They were very poor and oftentimes the man was unable to earn enough to buy their food. This last name is most numerous in China, where it is borne by 2,898,292 people, or 1 in 472. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. De (德 "power; virtue; integrity") is the term generally used to refer to proper adherence to the Tao; De is the active living or cultivation of the way. The Tao Te Ching is a series of poems that can be considered to be a work of philosophy, a treatise on how to run a government, a how-to book for achieving a balanced life, or a sages reflection of humanity and the universe. Shao Yong regarded the Dao as the origin of heaven, earth, and everything within them. Tao is difficult to define because it is, by definition, beyond human understanding. Ceiling in 10,000 Buddhas temple in Hong Kong. The most useful words to stimulate an idea of the Tao are found in the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The Tao T'i Lun is an eighth century exegesis of the Tao Te Ching, written from a well-educated and religious viewpoint, that represents the traditional scholarly perspective. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The term dao 道 is analyzable in terms of Chinese characters, alternate dào "way" or dǎo "guide" pronunciations and meanings, a possible Proto-Indo-European etymology, and loanwords such as English Dao or dao. the art of ruling. "[28], These Confucian Analects citations of dao verbally meaning "to guide; to lead" are: "The Master said, 'In guiding a state of a thousand chariots, approach your duties with reverence and be trustworthy in what you say" and "The Master said, 'Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame." [verb] ① say; speak; talk (introducing direct quote, novel style) … ② think; suppose ◆B.F. They do not describe its reality. This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 14:47. The origin of Tao is Chinese. ‘The classic Tao-te-Ching or ' Book of the Way and its Virtue ', attributed to Lao-tzu, sets out the principles for leading this higher life.’ Dao, (Chinese: “way,” “road,” “path,” “course,” “speech,” or “method”) the fundamental concept of Chinese philosophy. 2dào 道 N. [noun] road; path ◆M. Which existed before Heaven and Earth. Thus, the religious life is not an elite or special journey for Neo-Confucians. Confucianism was largely a moral system emphasizing the values of humaneness, righteousness, and filial duty, and so conceived De in terms of obedience to rigorously defined and codified social rules. Tao is generally used as a boy's name. The surname Tao is predominantly found in Asia, where 98 percent of Tao are found; 97 percent are found in East Asia and 96 percent are found in Sino-East Asia. Like water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous. [14], The Tao is what gives Taoism its English name, in both its philosophical and religious forms. I do not know its name; I call it Tao. What is impo… Apparently written as a guide for rulers, it defined the Tao, or way, and established the philosophical basis of Taoism. Victor H. Mair proposes a Proto-Indo-European etymology for dao 道, supported by numerous cognates in Indo-European languages, and semantically similar Arabic and Hebrew words. Bronze scripts for dao 道 occasionally include an element of shou 手 "hand" or cun 寸 "thumb; hand", which occurs in dao 導 "lead". Dao is graphically distinguished between its earliest nominal meaning of dao 道 "way; road; path;" and the later verbal sense of "say". It is often translated as the "way" or "path" - or the way of all things. It is the way of nature. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. Taoists took a broader, more naturalistic/metaphysical view on the relationship between humankind and the Universe, and considered social rules to be at best a derivative reflection of the natural and spontaneous interactions between people, and at worst calcified structure that inhibited naturalness and created conflict. 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