"The Tao Te Ching"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the "Tao Te Ching", the Chinese text that teaches there is one undivided truth at the root of all things. "Tao Te Ching" written in China about 2,500 years and is probably the most influential Chinese book of all times. The "Tao Te Ching" provides the basis for the philosophical school of Taoism, an essential pillar of Chinese thought.

From the Paper:

"Stylistically, the verse uses a number of figures of speech. At the beginning is a series of antithesis or contrasting constructions as well as repetition of the word "be": "Yield and overcome"; "Bend and be straight"; "Empty and be full"; "Wear out and be new"; "Have little and gain." This whole part of the verse is also a tautology, saying the same thing with different words. The words also evoke images: The bending tree or plant, the full bucket of water, the warn out clothes.
These words in the beginning of the verse are also similar to "ying" and "yang." Yin originally meant "shady, secret, dark, mysterious, cold." Yang in turn meant "clear, bright, the sun, heat," the opposite of yin. From these basic opposites, a complete system of opposites was elaborated. Yin represents everything about the world that is dark, hidden, passive, receptive, yielding, cool, soft, and feminine."

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