{"history":[],"article":{"id":"c6529344-b8d3-4b00-ab40-e9c2fbcd433a","title":"Tao","slug":"tao","content":":::summary\n**L:** way \n**P:** dào \n**Bpmf:** ㄉㄠˋ \n**Myr:** dàu \n**Wuu:** doh入 \n**Y:** douh \n**J:** dou6 \n**Poj:** tō \n**Tl:** tō \n**Mc:** dáw \n**Qn:** đạo \n**Chuhan:** 道 \n**Hangul:** 도 \n**Hanja:** 道 \n**Rr:** do \n**Mr:** to \n**Kanji:** 道 \n**Romaji:** dō \n**Lang 1:** English \n**Lang 1 Content:** , \n:::\n\n# \nThe **Tao** or **Dao** is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in [East Asian philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asian-philosophy) and [religion](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asian-religions).\nThis seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept.\nRather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being.\nThe concept is represented by the [Chinese character](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character) 道, which has meanings including 'way', 'path', 'road', and sometimes 'doctrine' or 'principle'.\nIn the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching), the semi-legendary ancient philosopher [Laozi](https://bliptext.com/articles/laozi) explains that the Tao is not a name for a thing, but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe because it is non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness.\nThe Tao is \"eternally nameless\" and should be distinguished from the countless named things that are considered to be its manifestations, the reality of life before its descriptions of it.\n\n# Description and uses of the concept\nThe word \"Tao\" has a variety of meanings in both the ancient and modern Chinese language.\nAside from its purely prosaic use meaning road, channel, path, principle, or similar, the word has acquired a variety of differing and often confusing metaphorical, philosophical, and religious uses.\nIn most belief systems, the word is used symbolically in its sense of \"way\" as the right or proper way of existence, or in the context of ongoing practices of attainment or of the full coming into being, or the state of enlightenment or spiritual perfection that is the outcome of such practices.\nSome scholars make sharp distinctions between the moral or ethical usage of the word \"Tao\" that is prominent in [Confucianism](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucianism) and religious Taoism and the more metaphysical usage of the term used in philosophical Taoism and most forms of [Mahayana Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahayana-buddhism); others maintain that these are not separate usages or meanings, seeing them as mutually inclusive and compatible approaches to defining the principle.\nThe original use of the term was as a form of [praxis](https://bliptext.com/articles/praxis-process) rather than theory—a term used as a convention to refer to something that otherwise cannot be discussed in words—and early writings such as the Tao Te Ching and [I Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-ching) make pains to distinguish between conceptions of the Tao (sometimes referred to as \"named Tao\") and the Tao itself (the \"unnamed Tao\"), which cannot be expressed or understood in language.\nLiu Da asserts that the Tao is properly understood as an experiential and evolving concept and that there are not only cultural and religious differences in the interpretation of the Tao but personal differences that reflect the character of individual practitioners.\nThe Tao can be roughly thought of as the \"flow of the universe\", or as some essence or pattern behind the natural world that keeps the Universe balanced and ordered.\nIt is related to [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi), the essential energy of action and existence.\nThe Tao is a non-dualistic principle—it is the greater whole from which all the individual elements of the Universe derive.\n[Catherine Keller](https://bliptext.com/articles/catherine-keller) considers it similar to the [negative theology](https://bliptext.com/articles/negative-theology) of Western scholars, but the Tao is rarely an object of direct worship, being treated more like the [Hindu](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindu) concepts of [karma](https://bliptext.com/articles/karma), [dharma](https://bliptext.com/articles/dharma), or [Ṛta](https://bliptext.com/articles/ta) than as a divine object.\nThe Tao is more commonly expressed in the relationship between [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative) (void or emptiness, in the sense of [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative)ji) and the natural, dynamic balance between opposites, leading to its central principle of [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative) wei (inaction or inexertion).\nThe Tao is usually described in terms of elements of nature, and in particular, as similar to water.\nLike water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous.\nThe [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty) painter [Chen Rong](https://bliptext.com/articles/chen-rong-painter) popularized the [analogy](https://bliptext.com/articles/analogy) with his painting Nine Dragons.\nMuch of Taoist philosophy centers on the cyclical continuity of the natural world and its contrast to the linear, goal-oriented actions of human beings, as well as the perception that the Tao is \"the source of all being, in which life and death are the same.\"\nIn all its uses, the Tao is considered to have ineffable qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words.\nIt can, however, be known or experienced, and its principles (which can be discerned by observing nature) can be followed or practiced.\nMuch of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of the Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so.\nThe Tao was shared with Confucianism, [Chan Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/chan-buddhism) and [Zen](https://bliptext.com/articles/zen), and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general.\nIn Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to \"become one with the Tao\" (Tao Te Ching) or to harmonize one's will with nature to achieve 'effortless action'.\nThis involves meditative and moral practices.\nImportant in this respect is the Taoist concept of [de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-chinese) ('virtue').\nIn Confucianism and religious forms of Taoism, these are often explicitly moral/ethical arguments about proper behavior, while Buddhism and more philosophical forms of Taoism usually refer to the natural and mercurial outcomes of action (comparable to karma).\nThe Tao is intrinsically related to the concepts of [yin and yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin-and-yang), where every action creates counter-actions as unavoidable movements within manifestations of the Tao, and proper practice variously involves accepting, conforming to, or working with these natural developments.\nIn Taoism and Confucianism, the Tao was sometimes traditionally seen as a \"transcendent power that blesses\" that can \"express itself directly\" through various ways, but most often shows itself through the speech, movement, or traditional ritual of a \"prophet, priest, or king.\"\nTao can serve as a life energy instead of [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi) in some Taoist belief systems.\n# [Calligraphy of Tao | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Calligraphic///Dao..png]\n# [The bagua, a symbol commonly used to represent the Tao and its pursuit | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Pakua///with///frame.svg]\n\n## De\nDe is the term generally used to refer to proper adherence to the Tao.\nDe is the active living or cultivation of the way.\nParticular things (things with names) that manifest from the Tao have their own inner nature that they follow in accordance with the Tao, and the following of this inner nature is De.\nWu wei, or 'naturalness', is contingent on understanding and conforming to this inner nature, which is interpreted variously from a personal, individual nature to a more generalized notion of human nature within the greater Universe.\nHistorically, the concept of De differed significantly between Taoists and Confucianists.\nConfucianism was largely a moral system emphasizing the values of humaneness, righteousness, and filial duty, and so conceived De in terms of obedience to rigorously defined and codified social rules.\nTaoists took a broader, more naturalistic, more metaphysical view on the relationship between humankind and the Universe and considered social rules to be at best a derivative reflection of the natural and spontaneous interactions between people and at worst calcified structure that inhibited naturalness and created conflict.\nThis led to some philosophical and political conflicts between Taoists and Confucians.