During
a portion of our class period, we discussed immensely about the principles of
Taoism. We discovered that Taoism
consists of philosophical, ethical, and religious aspects from the Chinese
origin. Also, the word ‘tao’ means “the
way” or “the path” and Taoists try not to push their will or ideas on
others. Within our World Literature
class, we learned these principles through the Tao Te Ching, a collection of poems written about the principles of
Taoism.
One
of the poems we had to read in depth about was titled “Quiet”. We were graded based upon our knowledge of
the Taoism principles. The poem goes
like this:
Great
perfection seems incomplete,
But
does not decay;
Great
abundance seems empty,
But
does not fail.
Great
truth seems contradictory;
Great
cleverness seems stupid;
Great
eloquence seems awkward.
As
spring overcomes the cold,
And
autumn overcomes the heat,
So
calm and quiet overcome the world.
After comprehending
this passage of the Tao Te Ching, I realized
that there are many aspects of the Taoism principles present within the
text. For example, the last three lines
of the poem refer to more of a natural state of being in which Taoists believe
in following a natural path throughout life.
Also, the comparison between the cold and the heat are examples of
Taoists believing in everything having an opposite such as the yin and the
yang; they coexist in harmony with one another.
It seems that everyone has wrote about this poem as I have read several about this poem already. What is interesting though is that w all have such different interpretations of it. Similar to you, I took a lot away from that last stanza and found myself relating Taoism to many parts of it. You should look at mine and Alex's blog to see what our interpretations of this poem was as you might find it quite interesting.
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