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Lao Tse
Path: PhilosophyAndGo   · Prev: GoAndEthics   · Next: SevenDeadlySins
    Keywords: Culture & History

The Tao Te Ching, "the book of flow and harmony", is the fundamental text of Taoism. Its origins lost in the revolutions of Chinese history, it is known to pre-date the invention of paper. In fact its form exhibits many of the features of an oral tradition, suggesting it may pre-date writing as well. The unknown author of the Tao Te Ching is popularly known as Lao Tse, which is both "the old philosopher" and "the old philosophy". Hence Lao Tse is also a title for the book.

Many myths, religions, cults, yogas, and martial disciplines have sprung up around Lao Tse. The poem's parallels with the Bhagavad Gita, its implicit opposition to Confucian thought, its relationship with Chuang Tse and Sun Tsu, and its distinction from the discipline of Zen are subjects of some controversy. As a thread connecting human endeavors over thousands of years, there appears no proper historical context for interpretation of the work.

Nevertheless, there are good reasons to think of Lao Tse in the context of Go. The work's emphases on impartiality, compassion, harmony and acceptance find frequent echo in fine Go play.

Peter Merel's English rendition of LaoTse is online at [ext] http://home.san.rr.com/merel/gnl.html. There are many others online as well, but this one has the advantage of being Open Content.


In Pinyin it's Lao Zi and the Dao De Jing.

The correct Pinyin spelling is Lao Zi, but this makes me think of 'lousy' so I like the old way better. Whoever decided that z should be pronounced 'ts' is crazy. But I really love 'his' book. ('He' is in quotes because some doubt his very existence. If he is imaginary, where did the book come from?) -- Craig Daniel

gimpf: 'z' equal 'ts' in German - nevertheless, PinYin is something quite strange for everybody I think...


I'm not sure I agree that Taoism has any application in the game of Go. The most fundamental tenant of Taoism is that the best way to approach life is to be like an "uncarved block", to be what is fundamental to your existence, to follow the flow of life the way a cork will be thrown up and down by a churning river but will still manage its way downstream along the surface. In those arts associated with Taoism philosophy (calligraphy, flower and and furniture arrangement, Tai Chi), there may be some emphasis on study, but the ultimate act of creation depends on something instinctual and basic. Maybe in the opening game, you can act on this level, the way jazz players feel their way through a solo. Like most other games, instinct in Go may play a large role in helping determine what the best move is, but I do not know any Go players who never bother to read ahead, relying solely on their intuitions.

No! Go is a game of destruction, negotiation, suffocation, headaches from thinking, pattern-recognition, escapes, sacrifice, reinforcement. It is a game of fear, attack, cleverness, second-guessing your opponent. Go is a game of war, and if war can be well-described in terms of Taoist philosophy, then maybe I need to study Taoism a little bit more.

If one wishes to draw some sort of philosophical parallel that comes from East Asia, I suggest looking at the Art Of War.

As an aside: what philosophy is associated with Western chess? Hegellian synthesis? Thomas Aquinas' writings? Ultimately, consider the possiblity that Go is just a game. Maybe you can learn a few lessons of how to live life from Go, and, more likely, you can learn lessons of how to wage war, but trying to get a deeper understanding of Go by reading Taoist texts makes as much sense as trying to learn Western Chess by reading the Bible.

-- Ron Lee (only 20kyu, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.)

Scartol: Actually, I think the Bible may hold some answers for the outsider seeking to understand chess; the bishop moves in a crooked pattern, the king is the most valuable piece on the board and the holy ghost (aka the queen) works hard to be everywhere at once.

Okay, that's pushing it. Actually, since chess probably also comes from Asia, I don't know that the analogy applies. As I rambled on about in Philosophy of Go, I think Go embodies a mindset of perspective that doesn't fit concisely into the binary pigeonholes that many western minds (and philosophies) would like it to.

Therefore, I consider Go to be much like bowling, one of the most Taoist activities I've ever encountered (see "The Big Lebowski" for more details) -- all that must be done is to knock over the pins. Then the question is: how does one do so? And I don't believe the answer is ever the same for any two people. Thus the Tao of Go.

TimBrent: Scartol, the original version of Chess was very different, closer in fact to xiangqi than to chess of today, in that the elephant (Bishop) moved in a one space diagonal jump, the vizier / firzan (Queen) only moved one space diagonally, much like the elephant and mandarin in xiangqi. Go is of course very organic and even today in all likelyhood, the same game as it was 3000 years ago. (age disputed, see Go History)

See also The Zen Way to Go.



Path: PhilosophyAndGo   · Prev: GoAndEthics   · Next: SevenDeadlySins
This is a copy of the living page "Lao Tse" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.