellow,” or “the Grand Old Master”—is obviously a title of endearment and respect. All we really have is a mosaic of legends. Some of these are fantastic; that he was conceived by a shooting star, carried in his mother’s womb for eighty-two years, and born already a wise old man with white hair. Other parts of the story do not tax our credulity: that he kept the archives in his native western state, and that around this occupation he wove a simple and unassertive life. Inferences concerning his personality derive almost entirely from a single slim volume that is attributed to him. From this some conclude that he was probably a solitary recluse who was absorbed in occult meditations; others picture him as down to earth—a genial neighbor with a lively sense of humor. 

The only purportedly contemporary portrait, reported by China’s first historian, Ssu-ma Ch’ien, speaks only of the enigmatic impression he left—the sense that he possessed depths of understanding that defied ready comprehension. According to this account Confucius, intrigued by what he had heard of Lao Tzu, once visited him. His description suggests that the strange man baffled him while leaving him respectful. “I know a bird can fly; I know a fish can swim; I know animals can run. Creatures that run can be caught in nets; those that swim can be 

caught in wicker traps; those that fly can be hit by arrows. But the dragon is beyond my knowledge; it ascends into heaven on the clouds and the wind. Today I have seen Lao Tzu, and he is like the dragon!” 

The traditional portrait concludes with the report that Lao Tzu, saddened by his people’s disinclination to cultivate the natural goodness he advocated and seeking greater personal solitude for his closing years, climbed on a water buffalo and rode westward toward what is now Tibet. At the Hankao Pass a gatekeeper, sensing the unusual character of the truant, tried to persuade him to turn back. Failing this, he asked if the “Old Boy” would not at least leave a record of his beliefs to the civilization he was abandoning. This Lao Tzu consented to do. He retired for three days and returned with a slim volume of five thousand characters titled Tao Te Ching, or The Way and Its Power.  A testament to humanity’s at-home-ness in the universe, it can be read in half an hour or a lifetime, and remains to this day the basic text of Taoist thought. 

What a curious portrait this is for the supposed founder of a religion. The Old Boy didn’t preach. He didn’t organize or promote. He wrote a few pages on request, rode off on a water buffalo, and that was it as far as he was concerned. How unlike the Buddha, who trudged the dusty roads of India for forty-five years to make his point. How unlike Confucius, who pestered dukes and princes, trying to gain an administrative foothold (or at least a hearing) for his ideas. Here was a man so little concerned with the success of his surmises, to say nothing of fame and fortune, that he didn’t even stay around to answer questions. And yet, whether the story of his life is fact or fiction, it is so true to Taoist attitudes that it will remain a part of Taoism forever. Emperors would claim this shadowy figure as their ancestor, and even scholars—though they do not see the Tao Te Ching as having been written by a single hand and do not think it attained the form in which we have it until the second half of the third century B.C.—concede that its ideas cohere to the point where we must posit the existence of someone under whose influence the book took shape, and have no objection to our calling him Lao Tzu. 

2] The Three Meanings of Tao 

On opening Taoism’s bible, the Tao Te Ching, we sense at once that everything revolves around the pivotal concept of Tao itself. Literally, this word means path, or way. There are three senses, however, in which this “way” can be understood. 

Taoism: The Parting of the Way: Welch Jr., Holmes H

Taoism: The Parting of the Way: Welch Jr., Holmes H.: 9780807059739: Amazon.com: Books



Taoism: The Parting of the Way Paperback – June 1, 1971
by Holmes H. Welch Jr. (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 34 ratings


Called "a first-rate piece of work" by T. S. Eliot, this book offers a comprehensive discussion of Taoism, one of the world's major religions, as well as a study of the Tao te ching, the best known Taoist text, and Lao-tzu as a Taoist prototype.
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208 pages
June 1, 1971
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Editorial Reviews

Review
"Of very definite value and interest to specialists as well as laymen. in part, this virtue is owing to the enthusiasm, humor, lucitiy, and delightful informality he brings to his task, but it rests even more on a quite unusual capacity for analytical insight and informed understanding."—Derk Bodde, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

"Clarifies a large area of literature and history that has been a mystery to the West and makes fascinating reading even for those whose interest is casual."

—The New Yorker

From the Back Cover
This book offers a comprehensive discussion of Taoism, one of the world's major religions, as well as a study of the Tao te ching, the best known Taoist text, Lao-Tzu as a Taoist prototype.
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Top reviews from the United States


Ansel Schmidt
5.0 out of 5 stars Not Arthur Waley, but greatReviewed in the United States on May 13, 2013
Verified Purchase

Following Ursula LeGuin's suggestion, I bought this book when I wanted to dive deeper into Taoism than Wikipedia allows. Welch does an admirable job describing the different movements that claim the mantle, so as LeGuin says, it's an excellent introduction to Lao Tzu et al. and those who would be his followers. 

