Daoist Beliefs and Traditions

To appreciate and understand the Daoist (also, Taoist) perspectives on death and dying, it is first important to grasp what may be called the cosmological vision presented in Daoism. Life and death are seen as elements in a greater, cosmological whole, a whole patterned by “the Dao,” the overarching sacred term for ultimate reality. This is an [Page 255]ever-changing and interrelated whole with neither beginning nor end, within which we find ourselves, as does every other creature, great and small, in the middle: the heights above never end, no matter where or who we are, and the depths likewise have no limit. The Daoist learns to move within this whole as an integral and intimate part, living without care to alter what is seen to be a truly marvelous and beautiful cosmos, and so lives well and long. Death is as beautiful and welcome as any other part of this integral whole, this cosmos patterned by “Dao,” and so to appreciate that fact, it is to Dao that we first turn.

Although it is now considered merely a legend that the most famous of all Daoists, Laozi (also known as Lao-tzu), on approaching a border gatekeeper, was asked about the meaning of the great and mysterious Dao, the first line of his equally famous text, the Daodejing (also, Tao Te Ching), makes a most appropriate response to such a query. For the opening line of the Daodejing sounds much like a disclaimer for all that follows, as well as a profound statement of Daoist philosophy. He said, quite simply: Dao ke dao, fei chang dao. This opening line to a text that ironically goes on for another 5,000 words is usually translated along these lines: “The Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way.” However, given the many meanings of the word “Dao” and with considerations to the structure of the Chinese language, it might be better to read this disclaimer as: “The Dao that can be Dao-ed is not the constant Dao.” What does this mean? As a disclaimer, it means that when asked to define Dao, Laozi simply responded that there is no adequate response to that question. Dao, as the “way” of all things, is beyond any description conceivable. Likewise, it is beyond any pointing, practicing, instruction, teaching, learning, or activity, even beyond the mere lack of such attempts. And any such attempt to comprehend Dao, to manifest it in whatever shape or form imaginable, will not and cannot come close to the Dao that is “constant,” or the Dao as what endures. The Dao, in its essence and its truest form, cannot itself be “Dao-ed,” that is, set before us as defined.

Yet Dao is also called by Laozi the “mother” of all things, meaning that all that exists arises out of Dao and will eventually also return back into Dao. Thus, no matter how “beyond” Dao is in its deepest essence, it is also most intimate to all that lives as well as all that dies. Dao is not a transcendent power or deity that lords over creation. Rather, Dao is the fertile ground out of which all arises, as well as that ground into which all must pass once again, without ever having left its embrace. The word itself, an ideogram, is composed of the word for a human head together with a word meaning “to proceed, to go forward,” this second component looking much like a human foot. So the word embodies both a verbal and a nominal sense, and one can see both movement and direction within the word, especially evident insofar as an “eye” is part of the word meaning “human head.” Dao is thus not only “the” Way, as a designated path or roadway, but also “going” on a way, making for some direction. In the ultimate sense, Dao cannot thus be itself “Dao-ed,” for it is the Way of all things, the intelligent movement that infuses and guides all existence so inherently, so intimately that it cannot be brought before our eyes. But at the same time, Dao shows traces in this world of phenomenal existence because all of nature is itself, one could say, Dao-ed. This raises an interesting possibility, one that is at the heart of understanding the Daoist approaches to both life and death. Laozi made it quite clear that the Dao that can be Dao-ed is not the constant Dao, but what of the Dao that can be Dao-ed?

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