Lao Tzu: Dao De Jing Lao Tzu was a renowned Daoist Chinese philosopher and poet from the sixth century B.C., who was rumored to have influenced the eminent Confucius and is also credited as the founder of the Chinese School of the Tao or predominantly known as Taoism. Tzu’s utmost famous piece of work, the Dao De Jing, was said to be written in three days with an excess of 5000 characters, comprised of 81 brief chapters.This classic Chinese text is primarily based on the principles of enduring, the unchanged, and the originator. In his first concept, Tzu believes that the reason one can endure comes from a form of selflessness. For example, in the Dao De Jing he states “Heaven is eternal and the earth is very old...because they do not exist for themselves”(Beck).This is an appropriate idea considering heaven’s purpose is not for itself, rather for those who have earned their passage; the earth exists in the same way for humans to live, not for itself. Although, Tzu gives a much better example of enduring in saying,“Great trouble comes from being selfish,” whereas, “being selfless, what trouble is there?”(Beck). Despite the fact that being selfish does not always lead to trouble, this statement is predominantly truthful, especially the latter …show more content…
phrase. Therefore, a wise man who puts himself last will live with less trouble, lead a long and prosperous life, and he will endure. In his subsequent idea, he mentions the unchanged and the fact that everything in life inevitably undergoes change, but eventually it will return to its former stage or location.
Tzu states, “like vegetation that grows and flourishes, [it] returns to the root from which it springs”(Beck). According to his philosophy of the unchanged, he believes that despite the various changes the Dao De Jing may undergo, it should maintain the same concept of his original work. Tzu even mentions that “returning to the source is serenity: it is to realize one’s destiny”(Beck). In this statement, he again emphasizes reverting to the primary source as a predetermination, and concludes that it is one’s destiny to return from whence they
came. In Tzu’s final principle, he proclaims that the Dao is the origin of everything. Countless partisans perceive the Dao in its premature nameless state as the originator of heaven and Earth, and it is referred to as the “mother of all things”(Beck). Since the idea of creation did not exist before the Dao was named, it was aforementioned as the source of the universe; However, when the universe eventually became a physical entity and, accordingly attained its name, everything naturally formulated from there and obtained the title of the Mother of All Things. Since the exalted Tzu had such high regard for the Dao, the followers of Daoism were devout to this philosophy and its integrity. In conclusion, although Daoism has been surpassed by buddhism in China in the past centuries, it is still prevalent in areas of china where the dao is still praised. After more than 2000 years of influence on Chinese culture the distinguished Dao De Jing can even be found at most major bookstores in the United States. In fact, it is the second-most widely translated text in the world behind the Holy Bible due to the continued interest from the array of interpretations that came from this ambiguous and convoluted masterpiece.
...ngly opposite, the Chinese Landscape Painting depicts a boulder-filled mountainside with a waterfall, a river, a Chinese house, and trees spread throughout. The quote underneath is from Lao-tzu, (the founder of the Daoism philosophy). The complexity of the sentences by Lao-tzu is much higher than the sentence of Socrates.
In his poem, “Notes from the City of the Sun”, Bei Dao utilizes obscure imagery consistent with the Misty Poets and veiled political references to illustrate the struggles in Chinese society during the Cultural Revolution. The poem is sectioned into fourteen short stanzas containing imagery that are symbolic of the cultural hegemony in China under the rule of Mao Zedong. Bei Dao, born Zhao Zhen-kai, is an anti-revolutionary poet and one of the founders of a group known as the Misty Poets. The Misty Poets wrote poems that protested the Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong. Therefore, a lot of Bei Dao’s poems speak out against the Cultural Revolution and the restrictions that it placed on any form of art. Bei Dao’s poetry is categorized as “misty” because of the ambiguity in its references to Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. An obscure imagery that occurs twice in “Notes” is the sun imagery. Another imagery that depicts the injustice of the Cultural Revolution is the description of freedom as scraps of paper. In the poem, Bei Dao also equates faith to sheep falling into a ditch; this is a depiction blind faith during the Cultural Revolution. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how Bei Dao’s use of the Misty Poet’s ambiguous imagery and implicit political context in the poem “Notes from the City of the Sun” to illustrate the cultural hegemony in China under Mao.
Kaltenmark, Max. Lao Tzu and Taoism. Translated by Roger Greaves. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1969.
Hsün Tzu is one of the main founders of eastern philosophy and is considered one of the three great sages in China along with Mencius and Confucious. Tzu’s style of writing is poetic and easy to understand. In his writings, he repeats his main ideas constantly as if he were preaching. This is a style that we can identify as being used also by some of our politicians, teachers, and clergymen to name a few.