\nSeveral sections of the works attributed to [Zhuang Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhuang-zhou) are dedicated to critiques of the failures of Confucianism.\n\n# Interpretations\n\n## Taoism\nThe translator [Arthur Waley](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-waley) observed that\n\"[Tao] means a road, path, way; and hence, the way in which one does something; method, doctrine, principle. The Way of Heaven, for example, is ruthless; when autumn comes 'no leaf is spared because of its beauty, no flower because of its fragrance'. The Way of Man means, among other things, procreation; and eunuchs are said to be 'far from the Way of Man'. Chu Tao is 'the way to be a monarch', i.e. the art of ruling. Each school of philosophy has its tao, its doctrine of the way in which life should be ordered. Finally in a particular school of philosophy whose followers came to be called Taoists, tao meant 'the way the universe works'; and ultimately something very like God, in the more abstract and philosophical sense of that term.\"\n\"Tao\" gives Taoism its name in English, in both its philosophical and religious forms.\nThe Tao is the fundamental and central concept of these schools of thought.\nTaoism perceives the Tao as a natural order underlying the substance and activity of the Universe.\nLanguage and the \"naming\" of the Tao is regarded negatively in Taoism; the Tao fundamentally exists and operates outside the realm of differentiation and linguistic constraints.\nThere is no single orthodox Taoist view of the Tao.\nAll forms of Taoism center around Tao and De, but there is a broad variety of distinct interpretations among sects and even individuals in the same sect.\nDespite this diversity, there are some clear, common patterns and trends in Taoism and its branches.\nThe diversity of Taoist interpretations of the Tao can be seen across four texts representative of major streams of thought in Taoism.\nAll four texts are used in modern Taoism with varying acceptance and emphasis among sects.\nThe Tao Te Ching is the oldest text and representative of a speculative and philosophical approach to the Tao.\nThe [Daotilun](https://bliptext.com/articles/daotilun) is an eighth century [exegesis](https://bliptext.com/articles/exegesis) of the Tao Te Ching, written from a well-educated and religious viewpoint that represents the traditional, scholarly perspective.\nThe devotional perspective of the Tao is expressed in the [Qingjing Jing](https://bliptext.com/articles/qingjing-jing), a [liturgical text](https://bliptext.com/articles/liturgical-text) that was originally composed during the [Han dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/han-dynasty) and is used as a [hymnal](https://bliptext.com/articles/hymnal) in religious Taoism, especially among [eremites](https://bliptext.com/articles/eremite).\nThe [Zhuangzi](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhuangzi-book) uses literary devices such as tales, allegories, and narratives to relate the Tao to the reader, illustrating a metaphorical method of viewing and expressing the Tao.\nThe forms and variations of religious Taoism are incredibly diverse.\nThey integrate a broad spectrum of academic, ritualistic, supernatural, devotional, literary, and folk practices with a multitude of results.\nBuddhism and Confucianism particularly affected the way many sects of Taoism framed, approached, and perceived the Tao.\nThe multitudinous branches of religious Taoism accordingly regard the Tao, and interpret writings about it, in innumerable ways.\nThus, outside of a few broad similarities, it is difficult to provide an accurate yet clear summary of their interpretation of the Tao.\nA central tenet in most varieties of religious Taoism is that the Tao is ever-present, but must be manifested, cultivated, and/or perfected to be realized.\nIt is the source of the Universe, and the seed of its primordial purity resides in all things.\nBreathing exercises, according to some Taoists, allowed one to absorb \"parts of the universe.\"\nIncense and certain minerals were seen as representing the greater universe as well, and breathing them in could create similar effects.\nThe manifestation of the Tao is de, which rectifies and invigorates the world with the Tao's radiance.\nAlternatively, philosophical Taoism regards the Tao as a non-religious concept; it is not a deity to be worshiped, nor is it a mystical Absolute in the religious sense of the Hindu [brahman](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahman).\nJoseph Wu remarked of this conception of the Tao, \"Dao is not religiously available; nor is it even religiously relevant.\"\nThe writings of Laozi and Zhuangzi are tinged with esoteric tones and approach [humanism](https://bliptext.com/articles/humanism) and [naturalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/naturalism-philosophy) as paradoxes.\nIn contrast to the esotericism typically found in religious systems, the Tao is not transcendent to the self, nor is mystical attainment an escape from the world in philosophical Taoism.\nThe self steeped in the Tao is the self grounded in its place within the natural Universe.\nA person dwelling within the Tao excels in themselves and their activities.\nHowever, this distinction is complicated by [hermeneutic](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermeneutic) difficulties in the categorization of Taoist schools, sects, and movements.\nSome Taoists believe the Tao is an entity that can \"take on human form\" to perform its goals.\nThe Tao represents human harmony with the universe and even more phenomena in the world and nature.\n# [A Taoist monk practicing calligraphy with water on stone. Water calligraphy, like sand mandalas, evokes the ephemeral nature of physical reality. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Taoist///monk.jpg]\n\n## Confucianism\nThe Tao of [Confucius](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucius) can be translated as 'truth'.\nConfucianism regards the Way, or Truth, as concordant with a particular approach to life, politics, and tradition.\nIt is held as equally necessary and well regarded as de and [ren](https://bliptext.com/articles/ren-confucianism) ('compassion', 'humanity').\nConfucius presents a humanistic Tao.\nHe only rarely speaks of the 'Way of Heaven'.\nThe early Confucian philosopher [Xunzi](https://bliptext.com/articles/xunzi-philosopher) explicitly noted this contrast.\nThough he acknowledged the existence and celestial importance of the Way of Heaven, he insisted that the Tao principally concerns human affairs.\nAs a formal religious concept in Confucianism, Tao is the Absolute toward which the faithful move.\nIn [Zhongyong](https://bliptext.com/articles/doctrine-of-the-mean) (The Doctrine of the Mean), harmony with the Absolute is the equivalent to integrity and sincerity.\nThe [Great Learning](https://bliptext.com/articles/great-learning) expands on this concept explaining that the Way illuminates virtue, improves the people, and resides within the purest morality.\nDuring the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty), [Han Yu](https://bliptext.com/articles/han-yu) further formalized and defined Confucian beliefs as an [apologetic](https://bliptext.com/articles/apologetics) response to Buddhism.\nHe emphasized the ethics of the Way.\nHe explicitly paired \"Tao\" and \"De\", focusing on humane nature and righteousness.\nHe also framed and elaborated on a \"tradition of the Tao\" in order to reject the traditions of Buddhism.\nAncestors and the [Mandate of Heaven](https://bliptext.com/articles/mandate-of-heaven) were thought to emanate from the Tao, especially during the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty).\n\n## Buddhism\nBuddhism first started to spread in China during the first century AD and was experiencing a golden age of growth and maturation by the fourth century AD. Hundreds of collections of [Pali](https://bliptext.com/articles/pali) and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) texts were translated into Chinese by Buddhist monks within a short period of time.\nDhyana was translated as, and later as \"zen\", giving Zen Buddhism its name.\nThe use of Chinese concepts, such as the Tao, that were close to Buddhist ideas and terms helped spread the religion and make it more amenable to the Chinese people.\nHowever, the differences between the Sanskrit and Chinese terminology led to some initial misunderstandings and the eventual development of Buddhism in East Asia as a distinct entity.\nAs part of this process, many Chinese words introduced their rich semantic and philosophical associations into Buddhism, including the use of \"Tao\" for central concepts and tenets of Buddhism.\nPai-chang Huai-hai told a student who was grappling with difficult portions of [suttas](https://bliptext.com/articles/suttas), \"Take up words in order to manifest meaning and you'll obtain 'meaning'. Cut off words and meaning is emptiness. Emptiness is the Tao. The Tao is cutting off words and speech.