Straw dogs or grass dogs (), figures of dogs made out of
straw
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...
, were used as ceremonial objects in ancient China, as a substitute for the
sacrifice of living dogs.
has been used figuratively to refer to anything discarded after use.
Use as a metaphor
''Tao Te Ching''
Chapter 5 of the ''
Tao Te Ching
The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated por ...
'' makes use of the phrase () to compare living beings to straw dogs. This metaphor is used to explain the non-humanity ( ) of Heaven and Earth:
However, some translators prefer to interpret this phrase as two separate words, "straw" () ''and'' "dogs" (), rather than together, as "straw dogs" ().
This verse is usually interpreted as an expression of the
Taoist
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
rejection of the principle of
(), one of the
Five Constant Virtues in
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
, variously translated as "humanity", "benevolence", "partiality", or "kind acts".
Su Zhe
Su Zhe (; 1039–1112), or Su Che, courtesy names Ziyou and Tongshu , was a Chinese essayist, historian, poet, and politician from Meishan, located in modern-day Sichuan Province, China.
Su was highly honored as a politician and essayist in th ...
's commentary on the verse explains: "Heaven and Earth are not partial. They do not kill living things out of cruelty or give them birth out of kindness. We do the same when we make straw dogs to use in sacrifices. We dress them up and put them on the altar, but not because we love them. And when the ceremony is over, we throw them into the street, but not because we hate them."
''Zhuangzi''
Another Taoist text, the
''Zhuangzi'' provides a more detailed description for the treatment of the straw dogs in its 14th chapter, "The Turnings of Heaven":
[In Chinese: 夫芻狗之未陳也，盛以篋衍，巾以文繡，尸祝齊戒以將之；及其已陳也，行者踐其首脊，蘇者取而爨之而已。]
The image of the straw dogs is again used to criticise Confucianism, as the Zhuangzi goes on to compare
Confucius
Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
, in his insistence upon the ancient rites, to a fool who attempts to reconstitute the trampled straw dogs, "replace them in the box or basket", and "wrap them up with embroidered cloths".
See also
*
Paper tiger
"Paper tiger" is a calque of the Chinese phrase ''zhǐlǎohǔ'' ( zh, s=纸老虎, t=紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand ch ...
*
Stone lion
Notes
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References
Chinese culture