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Date Submitted: 03/24/2014 03:44 PM
Mysteries of the Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching is a mystifying religious Chinese text and source for philosophical Taoism. The eleventh chapter regarding emptiness helps us to understand the central claim of the Tao Te Ching, that we should appreciate and acknowledge the usefulness of being empty because that which exists can lead to profit while that which is empty leads to use. Emptiness is potentiality for anything and everything. It is the actual emptiness of something that is functional and can be utilized. One must pursue the path of emptiness to be at one with Tao which clarifies why this chapter is important to an overall understanding of the Tao Te Ching.
Containing eighty-one influential poems and two conceptual parts, the Tao Te Ching provides direction and inspiration to the reader. Through the use of epigrams, paradoxes, and repetition, it illustrates consistent ideas and offers guidance on how one should live his or her life, how to be at one with Tao, and how to correctly govern. The recurrent ambiguous nature of the text however, makes it difficult to comprehend. The poems are lacking a specific speaker or context and because it relies not on logical exposition but on sheer power of language in expounding its ideas, it comes closer to pure poetry than do any other philosophical texts.
In order to find who Lao Tzu was, I had to find some research about him. According to online sources, Lao-tzu was a very intelligent man known for his wise teachings. He was often consulted upon regarding questions of religion and politics. He believed that human beings were born good and needed nothing to keep them that way except to be left alone. According to tradition, Lao-tzu left the Chou royal house due to its decline and ventured to the Han-ku Pass. The guard overlooking the Pass was distraught at the thought of losing Lao-tzu and his wisdom for all eternity. Therefore, the guard requested a recording of Lao-Tzu's wisdom before he disappeared into the...