For Wednesday's class, read through the first twenty poems in the Tao te Ching slowly...don't read them the way you would a novel or short story. In fact, I care less that you read them all then you read a few of them carefully and more than once. Remember our discussion on Friday about metaphors and how a metaphor can transform a common experience into something unique and complex--and help you experience it from the poet's point of view.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Discuss an important metaphor in one of the poems: what do you think this metaphor is trying to compare--what experience/idea to what experience/idea? Why is this useful? For example, Poem XII (12) says, "the sage is/For the belly/Not for the eye." What does it mean that the sage/teacher is meant to be "eaten" and not "seen"?
Q2: Many of these poems play with the idea of paradox--two ideas that would normally cancel each other out. Discuss one such paradox and why this paradox is not only possible, but enlightening to consider. For example, "use will never drain it." How is this possible?
Q3: Many of these poems can seem repetitive, using the same ideas and even the same language from one to another. Why do you think this is? Does one poem build on the other? Or do they represent different voices, each one offering slight variations on the same theme or idea?
Q4: Discuss a poem or passage that seems hopelessly confusing or impossible to 'translate.' Why is this? What language, metaphor, or paradox seems too dense to penetrate? Do you have any guesses or ideas?
2. Paradox's, fickled little things, can have minuscule effects or dire ones, almost like a ripple in calm water. Like when you say something is a certain way, but it is not the constant way? Or maybe a name that is named, but not the constant name. "How does these work" you ask. Well, it's simple; ways may change over time, as well as names just being that, names. One may change the course they are going, as well as change what they wish to be called as well. This can also be taken as figurative instead of literal. Instead of saying someones name, maybe you give them a nickname. This doesn't change their actual name, but gives them something new to be called.
ReplyDelete4. The third poem itself is kind of hard to read, since it goes back to times we really don't understand. Times where kings just had to be named kings. Where they strutted around like hot shots, not a care in the world. Taxing however much they choose, eating as much as they wish, and not remembering those who are under them at all. We can associate these times to what we know, like that of King Arthur or the king in Robin Hood, but since we weren't there to really experience these times, we can only speculate and run by word of mouth and writings for what it was like in the old days.
Great repsonses and detail--very thoughtful! Esp. the King Arthur comparison. :)
Delete2. "Use will never drain" could be applied to the idea of charity or benevolent work. Practical interpretation says that the more you use something the less you will have of it. In this instance, the more that you extend yourself to others, the more you are filled in return. Extending yourself to others also has a far reaching effect by which others are impacted by the original good work. By utilizing charity and benevolence, you are growing these things in the hearts of others, influencing them to carry on the original positive action.
ReplyDelete1. I believe that this poem is indicating that the teacher should be fully experienced. When you are impacted by powerful teaching you should give yourself over to the encounter. Not just be an observer but to fully participate in the process. Ask questions, be engaged, listen to the feedback of others. Most people sit in classrooms watching the clock and waiting for release. This example encourages the student to not be a simple voyeur but to be a part of the learning experience by soaking in all the teacher has to offer.
Callie Kennison
Very good responses! Great detail and support.
Delete3. All poems repeat themselves a lot, i feel they have the same kinda of theme throughout them they all seem to say like good comes with the bad nothing will be perfect without each other. Yes the good may out weigh the bad but it all fits together.
ReplyDelete1. It makes it seem that the teacher is sharing its wealth with the other people it. Where it says ' serve to hinder his progress' its kind of like saying teacher purely to see people improve not just because its a job.
Chloe Wigington
Good responses, though try to give a little detail on Q3, the way you did with Q1. It will help you more when you write the paper assignment, and it shows me what you're literally responding to.
Delete1. I think what the poem means when it says, "Hence the sage is/For the belly/Not for the eye" that we should attend to our bellies instead of what our eyes see. We should always remember to stay centered. When our eyes trick us into seeing something in a way that it is not, our bellies tell our minds that it isn't right, kind of like a gut instinct or a gut feeling. Our eyes may play tricks on us but what we feel in our gut is for real.
ReplyDelete2. I think in this paradox "The way" is like the way of life or the natural law in which people live and using it over and over again will not wear it down or diminish it.
Great responses!
DeleteQuestion 1: How I understood it is being how we judge others by looks and not their personalities looks being the eye and outside appearance and the belly being the inside and inward personalities.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I'm going to be honest and say this question was the simpliiest out of the others understand it much and a paradox is one of the terms I always got confused with English.
shaynee reynen
Give a bit more detail on Q2: it's a little too vague and I can't tell what you're responding to. Give more than a single sentence response for each question, so I can see you thinking through each question.
DeleteEthan Hays
ReplyDelete1. I think what Poem XII means when it says "Hence the sage is/For the belly/Not for the eye" is that flowers are like people. Most people see the beauty of the flower, just like humans. The poem says that we should look on the inside and not just focus on the outer beauties.
3. I feel like a lot of these poems have the same theme. I don't know if they build off of each other, but they definitely use the same ideas.
Q1 is good, but Q3 is too vague--I need to see a little more detail to give you full credit for these responses. Make sure I can see you responding to the text and thinking through your response.
DeleteChelsey Ott
ReplyDeleteQ1. I think that this poem is telling us that the teacher should acknowledge everything.
Q2. I think that all poems build on one another, they all have the same theme & ideas in some kind of way.
Try to give more detail on these responses: if your answers don't demonstrate that you've read the book, then I can't give you full credit. I need to see you responding to specific ideas in the text...try to quote a passage you can discuss in your answer. In general, give more than a single sentence for each question.
DeleteQ1: This reading reminded me SO MUCH of Zen Shorts by John Muth. While I've read about the Tao Te Ching, I've never read it in person - the impression I was left with was the ultimate ideology of "MAYBE". In Zen Shorts, Stillwater tells a story, "The Farmer's Luck" in which the farmer, to every comment about luck given responded, "Maybe". It seems that the Tao Te Ching teaches to appreciate the maybes and the gray areas of life.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I was hopelessly confused by poem XII:
"The five colours make man’s eyes blind" - I was ok with this... seeing pure color can blind one to the shades between - the "unknown" or "unnamed" colors.
"The five notes make his ears deaf" - this part was expected as well... Chinese music is often not specific notes, but the space between the notes, sliding up and down.
"The five tastes injure his palate;
Riding and hunting Make his mind go wild with excitement;
Goods hard to come by Serve to hinder his progress.
Hence the sage is For the belly Not for the eye.
Therefore he discards the one and takes the other." (Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching (Classics) (p. 16). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.)
It's the last that I had difficulty with... I started to lose the meaning with the "five tastes" - thanks for going over it in class!!
Excellent responses--I look forward to finding that book!
DeleteQ1. I think the poem is trying to tell us that the teacher should be knowledgable about things before sharing with others. You have an impact on people.
ReplyDeleteQ3. A lot of the poems seem to repeat themselves. I feel like they build from each other. Having the same kind of theme. You have your good and you have your evil. I'm not exactly sure why they are similar, but maybe it's to show different perspectives on a shared idea.
Victoria Aguilar
Try to respond to a specific idea in the poems--quote a passage that you can then discuss. I think you're on the right track, but I can't always tell what you're responding to since you're giving such a short response. Try to give at least 3-4 sentences so I can see you thinking through each question.
Delete