His history of the Taoist religions is thorough and carefully done, 

but his exploratory essays on philosophical Taoism are the reason this book is so good. 

Erudite and highly readable, they let me sink my teeth into the meat of Taoist thought within a few pages. Since Welch doesn't seem to have followed up on this book in any substantial way, I quickly found my way to Arthur Waley, whose unique perspective and towering scholarship rewards even an amateur and a dabbler like me, but even someone who's already read Waley's The Way and Its Power four times will find something original and thought-provoking in Welch's studies.

16 people found this helpful


D V McL
5.0 out of 5 stars Get this along with your chosen 'translation"Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2013
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This book was recommended to me by an Asian scholar and, although not new, is hands down the best explanation of the Tao te ching and its author I've come across - I would say a vital accompaniment to any "translation."

4 people found this helpful

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David W. Shaver
5.0 out of 5 stars Good bookReviewed in the United States on September 5, 2010
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Excellent older book on the Tao Te Ching and Taoism. Considering it's age and current scholarship it still definitely bears reading.

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John L. Murphy
4.0 out of 5 stars How does this hold up six decades on?Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

How does this hold up six decades on? Ursula Le Guin in her 1997 "creative interpretation" of the Tao Te Ching footnotes this as her recommended book to learn more. It was slightly revised in 1966 and reprinted 1971, but it does not appear to have been substantially altered. Holmes Welch was evidently a Sinologist with a sense of humor. This appearing the same year that Alan Watts' "The Way of Zen" and amidst the Beat dharma-bums, it must have appealed to Le Guin and those then eager to learn about the Tao. As with Watts' first chapter on the Tao, so with Holmes here: it's great.

Welch builds on Arthur Waley's translation and scholarship. Like Watts, Welch interprets academic findings for a wider audience. His style is lively and his examples vivid. He acknowledges as have all scholars the difficulty of unwrapping the enigmas within the verses attributed to one Lao Tzu.

Part two gives, nonetheless, Welch's take on the TTC. Not resisting the Tao, going back to the "uncarved block" and the inherent purity of original nature, and meditation, especially through trance states, engages Holmes. He seems bent on exploring the TTC at least in part as trance-guide. This determination did not captivate me as much as did him, but he for his time period attempts to line up his argument with then-current academia.

He does not separate "philosophical Taoism" from the shamanic, magical, and alchemical pursuits of the ancient Chinese. He admits these were all present around the era of the Tao's elucidation in writing. Yet he, as many Westerners have sympathized with, favors an earlier stage when the Tao was not reduced to "religious Taoism." The brief florescence of the Pure Conversation movement appears to be the closest later attempt to return to purity. This section is not as fact-filled and dense as that of Eva Wong's "Taoism: An Essential Guide" but it is weighed down inevitably by the arcana and dates and names which may confound a newcomer or a casual inquirer. Back then, too, Holmes had little reason to be optimistic about Taoist survival in Mao's China. This segues into the last part. He's already lambasted post-war Ike's America for its warmongering and complacency.

More follows as Welch speculates on how far (not much) Taoism might be adopted in his own mid-century American mindset and practical application. This shows the work's age. But as I type this, the old Cold War bugaboos of Russia and Korea again loom as targets of U.S. foreign policy. Mainstream religion may have faded since 1957 but it distorted or not certainly keeps a hold over billions. Many more than in Holmes' decade seek guidance from Eastern traditions and approaches.

 Consumerism has not faded, but some spiritual or secular kindred in the wake of the counterculture seek simpler lifestyles. They may find within "Taoism: The Parting of the Way" as I did a wise, and wry and witty now and then, exploration of The Way which has not worn out its welcome. My book is full of my highlights, surely indicative of a stimulating study for reflection.

8 people found this helpful

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Phil Myers
4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable introductionReviewed in the United States on September 9, 2005

That Holmes Welch set himself a formidable task in offering a brief general introduction to Taoism is testified to by the lack of any other serviceable attempts on the part of Western writers to codify the vague, mystical, and powerful formulations of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.

Welch's short book contains 4 parts. In the first part, he explains that the ambiguous nature of the ancient Chinese characters, compounded by the oftent inscrutable and paradoxical writing style of Lao Tzu himself, makes definitive translation and interpretation of the text impossible.

