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Sunday, May 16, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2280 - BE LIKE WATER - my favorite from Tao te Ching



A Sense of Doubt blog post #2280 - BE LIKE WATER - my favorite from Tao te Ching

Comic book Sunday will return next week on 2105.23.

I am not doing too much more with this post and keep it simple. I may return to the concept of "be like water" in future posts. I used this in teaching class, so I rushed the initial publication of this post to show it in class.

I am a huge fan of Tao te Ching:


I always talk about the way in which water flows to the "place detested," which is the line in my other translation. Water flows downhill to the lowest point, which is a metaphor for humility. Water also flows around, under, over any and all obstacles. Water will find a way.

I was excited to see that Bruce Lee also talked about this idea and he has a book on Taoism, here:


BE LIKE WATER.

Also,

"A teacher is never a giver of truth; he[she] is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find." ~ Bruce Lee

This quote is one shared by my colleague Mavourneen Rister. It's awesome.






SOME WIKI BASICS

The Tao Te Ching (/ˈdaʊ ˈdɛ ˈdʒɪŋ/ DOW DEH JING), also known by its pinyin romanization Dao De Jing, is a Chinese classic text traditionally credited to the 6th-century BC sage Laozi. The text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated.[1] The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BC,[2] but modern scholarship dates other parts of the text as having been written—or at least compiled—later than the earliest portions of the Zhuangzi.[3]

The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism. It also strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including LegalismConfucianism, and Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts when it was originally introduced to China. Many Chinese artists, including poetspainterscalligraphers, and gardeners, have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has spread widely outside East Asia and it is among the most translated works in world literature.[2]

Tao Te Ching is the Wade–Giles romanization of the same name as the pinyin Daodejing and should be pronounced in the same way.[a] That is, its ts should be pronounced closer to English ds. The Chinese characters in the title are:

Dào/tao literally means "way", or one of its synonyms, but was extended to mean "the Way". This term, which was variously used by other Chinese philosophers (including ConfuciusMenciusMozi, and Hanfeizi), has special meaning within the context of Taoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe.

Dé/te means "virtue", "personal character", "inner strength" (virtuosity), or "integrity". The semantics of this Chinese word resemble English virtue, which developed from the Italian virtù, an archaic sense of "inner potency" or "divine power" (as in "healing virtue of a drug") to the modern meaning of "moral excellence" or "goodness". Compare the compound word taote (Chinese: 道德; pinyin: Dàodé; literally: "ethics", "ethical principles", "morals" or "morality"). Jīng/ching as it is used here means "canon", "great book", or "classic".

 

 


 

The Tao Te Ching is ascribed to Lao Tzu, whose historical existence has been a matter of scholastic debate. His name, which means "Old Master", has only fueled controversy on this issue.[16]





Lao Tzu

The first reliable reference to Laozi is his "biography" in Shiji (63, tr. Chan 1963:35–37), by Chinese historian Sima Qian (c. 145–86 BC), which combines three stories. First, Lao Tzu was a contemporary of Confucius (551–479 BC). His surname was Li ( "plum"), and his personal name was Er ( "ear") or Dan ( "long ear"). He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West. Second, Laozi was Lao Laizi (老來子 "Old Come Master"), also a contemporary of Confucius, who wrote a book in 15 parts. Third, Laozi was the grand historian and astrologer Lao Dan (老聃 "Old Long-ears"), who lived during the reign (384–362 BC) of Duke Xian (獻公) of Qin).

Generations of scholars have debated the historicity of Laozi and the dating of the Tao Te Ching. Linguistic studies of the text's vocabulary and rhyme scheme point to a date of composition after the Shi Jing yet before the Zhuangzi. Legends claim variously that Laozi was "born old"; that he lived for 996 years, with twelve previous incarnations starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns before the thirteenth as Laozi. Some Western scholars have expressed doubts over Lao Tzu's historical existence, claiming that the Tao Te Ching is actually a collection of the work of various authors.

Many Taoists venerate Lao Tzu as Daotsu, the founder of the school of Dao, the Daode Tianjun in the Three Pure Ones, and one of the eight elders transformed from Taiji in the Chinese creation myth.

 




LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2105.16 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2144 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

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