Monday, August 16, 2010

Tao Bible - Genesis 2:23

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
~ King James version ~

Yin and yang give rise to each other.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
From a conservative Christian perspective, the male gender is created in the direct image of their god and the female gender occupies a lesser status because woman came out of man. In practical terms, women have been denied all sorts of rights throughout the centuries based, in part, on this wording in the bible.

As Verse 2 of the Tao Te Ching describes, opposites are born of each other and to know one, you must understand the other. In Taoism, the genders are viewed as sharing equal importance through the concept of yin (female) and yang (male). All substance and non-substance alike is impacted by both as each is a part of the other.

In fact, from the Chinese perspective, we shouldn't really view yin and yang solely in terms of gender. Every male contains some yin aspects and every female likewise has some yang. The ratios, of course, constantly change based on the situations and circumstances we encounter throughout our lives.

If you're interesting reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.

2 comments:

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.