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#2 Laozi Noble Attributes of Chinese Civilization PDF
Noble Attributes of Chinese Civilization
15 Great Philosophers Who Better Humanity; with
Their Three Fundamental Sino-Concepts + Map, References & Cross-Cultural Timeline
A Radio Sinoland Cultural Cheat Sheet
By: 真子（Zhēnzǐ), aka Jeff J. Brown
www.radiosinoland.com
With Mandarin and Pinyin for language learners…
Including the transcript of my presentation to Samui Real for each one…
Philosopher Number 2 of 15 is Laozi
Introduction
Jeff J. Brown wrote The China Trilogy (https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00TX0TDDI/allbooks) and is the creator of Radio Sinoland, which Cloudflare certifies as receiving over 50 million visitors a year. Radio Sinoland is noteworthy for its large collection of libraries, covering a wide spectrum of topics (https://radiosinoland.com/).
He is a co-founder and the curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission (https://radiosinoland.com/2018/06/25/bioweapon-truth-commission-and-global-online-library-bwtc-gol-www-bioweapontruth-com/), founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, and created the China Writers’ Group (https://seektruthfromfacts.org/).
Jeff has lived in China for over 17 years, is currently based in Taiwan Province; he and his wife will be moving back to the Mainland to Kunming, Yunnan in September.
Transcript from Samui Real Talk (samuireal.org AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMnKUk9fYJw)
Hello everybody. Thank you for being here tonight. I am honored and humbled that you have taken the time out of your busy schedules and are interested in hearing what I have to say tonight.
I hope everybody got a copy of the presentation outline and has something to write with, if you want to take notes.
The title of the program is Noble Attributes of Chinese Civilization: 15 Great Philosophers Who Better Humanity. Notice that it is in the present, not past, because they still do. The subtitle is: & Their Three Fundamental Sino-Concepts – A Radio Sinoland Cultural Cheat Sheet.
Why do I call it a cultural cheat sheet? Instead of having to read volumes and volumes of books, I have basically summarized 5,000 years of Chinese/Eastern Thought into just a few pages. I also include Mandarin and Pinyin for language learners.
Tonight, we have time to cover the first 10 wise men. When Pat has an opening, I look forward to presenting Part II, with Numbers 11-15, plus their three foundational Sino-socio-cultural systems. But tonight, I include the References and A cross-cultural East-West timeline of philosophy, which are crucial.
So, let’s get started.
2-Laozi (老子 = Lǎozǐ, born 604 BC). It means Old Child or Old Master.
Why he matters: He gave us Daoism, the Way of the Dao. The Dao covers duality, Yin-Yang, the I-Ching, mysticism and the pantheon of Chinese gods and goddesses.
Motto: Constant Non-Being and Constant Being, Non-Action and Action, Retreat and Advance.
Core values: Humanity follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Dao, the Dao follows Nature.
The Way of the Dao in Chinese: 老子的道经/道之道 (Lǎozǐ de Dàojīng/Dàozhīdào)
Core values in Chinese: 人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然 (Rén fǎdì, dì fǎtiān, tiān fǎdào, dào fǎ zìrán).
Many Daoist enigmas: the Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the Name that can be named is not the eternal Name (Dàokědào, fēi cháng dào; míng kě míng, fēi cháng míng).
One interpretation: the Dao is the fundamental principle underlying all existence—transcending human language and conceptual understanding.
Once you try to define or describe it, you’re already limited to human categories, losing its true, infinite nature.
Generation Z version: Zen, Baby, Zen, live and let live, que sera sera.
Level of optimism: it’s all good.
Transcript on Laozi
First, Laozi’s name is really interesting, because it has two meanings: Old Master and Old Child, the latter meaning that this great wise man was looking at the world around him with infinite fascination and spontaneity.
I did not really appreciate the importance of Laozi, until recently. I knew something about him, read The Dao and other books. However, I really did not gain a fuller understanding of his importance, until we moved here to Taiwan Island almost two years ago. That’s because Taiwan is the most Daoist of places on earth. If Thailand is the most Buddhist and North Korea is the most Confucist, then Taiwan Province is super-Dao.
Why Laozi matters. He gave us Daoism, the Way of The Dao. The Dao is really expansive. It covers duality, Yin-Yang, the I-Ching, which is prognostications, mysticism and the pantheon of Eastern gods and goddesses. His motto is,
Constant non-being and constant being, non-action and action, retreat and advance.
These dualities go on and on. Hence, Yin and Yang, light and dark, man and woman.
Laozi’s core values are humanity follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows The Dao and The Dao follows nature.
Heaven in Chinese Thought is former kings, rulers and one’s ancestors. That’s heaven. Heaven is to worship the people who came before us, to venerate and honor them. This is why ancestral worship is so important and widespread in Sinoland.
