Questions tagged [taoism]
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Two questions about Taoism
I am reading the "Tao Te Ching", and I was asking myself two questions :
-Why Lao-Tzeu's style in "Tao Te Ching" is so difficult to interpret ?
-Is the Way (the Tao) like an inner ...
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If we stick to "The Way" in Taoism, won't it be sinful?
The short question is: if we stick to The Way in Tao Te Ching, won't that be sinful?
That's because, The Way seems to be the "most natural way". For example, if we know the manager likes ...
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What exactly is duality?
As a novice in philosophy, I haven't read all the material available on the subject of duality but I find it fascinating for both its profound simplicity and for being responsible for my brain telling ...
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Are there resemblances between Daoism and Buddhism?
Buddhism, according to the Pali canon, seems to be ultimately about saying no to life in consideration of ceaseless cravings or will constituting it, whereas Daoism seems to emphasize the 'path' or ...
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Is the Dao a thing or an action?
Studying the Dao as a Westerner, I am constantly perplexed by the ineffability of the Dao. It always strikes me as though I should be able to attach properties to a noun, even if that property is ...
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Could the Tao be understood as the haecceity of the world?
The Tao-te Ching begins by saying that:
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal and unchanging name.
Yet this ineffable ...
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What is the origin of the phrase "Learn this from that"?
Some time ago I heard the above phrase and was told that it was from the Tao Te Ching, however after skimming through the text I can't seem to find it there. It's possible that I just missed it or my ...
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Taoism and other minds
Why does wikipedia say that Taoism is solipsism? 1. Does Taoism say that others have no mind's? 2. Does this mean that every Taoist is a person who believes that only He has a mind, and all other ...
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Is Taoism a deterministic philosophy?
I am beginning to study Taoism, and I am reading "Leih-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living" translated by Eva Wong. In "Part One. The gifts of Heaven: About the Nature of the Tao ...
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Origin of "Great acts are made up of small deeds"
It is easy to find the author - Lao Tzu. But I lost hope trying to find the context, e.g. the book of the quote's origin. Hoping Stack Exchange philosophers can provide the answer.
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What is meant by "do without doing" in the Tao Te Ching?
In my translation of the Tao Te Ching, it says essentially (paraphrasing from audiobook Chapter 2):
If nothing is done, then all will be well.
There is this idea that you should not do at all, but ...
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Bythos and Sophia, Yuanshi Tianzun and Lingbao Tianzun
The Gnostic Bythos is that of a Monad, though I know it does not have benevolent connotations. Disregarding any sense of goodness/morality/仁, in what ways is it not synonymous with that of the ...
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Can't understand Tao Te Ching quote
In the Chapter 1 of the book Tao Te Ching, part 1, 3rd (section) the following quote is present
Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always ...
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The Farmer narration by Alan Watts
Is anyone aware of the story of a Chinese farmer (A Taoist parable) who keeps saying "maybe" to every event (Good or bad) that happens to him because we don't know the consequences of those events in ...
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What is the meaning of this Chuang-Tzu quote?
What is the meaning of this quote ? Also, what can one take away from this ?
…the wise man looks into space
and does not regard the small as too little,
nor the great as too big,
for he ...
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For someone who studies Daoism, how would they make another Daoist see that they are in fact following the Dao?
For a quick summary of the Dao, here is an excerpt of what it is in the book Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China
The culmination of knowledge is ...
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Does the ineffability of the Dao contradict wuwei?
Wuwei, as I understand it, means the following, depending on the context:
You do something because you are born for it and do it without wondering why you need to do it (e.g. trees produce oxygen ...
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How does philosophy not fall into the confirmation bias?
Daoism and Buddhism in Eastern philosophies emphasize adaptation and flexibility, and critique rationality. They have different frameworks to understand the same phenomenon, and different goals for ...
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What would Nietzsche think of Taoism?
I'm not too familiar with the works of Nietzche (The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, etc). However, I am familiar with the terms of overman or Ubermensch, a person who creates new morals/...
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What is the name for half-baked understanding of philosophies?
I think many people who subscribe to Taoism pushing the idea to extremes, like thinking that only feeling is correct (in the name of the Tao cannot be spoken), or researching is useless (in the name ...
