The Role of Scholarly Elites in Chinese History - Coursework Example

Introduction Ancient China was characterized by many different dynasties that were led by various political and religious leaders. These leaders instilled their values and beliefs to the people they led and they ruled according to their own set of rules. Different dynasties would take over the region for many years and the people’s culture kept changing since different rulers had different ideologies. The political and cultural structure of the different dynasties was mainly moulded by scholarly elites. They contributed to the shaping of the culture and the entire Chinese history. They did this through their roles as active politicians in different dynasties, social reformers, philosophers and poets among other roles. The scholarly elites would compel people to practice certain things or to uphold new values for the society’s wellness. Some would also criticize the way some rulers were leading the Chinese dynasties and in most cases they would end up being the ambassadors of revolutionary changes in the political scene in ancient China. There are very many scholarly elites who lived in ancient China and their contributions to the history of China are still evident. This paper will focus on Lao Tzu, one of the most influential scholarly elite in the ancient China, who piloted the Chinese people to uphold the values of Taoism. Lao Tzu Lao Tzu means old master in Chinese. Lao Tzu was a religious philosopher in ancient China who lived among other popular philosophers like Confucius. One of his most popular writing is the Tao-Te-Ching. The writing contained principles on the way to live in harmony in a community. Lao Tzu was born in the 7th century in Louyang in China. His real name was Li Erh. He worked for the King of Zhou as the custodian in the archives. He had several other names given to him by various people and religious leaders for his extensive wisdom. His wisdom can be attributed to his extensive study of the writings in the archives. He had access to a vast number of scholarly writings. Lao Tzu was a mentor to many other philosophers who would frequently visit him to get his point of view on contentious issues. He would always give them his counsel and most of them took it. When he reached 80 years of age, Lao Tzu decided to leave the kings place and he set out for the desert, citing that the experiences he had with the people was depressing since they had refused to follow the path of goodness. On his journey to the desert, a guard stopped him and asked him to record his wisdom. He wrote a book on all his wisdom and it was named Tao Te Ching (Forbes & Hensley, 2012, p. 28). He then set out to the desert and that was the last time he was seen in China. Lao Tzu’s influence in China was felt after his death. His book of wisdom was used by leaders to shape the way of life of the Chinese people. Religious groups also started following his teachings on living in natural goodness after they read the book. His writing had so many quotes on how to live a harmonious life in the community. During his lifetime, Lao Tzu had only managed to motivate his fellow philosophers and religious leaders to uphold his teachings. After his departure from China, most of the philosophers popularized his teachings, especially his wisdom quotes. This influenced the development of Taoism, which is still practiced in China and other nations under the modern name, Daoism. His inspirational quotes are used as the people’s source of motivation and they live in humility as Tao Tzu advocated. Taoism has evolved over the centuries and it is a culture practiced by many people in China as their way of life in humility and naturalness. His life was spent in the presence of the best scholarly writings, which he thoroughly went through to gather enough wisdom to not only influence the lives of the Chinese people during his lifetime, but also after his death and many centuries later (kohn, 1998, p. 211). Roles played by Lao Tzu in shaping the history and Culture of China Lao Tzu’s greatest contribution to the Chinese history is his influence to the formation of the Taoism tradition among the people (Cane, 2006, p. 15). Lao Tzu urged people to live naturally without trying too hard to make things work in their life. He did not necessarily advocate for laziness but he was against people struggling to make things happen in their lives. He believed that if all people lived in a natural way whereby they would let nature take its course, then they would reach a state of social balance. The state of balance would ensure that everybody’s interests were naturally achieved. Lao Tzu advocated for the Chinese people to look for the easiest ways to get things done. According to him, this would lead to a harmonized society where everybody took everything easy. The Chinese people who practiced and those who still practice Taoism believe in doing things the easy way and they have developed a naturalist’s culture. Lao Tzu’s contribution to the political scene in the ancient China was felt in the 7th century when he became famous through other philosophers like Confucius. In his book of wisdom, Lao Tzu advocated for the political leaders to exercise a sense of emptiness when they were in power (Tzu, 2012, p. 10). By this he meant to tell them to be selfless and to strive for the goals of the people they served instead of following their personal goals in life. He wanted them to step in the society’s shoes and