Tao Te Chang, 1-28

At first I thought Tao was a person, but it was made abundantly clear very quickly that it's some sort of religion, or way. Since it's a pretty random and complex piece of work I'll just talk about quotes I found interesting.

"Therefore having and not having arise together." (Two)

I liked the way this was said. It explained about contrasts, and how there would be no good without evil, no beauty without ugliness.

It's true that if everything was one way, we wouldn't notice it. For instance, the stars are white, so we never think to ourselves, "Hmm... These stars are particularly white." However, if we see an ugly person, we think, "That is one ugly guy." We notice his ugliness. We wouldn't notice it if everyone was ugly.

"If nothing is done, then all will be well." (Three)

Tao's point here is that if no one had anything, nothing would be stolen, if we didn't "exalt the gifted," no one would fight. I understand what he means by this, and it's a rather communist idea. Share everything, and everyone will be happy. I get how that could work, but I just find the idea of it horribly boring. People would still quarrel if we didn't do anything, they would become so bored of sitting around twiddling their thumbs that they would want to do something, and they would start fighting. And if there were no treasure, people would make some up. Humans like being better than their peers, they like saying, "Ha! I have a Mercedes and you have a Renault! I'm better than you." It highers their self-esteem, and makes them feel better about themselves. If there was nothing to do and no treasures to be had, the world would be full of bored, irritable, suicidal people.

Tao, however, seems to believe in the idea of nothingness being good. He mentions it several times throughout the book. He's also rather contradictory, stating, "The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus he is at one with all. Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment." (Seven)

I don't understand what he means by this. Does it mean that being objective makes it so that you are "one with all"? Stay unbiased, look at the whole picture, and you will understand everything. Actually, I sorta see how that could make sense.

"Retire when the work is done." (Nine)

I just wanted to point out that both Confucius and Tao say that it is better to do what is required, and no more. I believe this should be integrated in our grading system. Two great Chinese philosophers (or at least one, I'm not sure what Tao is), have stated that going above and beyond is not good, so teachers shouldn't want us to do that.

"Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao." (Fourteen)

Another similarity between Confucius and Tao is that they both really look into the past. I wonder if they do that because Chinese culture is so into rites, and honoring your ancestors, etc., or is Chinese culture because of what Confucius and Tao say.

"When wisdom and intelligence are born,/ The great pretense begins." (Eighteen)
"Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom,/ And it will be a hundred time better for everyone." (Nineteen)
"Give up learning, and put an end to your trouble." (Twenty)

What does Tao have against learning? This is a very Mao point of view, and a very un-Confucian one. What's wrong with learning? Could it be that intelligence make it so that some people are "better" than others, and therefore people get jealous, and Tao disapproves of that?

There were several of these poems that I found interesting, but just didn't have the space to comment on. One of them was Twenty. Even though it's pretty depressing, it's interesting.


I'm sorry, I just realized I was only supposed to read up to chapter 12. I got mixed up; I thought it was until 28. Whoops.