Tao Te Ching

[YinYang]

So I take it most here are familiar with the Tao Te Ching. I consider it one of the most closely aligned texts to the Ra material.

This thread is for everyone who loves it. There are many translations, I have Johnathan Star's translation.

Feel free to post verses, and discuss them if you like.

Here's the online PDF.

[YinYang]

Verse 28

Hold your male side with your female side
Hold your bright side with your dull side
Hold your high side with your low side
Then you will be able to hold the whole world

When the opposing forces unite within
there comes a power abundant in its giving
and unerring in its effect
Flowing through everything
It returns one to the First Breath
Guiding everything
It returns one to No Limits
Embracing everything
It returns one to the Uncarved Block

When the block is divided
it becomes something useful
and leaders can rule with a few pieces of it
But the Sage holds the Block complete
Holding all things within himself
he preserves the Great Unity
which cannot be ruled or divided

[YinYang]

Verse 62

Tao is the treasure-house
the true nature
the secret source of everything
It is the great wealth of those who are awake
the great protector of those still sleeping

If a person seems wicked
do not cast him away –
Awaken him with your words
Elevate him with your deeds
Recite his injury with your kindness
Do not cast him away
cast away his wickedness

When the emperor is crowned
or the three ministers installed
they receive a gift of jade and horses
But how can this compare
to sitting still and gaining the treasure of Tao
This is why the ancient masters
honoured the inward path of Tao

Did they not say
“Seek and you will find”?
“Err and you will be forgiven”?
Within, within
This is where the world’s treasure has always been

[YinYang]

Verse 67

All the world talks about my Tao
with such familiarity –
What folly!
Tao is not something found at the marketplace
or passed on from father to son
It is not something to be gained by knowing
or lost by forgetting
If Tao were like this
It would have been lost and forgotten long ago

I have three treasures that I hold dear
the first is love
the second is moderation
the third is humility
With love one is fearless
With moderation one in abundant
With humility one can fill the highest position
Now if one is fearless but has no love
abundant but has no moderation
rises up but has no humility
Surely he is doomed

Love vanquishes all attackers
It is impregnable in defense
When Heaven wants to protect someone
does it send an army?
No, it protects him with love

[YinYang]

Verse 81

Words born of the mind are not true
True words are not born of the mind

Those who have virtue do not look for faults
Those who look for faults have no virtue

Those who come to know It
do not rely on learning
Those who rely on learning
do not come to know It

The Sage sees the world
as an expansion of his own self
So what need has he to accumulate things?
By giving to others
he gains more and more
By serving others
he receives everything

Heaven gives,
and all things turn out for the best
The Sage lives,
and all things go as Tao goes
all things move as the wind blows

[isis]

Verse 14

Eyes look but cannot see it
Ears listen but cannot hear it
Hands grasp but cannot touch it
Beyond the senses lies the great Unity – invisible, inaudible, intangible
What rises up appears bright
What settles down appears dark
Yet there is neither darkness nor light just an unbroken dance of shadows
From nothingness to fullness and back again to nothingness
This formless form
This imageless image cannot be grasped by mind or might
Try to face it
In what place will you stand?
Try to follow it
To what place will you go?
Know That which is beyond all beginnings and you will know everything here and
now
Know everything in this moment and you will know the Eternal Tao

[YinYang]

Verse 42

Tao gives life to the one
The one gives life to the two
The two gives life to the three
The three give life to ten thousand things

All beings support yin and embrace yang
and the interplay of these two forces
fills the universe
Yet only at the still-point,
between the breathing in and the breathing out,
can one capture these two in perfect harmony

People suffer at the thought of being
without parents, without food, or without worth
Yet this is the very way that
kings and lords once described themselves

Who knows what fate may bring –
one day your loss may be your fortune
one day your fortune may be your loss

The age-old lesson that others teach, I also teach –
“As you plant, so you reap”
“As you live, so you die”
Know this to be the foundation of my teachings

[YinYang]