\"\nZen Buddhists regard the Tao as synonymous with both the Buddhist Path and the results of it, the [Noble Eightfold Path](https://bliptext.com/articles/noble-eightfold-path) and [Buddhist enlightenment](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhist-enlightenment).\nPai-chang's statement plays upon this usage in the context of the fluid and varied Chinese usage of \"Tao\".\nWords and meanings are used to refer to rituals and practices.\nThe \"emptiness\" refers to the Buddhist concept of [sunyata](https://bliptext.com/articles/sunyata).\nFinding the Tao and Buddha-nature is not simply a matter of formulations, but an active response to the [Four Noble Truths](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-noble-truths) that cannot be fully expressed or conveyed in words and concrete associations.\nThe use of \"Tao\" in this context refers to the literal \"way\" of Buddhism, the return to the universal source, [dharma](https://bliptext.com/articles/dharma), proper meditation, and [nirvana](https://bliptext.com/articles/nirvana), among other associations.\n\"Tao\" is commonly used in this fashion by Chinese Buddhists, heavy with associations and nuanced meanings.\n\n## Neo-Confucianism\nDuring the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty), neo-Confucians regarded the Tao as the purest [thing-in-itself](https://bliptext.com/articles/thing-in-itself).\n[Shao Yong](https://bliptext.com/articles/shao-yong) regarded the Tao as the origin of heaven, earth, and everything within them.\nIn contrast, [Zhang Zai](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhang-zai) presented a vitalistic Tao that was the fundamental component or effect of qi, the motive energy behind life and the world.\nA number of later scholars adopted this interpretation, such as [Tai Chen](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-chen) during the [Qing dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/qing-dynasty).\n[Zhu Xi](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/zhu-xi), [Cheng Ho](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/cheng-ho), and [Cheng Yi](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/cheng-yi-philosopher) perceived the Tao in the context of [li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism) ('principle') and t'ien [li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism) ('principle of Heaven').\n[Cheng Hao](https://bliptext.com/articles/cheng-hao) regarded the fundamental matter of li, and thus the Tao, to be humaneness.\nDeveloping compassion, altruism, and other humane virtues is following of the Way.\n[Cheng Yi](https://bliptext.com/articles/cheng-yi-philosopher) followed this interpretation, elaborating on this perspective of the Tao through teachings about interactions between yin and yang, the cultivation and preservation of life, and the axiom of a morally just universe.\nOn the whole, the Tao is equated with totality.\n[Wang Fuzhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/wang-fuzhi) expressed the Tao as the [taiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy), or 'great ultimate', as well as the road leading to it.\nNothing exists apart from the Principle of Heaven in Neo-Confucianism.\nThe Way is contained within all things.\nThus, the religious life is not an elite or special journey for Neo-Confucians.\nThe normal, mundane life is the path that leads to the Absolute, because the Absolute is contained within the mundane objects and events of daily life.\n\n## Chinese folklore\nYayu, the son of [Zhulong](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhulong-mythology) who was reincarnated on Earth as a violent hybrid between a bull, a tiger, and a [dragon](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-dragon), was allowed to go to an afterlife that was known as \"the place beyond the Tao\".\nThis shows that some Chinese [folk storytelling](https://bliptext.com/articles/folklore) and [mythological](https://bliptext.com/articles/myth) traditions had very differing interpretations of the Tao between each other and orthodox religious practices.\n\n## Christianity\nNoted Christian author [C.S. Lewis](https://bliptext.com/articles/c-s-lewis) used the word Tao to describe \"the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, the kind of thing the Universe is and the kind of things we are.\"\nHe asserted that every religion and philosophy contains foundations of universal ethics as an attempt to line up with the Tao—the way mankind was designed to be.\nIn Lewis's thinking, [God](https://bliptext.com/articles/god-in-christianity) created the Tao and fully displayed it through the person of [Jesus Christ](https://bliptext.com/articles/jesus-christ).\nSimilarly, Eastern Orthodox [hegumen](https://bliptext.com/articles/hegumen) Damascene (Christensen), a pupil of noted monastic and scholar of East Asian religions [Seraphim Rose](https://bliptext.com/articles/seraphim-rose), identified logos with the Tao.\nDamascene published a full commented translation of the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching) under the title Christ the Eternal Tao.\nIn some Chinese translations of the New Testament, the word λόγος ([logos](https://bliptext.com/articles/logos)) is translated as, in passages such as [John](https://bliptext.com/articles/gospel-of-john) 1:1, indicating that the translators considered the concept of Tao to be somewhat equivalent to the Hellenic concept of [logos](https://bliptext.com/articles/logos) in [Platonism](https://bliptext.com/articles/platonism) and Christianity.\n\n# Linguistic aspects\nThe Chinese character is highly polysemous: its historical alternate pronunciation as possessed an additional connotation of 'guide'.\nThe history of the character includes details of orthography and semantics, as well as a possible Proto-Indo-European etymology, in addition to more recent loaning into English and other world languages.\n\n## Orthography\n\"Tao\" is written with the Chinese character using both [traditional](https://bliptext.com/articles/traditional-chinese) and [simplified](https://bliptext.com/articles/simplified-chinese) characters.\nThe traditional graphical interpretation of dates back to the [Shuowen Jiezi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shuowen-jiezi) dictionary published in 121 CE, which describes it as a rare \"compound ideogram\" or \"[ideographic compound](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character-classification)\".\nAccording to the Shuowen Jiezi, combines the 'go' radical (a variant of ) with.\nThis construction signified a \"head going\" or \"leading the way\".\n\"Tao\" is graphically distinguished between its earliest nominal meaning of 'way', 'road', 'path', and the later verbal sense of 'say'.\nIt should also be contrasted with.\nThe simplified character for has in place of.\nThe earliest written forms of \"Tao\" are [bronzeware script](https://bliptext.com/articles/bronzeware-script) and [seal script](https://bliptext.com/articles/seal-script) characters from the [Zhou dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-dynasty) (1045–256 BCE) bronzes and writings.\nThese ancient forms more clearly depict the element as hair above a face.\nSome variants interchange the 'go' radical with, with the original bronze \"crossroads\" depiction written in the seal character with two and.\nBronze scripts for occasionally include an element of or, which occurs in.\nThe linguist [Peter A. Boodberg](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-a-boodberg) explained,\n\"This 'tao with the hand element' is usually identified with the modern character tao < d'ôg, 'to lead,', 'guide', 'conduct', and considered to be a derivative or verbal cognate of the noun tao, 'way,' 'path.' The evidence just summarized would indicate rather that 'tao with the hand' is but a variant of the basic tao and that the word itself combined both nominal and verbal aspects of the etymon. This is supported by textual examples of the use of the primary tao in the verbal sense 'to lead' (e. g., Analects 1.5; 2.8) and seriously undermines the unspoken assumption implied in the common translation of Tao as 'way' that the concept is essentially a nominal one. Tao would seem, then, to be etymologically a more dynamic concept than we have made it translation-wise. It would be more appropriately rendered by 'lead way' and 'lode' ('way,' 'course,' 'journey,' 'leading,' 'guidance'; cf. 'lodestone' and 'lodestar'), the somewhat obsolescent deverbal noun from 'to lead.'\"\nThese Confucian [Analects](https://bliptext.com/articles/analects) citations of dao verbally meaning 'to guide', 'to lead' are: \"The Master said, 'In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say\" and \"The Master said, 'Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame.