Wen Tzu

    Wen-Tzu

    The Wen-tzu, also known by the honorific title
    Understanding the Mysteries, is one of the great
    sourcebooks of Taoism

    Wen Tsu Understanding the Mysteries Lao Tzu

     In high antiquity, real people breathed yin and yang,
    and all living beings looked up to their virtue, thus
    harmonizing peacefully.

    Wen-Tzu Understanding the Mysteries

    The Wen-tzu, also known by the honorific title Understanding the Mysteries, is one of the great sourcebooks of Taoism, written more than two thousand years ago. Following the tradition of Lao-tzu (Lao Zi), Chuang-tzu, and the Huainan Masters, the Wen-tzu covers the whole range of classical Taoist thought and practice.

    According to Taoist tradition, the ancient sage Lao-tzu was not an isolated individual but a member of an esoteric circle. He is believed to have had several disciples, to each of whom he passed on a collection of ancient Taoist teachings. The book known as the Wen-tzu is one such collection, elaborating on the teachings of the Tao Te Ching in a series of discourses attributed to the ancient master Lao-tzu. The author of the Wen-tzu is supposed to have advised King P’ing of the Chou dynasty, who lived in the eighth century B.C.E. This is hundreds of years before Lao-tzu is believed to have lived, but this dating of the text is purely symbolic. It was during the reign of King P’ing that the reigning house of Chou divided and started to lose the last of its dynastic integrity. After King P’ing, the vassal states began to assert themselves and struggle for hegemony. The symbolic dating of the Wen-tzu therefore indicates that it addresses the needs and problems of an age of transition and uncertainty.

    The Wen-tzu proposes the possibility of freedom and dignity, for the individual and for humanity as a whole. But freedom and dignity are not without a price, not without responsibilities to the foundations of their very existence. In order to see what the bases of freedom and dignity are, the Wen-tzu guides the thinker through the elemental patterns and reasons underlying the natural order and its reflections in human needs and human behavior. The Way of Taoism is called simple and easy because it is not as complicated as a culture of manners and appearances, and it is not as hard as a culture of conflict and contentiousness.

    Lao-tzu said:

    Those who are successful without being humane or just are mistrusted, 
    while those who have erred but are humane and just are trusted. 
    Therefore humaneness and justice are constant norms for affairs, honored by the world.
    Even if strategy is appropriately calculated, 
    with concern for the relief of distress and plans for the survival of the nation, 
    if the affair is prosecuted without humanity and justice, it cannot succeed. 
    Even if advice is not appropriate for policy and plans do not benefit the country, 
    if the intention is in the national interest and accords with humanity and justice, one will survive. 
    Therefore it is said, 
    “If a hundred counsels and a hundred plans never hit the mark, it is better to give up one’s course of action and look into humanity and justice.

    (Understanding the Mysteries Lao-tzu Translated by Thomas Cleary)
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