Verse 30

Those who rule in accordance with Tao
do not use force against the world
For that which is forced is likely to return –
Where armies settle
Nature offers nothing but briars and thorns
After a great battle has been fought,
the land is cursed, the crops fail,
the Earth lies stripped of its motherhood

A knower of the Truth does what is called for
then stops
He uses his strength but does not force things
In the same way
complete your task
seek no reward
make no claims

Without faltering
fully choose to do what you must do
This is to live without forcing
to overcome without conquering

Things that gain a place by force
will flourish for a time
but then fade away
They are not in keeping with Tao
Whatever is not in keeping with Tao
will come to an early end

[BlatzAdict]

Can't do Tao Te Ching without Chuang Tsu maybe?. =̴̶̷̤̄ .̫ =̴̶̷̤̄

I really like the work you are doing here thank you!

[YinYang]

Can't do Tao Te Ching without Chuang Tsu maybe?. =̴̶̷̤̄ .̫ =̴̶̷̤̄

I really like the work you are doing here thank you!

Why, thank you Blatz! Can't say I've heard of Chuang Tsu. Is it this guy?

[BlatzAdict]

Chuang-tzu Biography - Confucius' Rival. The two hated each other.. Confucius was about peace through order. Chuang Tzu was about primal nature and free will which goes hand in hand with Tao Te Ching.

I was first influenced to go out and start reading Chuang Tzu after seeing it mentioned in Hidden Hand, along with Tao Te Ching.

