Quiz RL.6: Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
Read the first two verses in the classic Chinese poem, the Tao Te Ching.
Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.6 Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
Tao Te Ching
1.
The tao that can
be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be
spoken
is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the
boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of
creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.
Yet
mystery and reality
emerge from the same source.
This source
is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The
beginning of all understanding.
2.
When people see
things as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see
things as good,
evil is created.
Being and non-being
produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each
other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore the
Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without
saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them;
things leave and she lets them go.
She has without
possessing,
and acts without any expectations.
When her work
is done, she take no credit.
That is why it will last forever.
- Lao-Tzu (6th Century BC);
As translated by Tormond Byrn
1. Does Lau-Tzu believe that concepts like “good”, “evil”, “tall” or “short exist outside of a duality? Do these ideas exist in and of themselves?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. How does the idea of good and evil presented by Lao-Tzu differ from our Western perspective?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________