grant the people what they dreamt for. Many philosophers who came after Lao Tzu used his quotes and teachings to advocate for fairness from the people in power. Ancient Chinese rulers were very harsh and their rules were equal to dictatorship. This meant that most of the rules and regulations were drafted to work for their sole interests. In a place where those in power and the elders had the final say in everything in the society, it was easy for them to be biased. Lao Tzu was strongly against social discrimination; thus he advocated for the rulers to embrace selflessness. Most of them did and this influenced the culture of fairness that was evident in China’s history. In the ancient China, the pursuit of knowledge was one of the most important aspects of life by the people in the society. Knowledge was treated as power since most of the people who were in power were those who had extensive knowledge in different areas. Scholarly elites in China were respected and they lived very happy lives in which everybody around them looked up to them. Lao Tzu was against pride. He advocated for the acquisition of knowledge with ultimate humility. Throughout his life serving in the king’s library, he spent his time reading other philosopher’s writings. He noted that most of them wrote about their personal experiences and that for every time he read the writings, he would get a different message. He was aware that everybody would have a different translation of the writings; therefore, he advocated for people to learn through their own experiences instead or reading about other people’s experiences. Even in his book, most of what he wrote was quotes on life. Other Chinese philosophers who came after him followed his method and thereafter, Chinese literature was filled with life quotes and poems instead of personal experiences. He wanted people to communicate by actions and not aimless speech (Reynolds, 1969, p. 23). The formation of Taoism in China shaped China’s religious history. In the initial formation of the tradition, the followers practiced the philosophy of life that was left behind by LaoTzu. They just followed his teachings in their daily lives and later they became passionate in the tradition and it quickly transitioned to a form of religion. Taoism is among the oldest traditions that are still being practiced by the Chinese people and other people in the world. The beliefs of the people practicing Taoism are closely related to Buddhism and Confucianism (De Bary, Bloom & Alder, 2000, p. 112). Confucianism was developed by the Philosopher, Confucius who was greatly inspired by the wisdom of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu had a strong belief that all living things originated from a common life-force. He valued life of all forms, whether plants or animals. He believed that life force had both a dark side and a light side. The two sides had to balance for the life forms to be at a state of self wellness. This was represented in the yin-yang model, which the Taoism people still strongly believe in. Lao Tzu’s influence is still evident among the people following modern Daoism (Bockover, 2011, p. 140). In a long time in Chinese history, the people thought that bad things happening to their lives were caused by having too much of the dark side of the life force. Lao Tzu was against killing and he advocated for peace in the ancient China. Ancient China was involved in many conflicts with their neighbours for a very long time after his death, but they opted not to go to war since most of the people were practicing the Taoism tradition which was against killing. Lao Tzu was an ambassador of peace. Lao Tzu’s teachings spoke of simplicity in every aspect of life. Taoism was basically not governed by rules and regulations. Lao Tzu had advocated for people to be allowed to make their own decisions as they felt right for themselves. He believed that the government did not have to impose many laws on the people. This brought a conflict between the law and the followers of Taoism since they believed that the government was an obstacle to the naturalist culture. Taoism required people to be natural and free to make their own mistakes. It called for uniqueness, which government laws threatened, since with the many laws in the land, the people were forced to act in a similar way all through (Wertz, 2007, p. 251). During his lifetime in the king’s library, Lao Tzu did not write a single account of his life experiences nor his wisdom. He was against formal communication of his ideas since it would attract both fair and unfair criticism. He only communicated verbally to air his ideas and this he only did to those who sort for his counsel. He never went out to preach his ideas. Most of the philosophers who came after him like Confucius, followed suite and they rarely wrote anything about themselves. Their life experiences were written by other people who had been inspired by their way of life. It became a culture in the Chinese literature for the philosophers to be verbal communicators while those who closely followed their activities would write detailed accounts of the philosopher’s lives. The only exception was on poetry and quotes writing (Bockover, 2011, p. 143). In the Chinese culture, respect is a quality that all people should have for each other regardless of position and age. Lao Tzu worked in the king’s library all through his life. It is believed that the king and other leaders would regularly talk with him when they