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→Interpretation and themes
==Interpretation and themes==
==Interpretation and themes==
The passages are [[Ambiguity|ambiguous]], and [[topics]] range from [[political]] advice for rulers to [[practical]] [[wisdom]] for people. Because the variety of [[interpretation]] is virtually limitless, not only for different people but for the same person over time, readers do well to avoid making claims of objectivity or superiority. Also, since the book is 81 short poems, there is little need for an abridgement.
The passages are [[Ambiguity|ambiguous]], and [[topics]] range from [[political]] advice for rulers to [[practical]] [[wisdom]] for people. Because the variety of [[interpretation]] is virtually limitless, not only for different people but for the same person over time, readers do well to avoid making claims of objectivity or superiority. Also, since the book is 81 short poems, there is little need for an abridgement.
; '''Ineffability or Genesis'''
; '''Ineffability or Genesis'''
<blockquote>The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying way;
<blockquote>The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying way;
The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley)
The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. (chap. 1, tr. Waley)
These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable, e.g., Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. In Laozi's Qingjing Jing (verse 1-8) he clarified the term Tao was nominated as he was trying to describe a state of existence before it happened and before time or space. Way or path happened to be the side meaning of Tao, ineffability would be just poetic. This is the Chinese creation myth from the primordial Tao. In the first twenty-four words in Chapter one, the author articulated an abstract cosmogony, in what would be the world outside of the cave before it took shape by Plato in his allegory of the cave.</blockquote>
These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable, e.g., Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language. In Laozi's Qingjing Jing (verse 1-8) he clarified the term Tao was nominated as he was trying to describe a state of existence before it happened and before time or space. Way or path happened to be the side meaning of Tao, ineffability would be just poetic. This is the Chinese creation myth from the primordial Tao. In the first twenty-four words in Chapter one, the author articulated an abstract cosmogony, in what would be the world outside of the cave before it took shape by Plato in his allegory of the cave.</blockquote>
;'''The Mysterious Female'''
;'''The Mysterious Female'''
Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. (chap. 6, tr. Waley)
Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. (chap. 6, tr. Waley)
Like the above description of the ineffable Tao as "the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures", the Tao Te Ching advocates "female" (or Yin) values, emphasizing the passive, solid, and quiescent qualities of nature (which is opposed to the active and energetic), and "having without possessing". Waley's translation can also be understood as the Esoteric Feminine in that it can be known intuitively, that must be complemented by the masculine, "male" (or Yang), again amplified in Qingjing Jing (verse 9-13). Yin and Yang should be balanced, "Know masculinity, Maintain femininity, and be a ravine for all under heaven." (chap. 28, tr. Mair)</blockquote>
Like the above description of the ineffable Tao as "the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures", the Tao Te Ching advocates "female" (or Yin) values, emphasizing the passive, solid, and quiescent qualities of nature (which is opposed to the active and energetic), and "having without possessing". Waley's translation can also be understood as the Esoteric Feminine in that it can be known intuitively, that must be complemented by the masculine, "male" (or Yang), again amplified in Qingjing Jing (verse 9-13). Yin and Yang should be balanced, "Know masculinity, Maintain femininity, and be a ravine for all under heaven." (chap. 28, tr. Mair)</blockquote>
; '''Returning (Union with the Primordial)'''
; '''Returning (Union with the Primordial)'''
The Tao Te Ching praises self-gained knowledge with emphasis on that [[knowledge]] being gained with humility. When what one [[person]] has experienced is put into [[words]] and transmitted to others, so doing risks giving unwarranted [[status]] to what inevitably must have had a subjective tinge. Moreover, it will be subjected to another layer of [[interpretation]] and [[subjectivity]] when read and learned by others. This kind of knowledge (or "book learning"), like desire, should be diminished. "It was when [[intelligence]] and knowledge appeared that the Great Artifice began." (chap. 18, tr. Waley) And so, "The pursuit of learning is to increase day after day. The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day." (chap. 48, tr. W.T. Chan)
The Tao Te Ching praises self-gained knowledge with emphasis on that [[knowledge]] being gained with humility. When what one [[person]] has experienced is put into [[words]] and transmitted to others, so doing risks giving unwarranted [[status]] to what inevitably must have had a subjective tinge. Moreover, it will be subjected to another layer of [[interpretation]] and [[subjectivity]] when read and learned by others. This kind of knowledge (or "book learning"), like desire, should be diminished. "It was when [[intelligence]] and knowledge appeared that the Great Artifice began." (chap. 18, tr. Waley) And so, "The pursuit of learning is to increase day after day. The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day." (chap. 48, tr. W.T. Chan)
==Other themes==
==Other themes==
Here are some other themes inferred from the "Tao Te Ching" (with examples of instances):
Here are some other themes inferred from the "Tao Te Ching" (with examples of instances):