Chat with us, powered by LiveChat Tao Te Ching Book Essay assignment - STUDENT SOLUTION USA

Read all of the Tao Te Ching; then, in 800-1000 words, discuss which FIVE parts (CHAPTERS) – the book has 81 chapters, were the most striking and meaningful for you – and why – from this exploration of the Tao. Be sure to cite by chapter number, and paragraph number within the body of your text, for example, if you were to use chapter 5, paragraph 2, you would put this as your citation: (5-2).Tao Te Ching
Written by Lao-Tzu
A translation for the public domain by j.h. mcdonald 1996

Chapter 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.

Chapter 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 takes no credit. That is why it will last forever.

Chapter 3

If you overly esteem talented individuals, people will become overly competitive. If you overvalue possessions,
people will begin to steal.

Do not display your treasures or people will become envious.

The Master leads by emptying people’s minds; filling their bellies, weakening their ambitions,
and making them become strong.
Preferring simplicity and freedom from desires, avoiding the pitfalls of knowledge and wrong action.

For those who practice not-doing, everything will fall into place.

Chapter 4

The Tao is like an empty container:
it can never be emptied and can never be filled. Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things.
It dulls the sharp, unties the knotted,
shades the lighted, and unites all of creation with dust.

It is hidden but always present.
I don’t know who gave birth to it . It is older than the concept of God.

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