Daoism Essay

Daoism has had a great impact on the arts in China. Daoism is a combination of many things. Daoism observes nature, guidelines for living, exercises for health, and inner purity to name a few. These concepts are found greatly throughout Chinese art and poetry. Daoists prefer to portray their insights in images and parables. Daontoism tries to understand the movements of nature, promotes health through mediation, and contemplation of nature. Through this outlook on living harmonious with nature, it has allowed for inspiration in such things as poetry and painting.

Poetry was an important part of Daoism. The Daodejing is seen as one of the greatest books in the world. The title means the classical book about the Way and its power (Molloy Pg 211). This book has no clear order and lacks clarity and written more in poetry tune then literary. For example, “The Dao is low and receiving as a valley, soft and life-giving as water, and it is the “mysterious female,” the source of all life, the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things. Human beings should become weak and yielding as water that overcomes the hard and the strong and always takes the low ground; they should develop their male and female sides but “prefer femininity,” “feed on the mother,” and find within themselves the well that never runs dry” (Daoism). Through the way of a Daoist view point,
Painting the mountains in the distance, a person gazing far into the distance or even the use of empty space allows for the use of nature and mediation. Allowing ones’ self to wander into the beauty of nature or contemplate on life as they stare into the painting. Ma Yuan used this technique in his painting Walking the Mountain Path in Spring. The right side of the painting is mostly empty except for a small bird allowing for your mind to wander. Both poetry and art share the ability to allow your mind to mediate and get lost in the beauty of