\"\n\n## Phonology\nIn modern [Standard Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-chinese), 's two primary pronunciations are [tonally](https://bliptext.com/articles/mandarin-phonology) differentiated between falling tone and dipping tone (usually written as ).\nBesides the common specifications and (with variant ), has a rare additional pronunciation with the level tone,, seen in the regional [chengyu](https://bliptext.com/articles/chengyu) , a [reduplication](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) of and from northeast China.\nIn [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) (c. 6th–10th centuries CE) [tone name](https://bliptext.com/articles/tone-name) categories, and were and.\n[Historical linguists](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) have reconstructed MC and as d'âu- and d'âu ([Bernhard Karlgren](https://bliptext.com/articles/bernhard-karlgren)), dau and dau daw' and dawh, dawX and daws (William H. Baxter), and dâuB and dâuC.\nIn [Old Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-chinese) (c. 7th–3rd centuries BCE) pronunciations, reconstructions for and are *d'ôg (Karlgren), *dəw (Zhou), *dəgwx and *dəgwh, *luʔ, and *lûʔ and *lûh.\n\n## Semantics\nThe word has many meanings.\nFor example, the [Hanyu Da Zidian](https://bliptext.com/articles/hanyu-da-zidian) dictionary defines 39 meanings for and 6 for.\n[John DeFrancis](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-defrancis)'s Chinese-English dictionary gives twelve meanings for, three for , and one for.\nNote that brackets clarify abbreviations and ellipsis marks omitted usage examples.\n**2dào** N. [[noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/noun)] road; path ◆M.\n[nominal [measure word](https://bliptext.com/articles/measure-word)] ① (for rivers/topics/etc.) ② (for a course (of food); a streak (of light); etc.) ◆V.\n[[verb](https://bliptext.com/articles/verb)] ① say; speak; talk (introducing direct quote, novel style) ... ② think; suppose ◆B.F. [bound form, [bound morpheme](https://bliptext.com/articles/bound-morpheme)] ① channel ② way; reason; principle ③ doctrine ④ Daoism ⑤ line ⑥〈hist.〉 [history] ⑦ district; circuit canal; passage; tube ⑧ say (polite words) ...\nSee also 4dǎo, 4dāo\n**4dǎo** 导/道[導/- B.F. [bound form] ① guide; lead ... ② transmit; conduct ... ③ instruct; direct ...\n**4dāo** 道 in shénshendāodāo ... 神神道道 R.F. [[reduplicated](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) form] 〈topo.〉[non-Mandarin form] odd; fantastic; bizarre Dao, starting from the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty), also referred to an ideal in [Chinese landscape paintings](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-landscape-painting) that artists sought to live up to by portraying \"nature scenes\" that reflected \"the harmony of man with his surroundings.\"\n\n## Etymology\nThe etymological linguistic origins of dao \"way; path\" depend upon its Old Chinese pronunciation, which scholars have tentatively reconstructed as *d'ôg, *dəgwx, *dəw, *luʔ, and *lûʔ.\nBoodberg noted that the shou 首 \"head\" phonetic in the dao 道 character was not merely phonetic but \"etymonic\", analogous with English to head meaning \"to lead\" and \"to tend in a certain direction,\" \"ahead,\" \"headway\".\n\"Paronomastically, tao is equated with its homonym tao < d'ôg, 'to trample,' 'tread,' and from that point of view it is nothing more than a 'treadway,' 'headtread,' or 'foretread '; it is also occasionally associated with a near synonym (and possible cognate) ti < d'iôk, 'follow a road,' 'go along,' 'lead,' 'direct'; 'pursue the right path'; a term with definite ethical overtones and a graph with an exceedingly interesting phonetic, yu < djôg,' 'to proceed from.' The reappearance of C162 [辶] 'walk' in ti with the support of C157 [⻊] 'foot' in tao, 'to trample,' 'tread,' should perhaps serve us as a warning not to overemphasize the headworking functions implied in tao in preference to those of the lower extremities.\"\n[Victor H. Mair](https://bliptext.com/articles/victor-h-mair) proposes a connection with [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) drogh, supported by numerous [cognates](https://bliptext.com/articles/cognates) in [Indo-European languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-european-languages), as well as semantically similar [Semitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/semitic-languages) [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language) and [Hebrew](https://bliptext.com/articles/hebrew-language) words.\n\"The archaic pronunciation of Tao sounded approximately like drog or dorg. This links it to the Proto-Indo-European root drogh (to run along) and Indo-European dhorg (way, movement). Related words in a few modern Indo-European languages are Russian doroga (way, road), Polish droga (way, road), Czech dráha (way, track), Serbo-Croatian draga (path through a valley), and Norwegian dialect drog (trail of animals; valley). .... The nearest Sanskrit (Old Indian) cognates to Tao (drog) are dhrajas (course, motion) and dhraj (course). The most closely related English words are 'track' and 'trek', while 'trail' and 'tract' are derived from other cognate Indo-European roots. Following the Way, then, is like going on a cosmic trek. Even more unexpected than the panoply of Indo-European cognates for Tao (drog) is the Hebrew root d-r-g for the same word and Arabic t-r-q, which yields words meaning 'track, path, way, way of doing things' and is important in Islamic philosophical discourse.\"\nAxel Schuessler's etymological dictionary presents two possibilities for the tonal [morphology](https://bliptext.com/articles/morphology-linguistics) of dào 道 \"road; way; method\" < Middle Chinese dâuB < Old Chinese *lûʔ and dào 道 or 導 \"to go along; bring along; conduct; explain; talk about\" < Middle dâuC < Old *lûh.\nEither dào 道 \"the thing which is doing the conducting\" is a Tone B (shangsheng 上聲 \"rising tone\") \"endoactive noun\" derivation from dào 導 \"conduct\", or dào 導 is a Later Old Chinese ([Warring States period](https://bliptext.com/articles/warring-states-period)) \"general tone C\" (qusheng 去聲 \"departing tone\") derivation from dào 道 \"way\".\nFor a possible etymological connection, Schuessler notes the ancient [Fangyan](https://bliptext.com/articles/fangyan-book) dictionary defines yu < *lokh 裕 and lu < *lu 猷 as Eastern [Qi State](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi-shandong) dialectal words meaning dào < *lûʔ 道 \"road\".\n\n## Other languages\nMany languages have borrowed and adapted \"Tao\" as a [loanword](https://bliptext.com/articles/loanword).\nIn [Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-language), this character 道 is pronounced as [Cantonese](https://bliptext.com/articles/cantonese) dou6 and Hokkian to7.\nIn [Sino-Xenic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-xenic) languages, 道 is pronounced as [Japanese](https://bliptext.com/articles/japanese-language) dō, tō, or michi; [Korean](https://bliptext.com/articles/korean-language) do or to; and [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) đạo.\nSince 1982, when the [International Organization for Standardization](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-organization-for-standardization) adopted [Pinyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/pinyin) as the standard [romanization of Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/romanization-of-chinese), many Western languages have changed from spelling this loanword tao in national systems (e.g., French [EFEO Chinese transcription](https://bliptext.com/articles/efeo-chinese-transcription) and English [Wade–Giles](https://bliptext.com/articles/wade-giles)) to dao in [Pinyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/pinyin).\nThe tao/dao \"the way\" [English word of Chinese origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-chinese-origin) has three meanings, according to the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-english-dictionary).\n**1. a.** In Taoism, an absolute entity which is the source of the universe; the way in which this absolute entity functions.\n**1. b.** = Taoism, taoist\n**2.** In Confucianism and in extended uses, the way to be followed, the right conduct; doctrine or method.\nThe earliest recorded usages were Tao (1736), Tau (1747), Taou (1831), and Dao (1971).\nThe term \"[Taoist priest](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoist-priest)\", was used already by the Jesuits [Matteo Ricci](https://bliptext.com/articles/matteo-ricci) and [Nicolas Trigault](https://bliptext.com/articles/nicolas-trigault) in their [De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-christiana-expeditione-apud-sinas), rendered as Tausu in the original Latin edition (1615), and Tausa in an early English translation published by [Samuel Purchas](https://bliptext.com/articles/samuel-purchas) (1625).