Taoism

While analyzing the Tao-te-Ching, many major themes are apparent. From the inevitability of change to the importance of non-action, the Tao-te-Ching is truly full of life lessons that deserve extensive analysis; however, one of the most prevalent and recurring themes is balance and its importance. Throughout Cultural Perspectives, many authors have addressed this same theme. Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, Plato, and Saint Augustine have all discussed this important topic; however, Aristotle best…

The movie “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is about a Taoist concept called Inner nature. In the book “The Tao of Pooh,” the author, Benjamin Hoff, states that Inner nature is beyond the power of the intellect to measure or understand (38). Furthermore, Hoff explains that Inner nature is the concept that everything has its own unique function (40). In other words, we cannot scientifically understand Inner nature, but only know that everything in nature has its own unique purpose including individual humans.…

How do women in Daoism practice internal alchemy? Daoism is the indigenous religion of China. The school of Daoism is originated from the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi. The teaching and practice of Daoism emphasize living life in harmony with the Dao. Daoist teaching focuses on understanding the reality of nature, increasing longevity, and practicing immortality. Daoism is related to women in many different ways. Daoism provides alternatives for women in a Confucian-dominated society where…

The Daodejing we read is the first book of two. This book focuses on the Way while the second book focuses on Virtue. In this first book there are thirty-seven chapters. Each chapter is its own lesson and contains a meaning separate and independent from the other chapters. The first book has some themes that each of these chapters fall under: the Dao, nothingness, non-desiring, nature as a model, wuwei-nonaction, and knowledge and value. The Daodejing has three parts to this word; Dao means Way,…

When people hear Confucius or Confucianism many may say they have never heard about him or they have heard about why is he important.The Golden Rule may sound more familiar to people. Confucius was an important educator and Chinese philosopher. Whose teachings of moral, social, political and philosophical behaviors in theory later became a foundation called Confucianism. Confucius is one of the few leaders who based their philosophy on the virtues that are required for the day-to-day living, his…

Chinese Philosopher, Hsun Tzu is the author of “Encouraging Learning.” He became a significant figure towards the advancement of Chinese philosophy. Continued education was the focus in this article; however, Tzu being a firm promoter of education chose to highlight human nature in the natural world. He covers topics ranging from how to conduct yourself as an educated person to how to apply that knowledge learned. To educate ourselves according to Confucius’s way according to our reading…

The Nineteen Old Poems play an essential role in ancient Chinese literature. There are nineteen poems involved. Each of the poems expresses a unique theme. The first poem I picked is “Nineteen Old Poems XIX” . The poet describes the moonlight at the beginning of the poem. The description of the moonlight begins the whole poem and drives the whole content of the poem. There is only the poet himself in an unfamiliar city. The bright moonlight makes him miss for his hometown and relatives,…

The Journey of Faxian to India Stories about the adventures of early people especially the Buddhist monks are fascinating. This paper is an analysis of an excerpt of Chinese Buddhist monk’s journey from China to India. The topic of the essay is directly taken from the excerpt which is the primary source of my essay. It is the account of the journey of a Chinese monk, Faxian, from China to India through Central Asia. Faxian wrote the book from which this excerpt is taken. The excerpt was written…

Linguistics ‘Politeness is considered to be a universal feature of language but it’s pragmatic, linguistic, social, intentional, and conceptual realisations vary considerably across different languages and/or cultures.’ Brief outline of Confucianism - When discussing the topic of politeness in Chinese culture it is important to address the concept of Confucianism and the role that it played in forming what Chinese culture is today. Confucianism can be defined as a way of life that was first…

The Han Dynasty of China from 206 B.C.E-220 C.E. and the Imperial Roman Empire from 31 B.C.E-474 C.E., are two well known classical empires. They both contained many similarities and differences between their imperial administrations. In the Classical Period, the Han Dynasty & Imperial Rome both used their governments to establish a state religion and centralized bureaucracy. However, one major difference was that while the Han was a family dynasty, Rome was a republic. Under the rule of…