Embracing Literature
Connect with me at:
  • Poetry
  • Nonfict
  • Story
  • Memoir
  • Novel
  • Essay
  • Media
  • MFA
  • Ideate
  • Buy Poetry

About the Rise and Fall of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

10/24/2013

0 Comments

 
A fun historical juxtaposition is the recent edition of the Tao Te Ching sold as divination cards in the United States [4] brought about perhaps by the archaeological finds of 2000+ year old divinations on burned turtle shells[3]. Humans still worry about their choices and place in society; writers about their poetry or stories.

Less humorous is the worldview offered up in the Tao Te Ching, i.e. that the world is made up of rulers, sages, and the everyday human being should be kept empty-minded and well fed. Although a classic, the Tao Te Ching is one of those documents that fell out of favor during the Cultural Revolution with the Communists. However, the Chinese still hold on to that same idea i.e. most Chinese lack the right to free speech or to vote [5].

The Tao Te Ching or Book of Changes, is most noted as an anthology of wisdom that developed since before their earliest empire[2;3].

The use of divination in society reveals a society uncertain about its future and shows how much leaders relied on advice from history texts, experience and from sages. Why the uncertainty? The region in which the Zhou Empire arose is still subject to flooding, earthquakes and troubled crops and continual warfare from the borders China shares with many countries.   

By the time of the Lao Tzu version of the Tao Te Ching, a codified set of wisdom presented the wise way a ruler should rule instead of the need for individual oracles for every decision[1]. In reading the Tao Te Ching and considering it standalone, one can tell many things about the culture.

Before the first Chinese Empire, the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu was well established. Sages knew that knowledge is not a construct of society—the desire to escape endless talk [1,22], artifice of language[1, 20], and to observe nature is present throughout many of the chapters. Life centered around a city, homes had doors with locks against thieves [1,27] and persons worried about their reputation[1,17;1,22]. The ruler of the empire [1,15] had many chariots and warriors (10,000) and traveled with baggage in wagons[1,26] to see events like the Great Sacrifice or the Spring Festival [1,20]. Sages could be free of all society, but still subject to a ruler’s will. They believed that to do little to make society run in an ordered, seamless fashion, a ruler must plan for potential events. War, and the breakdown of society was the worst event and a ruler should oppose conquest [1,30].

The translation notes explain how the original language adds cultural knowledge, i.e. the idea of a child giving a sign of future jobs [1, 20]

As poetry, the Tao Te Ching works because of repetition of words to connect thought [1,1; 1,4]  and phrases to establish rhythm [1, 22]. Many chapters rely on extended metaphor to present the timelessness of nature, the place of humans [1,8;1,23] or to evoke imagery [1,8].   Some of the chapters are presented in prose poem form[1,23]. Others evoke the physical and emotional reactions of the sage i.e. “concentrate breath soft like a child”[1,10] or knowledge of stance[1,24].

When author and poet Tony Hoagland discusses the lack of metaphor among well-known literary figures[6], it seems especially remarkable to find beautiful extended metaphors in the Tao Te Ching. 

For some, the theme of the Tao Te Ching is the timelessness and eternity of the world outside of humans and their society, for others, that humans will always be much smaller than anything they create or that human emotion is always of little importance. Many chapters of the Tao Te Ching present opposing forces including yin and yang and temperature [1,2]. An essential function of plot, pacing and good story revolves around conflict, many arising out of those same oppositions. The most successful plots often concern conflict arising between human vs. self, human vs. society, human vs. government, and human vs. environment. 

Overall, because of the 64 combinations of natural forces (i.e. water, heaven, earth) used in divinations, an author could use them to plan their story or poem, quote from them or use the Tao Te Ching to gain insight into likely outcomes. Or an author could follow a character through a path to warfare or love. Or the Tao Te Ching could offer a better understanding of the changing and unchanging nature of Chinese culture or nature. This is why the Tao Te Ching is a usable classic piece of literature, today.

