Straw dogs or grass dogs, figures of dogs made out of straw, 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.[1]
Chapter 5 of the Tao Te Ching makes use of the phrase (Chinese: 芻狗) to compare living beings to straw dogs. This metaphor is used to explain the non-humanity (Chinese: 不仁) of Heaven and Earth:[2]
However, some translators prefer to interpret this phrase as two separate words, "straw" (Chinese: 芻) and "dogs" (Chinese: 狗), rather than together, as "straw dogs" (Chinese: 芻狗).[3]
This verse is usually interpreted as an expression of the Taoist rejection of the principle of (Chinese: 仁), one of the Five Constant Virtues in Confucianism, variously translated as "humanity", "benevolence", "partiality", or "kind acts". Su Zhe'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."[4]
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":[5]
The image of the straw dogs is again used to criticise Confucianism, as the Zhuangzi goes on to compare Confucius, 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".[6]