In the second part, he offers his own informed and wise interpretation of the the Tao Te Ching, explicating three inter-related central concepts: 

(1)the doctrine of 'wu-wei' (spontaneity and non-interference in action), 

(2)the concept of 'pu' (original human nature (literally 'the uncarved block'), the way of the newborn child as an ideal counterposed to the adult corruption introduced by society), and 

(3)the mystical experience of the 'tao', or 'way' of the universe through meditation.

In the third part, Welch lays out the bizarre history of the development of Taoism since Lao Tzu, its intersections with other religions, and its devolution into arcane practices of asceticism, alchemy, hygiene, and geomancy.

In the final section, Welch offers a reading of the relevance of Lao Tzu's teachings to the present day (c. 1950s) that now seems pretty dated and hackneyed.

I recommend the first 2 parts as a valuable and illuminating companion text for anyone reading the Tao Te Ching.

20 people found this helpful

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Taoism: The Parting of the Way

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Holmes H. Welch

 3.84  ·   Rating details ·  95 ratings  ·  10 reviews

This book offers a comprehensive discussion of Taoism, one of the world's major religions, as well as a study of the Tao te ching, the best known Taoist text, Lao-Tzu as a Taoist prototype. (less)

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Paperback, 208 pages

Published June 1st 1971 by Beacon Press (first published January 1st 1957)

Dec 06, 2020Conrad Zero rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction

My love of Taoist philosophy lead me to add a BA in Eastern Philosophy onto my Computer Science degree (One I like, and one to pay the bills. I'll let you decide which is which.) While writing my senior research project, I discovered Welch's Taoism: The Parting of the Way. I just reread this book after a lifetime of reading writings, translations and interpretations of Eastern Philosophies. Welsh does an admirable job putting this extremely slippery, volatile and nebulous subject into context.

It's not a necessary text for those who want to experience Taoism. In fact, all the history and interplay with the other rulers, religions and rebellions might be distracting. Like reading about the life and upbringing of Jean-Claude Killy won't make you a better skier.

That said, it's a good resource for those who want to talk intelligently about Taoism to someone else. If you want to understand how Taoist philosophy relates to elements like alchemy, Buddhism, Confucianism, immortality, Yellow Turbans, magic mushrooms, Celestial Emperors, and even the Taoist Church, then this book is essential reading. 

Ditto if you are already versed in the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu and just want to explore the history and influences behind the philosophy.

Lao Tzu would likely not approve, but I do. I've never dog-eared so many pages in a book, underlined as many words or starred as many paragraphs as I have in this book. (less)

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Jun 08, 2012Bob Nichols rated it it was ok

In the first chapter, Welch discusses the problem of interpreting Lao Tsu and Tao Te Ching: whether the writing was a compilation of numerous writers over an extended period of time that reflected differing perspectives, or whether Lao Tzu even existed at all. This is the most interesting part of the book (the author also writes about the four primary schools of Taoism that subsequently emerged, three of which focused on how to achieve life after death, and how Taoism eventually merged with elements of Buddhism and Confucianism).

This uncertain history does not stop Welch from treating Tao Te Ching as a comprehensive and systematic philosophy of life. Humans are good. It is society that corrupts. Aggression begets aggression. Inaction is good for it lets our good natures emerge and flower. By inaction, Welch means, for example, not to push morality on others and not to stand out in rank and value. We need "an anonymity program," he writes, and we need to minimize our desires ("You need not," he simply states). While the Tao can give us lessons for modern life, Welch says it is a challenge for most of us who are "unable to reconcile ourselves to a quieter role on the earth."

The style of Tao Te Ching "is one of extraordinary compression," the author says and reading it is "an act of creation." One gets the sense that this is what he has done in putting forth some of his "inaction" perspective as it might apply to modern-day life. The key point in this regard is that he downplays the role of strength, thinking it leads only to aggression and counter aggression, and simplistically dismisses strength and its contribution to survival by saying it didn't work for the dinosaurs. Ergo, peace through strength doesn't really work. That's not real and it may not be an accurate reading of the Tao which also teaches balance. Balance means both not to impose and to resist being imposed upon. This point the author does not stress. (less)

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May 31, 2017Jeffrey Thomas rated it really liked it

Very interesting book; I don’t think I could have read it—I certainly couldn’t have read it as profitably—before I became a thoroughgoing atheist-by-way-of-skepticism. 