[1] Lao Tzu, ed. Tom Griffith, Tao Te Ching, Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997*

[2] Lao Tzu, ed. Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power, Grove Press, 1958

[3] Michael Nylan, “The Five Confucian Classics”, Yale University Press, 2001

[4] Oliver Perrottet, “The Visual I Ching”, Charles Tuttle Co., Inc, 1997

[5] Constitution of the Chinese Government, 2012

[6] Tony Hoagland, “Real Sophistikashun”, Graywolf Press, 2006

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

     

    About Sheri Fresonke Harper

    Follow Sheri Fresonke Harper on Quora

    Recent Reads

    Wildlife of the Galapagos
    4 of 5 stars
    Wildlife of the Galapagos
    by Julian Fitter
    This is the best book about the vegetation on the Galapagos we found, it has great pictures of most of the animals, sealife, birds, insects etc. you'll find on the islands, including which island you'll likely to find which species.
    tagged: birds, science, and travel-books
    The Birds of Ecuador, Volume II: Field Guide
    4 of 5 stars
    The Birds of Ecuador, Volume II: Field Guide
    by Robert S. Ridgely
    Useful resource for the visitor to Ecuador, especially those bird watching or visiting Ecolodges. Not all the pictures have the best color--variation exists. We saw 125 birds in three weeks, that leaves 1000+ to go.
    tagged: birds, science, and travel-books
    Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands: An Identification Guide, 2nd Edition
    5 of 5 stars
    Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands: An Identification Guide, 2nd Edition
    by Andy Swash
    Great book to have while visiting the Galapagos Islands--it helps to unravel and separate the different finches, lava lizards, iguanas etc. that have varied due to evolutionary forces. This book uses diagrams and photographs to showcase ...
    tagged: birds, science, and travel-books

    goodreads.com

    Archives

    July 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    A Briefer History Of Time
    A Brief History Of Time
    Alexandr Friedmann
    Armed Forces
    Army Field Manual
    Army Guides
    Army Life
    Army Special Forces
    Arthur Waley
    Bang!
    Bang! The Complete History Of The Universe
    Base
    Basic Training
    Big Bang Books
    Big Bang Theory
    Biological Warfare Attack
    Birth Of The Universe
    Book Of Changes
    Brian May
    China
    China's Struggle To Modernize
    Chinese
    Chinese Empire
    Chondrites
    Chris Lintott
    Christopher T. Hill
    C. Levison McGuire
    Command Structure
    Communist
    Complete History Of The Universe
    Conservation Of Energy
    Constitution Of The Chinese Government
    Cosmic Background Explorer
    Creative Nonfiction
    Cultural Revolution
    Distance
    Divination
    Einstein's Special Relativity
    Emmy Noether
    Emt
    Energy
    Escape
    Evasion
    Fabric Of Reality
    Flash Fiction
    Galaxies
    General Relativity
    Google Tech Talk
    Gravity
    Great Sacrifice
    History
    History Of The Modern World
    Homeland Security
    Homogenous
    Hubble Telescope
    Inertia
    Isomorphic
    James Webb Telescope
    Jan Shoemaker
    Japan
    Joel Colton
    Justin Heckert
    Korea
    Lao Tzu
    Leon M. Lederman
    Michael Nylan
    Momentum
    Narrator
    NASA
    National Geographic Society
    Newton
    N. Korea
    North Korea
    Nuclear Power
    Nukes
    Oliver Perrottet
    Oracle
    Particle Theory
    Patrick Moore
    Peace Corps
    Physics
    Plot
    Poetry
    Radiation
    Real Sophistikation
    Relativity
    Resistance
    River Teeth
    R.R. Palmer
    Russia
    Situational Experience
    S. Korea
    Solar System
    South Korea
    Special Relativity
    Spitzer Telescope
    Spring Festival
    Stars
    Stephen Hawking
    Story Telling
    Strategic Intelligence
    Survival
    Survival Course
    Symmetry And The Beautiful Universe
    Tao Te Ching
    Teach English
    The Five Confucian Classics
    The Way And Its Power
    Time
    Tony Hoagland
    Trading Partner
    Translation Notes
    Un Security Council
    Urban Operations
    Us Army Counterintelligence
    Vietnam
    Visual I-Ching
    WMAP
    Ying Yang
    Youtube
    Zhou Empire

    RSS Feed

Search Engine Submission - AddMe
Proudly powered by Weebly