Comparing Laozi's Teachings And The Gospel Of Matthew

Throughout history, Laozi’s teachings and the Gospel of Matthew have left a huge impact and paved the way for many people today. Laozi is a Chinese philosopher who is said to have created the Tao Te Ching, a foundational text of Taoism. The Gospel of Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels of the New Testament, which describes the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. While these texts come from vastly different cultural and historical contexts, they share some similarities, particularly in their use of paradoxical language to convey their messages. Both Laozi and the Gospel of Matthew challenge their readers to think deeply about the nature of reality, human desires, and the role of spirituality in everyday life. But Laozi views emptiness,

He expresses the idea of emptiness, peace, weakness, passivity, and softness which goes against the stereotype of men and civilizations needing to be masculine and strong. He frequently employs paradoxical statements to highlight this balance, such as "Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its secrets; but always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations" (Daodejing I). At first, this statement may cause confusion but there is a larger meaning behind it. There are several literal devices used here such as specific word choices and diction. The word choice and placement of desires and observe are done this way because humans naturally desire something, so they completely skip over the main message or secrets. When one is committed to their desires, they’re not receptive, which is the connection to the dark side. But Laozi suggests that you should have desires to help get rid of the desires. The paradox is the opposite compared to Jesus’s teachings since Laozi encourages some level of desires to appreciate and learn from the balance of everyday life. Additionally, Laozi is preaching for emptiness through repetition since desires, observation and manifestations are frequently used to convey his message. This paradoxical statement suggests that humans should relieve their worldly desires in order to seek the truth but allow

Jesus states, “The lamp of the body is the eye. Thus, if your eye is clear your whole body is full of light; but if your eye is soiled, your whole body is dark” (Matthew 5-7). Decrypting the use of imagery and metaphor here, light and dark represent good and evil, righteousness and sin. Jesus uses the eye metaphor as a lamp to convey the importance of one's perspective or worldview. The light is a metaphor to those who are fulfilled, and on the path to righteousness while those who are dark, are empty and lost. In this context, the eye represents a person’s perception of the world around them, and the clarity or purity of one's vision determines the degree of light or darkness within oneself. On the other hand, if one's eye is "soiled," or impure, their entire body is dark. This can be interpreted as a state of spiritual or moral darkness, in which a person's thoughts, feelings, and actions are clouded by ignorance, selfishness, or evil. Compared to Laozi, there is no right or wrong path, just the path of