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What does "A violent man does not die a natural death" mean?
The original quote was taken from Tao Te Ching, Chapter 42. A literal reading of the text would suggest that a violent man does not die from natural causes but such a prediction, while it might sound ...
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Is there a relation between postmodernism and Asian philosophies?
As an Asian, I see that postmodernism and Taoism and Buddhism all share a similar idea: the truth cannot be grasped. Is there any relation between postmodernism and Asian philosophies? Can Laozi and ...
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Is there an ur-philosophy behind the philosophy of Pythagoras and Lao Tze Tung?
Chapter forty-two of the Dao De Jing has the following:
The Dao engenders One
One engenders Two
Two engenders Three
And Three engenders the many myriad things
This looks rather like how ...
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What is the philosophical significance of the First Law of Thermodynamics?
The Law states that “no energy can be destroyed or created, for it is constant; it can only be transformed from one form to another”. Do you think this alignes with many of the teachings of Buddhism, ...
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From where does sensing take place during dreams?
In the Zhuangzi (Taoist text), Zhuang Zhou wrote he dreamed he was a butterfly. When he woke up he did not know whether he was perhaps a butterfly dreaming he is a man. (Wikipedia)
Personally, I ...
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Chinese 'Tao' ('Dao') vs South African Ubuntu
What are some similarities and differences between the Chinese concept of Dao in Daoism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao) versus the South African concept of Ubuntu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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What's a good translation for "De" in Dao De Jing?
The Dao De Jing is a classic about how Nature operates (or doesn't operate) to achieve its ever-evolving marvels.
Jing here means a classic book. Dao is the Way, the "first cause": to me a fancy name ...
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Pu, or the uncarved block, in the book of Tao
I recall, that when I read the book of Tao as a teen, there was one verse/chapter which really stuck with me. It went something like this:
If you have an ucarved block and you carve it into a spoon, ...
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Trying to identify a stance (or a range of them) respecting humans as part of a wider system, while denying them any special intrinsic significance
For the purposes of a philosophical study I am seeking a framework that would regard humans fairly unsympathetically, both individually and en masse, but which is not in itself essentially pessimistic....
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Are there sources in daoistic philosophy regarding the concept of the specifically human?
What I am looking for are sources (wether historical or, even better, contemporary), that stand in the tradition of daoistic philosophy and focus on the concept of humanity.
The goal is basically ...
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What is the meaning of the following sentence in "Nature, Man and Woman" by Alan Watts?
I am reading "Nature, Man and Woman" by Alan Watts and I am not able to grasp the meaning of the sentence highlighted below fully.
There is a prevalent belief in the West that intellectual and
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Lao Tzu "A good person is the bad person’s teacher. A bad person is the good person’s task." What does it mean?
Lao Tzu said that "A good person is the bad person’s teacher. A bad person is the good person’s task.". Source
I don't understand anything!
Can you explain it in plain English?
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Philosophical Similarities For Chinese Confucianism and Daoism
I know there a lot more differences then similarities between Daoism and Confucianism. All I can find is that both have one goal and focus of self-improvement from being "individuals" by becoming a ...
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Why is a white horse not a horse?
While learning about Taoist philosophy, we learned about Gongsung Long's argument that a white horse is not a horse. We recieved the english translation of his argument, and for me it didn't make much ...
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How similar are Taoism and Christianity?
The current Wikipedia article on Taoism contains a relatively prominent section devoted to arguments in favor of an alleged similarity between Taoism and Christianity.
Some authors have dealt with ...
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Recommend "best" (see description) English translation of Tao Te Ching
Would someone who is vary familiar with Lao Tzu's philosophy please refer me to a translation of Tao Te Ching that preserves the spirit and eternal messages of Tao Te Ching. I don't like the ...
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To use the limited to pursue the unlimited is foolish?
I have occasionally used an (apparent) quote from Chinese (Taoist) philosopher Zhuangzi's Wikipedia article and am wondering about the original form and where exactly it might be cited from:
To use ...
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Similarities between philosophies of Zhuangzi (daoism) and Friedrich Nietzsche?
I've come across these quotes by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) and about Chinese daoist philosopher Zhuangzi (4th century BC).
from Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy from the ...
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