Tao Te Ching

culture of China today. The first and oldest major religion of China is Taoism. The exact details of its origin are not completely known for sure, but Taoists believe that the Tao Te Ching, the main text of this religion, was written by a man named Lao-Tzu. Any additional information about this man is unknown, but the Tao Te Ching describes him as a mythical being; he is supposedly a “wise man.” In fact, people believed that…

majority agrees on the method required to attain the highest good: balance. Whether that balance be implicitly or explicitly accredited for the summum bonum differs for each author. Lao Tzu’s thoughts on balance earn the Tao-te-Ching a significant spot in the Great Conversation. The Tao-te-Ching’s vast intertextuality is apparent and further contributes to the relevance of Lao Tzu’s work. While discussing balance, Lao Tzu focuses on the Taoist…

“When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists” wrote Lao Tzu. This passage highlights how Taoist view passivity to govern. “Tao Te Ching” written by Lao Tzu is a classic book on Chinese philosophy that was completed in the 4th century BC. Tao Te Ching translates to “The book of the Way of Virtues” in English. This book has 81 extremely short yet poetic chapters, which are filled with a variety of meaningful messages conveyed in a riddle-like form that takes readers into…

1.Legalism: Before China united under the ruler Qin Shihuangdi there was a popular philosophy known as Legalism. Legalism refereed to following the laws of society and not believing in anything else. An example of the lack of beliefs was a negative view of life that people had no purpose except to be guided by the state. The influence of legalism in China was that it presumably helped citizens be more loyal and knowledgeable to the politics of the part of China they were living in, which also…

For example, in the Holy Taoist text, Tao Te Ching (by the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu) a good leader is described as “[at their] best when people barely know [they exist] . . . [and] when [their] work is done, [their] aim fulfilled, they will say ‘We did this ourselves’”. Therefore, Taoists believe…

1973, archaeologists discovered two copies of the Laozi in a library of texts inside a Mawangdui, South-Central China tomb that had been sealed in 168 B.C. (Henricks, 2000). Based upon the biography of Tao Tzu, that was written by Sima Qian, the entire book of the Tao Te Ching was written by Tao Tzu. A medieval copy of the Analects of Confucius was discovered in an archaeological dig in the Chinese Dunhang, and was dated at 890 CE (Eno, 2015). The Confucian approach to defining human culture is…

For centuries the standard agreement of any idea of government is that large bodies of people need some type of organized authority to protect their wellbeing. Each successive type of government has inspired harsh debates and defenses about which is best to govern a body of people. The first governments ever developed were theocracies, ruled by a high priest, and these political bodies developed into monarchies, then toward crude democratic systems, wherein certain citizens had the ability to…

a Chinese philosopher whose thoughts were driven by notions of utilitarianism, who also established the School of Mo (墨家, Mòjiā). Daoism was invented by Laozi (604 – 531 BCE), a Chines philosopher and writer, mostly known for his book, the Dao De Ching, who founded the School of the Way (道家, Dàojiā)— note that this paper will primarily be discussing the branch of Daoist philosophy (道家) risen from the teachings of Chuang Tzu (370 — 287 BCE). Confucianism was the child of Confucius (551 – 479…

“If nature or fate” did it then let it be, don't try to change it. This philosophy is consistent with the rest of Taoism. The overall argument of the Tao te Ching is that human beings constitute a smaller part of a much larger whole, referred to as “the Tao” or “the Way” (Tzu 158). We can't change the way, but can work with it. So, Lao Tzu uses another metaphor to compare the nature of humans to water. “The World is a great river, and we are all floating…

According to Medicine News, the main philosophy behind Chinese medicine has come from Confucianism and Taoism (White). These two belief systems were created as a result of the prolonged Warring States (481-221 B.C.); it is said that the greatest advances in medicine occur during war and strife (White). Confucianism comes from the teachings of Confucius (551-479 B.C.) (White). These teachings revolve around the interlinkages of the twelve primary organ systems of the body (White). These complex…