Chinese Response To Universal Questions

Universal questions that deal with controversial topics are questions that people have trouble answering or cannot answer. Many ancient Chinese writers, however, have succeeded in giving responses to the universal questions that capture the attention of common people. Early Chinese writers like Lao Tzu, Confucius, and T’ao Ch’ien gave answers to universal questions to help people decide how to live their lives. These writers use philosophical ideas from Taoism and Confucianism to respond to the various universal questions in the form of poetry. Many pieces of Chinese poetry like Form, Shadow, Spirit, The Analects, and Tao Te Ching answer ambiguous questions like how one should live with the knowledge of death when T’ao Ch’ien explains that

T’ao Ch’ien explains that everyone has to die, therefore everyone should have knowledge of death as well. Of course, many people wonder why life is important when everyone must die which is why T’ao Ch’ien, in Form, Shadow, Spirit, gives an answer to how life should be lived. An answer is given in Form, Shadow, Spirit when Spirit says, “Once your time comes to an end, you end: not another moment lost to all those lonely worries” (Form, Shadow, Spirit 54-56). To start off, Spirit responds to Form and Shadow by claiming that death is inevitable and that when death comes one dies. Furthermore, nothing can change one’s fate, so obviously, death is something that cannot be avoided by anyone. Consequently, T’ao Ch’ien explains that since death is inexorable, one should not waste time pondering over one’s death in the future. To conclude, one should focus on activities currently occurring in one’s life rather than focus on the unavoidable death that is to

Emperors wanted to know how to rule the empire so they looked toward Taoism, beliefs set by Lao Tzu, for the answer. Lao Tzu responds to the emperors’ questions when he says, “The sage empties their minds but fills their bellies, weakens their wills but strengthens their bones. He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the clever never dare to act” (Tao Te Ching 4-7). First of all, the sage, or ruler, should make sure his people are healthy but know where they stand on the social hierarchy. More specifically, the people should know they are weaker and cannot disobey or go against the emperor. Furthermore, the emperor has to keep the people away from knowledge and thoughts of a better ruler. The monarch has to show his subjects that they cannot desire anything more than the type of government they have now. Finally, the emperor needs the ability to control those people who have the knowledge to divert the focus of the emperor’s subjects. The emperor should show the clever people who can revolt against the monarch that they cannot disobey the ruler or they will be severely punished. The ruler should make his enemies fear him, his subjects respect him, and his society want and need