The Dao is The Way. What is The Dao? Depends on who you ask. Laozi and The Dao are so profound that the explanations are manifold. That’s why there’s been thousands of books written about them, because they are so deep and complex. Your definition of The Dao may be different from my definition of The Dao, but it’s The Way. It’s the way to conduct oneself, understand life, the universe and your existence on Earth.
The Dao follows nature. What is nature? It could be the cosmos. It could be living life, daily life, family life, your inner thoughts. There are endless interpretations of nature in The Dao.
I’m going to stretch out a little, because Laozi is so important and there are so many Daoist enigmas. Here’s just one of them, which is written on the bamboo scroll in his picture,
The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
What this really means is, at least my interpretation, again, you can definitely come up with something different. But to me, what it says is that if you talk and don’t use your six senses, if you try to describe stuff, describe life instead of shutting your mouth and just absorbing and feeling what is surrounding you, then you’re going to miss it. Words and definitions just get in the way. The Dao transcends human language. That’s why Laozi is saying that in conceptual understanding, that sixth sense, you have to back off. It’s duality, you just stop, sit there and appreciate your existence, because if you don’t, then you will lose its true, infinite nature.
Daoism is extremely complex and deep, to say the least!
Laozi’s Generation Z version is: Zen baby Zen. Live and let live. Que sera sera.
His level of optimism is: It’s all good.
I can tell you, even though this profound Sino-shamen lived 2,500 years ago, Laozi and The Dao are still the flywheel that keeps Chinese spirituality humming, be it Confucism, Buddhism or Mao Thought.
When we’re traveling around China, we go into these podunk restaurants in small towns and there’s paintings and statues of Laozi, Confucius, Buddha and Mao. Below are five paintings of Laozi, all of them seen in no-name restaurants. They are big paintings, a meter or so square.
According to Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (not Sima Guang, another great historian I will introduce in Part II), Confucius visited Laozi to ask about ritual and propriety, which is known as Li. After their encounter, Confucius reportedly told his students:
Birds I know can fly, fish I know can swim, beasts I know can run. But as for dragons, I cannot tell how they ride on the wind and clouds and ascend to heaven. Today I have seen Laozi. Is he not like a dragon?
That’s how important Laozi is. Daoism is the skeleton supporting and giving structure to Eastern Thought.
Their celebrated meeting is a symbolic dialectical foundation, that duality of Chinese Thought, the complementary tensions between Daoist freedom and spontaneity versus Confucian structure and order. This duality has literally shaped Eastern Asia for the last 2,500 years.
This is a great story about Laozi. After he met Confucius, he got on a green ox, took off to the West, disappeared, and was never heard from again, believe it or not. This painting shows him leaving. There are two versions. One, that as he was leaving, the border guard asked him to record his wisdom. The other one, likely more accurate, is that Laozi asked a student to transcribe his work for him. There is some speculation that Laozi may have even been illiterate. But when you have that “sixth sense”, cosmic spirituality and power of thought that Laozi had, he could be forgiven. Was Jesus literate? Mohammad wasn’t, and look what they did for humanity.
The Way of The Dao is only 5,000 words. Think about that for a minute. The Dao is only 15 typewritten pages, the length of my oral presentation tonight. That’s like a high school final exam essay. It’s not that long. Yet, those 5,000 words have literally changed the world for the better, much better. It’s just unbelievable.
Again, these paintings are all from different local restaurants. Go around China and you see over and over again Laozi, Confucius, Buddha and Mao Zedong.
Laozi painting in a no-name local restaurant.
老子骑牛图 (Lǎozǐ qí niú tú) “Painting of Laozi Riding an Ox”.
This iconic image above depicts the legendary moment when Laozi, the founder of Daoism, departed from Chinese civilization, riding westward on a water buffalo, never to be seen again.
Laozi painting in a no-name local restaurant.
老子骑青牛 (Lǎozǐ qí qīng niú) “Laozi Riding a Green Ox”.
Above is one titled, Laozi Riding a Green Ox. The Chinese character actually means bluegreen. The ox in this one you can kind of see he’s got maybe a little bit of blue, but they call him the green ox. See Laozi is carrying bamboo scrolls that served as books back in the day.
Daoist Yinyang at Dimu Temple, Puli, Taiwan Island. The four characters mean “Mother of the Universe”, since Dimu is the Mother Goddess.
Above is a photo that Evelyne and I took. You can see Yin and Yang on top of this temple roof. This is Dimu Temple, only a 25 minute walk from where we live. We visit and hike around it a lot. If you see Yin and Yang in a temple, then you know it’s Daoist, or has Daoist influence, that’s for sure. The four characters down at the bottom say, Mother of the Universe because Dimu actually means Earth Mother. It’s a Daoist temple dedicated to her.
So, Laozi is a big deal and The Dao is a big deal.
Thus, if you’re really interested in Eastern Thought, I have an entire collection of many books, probably 50 that are in ebook form or PDF in the references at the end for FREE.
