Li Po Taoism
Li Po’s “Fighting South of the Ramparts” as it Relates to Taoism and the Universe Li Po has been acclaimed as one of China’s greatest poets of all time during the Tang Dynasty and “Golden Age of China”. Branded as a rebel with nomadic tendencies, Li Po was known for his love and adoration of wine and revelry. In 745, he was initiated into the Taoist religion and began to write poems supporting his growing interest in Taoism. To understand the significance of some of his writings like “Fighting South of the Ramparts”, it is important to analyze Li Po’s originality of style and technique as it relates to the Taoist imagery employed in this poem. By advising of his sympathy with Taoism, Li Po encourages the readers to understand the human cost of war, and how turmoil can destroy the balance between the universe and humanity, and how one’s spirituality should be powerful enough to break any boundaries concerning the physical and metaphysical world, allowing the unification of people of all social classes as a race and becoming one with the universe. To explain in greater detail, when people are fighting and at war with one another, it destroys a society and causes great turmoil and strife because not only are they at war with each other, but also at war with the universe and nature, destroying the land and themselves because one’s spirituality should overpower one’s desire to participate in disruptive and corruptive behaviors. Taoism is a philosophical and religious practice that stresses the importance of living in harmony, with political and/or social classification being of little to no importance. The Tang Dynasty engaged in a large number of aggressive wars that involved extensive mobilization of men and resources, which was completely against the teachings, beliefs, and practices of Taoism. “Last year we were fighting…This year we are fighting.” The Tang Dynasty forced the men to participate in warfare, leaving their families and lifestyles behind,
Cited: 17 November 2014. http://www.taoist-philosophy.htm. Rosenburg, Donna, Ed. World Literature. Lincolnwood: NTC, 1992.