The Natural Way of Farming

Masanobu is a rare individual to have devoted over 50 years to farming as a spiritual path. Even rarer in this age of fragmented specialization is his grasp on the interrelatedness of all aspects of human society and nature. Acclaimed as a modern-day "Lao Tzu" by fellow Japanese for his paradoxical wisdom.

Born in a small farming village on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan in 1914, Masanobu Fukuoka was trained in microbiology as a plant pathologist. His command of this newly introduced Western science soon won him what promised to be a steady, if uneventful career as an agriculture customs inspector running tests on incoming and outgoing plants at the port of Yokohama. Then suddenly, at only twenty-five, doubts set in. He started to question everything he had learned about the "wonders of modern agriculture science," and in a dawning of vision he came to see that all the "accomplishments" of human civilization are meaningless before the totality of nature. From that moment on, his life has been dedicated to fulfilling the promise of that vision; bringing it into ever greater, more immediate focus.

Since the publication of his best-selling introductory work, One-Straw Revolution, he has accepted invitations to visit the United States in 1978, Europe in 1981, and Africa in 1985, where he lectured and made a tour of organic farms, but he prefers to stay close by his fields.

Natural farming is based on a nature free of human meddling and intervention.

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Lao Tzu

Laozi (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ , or Lao Tzu) was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, and is a central figure in Taoism (also spelled "Daoism"). Laozi literally means "old master", and is generally considered honorific. Laozi is revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoism. Taishang Laojun is title for Laozi in the Taoist religion, which refers to him as "One of the Three Pure Ones".

According to Chinese tradition, Laozi lived in the 6th century BC. Historians variously contend that Laozi is a synthesis of multiple historical figures, that he is a mythical figure, or that he actually lived in the 4th century BC, concurrent with the Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring States Period.

A central figure in Chinese culture, both nobility and common people claim Laozi in their lineage. Throughout history, Laozi's work has been embraced by various anti-authoritarian movements.

Dao De Jing 道德经

Laozi's magnum opus, the Daodejing, is one of the most significant treatises in Chinese cosmogony. As with most other ancient Chinese philosophers, Laozi often explains his ideas by way of paradox, analogy, appropriation of ancient sayings, repetition, symmetry, rhyme, and rhythm.

The Daodejing, often called simply the Laozi after its reputed author, describes the Dao (or Tao) as the mystical source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. According to the Daodejing, humans have no special place within the Dao, being just one of its many ("ten thousand") manifestations. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Dao. The Daodejing intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Dao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.

Livia Kohn provides an example of how Laozi encouraged a change in approach, or return to "nature", rather than action. Technology may bring about a false sense of progress. The answer provided by Laozi is not the rejection of technology, but instead seeking the calm state of wu wei, free from desires. This relates to many statements by Laozi encouraging rulers to keep their people in "ignorance", or "simple-minded". Some scholars insist this explanation ignores the religious context, and others question it as an apologetic of the philosophical coherence of the text. It would not be unusual political advice if Laozi literally intended to tell rulers to keep their people ignorant. However, some terms in the text, such as "valley spirit" (gushen) and "soul" (po), bear a religious context and cannot be easily reconciled with a purely ethical reading of the work.[24]

Wu wei, literally "non-action" or "not acting", is a central concept of the Daodejing. The concept of wu wei is very complex and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean "not doing anything", "not forcing", "not acting" in the theatrical sense, "creating nothingness", "acting spontaneously", and "flowing with the moment."

It is a concept used to explain ziran, or harmony with the Dao. It includes the concepts that value distinctions are ideological and seeing ambition of all sorts as originating from the same source. Laozi used the term broadly with simplicity and humility as key virtues, often in contrast to selfish action. On a political level, it means avoiding such circumstances as war, harsh laws and heavy taxes. Some Taoists see a connection between wu wei and esoteric practices, such as the "sitting in oblivion" (emptying the mind of bodily awareness and thought) found in the Zhuangzi.

According to esoteric adherents, the book contains specific instructions for Daoist adepts relating to qigong meditations, and in veiled preachings the way to revert to the primordial state. This interpretation supports the view that Taoism is a religion addressing the quest of immortality.