The Tao

What, then, are the patterns of the cosmic Way which man has to recognize?

The principal characteristic of the Tao is the cyclic nature of its ceaseless motion and change. ‘Returning is the motion of the Tao,’ says Lao Tzu, and ‘Going far means returning.‘6 The idea is that all developments in nature, those in the physical world as well as those of human situations, show cyclic patterns of coming and going, of expansion and contraction.

This idea was no doubt deduced from the movements of the sun and moon and from the change of the seasons, but it was then also taken as a rule of life. The Chinese believe that whenever a situation develops to its extreme, it is bound to turn around and become its opposite. This basic belief has in times of distress and given them courage and perseverence has made them cautious and modest in times of success.

It has led to the doctrine of the golden mean in which both Taoists and Confucianists believe. ‘The sage’, says Lao Tzu, ‘avoids excess, extravagance and indulgence.”

In the Chinese view, it is better to have too little than to have too much, and better to leave things undone than to overdo them, because although one may not get very far this way one is certain to go in the right direction. Just as the man who wants to go further and further East will end up in the West,

those who accumulate more and more money in order to increase their wealth will end up being poor. Modern industrial society which is continuously trying to increase the ‘standard of living’ and thereby decreases the quality of life for all its members is an eloquent illustration of this ancient Chinese wisdom.

The idea of cyclic patterns in the motion of the Tao was given a definite structure by the introduction of the polar opposites yin and yang. They are the two poles which set the limits for the cycles of change: The yang having reached its climax retreats in favour of the yin; the yin having reached its climax retreats in favour of the yang.

In the Chinese view, all manifestations of the Tao are generated by the dynamic interplay of these two polar forces. This idea is very old and many generations worked on the symbolism of the archetypal pair yin and yang until it became the fundamental concept of Chinese thought. The original meaning of the words yin and yang was that of the shady and sunny sides of a mountain, a meaning which gives a good idea of the relativity of the two concepts: That which lets now the dark, now the light appear is Tao.

From the very early times, the two archetypal poles of nature were represented not only by bright and dark, but also by male and female, firm and yielding, above and below. Yang, the strong, male, creative power, was associated with Heaven, whereas yin, the dark, receptive, female and maternal element, was represented by the Earth. Heaven is above and full of movement, the Earth-in the old geocentric view-is below and resting, and thus yang came to symbolize movement and yin rest. In the realm of thought, yin is the complex, female, intuitive mind, yang the clear and rational male intellect. Yin is the quiet, contemplative stillness of the sage, yang the strong, creative action of the king.

The dynamic character of yin and yang is illustrated by the ancient Chinese symbol called rai-chi T’u, or ‘Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate’:

This diagram is a symmetric arrangement of the dark yin and the bright yang, but the symmetry is not static. It is a rotational symmetry suggesting, very forcefully, a continuous cyclic movement:

The yang returns cyclically to its beginning, the yin attains its maximum and gives place to the yanglo The two dots in the diagram symbolize the idea that each time one of the two forces reaches its extreme, it contains in itself already the seed of its opposite.

The pair of yin and yang is the grand leitmotiv that permeates Chinese culture and determines all features of the traditional Chinese way of life. ‘Life’, says Chuang Tzu, ‘is the blended harmony of the yin and yang.“’ As a nation of farmers, the Chinese had always been familiar with the movements of the sun and moon and with the change of the seasons.

Seasonal changes and the resulting phenomena of growth and decay in organic nature were thus seen by them as the clearest expres-

In the Changes there are images to reveal, there are judgements appended in order to interpret, good fortune and misfortune are determined in order to decide.13 The purpose of consulting the I Ching was thus not merely to know the future, but rather to discover the disposition of the present situation so that proper action could be taken. This attitude lifted the I Ching above the level of an ordinary book of soothsaying and made it a book of wisdom.

The use of the I Ching as a book of wisdom is, in fact, of far greater importance than its use as an oracle. It has inspired the leading minds of China throughout the ages, among them Lao Tzu, who drew some of his profoundest aphorisms from this source. Confucius studied it intensively and most of the commentaries on the text which make up the later strata of the book go back to his school. These commentaries, the so-called Ten Wings, combine the structural interpretation of the hexagrams with philosophical explanations.