我们亚洲文学课(Asia Literature)的老师曾经在中国任教，他不仅是个中国通，也是个音乐爱好者。今天他让我们看了他自谱自弹自唱中英双语的<<李白 静夜思>>录相。太棒了！哎呀，世上的才子能人太多了，我等文学小辈就虚心学着吧。

下面这个作业是对比儒教和道教的区别。美国老师讲了60%，我自己查资料查了40%。那天我在电脑前这么一炖，我写的作业居然得了100分。我坐在美国课堂里，学着中国的儒教和道教，别有一番滋味在心头。

作业第一部分(PART ONE)是，解释<<论语>>和<<道德经>>中的两个段子。作业第二部分，用这两个例子来解释说明儒教和道教的区别。

作业要求：

Write a response of approximately 400-500 words that addresses some of the issues raised in the readings for week one.  In particular, I would like you to explore the perspectives of Confucianism and Daoism by commenting on a few key passages from the Analects by Confucius and the Dao De Jing by Lao Zi.

PART ONE: Pick one of the following quotations for both texts and write a brief commentary/interpretation of the passage.  Note: this section should include commentary on one passage from the Analects AND one passage from the Dao De Jing. 

PART TWO: Both the Analects and the Dao De Jing use the word “Dao,” which is usually translated as “the Way” in English.  Based on your reading of selections from the Analects and the Dao De Jing, do you think Confucius and Lao Zi mean the same thing when they refer to “the Way”?  If not, what do you perceive to be the difference? 

How do you account for these two philosophies arising in the same place at roughly the same time?  Do Confucianism and Daoism conflict with or complement each other?  Use specific examples from the text to support your interpretation. 

我的回答：

Part One:

1)      “Master You said; ‘Few indeed are those who are naturally filial towards their parents and dutiful toward their elder brothers but are fond of opposing their superiors; and it never happens that those who do not like opposing their superiors are fond of creating civil disorder.  The gentleman concerns himself with the root; and if the root is firmly planted, the Way grows.  Filial piety and fraternal duty—surely they are the roots of humaneness.’” (Book 1:2)

Interpretation:

This conversation tries to explore what The Way really is and how to get Ren.  Master You uses family members (parents and brothers) and people with higher social rank (superiors) as examples to explain the Way. He observes that people who respect their parents and are nice to their siblings rarely offend their bosses or people above their social ranks. Master You also finds that people who do not offend their bosses or people above their social ranks never create troubles in society. Therefore Master You proposes that being nice to parents and siblings is the basis for the harmony of society. He suggests that a good citizen should practice self-control by planting a root in his heart. If people have root in their heart, The Way will grow with them. Being nice to parents and siblings is the basis for this root.

3)    A great country is like low land.

It is the meeting ground of the universe,

The mother of the universe.

The female overcomes the male with stillness,

Lying low in stillness.

Therefore if a great country gives way to a smaller country,

It will conquer the smaller country.

And if a small country submits to a great country,

It can conquer the great country.

Therefore those who would conquer must yield

And those who conquer do so because they yield.

A great nation needs more people;

A small country needs to serve.

Each gets what it wants.

It is fitting for a great nation to yield.  (Sixty-one)

Interpretation:

In this chapter, Lao Zi uses nature as an example to teach people the wisdom of military or diplomatic relation between a powerful nation and a weak nation. This teaching content can also apply to deal with relation between a power person and a weak person.

Lao Zi suggests to us that a great country should be like a lower ground  to collect different kinds of upstream water, which is a symbol for small nation.  In Laozi’s opinion, great nations do not need to be as high as mountain peak or as hard as a rock. By lowering its’ position and being gentle, a great nation could show a humble attitude to a small nation, which is much easier to trust the great nation and become its’ partner. The similar rule is true to a small nation. If a small nation can be obedient to a great nation, it is more likely that the great nation will take small nation as a friend and they share common interests together. In this chapter, Laozi  also uses female as an example to explain the above rules. Although very quiet and meek, female conquers male by her gentle and soft personality. When we use this wisdom to deal with people, the similar application is true.

The take home message of this chapter is that, in order to gain something, you need learn to yield to your opposite counterpart first.  Great country needs more people to serve it.  People from a small nation need a good place to be servants. By yielding to each other, both great and small nations gain benefits they need.

Part Two: 

It is noteworthy that Confucianism and Daoism arise in the same place at roughly the same time.  This is not surprising if we could understand a little Chinese history.  At latter part of the Spring and Autumn Period when Confucianism and Daoism arise, people really need a guidance for their daily and spiritual life to understand and solve the social chaos that emerged from the fall of the Zhou Dynasty. They both help people to become better citizens and both focus on self-improvement in different approaches : Confucianism in the form of relations with others, and Dao in the form of relations with oneself and nature.  Since Confucianism deals with social matters, while Daoism concerns itself with the search for meaning, in order to be whole and perfect, it is better for people to understand these two separate systems, which are different and complementarily to each other.

Although both Confucius and Lao Zi refer to “the Way”(Dao) in their theories,  “the Way” in two systems are different . “Ren”(benevolence),  meaning to love all men, is the core of Confucianism and it is an ethical system and moral realm. Ren is made up of xiao(filial piety), li(respect), zhong(loyalty), zhi(wisdom), and Xin(faithfulness).  In Daoism, “the Way”(Dao) means the movement and law of the universe. In addition to The Way, Daoism also depends on Qi(bodily energy), De(virtue), Yin/Yang and natural order.

 In the example one of Part One, Confucius proposes a good way to maintain social harmony by talking about family members and superiors. In his argument, his focus is human. He believe that Xiao(filial piety) to parents and li(respect) to brothers will help to establish Ren (benevolence) in a society.  He believes that Ren is a basis for moral value and it can maintains the orderly society.

In the example two of Part one, Lao zi uses nature to explain the wisdom dealing with diplomatic relations of different countries having different powers. His focus is nature. He uses lower ground and different kinds of upstream water to symbolize powerful and weak nations. Using this metaphor, he teaches us that great nation should be humble as lower land in order to collect water from upstream.

Based on the above concepts and examples, the difference between Confucianism and Daoism is obvious. Daoism advocates letting things take their own course naturally. Laozi believes nature is a silent teacher and human should return to nature and learn wisdom from nature. Therefore Daoism is principally concern with the relationship between humans and the natural world. Confucianism, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with social relations within the human world and it mainly talks about moral cultivation.