Many authors and teachers have dedicated their lives to formulating wisdom that will help others reach the Way. According to them, The Way is the way a person should live their life to achieve inner peace, self-realization and harmony. Among the great masters of Chinese culture are Laozi, Confucius and Tao Qian. For hundreds of years, experts have tried to analyze the teachings of these great philosophers to ascertain their meaning. The Daodejing (or Tao Te Ching), the Analects, and the poems of T'ao Qian all address the Way differently. While the ideas may sometimes be contradictory, they all express the truth about the human condition and the Way. There is an interesting and valuable lesson to be learned from each of these great authors, teachers and philosophers. Although these texts can be classified as religious texts, I believe they apply more to the individual than to the divine. Especially during the Chinese classical age in which these texts were written, the focus was on the individual, the common, and the everyday, not the divine. A recurring theme in all of these works is The Way and how to achieve it, but all teachers question whether The Way can be taught or whether it is something that must be individually realized on a personal level through self-realization, not through teaching. The search for the Way is a lifelong journey and is often different for each individual. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe Daodejing can be translated to mean “The Way of Virtue.” In reference to this text, The Way is defined as an ordinary and virtuous way of living that includes everything in the universe. Although the Dao never specifically mentions Confucius or his teachings, it is suspected that the author, Laozi, created the Daodejing as an obstacle to the values ​​and teachings of Confucianism. Where Confucius teaches affirmative action and refinement through education, Laozi teaches "non-action" by promoting "weakness, softness, and passivity" (Puchner, vol. A, 1345). Although these traits seem negative, Laozi advocates "action without action", which means that if one lives one's life in passivity and does not take action, positive actions will occur in the person's life. Laozi often uses paradoxes to achieve his literary purpose. Evidence of this use of contradictions is evident in the opening chapter where he states "The way one can speak of is not the constant way" (Puchner, vol. A, 1347). Laozi uses a paradox to express that words cannot be used to accurately describe The Way. He claims that language is not an accurate reflection of reality and everything is based on categories defined by language and shaped by one's perspective. Laozi argues that the Way is not the same for every person. Although Laozi claims that no two paths are the same, he goes on to describe his own Way. In chapter 16, he gives the reader a first-person view: “I do my best to reach the void; I hold fast to stillness…One's actions will lead to impartiality, impartiality to kingship, kingship to heaven, heaven to the way” (Puchner, vol. A, 1349). As long as an individual frees himself from politics, authority and conventional ways of thinking, then he can discover his own Way. However, he specifies that to reach The Way, one must “unlearn” what one has been taught by one's elders and teachers. The process of “unlearning” can best be described through the definitions of the terms “teaching” and “intuition.” As all undergraduate and graduate students know, tuition means paying money to gain knowledge. Intuition is onenatural state in which the individual already possesses the necessary knowledge. Coinciding with Laozi's statement about natural instincts and the individual versus the public, he states that The Way is something a person must use with their intuition and instincts to achieve. Confucius, like Socrates and Jesus, is among the many great teachers who did not write down his lessons on paper. Instead, he founded a school and his students transcribed his teachings in the collection Analects. This assortment of teachings gave future generations insight into Confucius' character, as well as his views on people, situations, and actions. Although Confucius condemns the efficacy of language in describing the Way, his disciples explain the process in which need and duty become one. In Book II of the Analects, “At fifteen, I focused on learning. At thirty I took my stand. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the will of Heaven. At sixty my ear was tuned. At seventy I follow all the desires of my heart without breaking any rules” (Puchner, vol. A, 1335). On the contrary, in Book IV the phrase “In the morning listen to the Way” is attributed to the “Master”; in the evening he dies happy” (Puchner, vol. A, 1336). Obviously, this means that if one realizes The Way during one's lifetime, the individual will continue to live and die happily. The contradiction in this statement, however, is that Book II states that Confucius did not achieve the Way until he was seventy years old and near death and here we read that he realized the Way "in the morning", which is a common metaphor for early childhood. years of life. Many great teachers use this method of contradictions to keep their students alert and curious. Through these contradictory ideas, Confucius was also demonstrating that The Way is different for each person and that the path and time will be different. Tao Qian is an important poet of medieval Chinese literature. He is known for his tendency to write poems about himself, which was not very common in this period. Being a member of the civil service, he would have been extremely familiar with the texts of Laozi and Confucius. Evidence of this is evident in Qian's poetry, which is deeply influenced by the teachings of the Dao. His poetry expresses the "going with the flow" characteristics that are often associated with Daoism. His poems often celebrate wine, nature and acceptance. An interesting aspect of Qian's poetry is that each poem presents a different way of interpreting The Way. In "Biography of Master Five Willows", Tao Qian displays all the traits he is best known for. Since the poem is an autobiography, it has the personal quality that is uniquely its own. He also explicitly states that he has "no desire for glory or gain" (Puchner, vol. B, 1007), which shows that he writes poetry to satisfy his own inclinations, not to receive glory from others. This fact might explain why his poems tend to be about himself, because he wrote for himself. Qian is expressing that he does not live his life in search of glory, but his Way is that of personal fulfillment. “Finding faults in my children” teaches another important lesson about the Way. After describing his five children's "laziness" as "unmatched," he goes on to say that "if that's fate, just let me join the Thing in the Cup" (Puchner, vol. B, 2013). As with most of his poems, Qian's solution to the problem is to drink wine. While this may seem like an irresponsible way to avoid the situation, it actually shows a profound aspect of wisdom. Qian does not attempt to change what the cosmos has presented to him; he simply accepts the circumstances and moves on with his life. "Substance, shadow and spirit" is a poem through the.