Tao Te Ching 13-28

After getting to know this book a bit better, I began realizing how contradictory it was from the Essential Analects.

The following verse will support my assumption:

Nineteen

Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom,
And it will be a hundred times better for everyone.

Give up kindness, renounce morality,
And men will discover filial piety and love.

Give up ingenuity, renounce profit,
And bandits and thieves will disappear.

It is confusing to see how different the minds of two of the greatest thinkers in Asia can be. Almost all their ideas are opposite to one another. We just read an entire book written by Confucius which emphasized on sainthood, wisdom, kindness and morality, everything which the writer of the Tao Te Ching tells us to renounce. I believe though that most Asians were inclined more towards The Analects, while the people in the Americas have more Taoist characteristics.

I felt that the lessons in the Analects were criticizing the way I lived while the Tao Te Ching is more of a guide. Until now, I feel way more connected to it than I did with the Analects.