\n\n# Citations","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T16:47:11.963Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T16:47:11.963Z","search_vector":"'tao':1","search_content":" \n**L:** way \n**P:** dào \n**Bpmf:** ㄉㄠˋ \n**Myr:** dàu \n**Wuu:** doh入 \n**Y:** douh \n**J:** dou6 \n**Poj:** tō \n**Tl:** tō \n**Mc:** dáw \n**Qn:** đạo \n**Chuhan:** 道 \n**Hangul:** 도 \n**Hanja:** 道 \n**Rr:** do \n**Mr:** to \n**Kanji:** 道 \n**Romaji:** dō \n**Lang 1:** English \n**Lang 1 Content:** , \n \n\n# \nThe **Tao** or **Dao** is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in [East Asian philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asian-philosophy) and [religion](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asian-religions).\nThis seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept.\nRather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being.\nThe concept is represented by the [Chinese character](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character) 道, which has meanings including 'way', 'path', 'road', and sometimes 'doctrine' or 'principle'.\nIn the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching), the semi-legendary ancient philosopher [Laozi](https://bliptext.com/articles/laozi) explains that the Tao is not a name for a thing, but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe because it is non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness.\nThe Tao is \"eternally nameless\" and should be distinguished from the countless named things that are considered to be its manifestations, the reality of life before its descriptions of it.\n\n# Description and uses of the concept\nThe word \"Tao\" has a variety of meanings in both the ancient and modern Chinese language.\nAside from its purely prosaic use meaning road, channel, path, principle, or similar, the word has acquired a variety of differing and often confusing metaphorical, philosophical, and religious uses.\nIn most belief systems, the word is used symbolically in its sense of \"way\" as the right or proper way of existence, or in the context of ongoing practices of attainment or of the full coming into being, or the state of enlightenment or spiritual perfection that is the outcome of such practices.\nSome scholars make sharp distinctions between the moral or ethical usage of the word \"Tao\" that is prominent in [Confucianism](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucianism) and religious Taoism and the more metaphysical usage of the term used in philosophical Taoism and most forms of [Mahayana Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahayana-buddhism); others maintain that these are not separate usages or meanings, seeing them as mutually inclusive and compatible approaches to defining the principle.\nThe original use of the term was as a form of [praxis](https://bliptext.com/articles/praxis-process) rather than theory—a term used as a convention to refer to something that otherwise cannot be discussed in words—and early writings such as the Tao Te Ching and [I Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-ching) make pains to distinguish between conceptions of the Tao (sometimes referred to as \"named Tao\") and the Tao itself (the \"unnamed Tao\"), which cannot be expressed or understood in language.\nLiu Da asserts that the Tao is properly understood as an experiential and evolving concept and that there are not only cultural and religious differences in the interpretation of the Tao but personal differences that reflect the character of individual practitioners.\nThe Tao can be roughly thought of as the \"flow of the universe\", or as some essence or pattern behind the natural world that keeps the Universe balanced and ordered.\nIt is related to [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi), the essential energy of action and existence.\nThe Tao is a non-dualistic principle—it is the greater whole from which all the individual elements of the Universe derive.\n[Catherine Keller](https://bliptext.com/articles/catherine-keller) considers it similar to the [negative theology](https://bliptext.com/articles/negative-theology) of Western scholars, but the Tao is rarely an object of direct worship, being treated more like the [Hindu](https://bliptext.com/articles/hindu) concepts of [karma](https://bliptext.com/articles/karma), [dharma](https://bliptext.com/articles/dharma), or [Ṛta](https://bliptext.com/articles/ta) than as a divine object.\nThe Tao is more commonly expressed in the relationship between [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative) (void or emptiness, in the sense of [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative)ji) and the natural, dynamic balance between opposites, leading to its central principle of [wu](https://bliptext.com/articles/mu-negative) wei (inaction or inexertion).\nThe Tao is usually described in terms of elements of nature, and in particular, as similar to water.\nLike water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous.\nThe [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty) painter [Chen Rong](https://bliptext.com/articles/chen-rong-painter) popularized the [analogy](https://bliptext.com/articles/analogy) with his painting Nine Dragons.\nMuch of Taoist philosophy centers on the cyclical continuity of the natural world and its contrast to the linear, goal-oriented actions of human beings, as well as the perception that the Tao is \"the source of all being, in which life and death are the same.\"\nIn all its uses, the Tao is considered to have ineffable qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words.\nIt can, however, be known or experienced, and its principles (which can be discerned by observing nature) can be followed or practiced.\nMuch of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of the Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so.\nThe Tao was shared with Confucianism, [Chan Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/chan-buddhism) and [Zen](https://bliptext.com/articles/zen), and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general.\nIn Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to \"become one with the Tao\" (Tao Te Ching) or to harmonize one's will with nature to achieve 'effortless action'.\nThis involves meditative and moral practices.\nImportant in this respect is the Taoist concept of [de](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-chinese) ('virtue').\nIn Confucianism and religious forms of Taoism, these are often explicitly moral/ethical arguments about proper behavior, while Buddhism and more philosophical forms of Taoism usually refer to the natural and mercurial outcomes of action (comparable to karma).\nThe Tao is intrinsically related to the concepts of [yin and yang](https://bliptext.com/articles/yin-and-yang), where every action creates counter-actions as unavoidable movements within manifestations of the Tao, and proper practice variously involves accepting, conforming to, or working with these natural developments.\nIn Taoism and Confucianism, the Tao was sometimes traditionally seen as a \"transcendent power that blesses\" that can \"express itself directly\" through various ways, but most often shows itself through the speech, movement, or traditional ritual of a \"prophet, priest, or king.\"\nTao can serve as a life energy instead of [qi](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi) in some Taoist belief systems.\n# [Calligraphy of Tao | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Calligraphic///Dao..png]\n# [The bagua, a symbol commonly used to represent the Tao and its pursuit | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Pakua///with///frame.svg]\n\n## De\nDe is the term generally used to refer to proper adherence to the Tao.\nDe is the active living or cultivation of the way.\nParticular things (things with names) that manifest from the Tao have their own inner nature that they follow in accordance with the Tao, and the following of this inner nature is De.\nWu wei, or 'naturalness', is contingent on understanding and conforming to this inner nature, which is interpreted variously from a personal, individual nature to a more generalized notion of human nature within the greater Universe.\nHistorically, the concept of De differed significantly between Taoists and Confucianists.\nConfucianism was largely a moral system emphasizing the values of humaneness, righteousness, and filial duty, and so conceived De in terms of obedience to rigorously defined and codified social rules.\nTaoists took a broader, more naturalistic, more metaphysical view on the relationship between humankind and the Universe and considered social rules to be at best a derivative reflection of the natural and spontaneous interactions between people and at worst calcified structure that inhibited naturalness and created conflict.\nThis led to some philosophical and political conflicts between Taoists and Confucians.