The Ethics of Public Administration: The Challenges of Global Governance

4 Ethical Traditions of Daoism

83 Ethical Traditions of Daoism Chapter 4 Chinese civilization and the Chinese character would have been utterly different if the book Lao Tzu had never been written. In fact, even Confucianism, the dominant system in Chinese history and thought, would not have been the same, for like [Chinese] Buddhism, it has not escaped Daoist influence. No one can hope to understand Chinese philosophy, religion, government, art, medicine—or even cooking—without a real appreciation of the profound philosophy taught in this [Lǎo zǐ] little book. —W. T. Chan (1969, 136) Daoism,1 a strain of Chinese philosophy representative of naturalistic and quietist thought, is a dominant, yet dormant, tradition in modern China. As Chan makes clear, the strains of Daoism advocated by Lǎo zǐ2 and later Zhuāng zǐ3 are significant for the modern-day tradition of political and social thought in China.4 A critical question in an analysis of the Chinese philosophical tradition of today is where the Daoist tradition starts (stops) and the Confucian tradition begins (ends). In the early history of the two traditions, they were quite distinct. As time marched on and, importantly, as Buddhism came to China from India, the relationship among Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism became less distinct . During this time, Daoism also transformed from a philosophy strictly to a religion and a philosophy. When we speak of Daoism today, we may speak of Daoist philosophy or the religious Daoism. 84 The Ethics of Public Administration In this chapter, we are concerned with the philosophical strain of Daoism, or the early origins of Daoism. The modern amalgamation of the three streams (Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism) suggests that separating a distinct Daoist tradition would be difficult, and perhaps less practically useful than the purpose here allows. By examining the earlier works of the Daoist tradition, we believe we may be able to say something definitive about a Daoist tradition of ethics and a Daoist direction for public service ethics. By examining the origins of this stream of thought, we believe we can better explicate the types of ethics that developed later in conjunction with the other streams mentioned. Daoism was originally a philosophical system with no religious connotations. As Fung (1976, 3) suggests, Daoism as a religion erupted as a reaction to the introduction of Buddhism from India.5 Daoism as a philosophical system (our concern here) emerged as a system of counter-Confucian thought emphasizing a quietist, naturalistic, and purist life set apart from the intricate rites, rules, and attainment of right social relationships advocated by Confucius and his later followers. Associated historically with the philosophical system of the “recluses,” such as Yàng Zhū,6 Daoism is a philosophy of nonsociety. However, we must emphasize that Daoism is not a philosophy to justify antisocial behavior. It is a philosophical system that runs counter to the highly sociable Confucian system by insisting that each person should aim at “[p]reserving life and maintaining what is genuine in it, not allowing things to entangle one’s person: this is what Yàng Zhū established” (from chap. 13 of the Huái-nán zǐ,7 quoted in Fung 1976, 61). A life outside of entanglement spent in pursuit of quiet wisdom and simplicity is the life of the Daoist sage. For the Daoist philosopher, what is genuine in life is the pursuit of the Dao; all other things are the fictive creation of man separated from the full knowledge of all things and are therefore worth less than the pursuit of the Dao as the fullness of infinity. The Daoist sage does not aim for possessions, nor does he aim for explicitly “other worldly goods” (as in Buddhist or Christian philosophy); rather, the true Daoist sage appreciates his symmetry with the fullness of all existence. Practically, this means that one should not aim for the benefits of titles or the acquisition of things from one’s own material and social ambitions, as this is temporary, is limited, and does not represent the true and full Dao. The genuine man seeks to establish Ethical Traditions of Daoism 85 himself within the universal and the eternal rather than the present , fixed, and material. The Daoists, particularly Zhuāng zǐ and later neo-Daoists such as Guō Xiàng8 and Wang Bi,9 emphasized the importance of “rising above all distinctions and contradictions” (W. T. Chan 1969, 317). The true sage...