Tao Te Ching

that there are no real deities in Taoism. How was Taoism, or Daoism, shaped and influenced by Chinese culture to evolve into a religion that lacks prominent deities. I plan to explore how the teachings of the Dao De Jin, or Tao Te Ching, present the central entity in Taoism, the Tao, or Dao. I will also present how Daoism has formed and prospered in Chinese civilization, and how both Confucianism and Buddhism have influenced Daoism. According to Littlejohn Daoism is commonly acknowledged as…

Jennings paints the picture of religion without judgment, in which we can all acknowledge that there doesn’t have to be just one way to love God, but many. The first verse says, “Oh Jesus, I love You, and I love Buddha too, Ramakrishna, Guru Dev, Tao Te Ching and Mohammed”. Religion is a complex entity but it’s one that spends a great deal of time discussing love. Love for your lord and savior, love for your fellow people, love for the world around you; it’s all about love. Why spend time…

Throughout history people have had their own perspective about government and how much power it should hold. While some people believe in the saying “power to the people” and that government should play little to no role in the lives of society other’s believe all the power should be given to one specific person like a dictator. With these different beliefs, there is also those people who stand in the middle agreeing that the government should play big roles in society but the people should have…

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…

Greed has been a vital harm, spread across the nation, for hundreds of years. Money is the main cause for greed, it is the root of all evil. As long as there is money involved, a persons mind will go blank and al that they will think about is money. Money has been a huge problem in the world for years, people think that if you have money then that makes you happy, but all it does is make you depressed. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving uses characterization to reveal how Tom is…

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…

The Taijitu symbol, more commonly known as “yin and yang” represents more than meets the eye. The symbol was partially derived from an ancient manual known as the I-Ching, or Book of Changes (Issitt and Main 251). Like many other symbols, this one was created by combining other symbols together to make a more present and relatable symbol. This symbol represents opposite forces and how they work together in the world. The “Yin and Yang” are a way for citizens to explain nature and how it balances…

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…

Le Guin’s Application of Western Culture in the Dao de Jing As an American woman who writes science-fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin differs greatly from the original audience of the Dao de Jing. The Dao de Jing was written in ancient China during the Warring States period from 475–221 B.C.E (Bokenkamp, 2015). Lao-Tzu, the accredited mystical author of the text, sensed the impending downfall of the kingdom of Chu. Before Chu’s collapse in 221 B.C.E., Lao-Tzu had written the Dao de Jing at the request…