ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on East Asian approach to leadership and two philosophical traditions, Confucianism and Taoism. Confucius's teachings are considered to be ethical rather than explicitly religious, although there are some later incarnations of Confucian thought that are more religious in tone. In contrast to Confucianism's emphasis on social order, the chapter now turn to the teachings of Lao Tzu and Taoism. Both philosophical systems seek human perfection and social harmony; but whereas Confucianism attempts to reach the goals through an elaborate code of social conduct, Taoism attempts to reach the goals through acting with the natural order of the universe, what Taoists call the Tao. Taoists express the idea of living with this natural harmony of the Tao as wu wei. The notion of wu wei is so foundational to Taoist thought that a famous Taoist scholar argues that the concept of complying with nature through non-action must be taken as the very essence of the Tao Te Ching.
