A Study On The Oriental Faminism Thought
Feminism Thoughts in Primordial Taoism : Lao-tzu's Wu[無; nothing] and Femininity and Power of Women
Lim, Chae-Woo (Kwangwoon Univ. Research Professor)
There is a preconception such that patriarchism an ...
A Study On The Oriental Faminism Thought
Feminism Thoughts in Primordial Taoism : Lao-tzu's Wu[無; nothing] and Femininity and Power of Women
Lim, Chae-Woo (Kwangwoon Univ. Research Professor)
There is a preconception such that patriarchism and authoritarianism define Oriental society, because the ethos of the patriarchal system is generally emphasized. However, Lao-tzu's Thoughts which actually had adopted femininity as the philosophical principle, demonstrate a perspective on women and feminism that should importantly be understood in a different context from what is being proposed.
Lao-tzu compared characteristics and operations of Tao, borrowing feminine images. Moreover, he considered women as the generating operational force of Nature and intrinsic to the essense of Tao, itself. Additionally, he talked about reality effects in that feminine virtues such as ladylikeness and humbleness, finally can gain supremacy over active and strong mens power. The feminism in Lao-tzu's Thoughts, which contains the oldest primitive religion, had developed more the fundamental thoughts than social norms theory in the Right Name Theory of Confucianism and can be considered as reflection and criticism of the male-dominant and mundane society of those days. Focusing on the feminist perspective of Lao-tzu, we can have a new perspective on understanding oriental cultures beyond an out-of-date viewpoint like Confucian patriarchism and authoritarianism.
It is interesting to compare Lao-tzu's Thoughts with new argument about the body, and deconstruction of reason-centralism, criticizing established male-chauvinist thoughts, nowadays. Besides this point, Lao-tzu's Thoughts need to be accepted as an older and more philosophical idea than Occidental feminism. And also, Lao-tzu's Thoughts should be researched as meaningful feminism which complies with Korean feeling as an archetype of Oriental thoughts.
Lim, Chae-Woo (Kwangwoon Univ. Research Professor)
키워드 : Tao, Wu[無], Femininity, Maternity, Non-Action[無爲], Nameless[無名]
Feminism in Taoism
Lim, Chae-Woo (Kwangwoon Univ. Research Professor)
A lot of goddesses especially appear in myths and legends of Taoism. Even though it is a metaphor to establish elixirs, kan-li-intercourse(坎離交媾) and male-pregnancy (男兒懷孕) thoughts, which are major disciplines of Taoism, pay regard to women through equal harmony among men and women, and maternalizing of men. Such an esteem consciousness is totally different from patriarchism of Confucianism. In addition, the existence of a great number of disciplinants who had displayed numerous activities indeed in the history of Taoism proves that the view of womanhood was not just a metaphor, which is in order to explain disciplines. Gender equality is admitted in Taoism best among three great oriental religions - Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
Taoism succeeded to the tradition of respect for women, which came from goddesses and female shamans in antiquity and to Yin-oriented(主陰) thoughts or the tradition of women worship in Lao-tzu thoughts. This is why it seems that the view of womanhood in Taoism does not just mean a symbol for harmony of Yin-Yang. In conclusion, it can be insisted that Taoism has preserved and inherited the tradition of respect for women and feminism through its disciplines and practices systems since antiquity, unlike Confucianism and Buddhism.
키워드 : goddess, female-mmortal(女仙) female shamans, kan-li-intercourse(坎離交媾), malei-pregnancy(男兒懷孕), elixer(丹), Yin-Yang(陰陽)