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The Teaching and its Divergences US$ 15 This paper comments on a Lieh-tzu's chapter concerning the Yang-tzu's teaching and its divergences. The Taoist philosophy, improperly called "philosophy" if we think what designates this word for the Western culture, is a way/method (Tao) of life grounded on the pertinent observation of the reality and inspired from the development of the natural phenomena. But during the time, people have lost the keys of wisdom of the ancient Masters and even
if they were called Taoists they have never been so far away from the Tao. |
Lynn |
Taoism and Christianity US$ 15 Discusses some similarities between the Taoist doctrine and the Christian ethics.
I don't know how many people have noticed that there are certain similarities between Jesus'
sayings in the New Testament and some teachings of the philosophical Taoism (tao-chia). There was a time in the past when I thought of a possible influence of the ancient Chinese tradition on Judaism, without finding a specific proof of it. No trace of the writings belonging to the Taoist authors - Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Lieh-tzu - can be found in the Old Testament, either.
Then I thought that
maybe during those years of Jesus' life of which no records were kept, he might have visited the cultural abodes of the ancient times and learned about the Taoist teaching and ideas.
[Paper by Jhian Yang, word count: 1047, PDF, download]
Yin and Yang: Patterns of Interaction US$ 15 Discusses the idea of complementarity related to the yin and yang principles in Taoist philosophy.
Actually, yin and yang do not really infer the idea of
complementarity. Still, it is present in everyday language as in the sentence "woman and man complete each other".
It is not very difficult to trace back the origin of this strange idea: in the Bible, in the Old Testament, precisely in the Book of Genesis, where we learn that the woman was born from Adam. The speculations concerning the A myth of the Genesis, where it seems we have to do with an androgynous, primary creature, give a handle to the idea
that man and woman are complementary, that is, together, they create the unity, the primary androgynous.
[Paper by Jhian Yang, word count: 663, HTML, download]
What is Emptiness? US$ 25 A Taoist apporach of the concept of emptiness. Emptiness is a basic concept in the Taoist philosophy (the tao-chia). The idea of emptiness can be traced back in ancient China,
since it was already present in the Book of Changes. It is generally acknowledged that this book had a decisive influence on the main philosophical schools of the Warring States period (5th-3rd centuries B. C.)
Emptiness
gets a major significance in the writings of the Taoist masters Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu who place it in the center of their outlook. Later, during Han Dynasty, Huai-nan-tzu will also contribute to the development of these ideas. [Word count: 1262, PDF. Download]