Some quotes from Chuang Tzu, I think I mis spelled Tzu as Tsu,

I'm not entirely sure if this person is this Zhuang Zhou person.
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We know fewer things about Chuang-tzu than about Lao-tzu . The main source of information is once again the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien.
Chuang-tzu was born in today's Ho-nan province, in the village of Wei. He occupied a minor position in the administrative office of Ch'i-yuan. Apparently, he was a contemporary of Mencius, but what is peculiar is, in fact, that these two great polemicists never met each other . Ssu-ma Ch'ien writes about Chuang-tzu:
Chuang had made himself well acquainted with all the literature of his time, but preferred the views of Lao-tzu, and ranked himself among his followers, so that of the more than ten myriads of characters contained in his published writings the greater part are occupied with metaphorical illustrations of Lao's doctrines.
Even more, Chuang-tzu becomes an indefatigable critic of Confucius and his disciples. His critical work brilliantly combines satire and sophism.
Chuang was an admirable writer and skillful composer, and by his instances and truthful descriptions hit and exposed the Mohists and Literati. The ablest scholars of his day could not escape his satire nor reply to it, while he allowed and enjoyed himself with his sparkling, dashing style; and thus it was that the greatest men, even kings and princes, could not use him for their purposes.
Chuang-tzu
Confucius
His attitude towards life at court and, actually, towards everything regarding ceremony and ritual (paramount subjects of Confucians) can also be inferred from the following occurrence related by the same Ch'ien:
King Wei of Chou, having heard of the ability of Chuang-tzu, sent messengers with large gifts to bring him to his court, and promising also that he would make him his chief minister. Chuang-tzu, however, only laughed and said to them: "A thousand ounces of silver are a great gain to me, and to be a high noble and minister is a most honorable position. But have you not seen the victim-ox for the border sacrifice? It is carefully fed for several years, and robed with rich embroidery that it may be fit to enter the Grand Temple. When the time comes for it to do so, it would prefer to be a little pig, but it cannot get to be so. Go away quickly, and do not soil me with your presence.
I had rather amuse and enjoy myself in the midst of a filthy ditch than be subject to the rules and restrictions in the court of a sovereign. I have determined never to take office, but prefer the enjoyment of my own free will.
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Although things seem to be sometimes going up and sometimes descending, sometimes slipping away, nevertheless there is a reality, the same today as in the past. It does not change, for nothing can affect it. Could we not say it is one great harmony? So why shouldn't we ask about it...
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The Tao is in all things, in their divisions and their fullness. What I dislike about divisions is that they multiply, and what i dislike about multiplication is that it makes people want to hold fast to it. So people go out and forget to return, seeing little more than ghosts.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Compare birth with death, compare death with life; compare what is possible with what is not possible and compare what is not possible with what is possible; because there is, there is not, and because there is not, there is.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Do not seek fame. Do not make plans. Do not be absorbed by activities. Do not think that you know. Be aware of all that is and dwell in the infinite. Wander where there is no path. Be all that heaven gave you, but act as though you have received nothing. Be empty, that is all.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The true man breathes with his heels.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Our life has a boundary but there is no boundary to knowledge.
To use what has a boundary to pursue what is limitless is dangerous;
with this knowledge, if we still go after knowledge, we will run into trouble.
Do not do what is good in order to gain praise.
If you do what is bad be sure to avoid the punishment.
Follow the Middle Course, for this is the way to keep yourself together,
to sustain your life, to care for your parents and to live for many years.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Are you and I perchance caught up in a dream from which we have not yet awakened?
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
To be truly ignorant, be content with your own knowledge.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so that I can have a word with him?
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The sound of water says what I think.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Heaven does without doing through its purity,
Earth does without doing through its calmness.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The tao is made because we walk it,
things become what they are called.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The perfect man of old looked after himself first before looking to help others.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
To go outside what your charge was, and to try to solve everything yourself, is dangerous.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them,
we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
In their difference is there completeness;
in their completeness is their difference.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
There are no greater adversaries than yin and yang, because nothing in Heaven or on Earth escapes them. But it is not yin and yang that do this, it is your heart that makes it so.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
There is danger for the eye in seeing too clearly, danger for the ear in hearing too sharply and danger to the heart from caring too greatly.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Your mind must become one, do not try to understand with your ears but with your heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
You are still guided by your expectations.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
All that is limited by form, semblance, sound, color is called object. Among them all, man alone is more than an object. Though, like objects, he has form and semblance, He is not limited to form. He is more. He can attain to formlessness. When he is beyond form and semblance, beyond "this" and "that," where is the comparison with another object? Where is the conflict? What can stand in his way? He will rest in his eternal place which is no-place. He will be hidden in his own unfathomable secret. His nature sinks to its root in the One. His vitality, his power hide in secret Tao.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
Goods and possessions are no gain in his eyes. He stays far from wealth and honor. Long life is no ground for joy, nor early death for sorrow. Success is not for him to be pround of, failure is no shame. Had he all the world's power he would not hold it as his own. If he conquered everything he would not take it to himself. His glory is in knowing that all things come together in One and life and death are equal.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
If a man is crossing a river and an empty boat collides with his own skiff, even though he be a bad-tempered man he will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer clear. If the shout is not heard, he will shout again, and yet again, and begin cursing. And all because there is somebody in the boat. Yet if the boat were empty, he would not be shouting, and not angry. If you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world, no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you.... Who can free himself from achievement, and from fame, descend and be lost amid the masses of men? He will flow like Tao, unseen, he will go about like Life itself with no name and no home. Simple is he, without distinction. To all appearances he is a fool. His steps leave no trace. He has no power. He achieves nothing, has no reputation. Since he judges no one, no one judges him. Such is the perfect man: His boat is empty.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)
The man in whom Tao acts without impediment harms no other being by his actions yet he does not know himself to be "kind", to be "gentle". . . . (He) does not bother with his own interests and does not despise others who do. He does not struggle to make money and does not make a virtue of poverty. He goes his way without relying on others and does not pride himself on walking alone. While he does not follow the crowd he won't complain of those who do. Rank and reward make no appeal to him; disgrace and shame do not deter him. He is not always looking for right and wrong, always deciding "Yes" or "No." The ancients said, therefore: The man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing. "No-Self" is "True-Self". And the greatest man is Nobody.
Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC - c. 275 BC)

[YinYang]

Thanks Blatz, I'll check him out a little when I have some time. My friends called me Confucius in school, so I have a little soft spot for him while knowing almost nothing about him!

I do love his sayings though - Confucius quotes