Non-Action
Inaction is the imitation of Tao. Inaction is non-interference with nature. Action is interference with nature. When leaders impose good upon the people, he is interfering with their nature. Right action flows from inaction. One who imitates Tao is inactive. He does not interfere with nature.
Passivity means calm and when calm reverts to action, every action is right. Calm means inaction, and when the principle of inaction prevails, each man does his duty (Yutang, pg. 195). When one sees things from the viewpoint of Tao, one sees things as they are. Detachment from things enables one to act correctly. Detachment is possible because all things, impartially, have their being from Tao. Tao itself is impersonal, impartial.
Tao is Natural
When man is following Tao, he is following Nature. Where the school of Confucius taught adherence to moral law, Laotse taught being true to one's original nature. Evil acts are the result of acting and living contrary to Nature. One who is acting according to Nature is unconscious of it. Goodness is not achieved by doing what is right in order to avoid punishment or gain reward. Doing right, they did not know that it was called justice. Kind to one another, they did not know that it was called humanity (Yutang, pg. 56). Goodness is natural. It is a sign of degeneration when one has a motive for being good. A man feels a pleasurable sensation before he smiles, and he smiles before he thinks how he ought to smile(Yutang, pg. 203).
Tao is Impersonal
Nature is unkind: It treats the creation like sacrificial straw dogs. The Sage is unkind: He treats the people like sacrificial straw dogs (Yutang, pg. 63). This is one of the most puzzling passages in The Book of Tao. Chuangtse comments on this and makes clear that Tao benefits all creation without conscious kindness. Perfect kindness does not concern itself with (individual acts of) kindness...For the Tao which is manifest is not Tao. Speech which argues falls short of its aim. Kindness which has fixed objects loses its scope...(Yutang, pg. 67).
The kindness of Tao comes from the nature of Tao, and is not something exercised, not something done as an act. In his notes, Yutang points out that the impersonal nature of Tao is one of the major differences between Tao and the God of Christianity (see Yutang, pg. 66). This is an issue that will be explored deeper in this paper within the context of comparing Tao with St. Thomas' doctrine of the Divine Simplicity.
Continued in “Tao and the Divine Simplicity 3"
