Daoism

QI and Karma

The fundamental premise of the Daoist view of crime and punishment is the total interconnectedness of everything. Every object, being, act, word, and thought consists of a cosmic life force known as qi, which affects everything else that exists. Qi moves at different speeds: Thick, slow moving qi appears as solid, material objects, and the body; fine, fast-moving qi manifests itself as spiritual entities and the mind. But there is only one qi; material reality and spiritual beings, the body and mind, are all made up of the same material. Qi is in constant motion and transformation, and manifests itself as one of two alternating phases, known as yin and yang. These represent different stages of energy (e.g., quiescent and active, falling and rising, closing and opening, shady and sunny, female and male) that are bound together and that rise and fall in mutual dependence.

Another way of expressing the complete integration of the Daoist world through qi is the concept of “impulse and response” (ganying): Whenever something happens on one plane of existence, there is an immediate echo on all other planes. Earthquakes, for example, or changes in the course of the planets, have matching events in human society and human bodies, just as political events are mirrored in natural and planetary omens or disasters. Because nothing ever happens without an effect on everything else, all crimes and evil actions—understood as forceful, harsh, or excessive qi—will sooner or later return to their originator.

The Daoist notion of cosmic connection was further enhanced by its adoption of the Buddhist doctrine of karma, which was incorporated into native Chinese thinking in the fifth century. Originally part of Hindu religion, this doctrine states that all actions are seeds, the fruits of which inevitably return to their origin. The soul, as carrier of this load, must continue in physical form in order to receive the rewards and punishments necessitated by its former actions. Thus the notion of rebirth, including that in nonhuman and hellish states, became a close correlate to the idea of a personally [Page 464]created and endured karma that could be neither worsened nor improved by the actions of others.

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