Chpt 1
What is not the enduring Dao?
A spoken dao/a dao that may be spoken
What kind of action does the sage live by in Chapter 2?
Non-action/wu-wei
The highest good is compared to what?
Water
What part of a vessel makes it useful?
The empty space inside
According to Chapter 76, what are people like when they are born?
Pliant and weak/soft and supple.
What is nameless and named? (200 each)
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Difficult and easy do this with one another.
What is complement?
According to Chapter 8, water does this for the things of the world.
It gives life to them
What part of a room makes it useful?
The empty interior/window&door
What example from nature does Chapter 76 use to show the same idea as human life and death?
Trees and grasses
What helps a person see what is subtle instead of only what is visible?
Freedom from desire.
Chapter 2 lists opposites like beauty and ugliness, difficult and easy. What point is the chapter making by pairing these ideas together?
opposites depend on each other and help define one another
What does water avoid doing in Chapter 8?
Contending/striving
30/hub
Why does Chapter 76 mention both weapons and trees?
To show that things that are too rigid or strong do not last and can be destroyed.
Which two things mentioned in the text arise from the same source but have different names?
The subtle and the manifest.
Number of things rise and fall without cease.
ten-thousand
What quality of water makes it similar to the Dao?
It benefits all things and does not contend, and it flows to places people reject.
According to Chapter 11, what comes from what is there, and what comes from what is not there?
Value or benefit comes from what is there, and usefulness comes from what is not there.
What qualities does Chapter 76 connect with death?
Rigidity, hardness, and stiffness.
Why cant the Dao be fully spoken or named?
Because the Dao is deeper and more enduring than human language can fully describe.
Chapter 2 says the sage acts and creates, but does not claim or keep what?
Because when work is done, the sage does not possess it or take credit for it.
Why is water described as the highest good in Chapter 8?
Because it gives life to the ten thousand things, does not strive, and stays humble.
What larger idea is Chapter 11 teaching through the wheel, vessel, and room?
That emptiness or what is not there is often what makes something useful.
What final contrast does Chapter 76 make between the mighty and the delicate?
Softness and flexibility belong to life, while hardness and rigidity belong to death.