Medina, vera gabrielle d.

Mendoza, franchezka l.
Ocampo, Marveen luis s.
Ssu-ma
Ch’ien

Shih Chi
(Historical Memoirs)
Lao Tzu
According to Ssu-ma Ch’ien

“Master Lao”

Given name: Li Erh

Public name: Li Tan
“Several thinkers”
Old age  wisdom and great
vitality
reached 160-200 years old
Lao Tzu
According to Ssu-ma Ch’ien

“Master Lao”

Given name: “ears”

Li Erh
“long
Public name: Li Tan
ears”
“Several thinkers”
Old age  wisdom and great
vitality
reached 160-200 years old
 Confucius
Lao Tzu
“I know a bird can fly; I
know a fish can swim; I know
animals can run. Creatures
that run can be caught in
nets; those that swim can
be caught in wicker traps;
those that fly can be hit by
arrows. But the dragon is
beyond my knowledge; it
ascends into heaven on the
clouds and wind. Today I
have seen Lao Tzu, and he
is like a dragon!”

- Confucius
west State of Ch’in

Han-ku Pass
Yin Hsi (Kuan
Yin)

book

Tao Te
Tao Te Ching
Book of Five Thousand
Characters
Upper part: Tao Ching
(Book of the Tao)
Lower part: Te Ching
(Book of the Te)
“Difficult”
“fanciful interpretations”
道
DAO
 Creative Power Way
beginning / one pathwa
y

道 Chang
Eternal
Wu
nothingness

DAO Ineffable Formles

s
Transcenden
 P
A Early Chinese
T
Literature: wide
H
W thoroughfare or
A carriageway
y
w
“Way” A
T
Heading in a e
certain r
direction along w
a path A
y
“The great dao is
very even (flat,
easy to travel on),
but people like (to
take) by-ways.”
- Laozi 53
 Tao Te Ching
Chapter 1

Stanza 1: “The Way that can be spoken of (dao

ke dao)
Is not the constant Way;
The name that can be named (ming ke ming)
Is not the constant name.”
Ineffable
/inˈefəb(ə)l/

Too great or too “The “constant”

extreme to be Dao cannot be
expressed or defined nor
described in words.
described; it is
nameless.”
-Chapter 1
 Sensory
“The Dao
transcends perception
sensory implies the use of the
perception; it senses in our
has neither possession to gain a
better understanding of
shape nor the world around us.
form.”
-Chapter 14
 “not having” any name, form, or other characteristics of things

Wu

“I do not know its name; I style it Dao.” - Lao

 Do nothing

Wu
wei

“you follow the Dao by not doing anything against it.”

 Creative power
“All things in the world are born out of
being.
Being is born out of non-being”
 Dao

One

Yang Yin
qi-energy

Heaven Earth

Human beings
 Tao Te Ching
Chapter 6
Stanza 1: “The valley spirit never dies.
It is called the mystical female.
The entrance to the mystical female
Is called the root of Heaven and Earth.”
Stanza 2: “Though gossamer,
As if barely existing,
It is used but never spent.”
 Wang bi
The distinction between “Dao” and “One” seems
redundant

“One can be said to be

wu. One is the beginning
of numbers and the
ultimate of things.”
 All things are from an absolute “beginning”
“Start of a pathway”“Direction to be followed”
德
De
 “Higher” de

德 Authenti
c
Inherent

De Classic of the
Way and Its
Virtue
Transcendent
[ tran-sen-duh nt ]

going surpassing ordinary

limits;

Theology. (of the Deity)

transcending the universe,
time, etc.

Philosophy. above all

possible modes of the
infinite; referred to, but
beyond, direct apprehension;
outside consciousness.
Immanent
[ im-uh-nuhnt ]

remaining within; indwelling;

inherent.

Philosophy. (of a mental act)

taking place within the mind
of the subject and having no
effect outside of it.

Theology. (of the Deity)

indwelling the universe, time,
etc.
 De
virtue “obtain”
“De is what one has
“obtained” from
(the) Dao, a “latent
power” by “virtue” of
which any being
becomes what it is.”
“De nourishes all beings.”
 “Classic of the Way and Its Virtue”
De is understood to have emanated from
the Dao.
Heshanggong
Qi
endowment:
determines one’s
physical, intellectual,
affective, moral, and
spiritual capacity.
 Wang bi
De represents what is “genuine” or
“authentic”
“The “virtue” that one
has “obtained” from Dao,
can only be understood
as what is originally,
naturally present in
human beings.”
- Laozi
An inherent de
enables a
person to
conform to the
way in which
Dao operates.
 Dao points not only to the
“beginning” but also through
de to the “end” of all things.
Conclusio
n
Dao is

Everything and
nothing
Ineffable
Transcendent
Meant to be
followed