were faced with challenges to get his counsel. This means that Lao Tzu was one of the most influential people in the land and he was the mind behind most of the big decisions that were made by the king and the religious leaders. Despite the fact that he was a high profile individual back then, who even got visits from other philosophers for brainstorming purposes, Lao Tzu respected everyone equally. This, he manifested on his escape quest when he was stopped by a mare gatekeeper and he heeded to his request to write an account on his wisdom (Schipper, 2000, p. 35). Lao Tzu’s gesture to walk away from the kingdom to escape the tormenting life had a significant influence on the followers of Taoism. His followers developed a culture of isolating themselves when life challenges were too much to bear. Those who still practice the tradition regularly isolate themselves to meditate on their problems (Cheng, 2010, p. 3). Lao Tzu taught his followers never to try too hard to make things work. He taught them to take the easiest way out instead. He did not try to force anyone into living according to the values he advocated for. Many people did not take him seriously at the time but after he was gone, they read his book and they swiftly started living up to his values of life. Over the preceding centuries, he became one of the most famous philosophers in Chinese history. His book was translated and published by many other philosophers who attempted to phrase his quotes in a simpler language or in different languages like English and Greek among other translation versions. His book has been the most translated book in history after the bible. China is well known for its culture of engaging in martial arts. The art was developed way before the existence of Lao Tzu; however, after his influence to the formation of Taoism by his followers, the two became intertwined in beliefs. Those practicing various forms of martial arts started following the Taoism philosophy and the customs of the traditions are still being practiced by the Daoism culture (Wertz, 2007, p. 256). The martial arts practitioners are expected to follow some of the Taoism principles to the latter in order to progress in their ranks. Just like martial arts, Taoism has been a way of life for the Chinese people. Lao Tzu did not only contribute to the Chinese culture, religion and political scene, but he also made a great contribution to the Chinese literature. He gifted the Chinese literature with one of the books that was and is still the most translated book in the Chinese literature since then. He wrote only one short book that had his wise quotes. The book has been translated into English by very many people who find it very intriguing. The fact that all its translators come up with different contexts after rewriting it indicates that Lao Tzu wrote a very sophisticated book. His quotes were very complex and they can be translated in very many contexts. He managed to reveal his true meaning on why he was against formal learning. People have different points of view on everything; however, the book is still in use in modern China and the rest of the world. It tells a lot about the ancient China’s history (Tzu, Feng, English & Needleman, 1989, p. 10). Conclusion China has one of the most intriguing histories in the world. Ancient china was rich in culture diversity over the centuries. The political scene was also quite eventful in the ancient China. The scholarly elite were viewed as the change activist by the rest of the society and they assumed their self given roles to influence several changes in different areas during their lives. Lao Tzu was one of the scholarly elites whose contribution to the history and culture of ancient China was felt after his death. After he died, his followers spread his beliefs and values far and wide. They formed the Taoism tradition which was more of a religion and it is still practiced in the modern world. His only book, Tao Te Ching, was a great success and it has been attracting undivided attention from modern literature lovers due to its sophistication. They look into bringing out the original meaning of the book in different languages. Lao Tzu is a legend whose legacy will live with the Chinese people forever. Bibliography Bockover, MI 2011, ‘Daoism, Ethics, and Faith: The Invisible “Goodness of Life’, Journal of Daoist Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 139-153. Cane, EP 2006. Harmony: Radical Taoism Gently Applied, Trafford Publishing, Bloomington. Cheng, PLK 2010, ‘Managing Stress—Practicing the Taoism Principles to Reduce Stress’, Business Journal for Entrepreneurs, vol. 2010, no. 4, pp. 1-9. De Bary, WT, Bloom, I & Alder, J 2000, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, Columbia University Press, New York. Forbes, A &Henley, D 2012. The Illustrated Tao Te Ching, (Jamese Legge translation), Cognoscenti Books, Chiang Mai. Kohn, L 1998, Lao-Tzu and the Tao-Te-Ching, State University of New York Press, Albany. Reynolds, BK 1969, ‘Lao Tzu: Persuasion through Inaction and Non-Speaking’, Today’s Speech, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 23-25. Schipper, K 2000, ‘Taoism’, Humanities, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 35. Tzu, L 2012, Tao Te Ching, Simon & Brown, New York. Tzu, L, Feng, G, English, J & Needleman, J 1989, Tao Te Ching, Vintage, New York. Wertz, SK 2007, ‘The Five Flavors and Taoism: Lao Tzu’s Verse Twelve’, Asian Philosophy, vol. 17, no. 3, pp.251-261. Read More