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
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.
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.
The Vinegar Tasters Symbol Timeline in The Tao of Pooh
