THESIS
2020
Abstract
The current study is a comparative research on the Daodejing (道德經) and Ecclesiastes
with the aim of answering the question of the meaning of life. The focus of the study is on the two
texts especially the content related to the two terms xu (emptiness 虛) and hebel (vanity) in the
Daodejing and Ecclesiastes respectively. It starts with a miniature demonstrating the framework of
the current study based on the comparison between the two terms xu and hebel in Chapter 2. It then
follows by five chapters from “Chapter 3 Xu and Hebel Comparison” to “Chapter 7 Meaning of
Life Reflection”. It finds that emptiness is the common ingredient of xu and hebel in Chapter 3. It
suggests that Socrates is the hidden protagonist of Ecclesiastes in Chapter 4. It offers the possibility
of seeing the...[
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The current study is a comparative research on the Daodejing (道德經) and Ecclesiastes
with the aim of answering the question of the meaning of life. The focus of the study is on the two
texts especially the content related to the two terms xu (emptiness 虛) and hebel (vanity) in the
Daodejing and Ecclesiastes respectively. It starts with a miniature demonstrating the framework of
the current study based on the comparison between the two terms xu and hebel in Chapter 2. It then
follows by five chapters from “Chapter 3 Xu and Hebel Comparison” to “Chapter 7 Meaning of
Life Reflection”. It finds that emptiness is the common ingredient of xu and hebel in Chapter 3. It
suggests that Socrates is the hidden protagonist of Ecclesiastes in Chapter 4. It offers the possibility
of seeing the trueness of one’s life through xu in Chapter 5. It discovers the similarities between
the two texts which lie underneath their very different background in Chapter 6. It finally arrives
at the findings in Chapter 7 that one lives a harmonious life freely, truly and positively; works for
the goodness of all people continuously with the objective of having all humans living peacefully
and healthily in an ordered society as the final answer to the question of the meaning of life. The
findings are based on the results of the previous chapters which are the process of analyzing and
comparing the two texts. The answer ends the current study on the meaning of life through a
comparative research on the Daodejing and Ecclesiastes.
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