Dao is the Way, Path, Truth, Reason, Symbol or the Moral Order
What is Dao?
Dao is the Way, Path, Truth, Reason, Symbol or the Moral Order. However, according to Laozi (老子), the Dao that can be named is not the eternal Dao. He also elaborated that a name that can be named is not the ultimate name. It is easy to understand, if we stand on one side of the road to see things on the other side of the road. Try this for size; once we assign a name for example to a cup, then everything that is not a cup, CANNOT be described as a cup.
Dao is The Way
Lu Ju said, Dao practitioners should cleanse the tainted heart. There is no scope for materialistic desires, self-interest, or emotions. Cultivating good deeds and virtues are the right way.
We are required to see things though our ‘heart’ and not merely from our eyes. The teachings of Dao will eventually encourage us to love and follow the nature while doing different things. Dong Zhong Shu elaborated the term “The unification of Tian (Heaven) and Ren (Human) (天人合一)” to manifest that natural movements of the celestial objects and formation of the earth are meant to provide humans with the means to live with harmony. For example the sun regularly rises at the same time to wake us up and provide living beings with the sunlight necessary for their existence, while the moon makes its appearance at the prescribed time to provide us the reason to rest at night. The sun will never rise from the west and set in the east, similarly moon will never do against its natural movement. The nature ordains that they will never be late or early from their set time. The ancient Chinese coined this as ‘trust’ and called this ‘The Dao of Heaven’ (天道,). Similarly humans and other living objects must not act against this Law of Heaven by destructing our environment (人道). The Dao of Human requires us to naturally replicate the heavenly law of Dao by ‘trust’.
