Taoism

Pictorial Representation of Confucius and Others Portraits of Confucius and his followers were created during and after their times in heavy proliferation. While not many of these images remain due to their fragile nature, the few that are still relatively intact exhibit an amazing insight into the lives of their subjects. There is little mention of visual art or painting in the analects, but with Confucius’ thoughts on music being so positive, one can safely assume that he would have at least…

Wu Wei Within the Dao Bryan Bodnar, Kyle Thomson, Riley Prescott Carroll College Wu Wei I.Intro A.Attention: According to Lao Tzu, “the highest virtue is to act without a sense of self. The highest kindness is to give without a condition. The highest justice is to see without a preference. When tao is lost one must learn the rules of virtue. When virtue is lost, the rules of kindness. When kindness is lost, the rules of justice. When justice is lost, the rules of conduct.”…

THE NATURE OF GOD. The nature of God shows His characteristics, His attributes and His qualities. These attributes set God aside from human beings and other supernatural beings. It also reveals to us how he deals with mankind. The way he created human beings and made them superior over other creations and the order in which he creates shows his character as a powerful and orderly being. He is described as the Holy Trinity for he is God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It’s…

The Three Chinese Philosophies The Zhou dynasty was one of the earliest dynasties of China. It started in 1045 and ended in 256 B.C.E, making it one of the longest lasting dynasties in Chinese history. The Zhou rulers used feudalism to help their role. This allowed the king to have most of the power, but he gave some to others called lords, to help manage other things. This worked very well until about 700 B.C.E. At this time some of the lords had gained so much power that they had near the same…

Confucianism. The counterpart of Taoism. Confucianism is more a lifestyle than a faith. This is also originally a Chinese life doctrine. People following this lifestyle think that a balanced combination of nature and culture give the right attitude to life. Some values of this religion are order and stability in the state, respect and loyalty, justice, humanity and sincerity. Then Buddhism. The most popular religion in Vietnam. Most Vietnamese support a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and ancestor…

verse from the Tao Te Ching. “Why is the sea king of a hundred streams? Because it lies below them. Humility gives it its power. Therefore, those desiring a position above others must speak humbly. Those desiring to lead must follow. Not only does Taoism describe a leader as humble, but also a…

Chinese society has gone through tremendous changes throughout its multitude of dynasties. Each dynasty brought unique changes and ideas that assisted in shaping the China we see in the world today. The period of time between the ending of the Han dynasty and the three kingdoms had massive changes occur. The Han dynasty was another that filled their ideas. Ideologies, Religious, intellectuals, material culture were all effected. The authorities were no longer able to distinguish immediately…

The Dao attempts to create an outlook on a life of pureness, grace, and peace. It is a set of life guidelines that push our comprehension of life to different ways of thinking. It preaches unselfishness and tolerance. Certain metaphors create greater meaning out of simple things such as water and unhewn wood. It also is a representation of yin and yang; the combination of forces. The overall moral of the 81 chapters of the Dao create hope for a better opportunity for personal development. This…

The religion of Daoism began around 300 BCE in China by a writer named Laozi, though there has yet to be any real proof that a person named Laozi even existed in that time period (Lee). According to Jacob Lee he states that Daoism is, “A religious philosophy that emphasizes the Dao (“the Way”), or the unity of all things in the universe that cannot be resisted” (Lee). Basically the believe is that you have a force that is in the universe, that you cannot help but follow or going with what “the…

INTRODUCTION Chinese mythology is very diverse just like China itself and its culture. China has different views of the creation story. Some believe that there is no myth exist and that no one can explain the world’s origin. However, this creation story of Pangu and Nü Wa is a synthesis of three stories from The Classics of Mountains and Seas, an anthology stories collected in the first century BC of Shan Hai Jing. STORY Long, long ago, the heavens and earth were still one and there was…