>There are STILL people who haven't started with the

>expecting to understand the Daodejing from a western man's perspective

i have, theyre ok but not very relevant and honestly a lot of fluff

>>9561320
>Not being able to morph cultures and perspectives at will to gain maximum understanding
Pleb

I don't know if it's due to poor translations or my Western perspective, but I have tried several times to read Chinese philosophy, and it just comes off as overbearingly abstruse and pointless. And this is coming from someone who really enjoys Western mysticism and metaphysics, having read Plato, Plotinus, and Leibniz.

>>9561341
Honestly, you're supposed to read it directly from Traditional Chinese, and you can't really read eastern shit like you would western.
Eastern philosophy isn't as direct as western, you're supposed to think on it and observe it's principles in life.
Truly understanding even relatively short works can take months of introspective meditation.

>not starting with the Sumerians

>>9561332
>he actually thinks he is free from ideology and bias

Idiot

>start with the Greeks
>begin with the Babylonians
>iniatiate with the Indians
>embark with the Egyptians
>help yourself to Hebrews
>skim through the Sumerians
>peruse the Persians
>continue with the Celts
>check out the Chinese
>sustain yourself with the Syriacs
>rummage through the Romans
>introduce yourself to the Islamites
>ingratiate yourself to the Italians
>git gud with the Germans
>furnish yourself with the French
>break ground with the British
>rise with the Russians
>mollify with the Modernists

>>9561365
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.

Here, got an english translation because you probably can't read chinese.

All human suffering and idiocy derives from thought.
Only by emptying your mind, may you achieve true enlightenment.

>>9561379
>All idiocy derives from thought.

Idiotic. So it just happens that people with down syndrome are idiots?

>>9561439
And yet, generally speaking, they are more content with existence than more intelligent people.

E.g, you can't be stupid if you can't think in the first place.

>>9561452

this is the kind of shit they used to justify their hierachies, dont over eulogise them. it legitimises unquestioning slave morality. allegory is worthless.

>>9561469
Not necessarily true, the unquestioning slave morality thing is more a thing of Han Feizi and Legalism, there's a reason the Qin was overthrown after all.
Keeping your mind empty doesn't necessarily mean not questioning, but rather keeping your mind open to everything.
Or, as Aristotle said: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"

>>9561452
any correlational research to back that up?

>>9561317
The Dao De Jing is far too obscure to be of any real practical value. The Huainanzi and Neiye are far better candidates.

In case you weren't aware, Daoism only became formalized during the Han dynasty and first emerged as a cult centered on soteriological religious rituals.

Oh, and Sun Tzu lost the war while sitting in an office writing his little manual, by the way. Miamoto Musashi is a far better meme.

Confucianism is pretty cool, in particular the developments added on to the tradition by Mencius, Zhou Dunyi, Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming.

>>9561379
Over time, I have come to severely dislike the "empty your mind" mentality that is so rampant in Eastern mysticism. It's alright if you're an ascetic, but useless and downright destructive for someone engaging with the world - like sweeping all your troubles under a carpet and put a happy face on, instead of structuring ones mind properply through a philosophical education.

Silent sitting was advocated by the Confucians, but only in so far as it added practical value to ones daily affairs. I can agree with that. To believe that you're enlightened and all your troubles are gone because your mind is still is nothing but juvenile, wishful thinking.

>>9561341
If you like Plato and Plotinus, check out the Huainanzi from Columbia Press. Good stuff. You might also enjoy "Reconstructing the Confucian Dao" by Joseph Adler.