The Tacit Understanding Between the Ancient Religions of the West and the Ancient Cultures of China

Research Article
Open access

The Tacit Understanding Between the Ancient Religions of the West and the Ancient Cultures of China

Yuxuan Xue 1*
  • 1 University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A4, Canada    
  • *corresponding author yxuan.xue@utoronto.ca
CHR Vol.4
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-31-7
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-32-4

Abstract

This work discusses Maimonides’s and Lao Tzu’s understanding of God/Tao. Maimonides is a leading figure in Jewish philosophy that takes a rather different analytical approach to the Torah from his predecessors. Instead of directly taking Torah and related religious books as guidance, Maimonides believes the right way to interpret Torah is to treat the stories in Torah as metaphors and use wisdom given by God to dig out the meaning behind the metaphor. Differently, Lao Tzu does not belong to any religion, while Lao Tzu found his only philosophy of how to live a better life by avoiding possible harm. After Lao Tzu’s analysis of the change of the matter and the observation of the relationships between matters… Lao Tzu has written his famous work – Tao Te Qing. In this book, he tries to teach people the philosophy of Tao to make them live better. By comparing Maimonides and Lao Tzu, I find that there are many similarities between Lao Tzu and Maimonides’s understanding of the transcendent being despite their rather different backgrounds. This essay will focus on three areas: their theories on the creation of the creatures and the inexpressible feature of God/ Tao, and the emotionless nature of God/ Tao.

Keywords:

Maimonides, Jewish philosophy, Religion, Taoism, Philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Lao Tzu, Tao Te Qing

Xue,Y. (2023). The Tacit Understanding Between the Ancient Religions of the West and the Ancient Cultures of China. Communications in Humanities Research,4,13-20.
Export citation

References

[1]. A. Chan, “Laozi,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 21-Sep-2018. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/#DatAutLao. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[2]. K. Seeskin, “Maimonides,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 04-Feb-2021. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[3]. “Philosophical and religious taoism,” Caroline Myss. [Online]. Available: https://www.myss.com/free-resources/world-religions/taoism/philosophical-and-religious-taoism/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[4]. C. Hansen, “Daoism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 28-Jun-2007. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/daoism/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[5]. L. Tze, “Tao Te Ching,” Google Books, 07-Jul-1997. [Online]. Available: https://books.google.com/books/about/Tao_Te_Ching.html?id=u_4kAwAAQBAJ. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[6]. Q. Wang, “The Unification and Separation of ‘Tao’ and ‘Name’--An Examination of the Text of ‘Laozi - Chapter 1’ on Silk manuscript.” [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=HZWZ202210068&DbName=CJFQTEMP. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022]. (In chinese)

[7]. M. Maimonides and S. Pines, The Guide of the Perplexed, Volume 1. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

[8]. M. Maimonides, S. Pines, and L. Strauss, The guide of the perplexed. Volume II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.

[9]. Figure 2“Humankind - religion guide,” Neoseeker. [Online]. Available: https://www.neoseeker.com/humankind/Religion_Guide. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[10]. Q. Ma, “CNKI Express 2.0 (KNS8.0) User Experience Bulletin,” "One life gives birth to two, two gives birth to three" -- Xiong Shili Lao "Yi" Relationship Exploration. [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=ZHLA202103012&DbName=CCJDTEMP. [Accessed: Mar-2021]. (In Chinese)

[11]. “The blind man and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe,” by John Godfrey Saxe - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry. [Online]. Available: https://allpoetry.com/The-Blind-Man-And-The-Elephant. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[12]. “centertao” CenterTaoorg. [Online]. Available: https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/dc-lau/chapter-5-commentary/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[13]. H. Niu and Y. Zhang, “Application of electrical automation in solar photovoltaic power generation,” An analysis of the "benevolence" of "unkindness" in Laozi. [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=JLGB201702014&DbName=CJFQ2017. [Accessed: 15-Feb-2017].

Cite this article

Xue,Y. (2023). The Tacit Understanding Between the Ancient Religions of the West and the Ancient Cultures of China. Communications in Humanities Research,4,13-20.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 2

ISBN：978-1-915371-31-7(Print) / 978-1-915371-32-4(Online)
Editor：Faraz Ali Bughio, David T. Mitchell
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.4
ISSN：2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).

References

[1]. A. Chan, “Laozi,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 21-Sep-2018. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/#DatAutLao. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[2]. K. Seeskin, “Maimonides,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 04-Feb-2021. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[3]. “Philosophical and religious taoism,” Caroline Myss. [Online]. Available: https://www.myss.com/free-resources/world-religions/taoism/philosophical-and-religious-taoism/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[4]. C. Hansen, “Daoism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 28-Jun-2007. [Online]. Available: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/daoism/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[5]. L. Tze, “Tao Te Ching,” Google Books, 07-Jul-1997. [Online]. Available: https://books.google.com/books/about/Tao_Te_Ching.html?id=u_4kAwAAQBAJ. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[6]. Q. Wang, “The Unification and Separation of ‘Tao’ and ‘Name’--An Examination of the Text of ‘Laozi - Chapter 1’ on Silk manuscript.” [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=HZWZ202210068&DbName=CJFQTEMP. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022]. (In chinese)

[7]. M. Maimonides and S. Pines, The Guide of the Perplexed, Volume 1. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

[8]. M. Maimonides, S. Pines, and L. Strauss, The guide of the perplexed. Volume II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.

[9]. Figure 2“Humankind - religion guide,” Neoseeker. [Online]. Available: https://www.neoseeker.com/humankind/Religion_Guide. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[10]. Q. Ma, “CNKI Express 2.0 (KNS8.0) User Experience Bulletin,” "One life gives birth to two, two gives birth to three" -- Xiong Shili Lao "Yi" Relationship Exploration. [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=ZHLA202103012&DbName=CCJDTEMP. [Accessed: Mar-2021]. (In Chinese)

[11]. “The blind man and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe,” by John Godfrey Saxe - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry. [Online]. Available: https://allpoetry.com/The-Blind-Man-And-The-Elephant. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[12]. “centertao” CenterTaoorg. [Online]. Available: https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/dc-lau/chapter-5-commentary/. [Accessed: 17-Jun-2022].

[13]. H. Niu and Y. Zhang, “Application of electrical automation in solar photovoltaic power generation,” An analysis of the "benevolence" of "unkindness" in Laozi. [Online]. Available: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=JLGB201702014&DbName=CJFQ2017. [Accessed: 15-Feb-2017].

For authors
Guide for authors Policies for authors Aims and scope Subscription Open access policy
For editors
Policies for editors Editorial board
For reviewers
Policies for reviewers Privacy policy

Cookies are used by this site.
Copyright © 2024 EWA Publishing, its licensors, and contributors. All rights reserved, including text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.