• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.137
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• pp.357-381
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• 2016

${\ll}$Hua shu${\gg}$ is one of the Taoist scriptures written by Tan qiao, a taoist in the late Tang dynasty. The logical structure of his scriptures is very complicated, and its content is profound though it has few pages. To understand ${\ll}$Hua shu${\gg}$ precisely the key words which appear in the Taoism scriptures have been examined. The most important words are: 'Tao', 'Emptiness', 'Shape', and 'Variation'. Tan qiao tried to explain nature, human, and society changes by using these key words, and also asserted that humans can affect their change; we slow our aging, more or less; we prevent our society from its decay and make it stable, more or less. Tan qiao asserted the autonomous feature of humans in ${\ll}$Hua shu${\gg}$ which shows how man manages his own life rather than being stuck in his destiny. This goes the same for society. "One's destiny is not fixed but changeable through his efforts". In Taoism, humans are not beings who have no chance to make change other than living their given destinies but are autonomous. This is again what the Taoist Tan qiao wanted to make clear.