Revolution as Taught by Taoism

Abstract

The two indigenous systems of ethics and religion in China are Confucianism and Taoism. They are two of the religions of China; in fact the three are so closely interwoven that they together form the moral and spiritual substratum of the Chinese people. The recognized head of Confucianism is Confucius, and, with him, Mencius. The head of Taoism is Lao tsze. This remarkable spiritual headship was in the same period of China's long and distinguished history or some 2,400 years ago. Primarily both Confucianism and Taoism in their inherent greatness of thought and outlook existed before the time of Confucius and Lao tsze. They were not so much systems of religious faith, they were not so much religions, as they were current ideas, beliefs, practices, and principles. If China in those early days had any religion of her own-and she certainly had-it was an undivided whole. Ancient China knew no sectarianism and had no denominational differences. Moreover ethics and religion, politics and philosophy, things seen and things unseen, were all linked together. In a previous number of the International Journal of Ethics (January, I923), I discussed the bearings on revolution of the teachings of Confucianism. At this time I review what Taoism has to say concerning revolution. By making the two studies one can -form some idea of the general attitude of the Chinese people, first, to war in general, and then to internal war or rebellion and revolution. For the most part the Chinese make no great distinction between a rebel and a revolutionist. It is not until a result has been reached that a distinction takes place. If one fails in his schemes against the government, he is a rebel and is in danger of the death penalty; if he succeeds,