The Tao of Pooh written by Benjamin Hoff in 1982. The purpose he's trying to accomplish by writing The Tao of Pooh was to explain taoism to Westerners through a Western view point... and through the characters in the Hundred-Acre Wood.
I love Winnie-the-Pooh. He's so funny and over all great. I love the rest of the characters too, though my favorite I think is Tigger because I used sleep with my stuffed Tigger EVERY night. One thing I really liked about Winnie-the-Pooh when I last read it in 8th grade was the dialogue between Pooh and the other characters or Pooh and himself. Hoff incorporates this dialogue between him and pooh.
According to Hoffman the difference between Buddhism and Taoism is their views of the world. Buddhists see life as "a wheel of pain for all creatures," a never ending cycle. In order to find peace in Buddhism on must reach Nirvanna and "transcend 'the world of dust.' Taoists believe that life is life and that you roll with the punches, you do what comes nature. Rather than transcending "the world of dust'' you "join the dust of the world." You do the dao/tao. Or the way.
So far the book is interesting. I've been wanting to read it since last year when Ms. Embry introduced it to us in AP World. I'm glad that I've finally got around to reading it.
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4/4 entries for 10/8/09--well done!
ReplyDeleteA little philosophy to go with your HP! Good combination.
For the record--you are just getting old enough to have enough reading experience to be able to recognize and justify symbols for yourself. You'll find more and more that you say things like your English teachers would have said--the general reasoning is that the more one reads, the more one is able to see connections among texts and patterns of meaning (as through symbols and imagery). Congratulations! Soon we will give you a key to the club :-)