Uses of Exoteric and Esoteric

From philosophical to religious practices that fall under the Taoist tradition, there have been many shifts between esoteric and exoteric ways of thinking. These shifts have been expressed through the rituals, traditions and practices of each movement. By closely examining the uniqueness of each Taoist tradition, one can develop a greater understanding of how and why it can be considered more esoteric or exoteric. To begin, consider the Tao Te Ching. This collaboration of sayings constitutes the primary text of the philosophical aspect of Taoism.

The Tao Te Ching is a collaboration of aphorisms, and previously existing publicly circulating sayings. Even though it is historically considered true that there were many authors responsible for this work, the work attributes authorship to the divine figure, Lao Tzu. Due to the fact that the Tao Te Ching consists of commonly held and spoken beliefs, it could at first glance be considered an exoteric work. A closer look at the content and messages from the chapters of the text, however, will show that the Tao Te Ching in fact has both exoteric and esoteric elements.

To contrast the quest for transcendence movement of Taoism, the Celestial Master tradition of Taoism was highly exoteric. The key ritual that illustrates the exoteric nature of this tradition is illustrated in the ritual known as Petitioning. This was meant to evoke a characteristic understanding between people and gods. In the ritual, the gods are like bureaucrats. Celestial Master priests represent a family that is having problems in their life because of something having gone wrong with their dead relatives. They present sepulchral plaints, or lawsuits against the dead, to the gods, with the aid of a petition that lists the possible causes of the problem with the dead.

The scriptures were passed on from Yang Xi to Tao Hongjing, and later to his disciple, Zhou Zilliang. In addition to receiving these scriptures, Zilliang received a “summons” directly from the celestial deities, which included instructions on how to prepare for an automatic position of power in the celestial hierarchy. Through his and Hongjing’s journals, we can trace his life leading up to the drinking of an elixir that supposedly gave him immortality. This movement never really caught on, except on the sacred mountains where these scriptures’ practices were praised. This is perhaps due to the fact that it was so extremely restricted in regards to who was allowed access to the scriptures, and in the fact that the deities were so restrictive with what people they talked to. These practices, as they are similar to the quest for transcendence in some respects, are in fact even more esoteric in nature, and represent an extreme shift from the exoteric Celestial Master tradition.

Another reason to consider the Tao Te Ching as an exoteric work, or at least that it functions as an exoteric work, is to look at how widespread its modern western translations are. It has been said that “it is a commonplace that the Tao Te Ching is the most frequently translated book with the possible exception of the New Testament (Bradbury 31).”5 It does not seem likely that this book could be so widely publicized if at least some of its meanings were not intended to be so open to interpretation. The fact that the Tao Te Ching has made its way to Western civilization, has been found written on silk in the tombs of important people from ancient China, and has been so widely publicized seems to provide at least empirical support for the notion that the work is exoteric. In reality, however, the widespread interpretation and use of the book only provides retrospective evidence to show that is has functioned as an exoteric work at some time or another. The original authors were the only ones who actually were aware of the true intention of these passages.

Uncovering the originally intended meaning of the Tao Te Ching aphorisms, by way of a detailed historical inquiry, would involve tracing the etiology of each of the chapters as they have been translated and re-translated throughout the years, hopefully to a point where we could isolate one author for each passage. From there, we could hypothesize about how their social and cultural environment had influenced their beliefs, and see if the meaning attached to it today were consistent with the original. Such a task might change the modern interpretation of the aphorisms, and give further insight as to their original intended readership. While retrospective data suggest that the Tao Te Ching has functioned as a highly exoteric work at different times, the original intention of the work cannot be inferred merely from these data. By considering these data in conjunction with the passages previously highlighted, however, I think it is clear that the Tao Te Ching contains a mixture of exoteric and esoteric messages, designed to inform and enlighten would be rulers and the general public.

These aspects of community and social relations that are characteristic in the Celestial Master tradition add a

Some topics in this essay:
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