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Tao Te Thursday

4/5/2012

For governing a country well, there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes
use of anything life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him. Because he has let go, he can care for the people's welfare as a mother cares for her child. Verse 59

Tao Te Thursday

3/29/2012

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.

Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master's way.
Verse 43

Tao Te Thursday

3/22/2012

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won't be any thieves.

If these three aren't enough,
just stay at the center of the circle
and let all things take their course.
Verse 19

Tao Te Wednesday

3/14/2012

When the greats Tao is forgotten,goodness and piety appear.

When the body's intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.

When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.

When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.

Verse 18

Tao Te Wednesday

3/7/2012

If you overesteem great men, people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.

The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion in those who think that they know.

Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place.

Verse 3. (This one in honor of Julianne Moore's upcoming film!)

Tao Te Wednesday

2/29/2012

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever. Verse 2, Stephen Mitchell New English Version

Tao Te Thursday

2/23/2012

The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding. Verse One, Stephen Mitchell translation

To this I just want to add a little commentary from an author published in one of my favorite anthologies: The Best Buddhist Writing (2008). Author Lin Jensen writes: "Wei Wu Wei is not a kind, passive inaction, but rather a movement in concert with circumstance. Nondoing ultimately means trusting the wisdom of the universe to show the way rather than imposing one's arbitrary will upon it. As Lao-tzu puts it: 'The Tao never does anything, yet through it all things are done.'"

Tao Te Wednesday

2/15/2012

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from your own mind
and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without posessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

Verse 10

Tao Te Wednesday

2/8/2012

He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
it can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.

The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old. Verse 55

Tao Te Wednesday

2/1/2012

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

Verse 33, Stephen Mitchell New English Version

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