Laozi is a great place to start and a good book to download is an annotated version, where a scholar discusses what Laozi said in this passage and that passage, because otherwise it is so elliptical, so deep and so mystical that it’s really hard to fathom. Each scholar has their own interpretation, so reading more than one is useful.
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References
Chinese Civilization, Thought and Philosophy Library, by Jeff J. Brown. Talmud-Tanakh West NOT! Lots and lots of FREE BOOKS! Radio Sinoland 260220
The Mao Encyclopedia for Dummies. Updated and it’s all here: books, articles, movies, visuals. China Rising Radio Sinoland 240103
My long, slow arc of spiritual awareness from childhood Presbyterianism to Eastern Thought today. With expanded and improved, printable “Noble Attributes of Chinese Civilization” summary + Library. Radio Sinoland 260213
Radio Sinoland’s Library on the Chinese Zodiac, Lunar, Agricultural and Civil Calendars. Want to understand the Chinese people? It all starts here! Radio Sinoland 260522
Myth of Judeo-Christian Culture, by China Writer T.P. Wilkinson and colleague Robert Merrill. Radio Sinoland 260310
A critique of the recent article in The New Yorker Magazine by Evan Osnos, “China’s Age of Malaise”
A cross-cultural East-West timeline of philosophy
(in round numbers)
5,000BC-2,000BC: foundations of written Chinese, the I-Ching, Daoist mysticism and philosophy, ruled by The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
2,250BC: Chinese explorers survey what is today Western USA (search Charlotte Harris Rees).
2,000BC: Abraham.
2,000BC-1,750BC: Xia Dynasty- Considered the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography.
1,750BC-1,000BC: Shang Dynasty- Known for its advanced bronze casting and writing system.
1,500BC: Moses.
0AD: Jesus Christ.
1,000BC-250BC: Zhou Dynasty- The longest-lasting dynasty, divided into Western and Eastern Zhou periods.
470BC: Socrates.
428BC: Plato.
384BC: Aristotle.
120AD: Marcus Aurelius- Stoic movement.
250BC-200BC: Qin Dynasty- Famous for unifying China and the construction of the Great Wall.
200BC-200AD: Han Dynasty- A golden age of Chinese culture, science, and technology.
500AD: Jewish Talmud first gathered in book form.
570AD: Mohammed.
580-620AD: Sui Dynasty- Known for the Grand Canal and reunification of China.
600-900AD: Tang Dynasty- A high point in Chinese civilization, known for poetry and trade.
900-1,260AD: Song Dynasty- Notable for economic development and cultural achievements.
1,260-1,360AD: Yuan Dynasty- Established by the Mongols, marked by significant cultural exchange.
1590AD: Jewish Tanakh tacked on top of the Bible as the Old Testament, on top of the Christian New Testament! “Judeo-Christian” is an oxymoron.
1,360-1,640AD: Ming Dynasty- Known for its trade expansion and cultural achievements.
1,640-1910AD: Qing Dynasty- The last imperial dynasty, known for its territorial expansion and cultural diversity.
1917AD: Christian Bible rewritten by Jews into the Scofield version, becoming the dominant version. Same year as the Balfour Declaration.
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Further study
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Do yourself, your friends, family and colleagues a favor, to make sure all of you are Sino-smart:
Google ebooks (Epub) and audiobooks:
44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YBKHEAAAQBAJ
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCkQXRlM
China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YNmLEAAAQBAJ
https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCfHo86M
BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
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https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECCfHo86M
Amazon print and ebooks (Kindle):
44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484939999/
China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations
https://www.amazon.com/China-Rising-Capitalist-Socialist-Destinations/dp/0996487042
BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
https://www.amazon.com/BIG-Red-Book-China/dp/1673322719/
Author page:
https://www.amazon.com/Mr.-Jeff-J.-Brown/e/B00TX0TDDI
Praise for The China Trilogy:
Why and How China works: With a Mirror to Our Own History
JEFF J. BROWN, Editor, China Rising, and Senior Editor & China Correspondent, Dispatch from Beijing, The Greanville Post
Jeff J. Brown is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy. It consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China – The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass (2013); Punto Press released China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (2016); and BIG Red Book on China (2020). As well, he published a textbook, Doctor WriteRead’s Treasure Trove to Great English (2015). Jeff is a Senior Editor & China Correspondent for The Greanville Post, where he keeps a column, Dispatch from Beijing and is a Global Opinion Leader at 21st Century. He also writes a column for The Saker, called the Moscow-Beijing Express. Jeff writes, interviews and podcasts on his own program, China Rising Radio Sinoland, which is also available on YouTube, Stitcher Radio, iTunes, Ivoox and RUvid. Guests have included Ramsey Clark, James Bradley, Moti Nissani, Godfree Roberts, Hiroyuki Hamada, The Saker and many others. [/su_spoiler]
Jeff can be reached at China Rising, [email protected], Facebook, Twitter, Wechat (+86-19806711824/Mr_Professor_Brown, and Line/Telegram/Whatsapp: +33-612458821.
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[google-translator]
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