What is the Dao ( 道 )?

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 What is Righteousness?
From diversity to unity; From religious belief
Pragmatic way in dealing to reasoning;
with morality Maximize
happiness/pleasure
Mohism Utilitarianism
(~Religious belief) (Consequentialism)

Confucianism Kantianism
(Virtue ethics) (Deontology)
From happiness to
worthy of happiness;
From rationality to moral feeling;
Act according to
Respect diversity
universal laws
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 What is Righteousness?
• “X” is righteousness.
 This is the biggest failure of Dr. Nam’s teaching
or/and Common Core Education.
• “X” is righteousness because...
Reasoning.

ILO#2: Demonstrate a humanities perspective in

communication.
ILO#3: Question assertions related to humanities, especially
culture and values.
ILO#5: Apply existing empirical and logical skills to make
independent judgments about personal values and priorities.

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 What is Righteousness?
• “X” is righteousness.
 This is the biggest failure of Dr. Nam’s teaching
or/and Common Core Education.
• “X” is righteousness because...
 Reasoning.
• *I hold that “X” is righteousness because...
The insight of Chinese Philosophy.
• Teaching of Zen Buddhism:
• At the very beginning, I saw mountains as
mountains; then I came to a point that I saw
mountains are not mountains; but at last, I see
mountains once again as mountains.
( 見山是山，見山不是山，見山還是山。 )
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Mysterious Learning (Xuanxue 玄學 )
• Mysterious Learning:
– From the third to sixth century C.E. / Wei-Jin
Dynasty
– The study of Dao de jing, Zhuangzi and Yijing (the
Book of Changes).

• The word “Xuan” (Mystery, 玄 ):

“The dao that can be spoken of is not the constant Dao; the
name that can be named is not the constant name…(“Nameless”
and “Named”) are the same but diverge in name as they issue
forth ( 此兩者，同出而異名 ). Being the same (we call it) mystery
( 同謂之玄 )…”
Dao de jing, Chapter 1

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 Dissolving the Moral Conflict -
Rationale of Dissolving Moral
Conflict in the Thought of Daoism

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 History of Civilization
Historical View

Heart-mind
as Vessel

Non-action

Little Accomplishment

Interdependence

Debates but not

discriminate

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 History of Civilization (Daoism)

Historical View

Heart-mind
as Vessel

Non-action

Little Accomplishment

Interdependence

Debates but not

discriminate

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 Daoist Historical View
Historical View
• Decline instead of progress:
– “The understanding of the men of ancient
Heart-mind
as Vessel times went a long way…To the point
where some of them believed that things
Non-action
have never existed so…Those at the next
stage thought that things exist but
Little Accomplishment recognized no boundaries among them.
Interdependence
Those at the next stage thought there
were boundaries but recognized no right
Debates but not
discriminate
and wrong. Because right and wrong
appeared, the Dao was injured, and
because the Dao was injured, love
became complete…” (Zhuangzi, Chapter 2)

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 Daoist Historical View
Things have “Love”
No boundaries No right became
never
among things and wrong
existed “complete”




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 1. Knowledge – moral judgments
Historical View
(Ethics, i.e. concepts of right and wrong)
– Stage 2: No boundaries among things
Heart-mind
as Vessel – Stage 3: No right and wrong
– Stage 4: “Love” became “complete”
Non-action

Little Accomplishment
2. Knowledge – language (Epistemology,
Interdependence i.e. the study of knowledge)
Debates but not
– Stage 1: Things have never existed
discriminate
– Stage 2: No boundaries among things

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 Completed Heart-mind ( 成
心)
Historical View • “Love” became “complete”:

Heart-mind
“The Dao gathers in
as Vessel emptiness alone.” ( 唯道集虛 )

Non-action Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi, 370 - 287 BC

Chapter 4
Little Accomplishment

Interdependence

“…Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is

Debates but not
discriminate on their empty hollowness, that their use
depends…” ( 埏埴以為器，當其無，有器之
用。 )