\nSeveral sections of the works attributed to [Zhuang Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhuang-zhou) are dedicated to critiques of the failures of Confucianism.\n\n# Interpretations\n\n## Taoism\nThe translator [Arthur Waley](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-waley) observed that\n\"[Tao] means a road, path, way; and hence, the way in which one does something; method, doctrine, principle. The Way of Heaven, for example, is ruthless; when autumn comes 'no leaf is spared because of its beauty, no flower because of its fragrance'. The Way of Man means, among other things, procreation; and eunuchs are said to be 'far from the Way of Man'. Chu Tao is 'the way to be a monarch', i.e. the art of ruling. Each school of philosophy has its tao, its doctrine of the way in which life should be ordered. Finally in a particular school of philosophy whose followers came to be called Taoists, tao meant 'the way the universe works'; and ultimately something very like God, in the more abstract and philosophical sense of that term.\"\n\"Tao\" gives Taoism its name in English, in both its philosophical and religious forms.\nThe Tao is the fundamental and central concept of these schools of thought.\nTaoism perceives the Tao as a natural order underlying the substance and activity of the Universe.\nLanguage and the \"naming\" of the Tao is regarded negatively in Taoism; the Tao fundamentally exists and operates outside the realm of differentiation and linguistic constraints.\nThere is no single orthodox Taoist view of the Tao.\nAll forms of Taoism center around Tao and De, but there is a broad variety of distinct interpretations among sects and even individuals in the same sect.\nDespite this diversity, there are some clear, common patterns and trends in Taoism and its branches.\nThe diversity of Taoist interpretations of the Tao can be seen across four texts representative of major streams of thought in Taoism.\nAll four texts are used in modern Taoism with varying acceptance and emphasis among sects.\nThe Tao Te Ching is the oldest text and representative of a speculative and philosophical approach to the Tao.\nThe [Daotilun](https://bliptext.com/articles/daotilun) is an eighth century [exegesis](https://bliptext.com/articles/exegesis) of the Tao Te Ching, written from a well-educated and religious viewpoint that represents the traditional, scholarly perspective.\nThe devotional perspective of the Tao is expressed in the [Qingjing Jing](https://bliptext.com/articles/qingjing-jing), a [liturgical text](https://bliptext.com/articles/liturgical-text) that was originally composed during the [Han dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/han-dynasty) and is used as a [hymnal](https://bliptext.com/articles/hymnal) in religious Taoism, especially among [eremites](https://bliptext.com/articles/eremite).\nThe [Zhuangzi](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhuangzi-book) uses literary devices such as tales, allegories, and narratives to relate the Tao to the reader, illustrating a metaphorical method of viewing and expressing the Tao.\nThe forms and variations of religious Taoism are incredibly diverse.\nThey integrate a broad spectrum of academic, ritualistic, supernatural, devotional, literary, and folk practices with a multitude of results.\nBuddhism and Confucianism particularly affected the way many sects of Taoism framed, approached, and perceived the Tao.\nThe multitudinous branches of religious Taoism accordingly regard the Tao, and interpret writings about it, in innumerable ways.\nThus, outside of a few broad similarities, it is difficult to provide an accurate yet clear summary of their interpretation of the Tao.\nA central tenet in most varieties of religious Taoism is that the Tao is ever-present, but must be manifested, cultivated, and/or perfected to be realized.\nIt is the source of the Universe, and the seed of its primordial purity resides in all things.\nBreathing exercises, according to some Taoists, allowed one to absorb \"parts of the universe.\"\nIncense and certain minerals were seen as representing the greater universe as well, and breathing them in could create similar effects.\nThe manifestation of the Tao is de, which rectifies and invigorates the world with the Tao's radiance.\nAlternatively, philosophical Taoism regards the Tao as a non-religious concept; it is not a deity to be worshiped, nor is it a mystical Absolute in the religious sense of the Hindu [brahman](https://bliptext.com/articles/brahman).\nJoseph Wu remarked of this conception of the Tao, \"Dao is not religiously available; nor is it even religiously relevant.\"\nThe writings of Laozi and Zhuangzi are tinged with esoteric tones and approach [humanism](https://bliptext.com/articles/humanism) and [naturalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/naturalism-philosophy) as paradoxes.\nIn contrast to the esotericism typically found in religious systems, the Tao is not transcendent to the self, nor is mystical attainment an escape from the world in philosophical Taoism.\nThe self steeped in the Tao is the self grounded in its place within the natural Universe.\nA person dwelling within the Tao excels in themselves and their activities.\nHowever, this distinction is complicated by [hermeneutic](https://bliptext.com/articles/hermeneutic) difficulties in the categorization of Taoist schools, sects, and movements.\nSome Taoists believe the Tao is an entity that can \"take on human form\" to perform its goals.\nThe Tao represents human harmony with the universe and even more phenomena in the world and nature.\n# [A Taoist monk practicing calligraphy with water on stone. Water calligraphy, like sand mandalas, evokes the ephemeral nature of physical reality. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Taoist///monk.jpg]\n\n## Confucianism\nThe Tao of [Confucius](https://bliptext.com/articles/confucius) can be translated as 'truth'.\nConfucianism regards the Way, or Truth, as concordant with a particular approach to life, politics, and tradition.\nIt is held as equally necessary and well regarded as de and [ren](https://bliptext.com/articles/ren-confucianism) ('compassion', 'humanity').\nConfucius presents a humanistic Tao.\nHe only rarely speaks of the 'Way of Heaven'.\nThe early Confucian philosopher [Xunzi](https://bliptext.com/articles/xunzi-philosopher) explicitly noted this contrast.\nThough he acknowledged the existence and celestial importance of the Way of Heaven, he insisted that the Tao principally concerns human affairs.\nAs a formal religious concept in Confucianism, Tao is the Absolute toward which the faithful move.\nIn [Zhongyong](https://bliptext.com/articles/doctrine-of-the-mean) (The Doctrine of the Mean), harmony with the Absolute is the equivalent to integrity and sincerity.\nThe [Great Learning](https://bliptext.com/articles/great-learning) expands on this concept explaining that the Way illuminates virtue, improves the people, and resides within the purest morality.\nDuring the [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty), [Han Yu](https://bliptext.com/articles/han-yu) further formalized and defined Confucian beliefs as an [apologetic](https://bliptext.com/articles/apologetics) response to Buddhism.\nHe emphasized the ethics of the Way.\nHe explicitly paired \"Tao\" and \"De\", focusing on humane nature and righteousness.\nHe also framed and elaborated on a \"tradition of the Tao\" in order to reject the traditions of Buddhism.\nAncestors and the [Mandate of Heaven](https://bliptext.com/articles/mandate-of-heaven) were thought to emanate from the Tao, especially during the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty).\n\n## Buddhism\nBuddhism first started to spread in China during the first century AD and was experiencing a golden age of growth and maturation by the fourth century AD. Hundreds of collections of [Pali](https://bliptext.com/articles/pali) and [Sanskrit](https://bliptext.com/articles/sanskrit) texts were translated into Chinese by Buddhist monks within a short period of time.\nDhyana was translated as, and later as \"zen\", giving Zen Buddhism its name.\nThe use of Chinese concepts, such as the Tao, that were close to Buddhist ideas and terms helped spread the religion and make it more amenable to the Chinese people.\nHowever, the differences between the Sanskrit and Chinese terminology led to some initial misunderstandings and the eventual development of Buddhism in East Asia as a distinct entity.\nAs part of this process, many Chinese words introduced their rich semantic and philosophical associations into Buddhism, including the use of \"Tao\" for central concepts and tenets of Buddhism.\nPai-chang Huai-hai told a student who was grappling with difficult portions of [suttas](https://bliptext.com/articles/suttas), \"Take up words in order to manifest meaning and you'll obtain 'meaning'. Cut off words and meaning is emptiness. Emptiness is the Tao. The Tao is cutting off words and speech.