Introduction of Dao De Jing
- 1. EASY PASS TO DAO Introduction of Dao and Dao De Jing
- 2. Why Should People Get To Know Daoism? § You will be able to achieve the following two goals: 1. Realizing the whole picture of how the world is performing in its deep roots. 2. Relief yourself to spiritual freedom -- I can tell the influences without being influenced. § Thus Daoism is NOT letting you become a monk, but is about dancing with the universe.
- 3. Introduce Two Norms § Dao/ Tao Dao is an idea shared by all ancient Chinese tribes that refers to “principles of things”. Thus “Achieve Dao” means going deep and finding the true nature of both oneself and the world. § Daoism In ancient times, Chinese didn’t divide philosophy, religious, science, medicine and politics into different subjects. Inheritance of all these knowledge and wisdom plus all the sub-disciplines is Daoism.
- 4. “Huang Lao” and “Lao Zhuang” § Chinese scholars often use these two phrases to refer to Daoism because they are names of three ancient Chinese: emperor Huang, Laozi, and Zhuangzi. § In most Chinese’s eyes: Daoism = Laozi, who is author of Daoism classic Dao De Jing. Though it’s true that Dao De Jing is a great window of Daoism.
- 5. Influence of Dao De Jing § Daoism as a religion considers Dao De Jing as the classic the religion. Like Bible for Christian. § Convention of ancient Chinese scholars is develop their own theory on the base of previous masters. Laozi, as the first Chinese philosopher, deeply influence Chinese philosophy, way of thinking, politics, and art. One can not know Chinese culture without reading Dao De Jing. § Dao De Jing was first introduced to Europe since 16th century. For rank of numbers of foreign language translation, Bible ranks as the first place, and Dao De Jing is the second place.
- 6. What Does Dao De Jing Talk About? § Philosophers said this book is about philosophy, and reveal way of thinking about Yin- Yang. § Military experts said this book talks about military strategies. § When Buddhism went into China, it found resonance with Dao De Jing and Daoism. § For Taoists, Dao De Jing is guide to Daoism meditation. § George W. Bush quoted Dao De Jing to explain his political Ideas. § In the end, the list is endless…
- 7. Why ? § Apparently the book is not about knowledge or information, or it won’t make sense that people all around the world still think it is useful after 2,500 years. § Dao De Jing said “the seems like useless thing is the most useful thing.”– Because Dao is in everywhere: when you go deep into anything (science, art, your life), you will see it.
- 8. How To Read Dao De Jing § Through so many translations are available, better way is to let the book itself tells the story. After you are more familiar with the text, you will find the answer just lies in another chapter. § Chinese don’t talk about smartness or IQ, but talk about wisdom or realization of things. This issue also relates to the characters of the Chinese language. § The most simple advice is : keep reading, until one day accumulation of quantity will cause change.