This assignment asks you to write a 350 word or so essay that analyzes one of the following passages listed below. In particular, examine one of these passages in light of the “foundational ideas and images” that were discussed in the “Study Guide and Study Questions” for the module. In addition, you must reference at least two other readings that were assigned for this module. In addition to the Chuang Tzu, the supplemental readings, and the initial Smith reading “Excerpts from ‘Taoism’” are also fair game and could be used to fulfill this requirement.
Here are the prompts:
Note: I’m including the study questions that are associated with each of these passages. You do not need to answer all of them or even any of them. The questions are meant to focus your attention on key ideas, all of which related to the “foundational ideas.” Do not get lost in the entirety of the story or in minor or confusing parts within them. Keep the focus on the “foundational ideas.” Looking at just one of these quotes in one of these stories, in depth, could give you more than enough to write about in a 350 word essay. Indeed, one can see the entirety of the Taoist teaching in any of these little quotes…
1. The Five Enemies 78
How do you understand that both the “robber” and the “respectable citizen” have “both lost the original simplicity of “man”? How do you understand this “original simplicity”? How do they lose it? How is this liked being caged?
2. Great and Small 87
Why is it “in the light of Tao nothing is best, nothing is worst”?
Why is it “he who want to have right without wrong… does not understand the principles of heaven and earth”?
How is “the mind of the wise man” the “true conqueror”?
3. Confucius and the Madman 58
How do you understand the idea that “When the world makes sense/ The wise have work to do”? And, that “Never, never/ Teach virtue more”? (What’s the problem with teaching virtue?)
How do you understand that it is “useful… to be useless”? (Or, what is the problem with being “useful”?)
4. Tao 150
“To name a name is to delimit a ‘thing’.” How do names delimit things?
How do you understand, “Where there is no measure, there is no beginning of any ‘thing’“?
How do you understand that “Tao is beyond words and beyond things”? In what sense(s)?
How do you understand that “Tao is a name that indicates without defining”?
5. You can pick a passage of your choosing from anywhere in the Chuang Tzu and analyze it. If you do this, make sure you clearly indicate what passage you’re referring to; use both the title and page number to this end. Again, the idea is to examine the passage, or just a section or even just a quote from the passage in light of one or more of the “foundational ideas” . Also, as with all the prompts, the idea is to reference at least two other readings that were assigned for this module.
Again, for prompts 1-4, you don’t have to answer all the questions that are listed in each of them, just pick whatever one makes the most sense and examine it closely and thoroughly. Start there. In the end, they are all related so to answer one with a deep understanding is to answer all of them. Just do your best and if you can see how all of these questions relate to each other, you are doing very well!
Notes:
You must support your arguments with the material that was assigned and you must cite it accurately.
The use of outside sources is prohibited. All of the material you use and cite must come from what was assigned in this module. The whole idea of this class is to simply work with the assigned material, to explore and play with these ideas. I’m not looking for “perfection,” just an honest effort. Do the work and trust yourself. If you use an uncited source and fail to cite it, you will get an “F.” Plagiarism is never acceptable.
Now, although all of the “foundational ideas” are, indeed, “foundational,” and I’m inviting you to work with all of them, emptiness and uncarved wood are especially significant as both directly point to the essence of the Tao. So, strive to see your passage in light of one or both. To be able to see emptiness and/or original simplicity in this material will demonstrate great depth in your understanding, which is what you should be striving for.
If these ideas still feel a bit mystifying to you… don’t worry about it. Start with what you feel most comfortable with and go from there. Again, to dig deeply into any one of these foundational ideas and images is to touch on ALL of them. To explore nonaction is to see an absence of ego and egoic desire. It is “simple” action that doesn’t “carve”. It comes of out emptiness, etc.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|
