The History of Chinese Philosophy (Part 13)

The China History Podcast

Laszlo Montgomery

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We've already heard about Confucianism, The Hundred Schools, and the Yi Jing. In this episode, we look at Daoism. The life of Lao Tzu (Laozi) will be introduced along with the book he probably never wrote but which is ascribed to him anyway. This is the Tao Te Ching or Dao De Jing. Laozi was quite a character and by telling his story, it will give you the fundamentals to explore on your own what this philosophic thought is all about. We'll look at the Daoist concept of Wu Wei 无为 and the art of quiescence. We'll close with one of the earliest and greatest interpreters of the Daodejing, Wang Bi. In the History of Chinese Philosophy Part 13, we'll start looking at Zhuangzi and his classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, Lazala Montgomery here.
0:02.0	We're back once again with another new episode
0:04.4	in this 18-part series that introduces
0:07.0	the history of Chinese philosophy.
0:10.3	In the next couple episodes, we're
0:11.9	going to explore Taoism and what that's all about.
0:15.0	Today we will retrace our steps backward along the China history timeline
0:20.0	and return to the 6th century BC to look at Lausse,
0:23.8	Juansse, and the teachings of Taoism.
0:26.5	Will Durant said it best when he said,
0:30.0	Lausse, the greatest of the pre-Confucian philosophers, knew the wisdom of silence, and lived, we may
0:37.5	be sure, to a ripe old age, though we are not sure he lived at all.
0:42.6	Tradition which knows everything credits him with his book,
0:46.4	that Dau de Ching and his name,
0:48.9	La'u'u'z', neither of which may have belonged to him."
0:52.4	End quote. And from a historical point. neither of which may have belonged to him."
0:52.6	And from a historical point of view, that nearly sums it up as far as who Laudse was.
1:00.4	His short work, the Dau de Ching, also called the Laudse.
1:04.0	Has to be attributed to someone. Someone had to conveniently exist who could be quoted and referred to.
1:10.0	The Laudse of the ancient classics, could have been an amalgamation of several people
1:16.6	who yielded all this wisdom over time.
1:19.8	If they were one person, it's still hard to say. if the words we read today, many of us in
	...

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