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The painting The Vinegar Tasters illustrates how Taoism helps people live harmoniously with the world and shows why Hoff thinks it’s the best philosophy for humans to live by.
In “The How of Pooh?,” Hoff describes this painting, which shows the three principal ancient Chinese religious leaders—Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-tse—tasting vinegar. The vinegar represents life, and the men’s facial expressions represent their attitudes toward life. Confucius looks sour because he thinks that life is basically sour: he believes that the world is imperfect and people should strive for greater perfection by performing rituals and worshipping their ancestors. And Buddha looks bitter because he thinks that life is inherently full of suffering, and people should strive to escape that suffering by cutting their physical and emotional attachments to the world.
But Lao-tse is smiling because he believes that life is perfect just the way it is. Even if people don’t usually start out viewing the universe as perfect, they can learn to see its beauty and live happily within it. To do so, they have to understand its fundamental ways and patterns (or Tao). This understanding of Tao is what allows Lao-tse to enjoy the same vinegar that Confucius and Buddha find foul. Specifically, Lao-tse accepts the way the world is (or the way the vinegar tastes) instead of trying to deny, avoid, or change it (like Confucius and Buddha). In other words, while Confucianism and Buddhism teach people to struggle against the world and deny life, Taoism teaches them to work together with the world and affirms life. This is why Hoff thinks Taoism is a superior philosophy.
The Vinegar Tasters Quotes in The Tao of Pooh
The The Tao of Pooh quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Vinegar Tasters. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The How of Pooh?
Quotes
To Lao-tse (LAOdsuh), the harmony that naturally existed between heaven and earth from the very beginning could be found by anyone at any time, but not by following the rules of the Confucianists. As he stated in his Tao Te Ching (DAO DEH JEENG), the “Tao Virtue Book,” earth was in essence a reflection of heaven, run by the same law—not by the laws of men. These laws affected not only the spinning of distant planets, but the activities of the birds in the forest and the fish in the sea. According to Lao-tse, the more man interfered with the natural balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further away the harmony retreated into the distance. The more forcing, the more trouble.
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In the painting, why is Lao-tse smiling? After all, that vinegar that represents life must certainly have an unpleasant taste, as the expressions on the faces of the other two men indicate. But, through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others may perceive as negative into something positive. From the Taoist point of view, sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet. That is the message of The Vinegar Tasters.
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The Vinegar Tasters Symbol Timeline in The Tao of Pooh
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Vinegar Tasters appears in The Tao of Pooh. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The How of Pooh?
...calligraphy shop in a Chinese city, where the shopkeeper gives them a painted scroll of The Vinegar Tasters . The scroll shows the reactions of three men, Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-tse, after they...
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Finally, on the Vinegar Tasters scroll, Lao-tse is smiling. He thought that earth is in harmony with heaven, because it...
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...Hoff what all of this has to do with vinegar. Hoff explains that, in the Vinegar Tasters painting, vinegar represents life. Lao-tse is smiling because he has learned to live in harmony...
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