As one of the greatest founding novels of Taoism, Book of Chuang Tzu serves to strengthen Lao Tzu 's arguments in Tao Te Ching and lays the foundation for Taoism 's place in Chinese philosophy. Because Confucianism and Taoism are two competing philosophy schools that share more outstanding differences than similarities, the followers of both schools often refute and evaluate the ideals of the opposite school. However, the constant appearance of Confucius as the main character in more than twenty chapters in Book of Chuang Tzu not only surprises the readers, but also calls for deep analysis of the roles played Confucius in order to understand the true meaning of this ancient literature. While Chuang Tzu criticizes many of the Confucian ideas
Cao Xueqin’s Story of the Stone is a classic in Chinese literature, showcasing the life and exploits of the wealthy Jia clan during the feudal era. Through Cao’s depiction, the reader is afforded a glimpse into the customs and lifestyle of the time. Chinese mode of thought is depicted as it occurs in daily life, with the coexisting beliefs of Confucianism and Taoism. While the positive aspects of both ideologies are presented, Cao ultimately depicts Taoism as the paramount, essential system of belief that guides the character Bao-yu to his eventual enlightenment. As was the case in China, Cao depicts the two forms of belief existing alongside one another, and not necessarily practiced exclusively to one another.
The Art of War is a treatise written in Ancient China that discusses the most and least effective military strategies for successful warfare according to Sun Tzu, a military general whose existence is still debated to this day. While not every military commander in the history of warfare has read it, the strategies provided can be used as a way to assess said commanders and the effectiveness of their campaigns. In Sun Tzu 's own words, “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!”1 This paper will discuss various iconic battles throughout history and how closely the leading commanders of each army followed the advice of Sun Tzu. Despite the fact that Sun Tzu lived hundreds of years before many of these battles took place, the
Over the course of history, individuals have questioned the universe in which we live in and searched for a purpose of our existence. The belief in a higher presence, other than our own, has existed since man can remember. From this belief, religion was established and can survive and flourish. Buddhism and Taoism are two great religious and philosophical traditions in Chinese history. For hundreds of years, these two have shaped Chinese lifestyle and thought. Readings from the Tao Te Ching, Buddhists scriptures, and Herman Hesse’s Siddharta explain the various aspects of Buddhism and Taoism, but in the end there is only one common belief, and that is the existence of a Supreme Being.
The next major influence on the Taoist belief was Chang Tzu. To him, Tzu’s writings defined the truth of life. He went on to write f...
Lao Tzu believed that Tao is a natural thing. He believes that you come by it or you realize its presents and experience it. The best way for me to explain how Lao Tzu perceives the Tao is to take it directly from our reading in Molloy, “The Doa cannot be named because it has no form. But the Dao can be experienced and followed by every individual thing that has a name (213).” Lao Tzu used Tao as a way of being and living in harmony with nature. Lao Tzu believed that Tao came to you by using his teaching of Wu Wei, Simplicity, Gentleness and Relativity (217-218).
Instead of concentrating upon philosophical treatises or religious texts, we are going to conduct our exploration through the reading of traditional Chinese tales and stories. Since early times, Chinese literature has abounded in tales of wonder and fantasy -- tales of ghosts and spirits, fabulous voyages, miraculous transformations, and every variety of strange and wondrous event. Those tales were composed at least partly as entertainment. And yet, they also reveal a wide range of attitudes about the nature of the world, the nature of human existence, and the nature of the divine. In these tales, all the realms of being -- animal, human, divine, and demonic - often impinge upon each other in wondrous and unpredictable ways. It is those realms -- and their interrelationships -- that this course will explore. We will also consider some of the ideas found in Taoist thought and religion, and evaluate the extent to which they might contribute to our understanding of the stories that we read.
The second part in Legge's translation means that "let them not thoughtlessly indulge themselves in their ordinary life; let them not act as if weary of what that life depends on. It is by avoiding such indulgence that such weariness does not arise" (YellowBridge Chinese Language & Culture, www.yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/daodejing72.php).
Without any doubt, Dao(道) is the most important idea in the book Dao De Jing. However, it seems a little improper to use the character “Dao(道)” compared to many other better options to describe this power. In one explanation, Dao means the reason and order of the whole world. According to this argument, Laozi should use the characters that mean reason, like “理” or “序”. On the other hand, according to Laozi, Dao is the origin of the myriad things that exist now. In this way, Laozi should simply call this power “始”or “源”. Although “Dao” had been used to represent the ultimate truth in Yi Jing, or other books before, Laozi was able to choose any character he preferred, because the Daoism was original by Laozi. According to Laozi’s personality, he will not try to make the content more readable by giving up the accuracy of the language. In Chinese, Dao(道) also means the road or pathway. Laozi doesn’t give too much explanation about pathway idea in his book. However, Laozi chose Dao over other characters, so there must be another idea that Laozi doesn’t want to give directly to the readers. I will try to explain the
...nfluence on the daily life of the Chinese people. The recollection of the ancestors, the fear of offending them or soiling their reputations, coupled with the desire to please them, are sources of inspiration, which guide the actions of the descendants. Even for a hardened sinner, to lack respect for the ancestors is the worst offense imaginable. Here is how the intimate thought of the master should be interpreted. Respectful of tradition and of rituals, he did not wish to explain himself fully on this subject. But such should be his thought. The cult of the dead is, in his eyes, the cult of memory, based upon filial piety and the thought of the continuity of the family and of the race. It is in this spirit that still being practiced by the majority of the Oriental world, for whom it is the main religion and takes the place of all preaching revealed or supernatural.
Nivison, David S. The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese Philosophy. Ed. Bryan W. Van Norden. Chicago and La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1996.