Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation split into sections Taoism as it addresses Ecological Issues Taoism Taoism, the religion of China, sees both an order to nature, but also a way “to transcend nature through nature, and thereby to gain immortality.” [1] In Taoism, the Tao is both the principle, but also the way to the principle. The Tao is that identification of the inner essence of nature which gives it vitality but which also has consciousness and meaning. Apprehension of the Tao at once brings connection of the Tao, and then the Tao informs a way of being which is in harmony with itself and nature. Yet a Taoist would assert that the Tao, like the Christian Logos, is still more and never quite accessible to language. Chu’u Ta-Kao, a Taoist teacher, writes in the introduction to his translation of the Tao Te-ching that the meaning of the Tao is simply beyond expression. The Tao which can be expressed is not the eternal Tao The name which can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth; Existence is the mother of all things. [2] Taoism emphasizes that the harmony and order of nature does not come from an imposition from without, but issues from the inner nature of things that exist and function by virtue of the Tao. This harmony and order of the world shapes human behavior. It says that “naturalness” is the means to regain the harmony that pervades all things. This naturalness, when meditated upon, allows the essential energies to be discerned. This opens up an understanding of moving in harmony with life, creation and the energies which pervade all things. Long ago the Taoist sage, Chuang Tzu, forewarned that when man works like a machine, his heart will become like a machine, and he will lose his simplicity. [3] Taoism reflects an attitude toward material possessions that is similar to the Christian view, although expressed in the contrasts or ironies for which the Chinese language is better adapted than English. The following passage from the Tao Te-ching emphasizes that the artificial cultivation of desires leads to despair, frustration and unhappiness. No lure is greater than to possess what others want. No disaster greater than not to be content with what one has. No pressage of evil greater than that men should be wanting to get more. Truly, he who has once known the contentment that comes simply through being content, will never again be otherwise than contented. [4] According to ancient Taoist teachings, our natural state is one of few desires. When our desires are unnaturally increased, phychic and physical imbalances result with a further result of numerous self-created problems. Yet we know that our desires are purposely inflamed by the arts and advertising in modern civilization. Our economy, fueled by a “more is better” mentality, makes no sense from a Taoist point of view, because it is out of harmony with nature. The only thing in nature that grows nonstop are cancer cells. [5] Responsibility for creation, in Taoism, then is also responsibility for a right heart and a right attitude toward things. This requires a right attitude and relation to heaven as everything is understood to be connected. Taoism is also like Zen Buddhism in that both seek a poetic relationship between man and land in which the land nurtures man and man carefully tends the land, and apprehends in it the sacred nature ("Buddha-nature" or " chi") that indwells within all things. Generally, while stewardship can be discerned in the religious traditions of the Far East, they do not contain a clear sense of personal responsibility for the world as something separate from the body of all other religious responsibilities. [1] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “The Far Eastern Traditions on the Order of Nature: Taoism” in Religion and the Order of Nature , Oxford University Press, London, 1996, p. 40 [2] Original Introduction, Tao Te-ching, translation by Chu’u Ta-Kao, Unwin paperback, London, 1982, p. 17 [3] Hwa Yol Jung, "Ecology, Zen and Western Religious Thought," The Christian Century magazine, Nov. 15, 1972, Pg. 1153. [4] Tao Te-Ching, op cit., p. 119 [5] Ronald Epstein, “Pollution and the Environment: Some Radically New Ancient Views from Taoism,” Dharma Realm Buddhist University Public Lecture series, Talmadge, California, May 19, 1992, p. 1.