Your last questions/readings for the Tao te Ching are below. If the university is closed on Wednesday, then I'll bump these to Friday, but for now, let's assume we'll meet again on Wednesday.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Bruce Lee (famous actor and martial artist) was a staunch advocate of the Tao te
Ching, and claimed that it worked very harmoniously with the martial arts. Which poem might have specifically inspired him? Also, how can the Tao help someone
defeat an opponent mentally as well as physically?
Q2: Though the Tao te Ching often advises against
attachment and emotions such as anger and desire, Verse 67 claims that "I
have three treasures that I cherish and hold dear/the first is love...With love
one is fearless." How can love be one of the most important qualities in
cultivating the Tao when selfish attachment/desire to the world brings
confusion?
Q3: We've talked a little about the connection between the Tao te Ching and college, and I've always thought that every incoming student should have to read the Tao te Ching, since it offers invaluable
advice for starting a journey of the intellect. What
poem do you think would function as the best College 101 advice for an incoming
student (and why)?
Q4: One final paradox: the Tao te Ching often says
that knowledge must begin with the self, and yet in Verse 72, it states,
"The Sage knows himself, but not as himself/he loves himself, but not as
himself/he honors himself, but not as himself." If you're not your
self, who are you? What do you love/focus on? What else are you? Does
this poem, or a related one, explain?
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