Dao Aesthetics

This chapter presents three specific Daoist approaches to aesthetics tidao 體道 (embodiment of Dao), hedao 合道 (alignment with Dao), and dedao 得道 (obtaining Dao) to illustrate that beauty is not a judgment on life but actually life itself, where living is aesthetification for its own sake. The central concerns and practices for Dao aesthetics are about generating and designing conditions for making life and livelihood delightful, meaningful, and significant. Taken as a whole, they manifest the quality of human existence and the meaning of aesthetic life, and also offer a conceptual framework through which Dao aesthetics can be apprehended and appreciated. When human life flows with Dao as the paramount way to become beautiful and sublime at all levels, a 造化 zaohua (creative transformation) of an aesthetic existence will take place.