\"\nZen Buddhists regard the Tao as synonymous with both the Buddhist Path and the results of it, the [Noble Eightfold Path](https://bliptext.com/articles/noble-eightfold-path) and [Buddhist enlightenment](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhist-enlightenment).\nPai-chang's statement plays upon this usage in the context of the fluid and varied Chinese usage of \"Tao\".\nWords and meanings are used to refer to rituals and practices.\nThe \"emptiness\" refers to the Buddhist concept of [sunyata](https://bliptext.com/articles/sunyata).\nFinding the Tao and Buddha-nature is not simply a matter of formulations, but an active response to the [Four Noble Truths](https://bliptext.com/articles/four-noble-truths) that cannot be fully expressed or conveyed in words and concrete associations.\nThe use of \"Tao\" in this context refers to the literal \"way\" of Buddhism, the return to the universal source, [dharma](https://bliptext.com/articles/dharma), proper meditation, and [nirvana](https://bliptext.com/articles/nirvana), among other associations.\n\"Tao\" is commonly used in this fashion by Chinese Buddhists, heavy with associations and nuanced meanings.\n\n## Neo-Confucianism\nDuring the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty), neo-Confucians regarded the Tao as the purest [thing-in-itself](https://bliptext.com/articles/thing-in-itself).\n[Shao Yong](https://bliptext.com/articles/shao-yong) regarded the Tao as the origin of heaven, earth, and everything within them.\nIn contrast, [Zhang Zai](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhang-zai) presented a vitalistic Tao that was the fundamental component or effect of qi, the motive energy behind life and the world.\nA number of later scholars adopted this interpretation, such as [Tai Chen](https://bliptext.com/articles/tai-chen) during the [Qing dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/qing-dynasty).\n[Zhu Xi](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/zhu-xi), [Cheng Ho](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/cheng-ho), and [Cheng Yi](https://b[li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism)ptext.com/articles/cheng-yi-philosopher) perceived the Tao in the context of [li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism) ('principle') and t'ien [li](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-neo-confucianism) ('principle of Heaven').\n[Cheng Hao](https://bliptext.com/articles/cheng-hao) regarded the fundamental matter of li, and thus the Tao, to be humaneness.\nDeveloping compassion, altruism, and other humane virtues is following of the Way.\n[Cheng Yi](https://bliptext.com/articles/cheng-yi-philosopher) followed this interpretation, elaborating on this perspective of the Tao through teachings about interactions between yin and yang, the cultivation and preservation of life, and the axiom of a morally just universe.\nOn the whole, the Tao is equated with totality.\n[Wang Fuzhi](https://bliptext.com/articles/wang-fuzhi) expressed the Tao as the [taiji](https://bliptext.com/articles/taiji-philosophy), or 'great ultimate', as well as the road leading to it.\nNothing exists apart from the Principle of Heaven in Neo-Confucianism.\nThe Way is contained within all things.\nThus, the religious life is not an elite or special journey for Neo-Confucians.\nThe normal, mundane life is the path that leads to the Absolute, because the Absolute is contained within the mundane objects and events of daily life.\n\n## Chinese folklore\nYayu, the son of [Zhulong](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhulong-mythology) who was reincarnated on Earth as a violent hybrid between a bull, a tiger, and a [dragon](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-dragon), was allowed to go to an afterlife that was known as \"the place beyond the Tao\".\nThis shows that some Chinese [folk storytelling](https://bliptext.com/articles/folklore) and [mythological](https://bliptext.com/articles/myth) traditions had very differing interpretations of the Tao between each other and orthodox religious practices.\n\n## Christianity\nNoted Christian author [C.S. Lewis](https://bliptext.com/articles/c-s-lewis) used the word Tao to describe \"the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, the kind of thing the Universe is and the kind of things we are.\"\nHe asserted that every religion and philosophy contains foundations of universal ethics as an attempt to line up with the Tao—the way mankind was designed to be.\nIn Lewis's thinking, [God](https://bliptext.com/articles/god-in-christianity) created the Tao and fully displayed it through the person of [Jesus Christ](https://bliptext.com/articles/jesus-christ).\nSimilarly, Eastern Orthodox [hegumen](https://bliptext.com/articles/hegumen) Damascene (Christensen), a pupil of noted monastic and scholar of East Asian religions [Seraphim Rose](https://bliptext.com/articles/seraphim-rose), identified logos with the Tao.\nDamascene published a full commented translation of the [Tao Te Ching](https://bliptext.com/articles/tao-te-ching) under the title Christ the Eternal Tao.\nIn some Chinese translations of the New Testament, the word λόγος ([logos](https://bliptext.com/articles/logos)) is translated as, in passages such as [John](https://bliptext.com/articles/gospel-of-john) 1:1, indicating that the translators considered the concept of Tao to be somewhat equivalent to the Hellenic concept of [logos](https://bliptext.com/articles/logos) in [Platonism](https://bliptext.com/articles/platonism) and Christianity.\n\n# Linguistic aspects\nThe Chinese character is highly polysemous: its historical alternate pronunciation as possessed an additional connotation of 'guide'.\nThe history of the character includes details of orthography and semantics, as well as a possible Proto-Indo-European etymology, in addition to more recent loaning into English and other world languages.\n\n## Orthography\n\"Tao\" is written with the Chinese character using both [traditional](https://bliptext.com/articles/traditional-chinese) and [simplified](https://bliptext.com/articles/simplified-chinese) characters.\nThe traditional graphical interpretation of dates back to the [Shuowen Jiezi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shuowen-jiezi) dictionary published in 121 CE, which describes it as a rare \"compound ideogram\" or \"[ideographic compound](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-character-classification)\".\nAccording to the Shuowen Jiezi, combines the 'go' radical (a variant of ) with.\nThis construction signified a \"head going\" or \"leading the way\".\n\"Tao\" is graphically distinguished between its earliest nominal meaning of 'way', 'road', 'path', and the later verbal sense of 'say'.\nIt should also be contrasted with.\nThe simplified character for has in place of.\nThe earliest written forms of \"Tao\" are [bronzeware script](https://bliptext.com/articles/bronzeware-script) and [seal script](https://bliptext.com/articles/seal-script) characters from the [Zhou dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-dynasty) (1045–256 BCE) bronzes and writings.\nThese ancient forms more clearly depict the element as hair above a face.\nSome variants interchange the 'go' radical with, with the original bronze \"crossroads\" depiction written in the seal character with two and.\nBronze scripts for occasionally include an element of or, which occurs in.\nThe linguist [Peter A. Boodberg](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-a-boodberg) explained,\n\"This 'tao with the hand element' is usually identified with the modern character tao < d'ôg, 'to lead,', 'guide', 'conduct', and considered to be a derivative or verbal cognate of the noun tao, 'way,' 'path.' The evidence just summarized would indicate rather that 'tao with the hand' is but a variant of the basic tao and that the word itself combined both nominal and verbal aspects of the etymon. This is supported by textual examples of the use of the primary tao in the verbal sense 'to lead' (e. g., Analects 1.5; 2.8) and seriously undermines the unspoken assumption implied in the common translation of Tao as 'way' that the concept is essentially a nominal one. Tao would seem, then, to be etymologically a more dynamic concept than we have made it translation-wise. It would be more appropriately rendered by 'lead way' and 'lode' ('way,' 'course,' 'journey,' 'leading,' 'guidance'; cf. 'lodestone' and 'lodestar'), the somewhat obsolescent deverbal noun from 'to lead.'\"\nThese Confucian [Analects](https://bliptext.com/articles/analects) citations of dao verbally meaning 'to guide', 'to lead' are: \"The Master said, 'In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say\" and \"The Master said, 'Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame.\"\n\n## Phonology\nIn modern [Standard Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/standard-chinese), 's two primary pronunciations are [tonally](https://bliptext.com/articles/mandarin-phonology) differentiated between falling tone and dipping tone (usually written as ).\nBesides the common specifications and (with variant ), has a rare additional pronunciation with the level tone,, seen in the regional [chengyu](https://bliptext.com/articles/chengyu) , a [reduplication](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) of and from northeast China.\nIn [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) (c. 6th–10th centuries CE) [tone name](https://bliptext.com/articles/tone-name) categories, and were and.\n[Historical linguists](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) have reconstructed MC and as d'âu- and d'âu ([Bernhard Karlgren](https://bliptext.com/articles/bernhard-karlgren)), dau and dau daw' and dawh, dawX and daws (William H. Baxter), and dâuB and dâuC.\nIn [Old Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-chinese) (c. 7th–3rd centuries BCE) pronunciations, reconstructions for and are *d'ôg (Karlgren), *dəw (Zhou), *dəgwx and *dəgwh, *luʔ, and *lûʔ and *lûh.\n\n## Semantics\nThe word has many meanings.\nFor example, the [Hanyu Da Zidian](https://bliptext.com/articles/hanyu-da-zidian) dictionary defines 39 meanings for and 6 for.\n[John DeFrancis](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-defrancis)'s Chinese-English dictionary gives twelve meanings for, three for , and one for.\nNote that brackets clarify abbreviations and ellipsis marks omitted usage examples.\n**2dào** N. [[noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/noun)] road; path ◆M.\n[nominal [measure word](https://bliptext.com/articles/measure-word)] ① (for rivers/topics/etc.) ② (for a course (of food); a streak (of light); etc.) ◆V.\n[[verb](https://bliptext.com/articles/verb)] ① say; speak; talk (introducing direct quote, novel style) ... ② think; suppose ◆B.F. [bound form, [bound morpheme](https://bliptext.com/articles/bound-morpheme)] ① channel ② way; reason; principle ③ doctrine ④ Daoism ⑤ line ⑥〈hist.〉 [history] ⑦ district; circuit canal; passage; tube ⑧ say (polite words) ...\nSee also 4dǎo, 4dāo\n**4dǎo** 导/道[導/- B.F. [bound form] ① guide; lead ... ② transmit; conduct ... ③ instruct; direct ...\n**4dāo** 道 in shénshendāodāo ... 神神道道 R.F. [[reduplicated](https://bliptext.com/articles/reduplication) form] 〈topo.〉[non-Mandarin form] odd; fantastic; bizarre Dao, starting from the [Song dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/song-dynasty), also referred to an ideal in [Chinese landscape paintings](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-landscape-painting) that artists sought to live up to by portraying \"nature scenes\" that reflected \"the harmony of man with his surroundings.\"\n\n## Etymology\nThe etymological linguistic origins of dao \"way; path\" depend upon its Old Chinese pronunciation, which scholars have tentatively reconstructed as *d'ôg, *dəgwx, *dəw, *luʔ, and *lûʔ.\nBoodberg noted that the shou 首 \"head\" phonetic in the dao 道 character was not merely phonetic but \"etymonic\", analogous with English to head meaning \"to lead\" and \"to tend in a certain direction,\" \"ahead,\" \"headway\".\n\"Paronomastically, tao is equated with its homonym tao < d'ôg, 'to trample,' 'tread,' and from that point of view it is nothing more than a 'treadway,' 'headtread,' or 'foretread '; it is also occasionally associated with a near synonym (and possible cognate) ti < d'iôk, 'follow a road,' 'go along,' 'lead,' 'direct'; 'pursue the right path'; a term with definite ethical overtones and a graph with an exceedingly interesting phonetic, yu < djôg,' 'to proceed from.' The reappearance of C162 [辶] 'walk' in ti with the support of C157 [⻊] 'foot' in tao, 'to trample,' 'tread,' should perhaps serve us as a warning not to overemphasize the headworking functions implied in tao in preference to those of the lower extremities.\"\n[Victor H. Mair](https://bliptext.com/articles/victor-h-mair) proposes a connection with [Proto-Indo-European](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-indo-european-language) drogh, supported by numerous [cognates](https://bliptext.com/articles/cognates) in [Indo-European languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-european-languages), as well as semantically similar [Semitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/semitic-languages) [Arabic](https://bliptext.com/articles/arabic-language) and [Hebrew](https://bliptext.com/articles/hebrew-language) words.\n\"The archaic pronunciation of Tao sounded approximately like drog or dorg. This links it to the Proto-Indo-European root drogh (to run along) and Indo-European dhorg (way, movement). Related words in a few modern Indo-European languages are Russian doroga (way, road), Polish droga (way, road), Czech dráha (way, track), Serbo-Croatian draga (path through a valley), and Norwegian dialect drog (trail of animals; valley). .... The nearest Sanskrit (Old Indian) cognates to Tao (drog) are dhrajas (course, motion) and dhraj (course). The most closely related English words are 'track' and 'trek', while 'trail' and 'tract' are derived from other cognate Indo-European roots. Following the Way, then, is like going on a cosmic trek. Even more unexpected than the panoply of Indo-European cognates for Tao (drog) is the Hebrew root d-r-g for the same word and Arabic t-r-q, which yields words meaning 'track, path, way, way of doing things' and is important in Islamic philosophical discourse.\"\nAxel Schuessler's etymological dictionary presents two possibilities for the tonal [morphology](https://bliptext.com/articles/morphology-linguistics) of dào 道 \"road; way; method\" < Middle Chinese dâuB < Old Chinese *lûʔ and dào 道 or 導 \"to go along; bring along; conduct; explain; talk about\" < Middle dâuC < Old *lûh.\nEither dào 道 \"the thing which is doing the conducting\" is a Tone B (shangsheng 上聲 \"rising tone\") \"endoactive noun\" derivation from dào 導 \"conduct\", or dào 導 is a Later Old Chinese ([Warring States period](https://bliptext.com/articles/warring-states-period)) \"general tone C\" (qusheng 去聲 \"departing tone\") derivation from dào 道 \"way\".\nFor a possible etymological connection, Schuessler notes the ancient [Fangyan](https://bliptext.com/articles/fangyan-book) dictionary defines yu < *lokh 裕 and lu < *lu 猷 as Eastern [Qi State](https://bliptext.com/articles/qi-shandong) dialectal words meaning dào < *lûʔ 道 \"road\".\n\n## Other languages\nMany languages have borrowed and adapted \"Tao\" as a [loanword](https://bliptext.com/articles/loanword).\nIn [Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/chinese-language), this character 道 is pronounced as [Cantonese](https://bliptext.com/articles/cantonese) dou6 and Hokkian to7.\nIn [Sino-Xenic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sino-xenic) languages, 道 is pronounced as [Japanese](https://bliptext.com/articles/japanese-language) dō, tō, or michi; [Korean](https://bliptext.com/articles/korean-language) do or to; and [Vietnamese](https://bliptext.com/articles/vietnamese-language) đạo.\nSince 1982, when the [International Organization for Standardization](https://bliptext.com/articles/international-organization-for-standardization) adopted [Pinyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/pinyin) as the standard [romanization of Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/romanization-of-chinese), many Western languages have changed from spelling this loanword tao in national systems (e.g., French [EFEO Chinese transcription](https://bliptext.com/articles/efeo-chinese-transcription) and English [Wade–Giles](https://bliptext.com/articles/wade-giles)) to dao in [Pinyin](https://bliptext.com/articles/pinyin).\nThe tao/dao \"the way\" [English word of Chinese origin](https://bliptext.com/articles/list-of-english-words-of-chinese-origin) has three meanings, according to the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-english-dictionary).\n**1. a.** In Taoism, an absolute entity which is the source of the universe; the way in which this absolute entity functions.\n**1. b.** = Taoism, taoist\n**2.** In Confucianism and in extended uses, the way to be followed, the right conduct; doctrine or method.\nThe earliest recorded usages were Tao (1736), Tau (1747), Taou (1831), and Dao (1971).\nThe term \"[Taoist priest](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoist-priest)\", was used already by the Jesuits [Matteo Ricci](https://bliptext.com/articles/matteo-ricci) and [Nicolas Trigault](https://bliptext.com/articles/nicolas-trigault) in their [De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas](https://bliptext.com/articles/de-christiana-expeditione-apud-sinas), rendered as Tausu in the original Latin edition (1615), and Tausa in an early English translation published by [Samuel Purchas](https://bliptext.com/articles/samuel-purchas) (1625).\n\n# Citations","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History