Taoism in ‘The World’s Religions’ by Huston Smith Essay

Mysticism, wisdom, and magic are woven into Taoism, creating a complex web of symbols and covert edifications. In his The World’s Religions, Huston Smith demystifies Taoist allegories and makes them comprehensible, giving a reader a chance to understand this teaching:

Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice. (Smith 210)

The passage cited by Smith is taken from Chapter 78 of the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power), which is the main source of Taoist teachings and one of the most outstanding achievements of Chinese philosophic endeavors. Although water is a natural phenomenon or an element of the environment does not evoke any inexplicable associations in those who are incognizant of Taoism, in this Chinese teaching, water is a much more meaningful concept (Smith 209). Further, Smith clarifies implicit meanings of water-related symbols in Taoism.

The first astonishment-provoking interpretation of water provided by the author is its equation with the Tao (Smith 209). Smith states that the Taoists consider water “the closest resemblance to Tao” (Smith 209). Indeed, water does not have its shape; it is flexible, fluid, and easily transformable, but it nourishes all living creatures and fills any space. Water possesses a tremendous power to destroy stones and turn them into pebbles (Smith 210). Indeed, I have noticed many times that the contemplation of water has unexplained magnetism and turns into an extremely absorbing occupation, inspiring to meditate. Thus, a person’s reflection on water helps to comprehend what is beyond things that are sensed, conceivable and eternally successive in their fluidity.

Another unexpected significance of water in Taoism is its similarity to wu wei (Smith 209). Smith emphasizes the erroneousness of interpretations of wu wei as “do-nothingness or inaction” (207). Wu wei serves as a mechanism by which the Tao generates the manifestations of Nature in the surrounding world. According to the definition provided by Smith, wu wei is creative quietude or “the supreme action, the precious suppleness, simplicity, and freedom that flows from us, or rather through us” (208). The clarity and purity of still water are also identified by Smith as a similarity to the concept of wu wei (210). Wu wei implies a person’s inner harmony and internal conditions under which actions occur freely and without effort, careful deliberation, or internal strife but in perfect correspondence with current demands. That is in line with the statement postulated in the Tao Te Ching as follows: work without working (Smith 210).

Having scrutinized Smith’s explanations of wu wei, I realized that any unexpected factors, either external or self-initiated, that exert influences on our life enforce us to take actions that bring us back to our road. In this particular meaning, a road is the equivalent of life goals. Consequently, when we make a decision on any change, we must carefully consider the possible impacts of subsequent actions and responses on our self-development and our road.

Summing up, everyone who gets interested in China inevitably encounters philosophical and religious doctrines that permeate its culture and guide Chinese social phenomena. The comprehension of Chinese teachings is not an easy task. Taoism, in particular, involves its special terminology and symbolic language, whose true meaning is difficult to understand without deep immersion in the essence of the teaching.

Work Cited

Smith, Huston. The World’s Religions. HarperCollins, 1991.