Taoism and War
Tao Te Ching was written around 600BCE and is the first written document about Taoism that exists. Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu, who was a contemporary of Confucius. They lived in the period known in China as the Spring and Autumn period. A period full of conflict and war, where China was struggling to hold all states together due to a weak central government. In this period many philosophers emerged coming up with ideas on how to keep China strong and undivided. According to the legend, Lao Tzu wrote Tao Te Ching to give his followers something to remember him by before he departed, giving up on the Chinese people mostly because their inability to learn. Tao Te Ching was written in a politically tough situation for China and much of the text is about the political and war culture. Tao Te Ching is not only about the philosophy of life but …show more content…
Even though he prefers not using arms or weapons, he still offers a strategy for the employments armed forces into both military and political operations. The Dao of warfare could also be generalized in the principle of the yin and yang and the balance between two opposites. Lao Tzu states that an army should be operated in an unusual way and that the state should be operated in a normal way. “To govern a kingdom, use righteousness, To conduct a war, use strategy” . The kingdom should be governed by a self-controlled man who knows the way of the Dao. In the warfare the yin and yang principle can be seen as qi the “unusual way” and zheng the “normal way” and are opposites widely used in military and political domains. Operation though both qi and zhen are necessary in order for the military to function both offensively and
Tao Te Ching was written around 600BCE and is the first written document about Taoism that exists. Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu, who was a contemporary of Confucius. They lived in the period known in China as the Spring and Autumn period. A period full of conflict and war, where China was struggling to hold all states together due to a weak central government. In this period many philosophers emerged coming up with ideas on how to keep China strong and undivided. According to the legend, Lao Tzu wrote Tao Te Ching to give his followers something to remember him by before he departed, giving up on the Chinese people mostly because their inability to learn. Tao Te Ching was written in a politically tough situation for China and much of the text is about the political and war culture. Tao Te Ching is not only about the philosophy of life but …show more content…
Even though he prefers not using arms or weapons, he still offers a strategy for the employments armed forces into both military and political operations. The Dao of warfare could also be generalized in the principle of the yin and yang and the balance between two opposites. Lao Tzu states that an army should be operated in an unusual way and that the state should be operated in a normal way. “To govern a kingdom, use righteousness, To conduct a war, use strategy” . The kingdom should be governed by a self-controlled man who knows the way of the Dao. In the warfare the yin and yang principle can be seen as qi the “unusual way” and zheng the “normal way” and are opposites widely used in military and political domains. Operation though both qi and zhen are necessary in order for the military to function both offensively and