A Cognitive Study On Taoistic Metaphors In Tao Te Ching

The rise of Cognitive Linguistics has brought great changes and developments ofmetaphor study. The emergence of conceptual metaphor has provided a new angle formetaphor analysis. Metaphor, as a basic cognitive tool, uses simple and concreteconcepts to understand complicated and abstract concepts. It has played an importantpart in human’s process of perceiving and transforming the world. Metaphor ispervasive in our language, so does in our literary works. For example, metaphors arefound everywhere in Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.Tao Te Ching is the crystal of Chinese ancient civilization, and it also is thecommon cultural wealth of the world. The concept of Tao is the core in the wholebook. It describes the origin of the whole universe, its way of existence, movementand development, social contradictions and methods to solve them as well. AlthoughTao Te Ching is compact in text, it has plentiful contents, and it also has been theendless wisdom treasure for readers for more than2000years. Even this book hasbecome a precious studying sample for metaphorical research; few investigations aremade on this point. While the previous studies are mostly carried out on the aspectslike the source of the book’s name, meaning or compiler, as well as its differentversions in annotation and translation, its historical influence and applied value, feware done on the level of cognition.This thesis applies the Cognitive Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff andJohnson into the book Tao Te Ching, exploring main categories, work mechanism, andcognitive source of the Taoistic metaphor.The thesis has found that metaphors in Tao Te Ching could mainly divided intofour types, i.e. the metaphors of “Dao”, metaphors of “De”, metaphors of “Inaction”,and metaphors of “Dialectics”. And for each type, it has its own most typicalmetaphor. The “mother” and “water” metaphors of Dao; the “infant” and “valley”metaphors of De; the “nature” and “human” metaphors of Inaction; and the “propositions” and “deductions” metaphors of Dialectics. The metaphors of “Dao”possess the highest position among the four types of metaphors. The other three typesare constructed around the central idea “Dao”, and they are the complement andextension of Dao’ metaphors.The thesis points out the following four points:(1) In the process of constructingTaoistic metaphors, the mapping modes manifest as “finding or creating similarity”,“some kind of relationship”, and “relevance in experience”;(2) The cognitive sourcesof Taoistic metaphors are natural things, people’s daily life and the concept oforientation;(3) Taoistic metaphors have two basic characteristics, the femalemetaphors and the worship of Yin philosophy;(4) The cognitive nature of Taoisticmetaphors are Dao, and Dao is everything.The thesis believes that analyzing the Taoistic metaphors in Tao Te Ching fromthe perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory could not only provide a newresearch angle for metaphor comprehension, but also deepen the understanding of“Dao”; under the framework of Cognitive Linguistics, carrying out an all-aroundstudy of Taoistic Metaphors could enrich the research connotations of conceptualmetaphor, and also promote the widely spread of Taoism all over the world.