Really worthwhile because Welch: 

1) makes it clear how extremely ambiguous the original is (its ambiguity being partly because of the Tao Te Ching’s origins and textual changes being lost in the unrecorded past; the other part because of its poetic or gnomic style), which means that interpretations can vary widely, being mostly ethical or speculatively philosophical; and 

2) describes the origins and streams of the Taoist church in alchemical and other means of striving for physical immortality, in a polytheism that is either interior or exterior, in a great misinterpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and in a melding of principles that may be found in the TTC, in Buddhism, and in Confucianism, showing how the Taoist church has little or nothing to do with the TTC. If I’ve gotten that much right, I’m quite certain that I’ve left out much that I should have included. I think the most important bit of my little writeup here, is that the objectivity and critical distance afforded by my shift to atheism made it possible for me to read Welch’s book without a TTC interpretation of my own interfering. (less)

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Oct 12, 2021Yo'el Erez rated it it was amazing

Shelves: theoria, spiritual, 道, linguistics, fundamental, history-biography, expose

If you want a history of Taoism without haughty judgement and mischaracterization, this is the book. Phenomenal.

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Jul 27, 2020Jordan Youd rated it really liked it

I read this book because Ursula K Le Guin suggests it as a good primer on philosophical and historical Taoism. I read it as a way to gain a deeper understanding of the Tao Ti Ching, and it provides just that. I won’t say that it was an enjoyable read, for the reason that it was quite dry and so technical that unless Taoism is a pre-existing interest of yours there is no reason to read this book. By pointing this out, I realize that I am suggesting that most readers shouldn’t read The Parting of the Way, but if Taoism is in your wheel house, then this book ought to be treated as essential reading. (less)

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Jan 07, 2012Jeff rated it liked it

Recommended to Jeff by: Ursula Le Guin

Shelves: non-fiction

Only 3 stars cuz i expected more exegesis of the Tao Te Ching. I know that i wanted more of it. I NEED more. Alas, at least half of this book is history, not philosophy, not metaphysics, not religion. So if you really want a Sinologist's history of Taoism, you're sure to enjoy this more than i did.

I picked it up because i knew i'd need help with the Tao and the edition i read was Ursula Le Guin's amalgamation in which she says, "If you want to know more about Taoism, or would like some help and guidance in reading the Tao Te Ching, the best, soundest, clearest introduction and guide is still Holmes Welch's...."

Some ideas and quotes:
"The two preceding sections, by keeping the field of vision rigidly confined to the ethical level of the Tao Te Ching, presented it falsely." [i agree with Welch that the Tao is more about philosophy than about politics or moral hygiene]

"We must not make fun of mystics for inconsistency. If they said no more about their vision than what they could put in precise, apposite terminology, we would learn nothing at all. We must be content with their symbols and similes." [the Tao contains almost no direct language and i think that's its strength]

From page 165 through to about 170, Welch attempts to provide Lao Tzu's answer to how to mend America's troubles or at least to tell us how America's troubles originated. Welch's Lao Tzu impersonation rings true for me and it's a pretty damned funny but depressing portrait of the American personality.

In conclusion, i find it hard not to admire Welch for how he thinks through the question of authorship of the Tao Te Ching, which is unfairly hidden away in Appendix I at the back of the book.

I leave you with a Taoist joke of sorts (or maybe it's a Zen koan):
Liu Ling was—according to Welch—the most celebrated drinker among the Seven Sages as well as "the person who liked to go about his house naked. Once he was interrupted by some stuffy Confucian visitors. They expressed surprise at the absence of trousers. Liu replied, 'The whole universe is my house and this room is my trousers. What are you doing here inside my trousers!'" (less)

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Jul 19, 2010Amber rated it it was amazing

As a follower of the Tao, I was thrilled to see this book on the library shelf of my yoga studio. Having read various translations of the Tao te Ching, I appreciated Welch's interpretation of its main ideas: that wu-wei is inaction, that inaction is nonaggression, and so forth. That being said, this would also be an ideal book for someone who is first learning about the Tao.

In addition to exploring Taoist philosophy, the book includes the legend of the author Lao-Tzu (old man) and posits who he might actually have been. There is a lengthy history of the Taoist religion which I didn't read because Welch states from the very beginning that it had nothing to do with the philosophies in the actual Tao te Ching.

At the end Welch posits what Lao-Tzu might have said to the modern world (The book was written in the 50's.). This portion was interesting though some of it is dated (as can be expected). (less)

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Jan 04, 2016Virginia Simson rated it it was amazing

Just a great great book to read and think about. I love his tone; he has an almost Taoist attitude towards his own academism!

Really, I wish I'd read this book years ago. It helps so much at putting all the different threads of thought into a workable timeline.

His admiration of Waley is a Good Thing, too.

...more

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Jan 17, 2008Adrienne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religion, own

I love the beginning chapters, particularly the discussions of the Tao, Wu-Wei, and Mu. I have returned to this book repeatedly to reread and think about the nature of Tao, the Absolute Tao, and Wu-Wei.

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