Taoist principles of Non-contention

Essay by GRabney March 2003

download word file, 5 pages 5.0

Downloaded 74 times

The Taoist principles of Non-contention are quite simple, Taoist beliefs are that you don't participate in argument or strife. The Tao itself does not judge, it does not condemn and it does not punish, therefore, it cannot be contentious.

Think of the vast amount of whirling energy that is contained in an effortlessly revolving merry-go-round. When you go along with the flow or direction as the Tao suggests, you derive great impetus, like having the wind against your back or filling your sail. However if you try to go against it, you expend great energy and tire without ever reaching your goal. As Lao Tzu says, "whatever goest against the Tao comes to an early end. This is not a punishment or a judgement, It simply is the way things are. Spit into the wind and you receive it back into your face. Simple, natural."

Putting this theory in action then, the Tao teaches that Non-contention is the only path.

Everything which happens is of your own action or doing. Thus any conflict is of your own making. In yielding strength and can be found to overcome even the worst tribulations. Not yielding to a mush, weak kind of softness, but a resilient, decisive softness, much like the spring softness of the bamboo which bends and springs back in contrast to the hard and stiff oak which is blown down in a hard wind. The Taoist is always aware of that which can survive and prosper without being damaged.

In nature, it is that which gives which is the strongest. Air and water cannot be cut or clutched and their flow ceases when they are enclosed, but a stream or wind will eventually cut through even the hardest materials.

Another aspect of non-contention is the believe that a force tends...