Dao de jing, Chapter 11

Laozi, ?- ? BC
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 • Vessel metaphor:
– Heart-mind likes a container
Historical View
which cannot function properly if
Heart-mind
it is occupied.
as Vessel

Non-action “In the pursuit of learning one knows more

every day; in the pursuit of Dao one does
Little Accomplishment
less every day.
Interdependence One does less and less until one does
Debates but not
nothing at all, and when one does nothing
discriminate
at all there is nothing that is undone…”
( 為學日益，為道日損。
損之又損，以至於無為。無為而無不為。 )
Dao de
jing, Chapter 11 13
 • Sources of prejudgments :
Historical View
– “When the Dao relies on little
accomplishments and words rely on
Heart-mind vain show ( 榮華 ), then we have the
as Vessel
rights and wrongs of the Confucians
and the Moists.” (Zhuangzi, Chapter 2)
Non-action

Little Accomplishment

Interdependence

Debates but not

discriminate

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 • Stop at recognizing something as
Historical View good:
– “The whole world recognizes the
Heart-mind
as Vessel beautiful as the beautiful, yet this is
only the ugly; the whole world
Non-action recognizes the good as the good, yet
this is only the bad…”
Little Accomplishment
Dao de
Interdependence
jing, Chapter 2
Debates but not
discriminate

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What is Little Accomplishment?
• Stop at recognizing something as good:

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 Idea of Interdependence
Historical View “…the whole world recognizes the good as the
good, yet this is only the bad. Thus Something
Heart-mind
and Nothing produce each other; the difficult
as Vessel and the easy complement each other…” (Dao de
jing, Chapter 2)
Non-action

Little Accomplishment
“Everything has its ‘that,’ everything
has its ‘this’. From the point of view of
Interdependence
‘that’ you cannot see it, but through
understanding you can know it. So I
Debates but not
discriminate say, ‘that’ comes out of ‘this’ and ‘this’
depends on ‘that’ which is to say that
‘this’ and ‘that’ give birth to each
other…” (Zhuangzi, Chapter 2)

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 • Rethinking the distinction between
right and wrong:
Historical View
– “Suppose you and I have had an
argument. If you have beaten me
Heart-mind
as Vessel instead of my beating you, then are
you necessarily right and am I
Non-action necessarily wrong? …Is one of us
right and the other wrong? Are both
Little Accomplishment
of us right or are both of us wrong?”
Interdependence
(Zhuangzi, Chapter 2)
Debates but not
discriminate

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 • The sage debates but does not
Historical View
discriminate:
– “The sage embraces things. Ordinary
Heart-mind men discriminate among them and
as Vessel
parade their discriminations before
others. So I say, those who
Non-action
discriminate fail to see. ( 聖人懷之，眾人辯
Little Accomplishment 之以相示也。故曰：辯也者，有不見也。 )”

Interdependence
(Zhuangzi, Chapter 3)
– “…When your discernment penetrates
Debates but not
discriminate the four quarters, are you capable of
not knowing anything? ( 明白四達，能無知
乎 )” (Dao de jing, Chapter 10)

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 Dao: The Way to the Truth
Historical View

Heart-mind
as Vessel

Non-action

Little Accomplishment
Confucianism:
“The gentleman agrees with others without
Interdependence being an echo ( 君子和而不同 )” --> room for (moral)
progress.
Debates but not
discriminate
Daoism:
“The sage debates but does not
discriminate ( 聖人議而不辯 )” --> platform for
discussion.

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 Dao: The Way to the Truth
• How is it possible to free our minds from
prejudgments?
– No clear distinction between right and wrong.
– Didn’t stop at recognizing something as good.

Recall: “But at last, I see mountains once

again as mountains.” ( 見山還是山。 )

*Like a dragonfly skimming

the surface of the water.

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Destiny and Well-being
• Morality and Fortune:
– Moral (immoral) person with bad
(good) fortune
– The question of fairness
• Chinese Culture:
– God ✖
– Karma 因果報應 (Hinduism and
Buddhism), i.e. whatever you do comes
back to you. ✖
– Destiny ✔
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