Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/45

* TANTXJM ERGO. TAO KWANG. sung at benediction in the Roman Catholic Church. TANZIMAT, tUn-ze'mat (Ar. tanpmaf, pi. of tanxim, regulation, inf. of second form of nazama, to arrange in order). The or- ganic laws in accordance with which the ad- ministration of the TurUisli Kmpirc is in theory carr' "' on. They were tlie result of the reform niov..-e'nt introduced by Mahmud II. The or- ganic Iaw.s, known as the Itatti sherif of Gulhane, were promulgated on November 3, 1839, by Mah- nnid's son, Abdul Medjid ((|.v.) . soon after hii5 ac- cession. They established the equality of civil rights for all subjects, limited the power of the Government officials, guaranteed the free practice of religion, and introduced radical reforms in the administration of finance, justice, and the army. In 185r> the Sultan found it necessary to publish a new ordinance, in which the complete carry- ing out of the Tanzimat in all respects was commanded. Other attempts in 1868 and 1876 to make the Constitution eflfective were unsuc- cessful. Consult Engelhardt, La Turquie et le Tanzimat (Paris, 1882-84) . See Turkey. TAOISM, tii'6-ism (from Chin, tao, path, way, proper method, word, principle, reason). A religion in China which must have existed there since prehistoric times and has even at present a very strong hold upon the people. The term tao itself is clothed with a religious awe and always spoken of with great veneration, although it is frequently used in general literature in the sense of rationality, common sense, and sound judgment. The Taoists, called Tao-f!se, or teach- ers of the Tao, are a religious fraternity with temples, sacred books, and a definite ritual. Their most sacred book is "The Canon of Reason and Virtue" (Tao-teh-King), wTitten by Li Urh, com- monly called Lao-Tse (q.v. ). It is a short treatise of about five thousand characters, but full of profound wisdom and sound ethics. There must have been Taoism, however, before Lao-Tse, for he does not regard himself as the founder of a new faith, but quotes in his book many sayings of his predecessors and claims only to expound the obscure wisdom of the ancient sages. Apparently he refers to the popular traditional religion that existed at his time in China. The difference between Confucianism and Taoism corresponds to the respective characters of the two reformers. Confucius was an aspiring moral teacher and in the prime of life, while Lao- Tse was famed for his wisdom and about half a century the senior of Confucius. The ambition of Confucius was to educate the nation by teach- ing the people propriety, while Lao-Tse de- spised all externalities and ceremonies, insisting simply and solely on a reffcneration of the heart. The moral doctrines of Confuci.anism rest upon the recognition of authority under the name Hsiao (filial piety), establishing in matters of government the principle of paternalism, but Taoism condenms all interference with the natu- ral course of things and thus all statecraft, especially any and every rule by force, as con- trary to the Tao. and preaches boldly the maxim of laisser-faire. In a sense Confucianism re- mained victorious, for it became the officially recognized doctrine of China and the mandarins are all Confucian scholars. The two greatest disciples of Lao-Tse and the ablest expounders of Vol. XIX. —3. Taoism were Lieh-Tse and Chwang-Tse, the former of the fourth and the latter of the third centurv n.c. The one is more metaphysical and speculative, the other popular and witty. Espe- ciall.v Chwang-Tse is very severe on the 'literati,' and does not shrink from ridiculing their great master, Confucius. Taoist ethics are best repre- sented in the Knn-Yinq-P'ien, or "Book of Re- wards and Punishments," a prnduotion of the fifteenth century. It first came into prominence in the sixteenth century, when it was incorpo- rated in the Tao-Cliimrj. a coUecfion of Taoist scriptures. It contains 212 moral maxims illus- trated by stories and references to the history of the earlier Ming dJ^lasty (A.D. 1368-1644). The distribution of this book is deemed a reli- gious duty, and innumerable editions are pub- lished at the expense of pious Taoists. Among the great men who were professed Taoists, Chang-Liang (died B.C. 189) deserves special mention for the important part he plaved in history as a councilor of Liu Pang, the foimder of the Han dynasty. Taoist legends attribute to him supernatural wisdom and tell of him many marvelous occurrences. The word Taoism might be translated 'Ration- alism,' were it not for the m.ystic tendencies of its adherents. Lao-Tse, Lieh-Tse, and Chwang- Tse are sometimes obscure, but the.y remain as sober as the transcendentalists of the nineteenth century. All later Taoists, however, are mystics. Either they claim to be in possession of magic jiowers, or are engaged in alchemy and other occult studies. One of them, Shang-Tao-Ling, became the recognized leader of the Taoist fra- ternit.y. He was said to have compounded and swallowed the elixir of life, whereupon he as- cended visibly to heaven. He bequeathed his secrets to his descendants, thereby establishing an hereditary Taoist papacy. The head of the fraternity is regarded as the vice-gerent of God on earth and bears the title 'The Pearly Emperor of Heaven.' Through a host of priests and the great wealth at his dispo.sal, he exercises an im- mense power throughout China, which the Im- perial Government is bound to respect. The Taoist priests of to-day know very little of Lao-Tse. They attend to the spiritual needs of the people, which are not very high. They tell fortunes, determine lucky and imlucky days, and regulate popular feasts. For divination, they use the Kwa, a system of trigrams of broken and imbroken lines which are determined with Shih sticks (see Pak-Kwa), and for the determina- tion of days they use an astrological device, called lo-pan, or table of the net, because it resembles a cobweb, in which certain symbols are arranged in concentric circles Voiind a compass. Consult: Julien, Khan-Ing-Pien, Le Here des ri'^rompenses et des peincs (Paris, 1835) : id.," Lao-tseii-Tao-Te-Kwff, Le Uvre dc la voie et de la vertu (ib., 1842) ; Cams. Lao-tze's Tno-tch-Eing (Chicago. 1898) : Douglas, Confucianism and Taoism (London. 1879) ; Legge, Religions oj China (ib., 1881): id., "Texts of Taoism," in Miiller, Ffarred Boohs of the East, vols, xxxix., xl. (Oxford. 1891); Balfour, Taoist Texts. Ethical, Political, and Speculative (London, 1885) ; Har- lez. Tcxtrs Tnoistes (Paris, 1891); Rosny, Le TnoTsme (ib.. 1892). TAO KWANG, tou' kw-ing' (nSMS.'iO). The reign-title of Mien-ning, the sixth Emperor of