Laozi's Biography

It seems that there is a new biography of "Laozi" published in China.  I haven't seen it yet, but Francesco Sisci reports that it is a "quasi-novel" by Yu Shicun.  That sounds about right - quasi-novel - to me, but I am one of those who believe that there was no historical person named "Laozi."  A legend, yes; a real live person, probably not (see the disucssion at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for background).  

Sisci describes the opening of the book:

Laozi parts ways with Confucius, as they have different interests in the world and in their thinking. Laozi moves west from the great plains of central China to the borders of the Chinese civilization, and to the state of Qin, because "if the sun rises from the East, people came from the West", reasons Laozi.

In the state of Qin, where customs and manners are still not as corrupted as in the smaller and more ancient states of the central plain, the local people are struck by Laozi, a man with white hair but still with the face of a boy, untouched by the passing of time. They talk with him and then are sure that this man can help them to be great.

It makes a certain sense that Yu would have "Laozi" go to Qin.  After all, Han Feizi appropriates Daoism to lend a mysterious aspect to his otherwise unadorned authoritarianism.  But there is reason to question that appropriation. Perhaps it signals a kind of weakness in Daoism: its indeterminacy allows it to be taken and used by other thinkers who rather clearly trample upon the wuwei and ziran spirit of the Daodejing.; Personally, I think it is a misappropriation, a distortion of the politics of the DDJ.

Sisci also writes:

On the other hand, Yu doesn't neglect modern scholarship, which reveals that Laozi was no pacifist nor some kind of ancient hippy. He was a philosopher of politics and war.

Yu presents Laozi as talking to the Qin king (not emperor as at the time Qin had not unified the empire) and his warriors. Warriors need a religion or a great ideal to be warriors. They need a deep sense of life and death to face death and give death without turning into a beast or a demon that seeks death for the gory pleasure of blood.

I would take some exception here.  While it is certainly true that the writers of the Daodejing are philosohers of politics and war, the text has a very strong pacifistic aspect to it.  They are not hippies, but neither are they offensive realists.   Throughout the text war and weapons are shown to be ineffective and futile.  Passge 31 is a good place to start:

Auspicious weapons are tools of misfortune.  Things may not all despise such tools, but a master of Way stays clear of them.

The noble-minded treasure the left when home and the right when taking up weapons of war.

Weapons are tools of misfortune, not tools of the noble-minded.  When there's no other way, they take up weapons in tranquil calm, finding no glory in victory.

To find glory in victory is to savor killing people, and if you savor killing people you'll never guide all beneath heaven.

We honor the left in celebrations and honor the right in lamentations, so captains stand on the left and generals on the right.  But use them both as if conducting a funeral:

when so many people are being killed it should be done with tears and mourning.  And victory should be conducted like a funeral. 

This is not an absolute pacifist position.  Sometimes war is unavoidable.  But it should be treated as a last, last resort and even then never glorified.  This is certianly not the Qin approach to warfare and expansion.   "Laozi" - and by this I mean a person conscientiously attempting to live the ethos of the Daodejing - would not provide counsel to warriors to make them more effective fighters.  He, or she, would counsel them not to fight in the first place.  Notice how Ames and Hall gloss passage 31:

Warfare ought not to be glorified.  It is always a losing proposition, and there are no victors.  Although on occasion unavoidable, it is nothing better than methodical state-sanctioned killing.  Even in the event of victory, triumph on the battle fields should never be confused with proper seasons of celebration, but instead should be treated as what is it: a state funeral properly marked by grief and mourning.

I don't think Qin mourned upon victory.

To get back to Sisci's piece, I found this passage a bit odd:

This spiritual quality in Laozi is more important than the strategic interpretation of yielding to greater force to find the right moment to strike or than the strategic idea that there is not one weapon - one technology, we would say now - to win all battles. One needs to adapt one's army to circumstances, the weather and the terrain.

It's odd because it sounds much more like Sunzi than "Laozi." Now, there may well be a certain Daoist influence in Sunzi, but he is a strategist and commander with a set of goals and methods quite distinct from a more typical Daoist.  This could be another example of a conceptual appropriation of Daoist ideas.

Ultimately, Sisci makes an interesting point:

Laozi, then, is bound to be influential in China – possibly more so than Confucius – and also abroad. Then the Chinese government, wishing to expand its soft power, ought to consider going beyond simply teaching the Chinese language in the Confucius Institutes scattered around the world and perhaps move to Tao Institutes, teaching Laozi and the basics of Chinese reasoning. In the process of teaching, the Tao Institutes would also help to reveal what foreigners do not grasp about basic Chinese ideas.

Maybe Daoism can become more influential in China, and elsewhere.  And I am all for Tao Institutes.  But let's hope the Daoism that emerges is more in keeping with the true spirit of the Daodejing, and Zhuangzi, and not the Legalist-Daoist distortions put forward by some contemporary nationalists... 

Comments

[gmoke]

Selections from the Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant:

"I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable."

Note: Grant consistently uses the term "moral courage" to refer to the possibility of avoiding battle. He seems to respect those who have the "moral courage" not to fight.

"While a battle is raging one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousand, or the ten thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes are distressing, and one is naturally disposed to do as much to alleviate the suffering of an enemy as a friend."

"It is men who wait to be selected, and not those who seek, from whom we may always expect the most efficient service."

"I do not sleep though I sometimes dose off a little. If up I am talked to and in my efforts to answer cause pain. The fact is I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three."

The General was dying of cancer of the jaw while writing this book. Some say it is the best memoir of an American. It is certainly well-written and gave me enormous respect for this much maligned man.

[Scott "Bao Pu" Barnwell]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for sharing this.

re: "Laozi's influence was so strong that most officials turned to Laozi even without being disappointed by public politics." (Yu)

-- Huh? Most officials?

re: "Yet, what is treasure? It is the lower half of a woman's body - the half that gives birth, generates life and from the non-existing creates existence." (Yu)

-- Kinda silly, imo.

re: "order starts falling apart with minimal stress, so the wise ruler intervenes as soon as he sees the first cracks appearing - he does not wait." (Yu)

-- An important point, but one that must be reconciled with Wuwei.

re: "the sage ruler sees dangers and possibilities for positive developments at a very early stage." (Yu)

-- The Sage-ruler also knows that deciding what is positive and negative is problematic.

re: " "Laozi" - and by this I mean a person conscientiously attempting to live the ethos of the Daodejing - would not provide counsel to warriors to make them more effective fighters. He, or she, would counsel them not to fight in the first place." (Sam)

-- Perhaps not, but he would want someone to train the warriors well. A defensive force that is not at the top of its game will be slaughtered.

re: "And I am all for Tao Institutes. But let's hope the Daoism that emerges is more in keeping with the true spirit of the Daodejing, and Zhuangzi, and not the Legalist-Daoist distortions put forward by some contemporary nationalists..." (Sam)

-- I agree, though Daoist-Legalist "distortions" have been around along time, not only in Hanfeizi, but the Mawangdui Boshu and Huainanzi (Huang-Lao) texts.

Although I have onbly read bits and piences, Wang Zhen's Daode Bingfa (9th century CE) applies the Daodejing to governing/military affairs.

[Sam]

Thanks gmoke and Scott...and Scott, perhaps the DDJ could also be instructive in Mob Wars ;).....

[justin]

this is gay