I Ching

With different beliefs and practices, various religions and philosophies possess key characteristics that are significant in their cultures but are meaningless in other cultures. These distinctions result in contrasting perspectives on one’s lifestyle. Some people agree with the practices presented in Taoism, while certain individuals disagree, since its beliefs target a limited group. Taoism presents the idea of living in harmony with nature and educating the followers about the flow of life.…

People often say that money is the root of all evil. Well, that’s not true. In reality, the greed and want for money is the root of evil. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, one character in particular, Willy Harris, who is never actually seen, but rather mentioned, makes this very evident as he takes money from two of his friends for his own personal gain. Taking in the financial situation of the family at the beginning of the play, one can only imagine how hard it would be for them to lose any…

“There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontent. And there is no greater disaster than greed.” These words spoken by Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu accurately portray the destructive nature of the greed and the misfortune that it brings. Greed is a common theme that is woven throughout literature and frequently contributes to the down fall of a character and those in close proximity. Despite the fatality of “dragon-sickness”, there are occasions where a…

striving for more. Unlike modern Americans, in early Chinese history, individuals such as the First Emperor and Chinese peasants were raised to have an open-minded approach to life; therefore embracing the ways of the Tao came easier to them. The Tao Te Ching would guide Americans to a peaceful life through the realization that the key to happiness exists within the source rather than material possessions.…

experience more lows than highs; as a result, people have tried to find ways to increase the number of happy moments in their life. While many paths to happiness have been proposed, one of the earliest is a philosophy, based off the writing Tao Te Ching, known as Taoism. Those that follow Taoism (also known as Taoists) say they experience less stress and live a happier life. In modern American society, it is believed that a person must constantly try to live a happy life; while this may be true…

When I read the passage, I can see the conception of Lao-Tzu, his opinion about “Tao” and “Wu Wei”. The passage said that we need to have patience to wait the mud settle and water clear. The patience is waiting, waiting the thing become clear, this is just like the conception of “Wu Wei”. Wu Wei means people being peace and accept the flow that the river give us, and the passage said “have patience to wait” means people should stay peace and waiting for right time until everything clear. People…

Reflections in Light The Coinherence of Opposites from the Tao Te Ching describes the balances between opposites in life through the Daoist (Taoist) religion. In the passage, Laozi begins on explaining that when something exists, it will always have an opposite (e.g. when people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly). In the text, Laozi informs the reader that these things are not just opposite, but they are connected and they work together in some manner, meaning without one,…

states in her introduction that this is done intentionally. She writes, “I wanted the Book of the Way accessible to a present-day, unwise, unpowerful and perhaps un-male[sic] reader, not seeking esoteric secrets, but…

Introduction The Daodejing or the Tao Te Ching, the work of the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu or Laozi dates back to the late 6th century BC according to some counts and to the late 4th century BC according to others. We can thus safely say that this “Book of the Way” was written in a period well before our times. However, when one reads the interpretations of this book by John Heider and other modern translators, one finds that the teachings are as relevant today as they were then, or, to be…

Seinfeld and Non Action: the Philosophy of Nothing One of the best Kanye West tweets is “I want to publicly apologize to Seinfeld, I used to think it was a show about nothing but then I realized it’s a show about everything”. Jerry Seinfeld and Laozi hold plenty of similarities. This paper will identify the similarities between Seinfeld and Daoism theoretically, with examples from the show to back it up. It will also explore how western culture has unknowingly embraced some Daoist concepts,…