early Confucian philosophers argued through public moral commitment to ensure stability at all levels of society but in the same century other philosophers contended that individuals should not try to confront greed disorder and violence in the world instead they should withdraw from society and live quietly and peacefully in harmony with the universe this philosophy was somewhat similar to the philosophy of stoicism in Greece people should seek to be one with the dow or the wave the dow was the invisible indefinable transcendent principle underlying reality like Confucianism Daoism is not a religion but a set of ideas and teachings about the best way to live Taoism probably has its roots in ancient Chinese ideas about ancestral spirits and nature spirits the earliest Taoist Scripture dates from at least the 4th century BCE and is associated with the name lousy human discriminations were human distinctions or we might even say human judgments such as law moral codes aesthetics that is telling what's beautiful and what's ugly as well as telling good from evil all of that creates problems for humans and so a person following the dao should stop trying to order their life according to man-made distinctions in other words stop trying to say what's good and bad or what's beautiful or ugly and definitely stop imposing that on other people the Dow says that the best thing a person can do is to untangle the knots of life to blunt the sharp edges and to reduce pain in other words make your life as peaceful and as easy as possible and make it Pleasant don't create trouble or problems where there are none missus best done according to the Dow by acting naturally and not willfully trying to oppose or change reality so the Dow says it's best not to try to control anything in accordance with human distinctions or human judgments all phenomena in the universe exist in relationship to one another including forces that seem to be opposite and this is where the concept of yin and yang comes from human efforts to organize regulate control and change the world rather than accepting the eternal flow of the dow immediately leads to mayhem and confusion according to Taoist philosophers Taoism promoted harmony and unity with nature and Taoism also encouraged people to live calmly and peacefully Taoist philosophers argued that intervening in life's events causes conflicts and destruction and people should therefore limit their interference and only do what is required yin and yang is very important in Taoism and it's the concept that opposites fit together and depend on each other for harmony opposites like darkness and light life and death and even goodness and evil according to the dao there's no point in trying to get rid of evil in the world evil is a reality which exists alongside with goodness in Taoist philosophy the best virtue is seen as being true to oneself instead of satisfying the standards that are set by others [Music] Taoist masters criticized confusions for their vain struggle to organize and manage society Confucians on the other hand accused Daoists of ignoring social responsibility but even though the two philosophies had opposite approaches to just about everything it's important to remember that there wasn't any animosity between Daoists and Confucians there was never a great clash of the two philosophies even though they disagreed in the Han era especially these different kinds of thought were both part of Chinese cultural life overlapping and blending in very interesting ways for example the most dedicated Confucian magistrate might engage in Taoist meditation and study at home when he was not a job [Music]