CONSIDERAÇÕES INICIAIS SOBRE LAOZI E O DAO DE JING E A SUA RELAÇÃO COM O ESTOICISMO DE EPICTETO

O presente artigo tem dois objetivos: o primeiro consiste em apresentar, mesmo que em linhas gerais, o pensamento expresso na obra de Laozi, Dao De Jing, considerado um dos maiores clássicos do pensamento chinês. O segundo objetivo é travar um diálogo inicial entre pressupostos apresentados pelo daoismo de Laozi e pelo estoicismo de Epicteto e, a partir daí, estabelecer espaços de discursão entre as duas tradições de pensamento.

Buddhist-Taoist Syncretism in the School of the “Twofold Mystery” and the Meditation of “Purity and Quietness”

The papers are dedicated to the concepts, main ideas, texts, and forms of practice of the syncretic Taoist movement Chongxuan-pai – “Twofold mystery”, which was developed in the 7–10th centuries. This school borrowed a number of logical constructions of Madhyamika Buddhism, including the system of four-level dialectical negation, as well as the idea of absolute “emptying of consciousness” for overcoming attachments both to mundane life and to any mental concepts. In part, these ideas are reflected in the Taoist-Buddhist practice of attaining “purity and quietness, a specific tradition of meditation, with its most important text “Canon of Purity and Quietness” (Qingjing jing) (given in this article in the author’s translation). Despite its traditional structure, thematic allusions with “Dao De Jing” and precepts attributed to Lao-jun, this Canon pays special attention to the technique of “inner contemplation” (nei guan), which also gravitates to the Buddhist practice of vipasyana and is called to eliminate binary opposition (pure-polluted, movement-rest) in the practitioner’s consciousness. The “Canon of purity and Quietness” is still highly revered in central China’s Taoist schools today. The basis of the meditative practice according to this Canon is the gradual ascending from “looking inward”, “looking outward” and “looking away” to “contemplation of emptiness”. The highest stage of “emptying the emptiness” leads to the complete deactualization of the ego and the breaking of all ties with the world. In this way, the exegetical idea of the “Twofold mystery” is realized as a form of Taoist practice influenced by Buddhist ideas.

O pensamento taoista e o olhar de Alberto Caeiro

O presente artigo tem como principal objetivo comentar e analisar comparativamente duas obras literárias: a obra poética de Alberto Caeiro, heterónimo do ilustre poeta português Fernando Pessoa, e a obra clássica chinesa Dao De Jing (道德经，Dào dé jīng) que está na base da Filosofia Taoista. Deste modo, pretende-se comparar as ideologias interpretadas em ambas as obras, analisando semelhanças e diferenças, de forma a compreender as mesmas e as razões por detrás de tais similaridades e afastamentos. Para tal, ter-se-á sempre em conta diferenças culturais, não só provenientes do facto das obras se encontrarem em países muito díspares e longínquos fisicamente, como também do facto de se localizarem em épocas temporalmente muito distantes.

Intertextual Femininity in Proverbs and the Dao De Jing

This essay offers an intertextual reading of Proverbs and the Dao De Jing based on the use of feminine imagery. Both the Dao De Jing and Proverbs employ feminine imagery to convey each text’s notion of the proper way. In both traditions, feminist scholars have long critiqued the ideological positions attributed to female figures. By drawing upon the diverse thematic strands in each text, the particularities of the notion of “femininity” can be explicated. Interestingly, this engagement allows the Daoist construction of the feminine to destabilize the patriarchal underpinnings of woman wisdom in Proverbs. In turn, the liberating aspects of the strong woman can be compared to, and used to critique, the conception of femininity in the Dao De Jing.

‘Better Fifty Years of Europe than a Cycle of Cathay’

The classical universe allows Tennyson perspective on China. While ‘Locksley Hall’ appears to endorse British progress and deride China, the metre distances the poet from modernity: Tennyson’s line has probably Persian or ancient Greek origins. Tennyson’s patriotism celebrates ancient values but is suspicious of Victorian progress. ‘Recollections of the Arabian Nights’ considers the paradox that Britain deems Asia both accomplished and stagnant. Britain was culpable for hindering China as the East India Company became increasingly reliant on the illegal opium-trade. In the ‘Lotos-Eaters’ Tennyson responds to the opium crisis in China as well as addiction in his family. Sara Coleridge wrote her own version of the ‘Lotos-Eaters’, intensifying the Chinese analogues by reference to her father’s ‘Kubla Khan’. In ‘The Ancient Sage’ Tennyson finds an alternative to Victorian progress in Laozi’s Dao De Jing, as translated by John Chalmers, although Tennyson interprets the philosopher in Augustinian terms.