The Eternally Practical Way: An Interpretation of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching)

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Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart. The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision.

He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky. What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, you position is shaky.

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When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance. What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things. Seamless, unnamable, it returns to the realm of nothing. Form that includes all forms, image without an image, subtle, beyond all conception. Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it and there is no end.

Just realize where you come from: The ancient Masters were profound and subtle. Their wisdom was unfathomable. There is no way to describe it; all we can describe is their appearance. They were careful as someone crossing an iced-over stream.

Alert as a warrior in enemy territory. Courteous as a guest. Fluid as melting ice. Shapable as a block of wood. Receptive as a valley. Clear as a glass of water. Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself? Not seeking, not expecting, she is present, and can welcome all things. Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return. Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source.

Dao De Jing / Tao Te Ching

Returning to the source is serenity. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready. When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised.

When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear. When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born. 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.

Stop thinking, and end your problems. What difference between yes and no? What difference between success and failure? Must you value what others value, avoid what others avoid? Other people are excited, as though they were at a parade. Other people have what they need; I alone possess nothing. I alone drift about, like someone without a home.

I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty. Other people are bright; I alone am dark. Other people are sharper; I alone am dull.

Commentary

I drift like a wave on the ocean, I blow as aimless as the wind. I am different from ordinary people. The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her her radiance. The Tao is ungraspable. How can her mind be at one with it? The Tao is dark and unfathomable. How can it make her radiant? Because she lets it. Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not. How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see. If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.

If you want to be reborn, let yourself die. If you want to be given everything, give everything up. The Master, by residing in the Tao, sets an example for all beings. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he has no goad in mind, everything he does succeeds. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself. Express yourself completely, then keep quiet. Be like the forces of nature: If you open yourself to the Tao, you are at one with the Tao and you can embody it completely.

Dao De Jing

If you open yourself to insight, you are at one with insight and you can use it completely. If you open yourself to loss, you are at one with loss and you can accept it completely. Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses; and everything will fall into place. He who tries to shine dims his own light. He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures. If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go. There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born.

It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things. The Tao is great. The universe is great. These are the four great powers. Man follows the earth. Earth follows the universe. The universe follows the Tao. The Tao follows only itself.

Dao De Jing | donnsboatshop.com

The heavy is the root of the light. The unmoved is the source of all movement. Thus the Master travels all day without leaving home. However splendid the views, she stays serenely in herself. Why should the lord of the country flit about like a fool? If you let yourself be blown to and fro, you lose touch with your root. If you let restlessness move you, you lose touch with who you are. A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.

A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. This is called embodying the light. It is the great secret. Know the male, yet keep to the female: If you receive the world, the Tao will never leave you and you will be like a little child.

Know the white, yet keep to the black: Know the personal, yet keep to the impersonal: If you accept the world, the Tao will be luminous inside you and you will return to your primal self. The world is formed from the void, like utensils from a block of wood. The Master knows the utensils, yet keeps to the the block: Do you want to improve the world? The world is sacred. There is a time for being ahead, a time for being behind; a time for being in motion, a time for being at rest; a time for being vigorous, a time for being exhausted; a time for being safe, a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle. For every force there is a counterforce. Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. The Master does his job and then stops. He understands that the universe is forever out of control, and that trying to dominate events goes against the current of the Tao. Because he accepts himself, the whole world accepts him. Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use them only with the utmost restraint.

Peace is his highest value. If the peace has been shattered, how can he be content? His enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself. Nor does he rejoice in victory. How could he rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men? He enters a battle gravely, with sorrow and with great compassion, as if he were attending a funeral. Smaller than an electron, it contains uncountable galaxies. If powerful men and women could remain centered in the Tao, all things would be in harmony. The world would become a paradise.

All people would be at peace, and the law would be written in their hearts. When you have names and forms, know that they are provisional. When you have institutions, know where their functions should end. Knowing when to stop, you can avoid any danger. 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. The great Tao flows everywhere. It pours itself into its work, yet it makes no claim. Since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts, it can be called humble. Since all things vanish into it and it alone endures, it can be called great. She who is centered in the Tao can go where she wishes, without danger.

She perceives the universal harmony, even amid great pain, because she has found peace in her heart. Music or the smell of good cooking may make people stop and enjoy. But words that point to the Tao seem monotonous and without flavor. When you look for it, there is nothing to see. When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear. When you use it, it is inexhaustible. If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand.

If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.

The Tao never does anything, yet through it all things are done.

If powerful men and women could venter themselves in it, the whole world would be transformed by itself, in its natural rhythms. People would be content with their simple, everyday lives, in harmony, and free of desire. The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough. The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done. The kind man does something, yet something remains undone. The just man does something, and leaves many things to be done. The moral man does something, and when no one responds he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness. When goodness is lost, there is morality. When morality is lost, there is ritual. Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos. Therefore the Master concerns himself with the depths and not the surface, with the fruit and not the flower. He has no will of his own. He dwells in reality, and lets all illusions go. In harmony with the Tao, the sky is clear and spacious, the earth is solid and full, all creature flourish together, content with the way they are, endlessly repeating themselves, endlessly renewed.

When man interferes with the Tao, the sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, creatures become extinct. The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. Return is the movement of the Tao. Yielding is the way of the Tao. When a superior man hears of the Tao, he immediately begins to embody it. When an average man hears of the Tao, he half believes it, half doubts it. When a foolish man hears of the Tao, he laughs out loud. Thus it is said: The path into the light seems dark, the path forward seems to go back, the direct path seems long, true power seems weak, true purity seems tarnished, true steadfastness seems changeable, true clarity seems obscure, the greatest are seems unsophisticated, the greatest love seems indifferent, the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is nowhere to be found. Yet it nourishes and completes all things. The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Build up a library's worth of books on: Taoism, Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, Absolutism, Chinese civilization, Chinese culture, Ancestral worship and local gods, the six warring kingdoms and finally on Lao-Tzu himself. Make sure you have a variety of books on each topic, ensuring that you have access to well-rounded opinions and many different angles.

It is best if the books are written by reputable people, such as professors of Chinese religions or renowned historians. However, make sure you buy books from both Chinese and foreign professors of these subjects, for example, British or German professors , as doing so will give you both an insider's opinion and an outsider's.

It is preferable that most of your books are not written by Chinese professors, only some, as the Chinese government have tried to suppress Taoism. Professors from China may be under pressure to write defamatory things on Taoism, which is often seen as too sexually liberal, even by Western standards.

Learn from others who have been inspired by the Tao Te Ching. Many artists, poets, authors, calligraphers, and gardeners have been inspired by it. Spend time reading the Tao Te Ching. As you read it, make notes in a journal about your questions, thoughts, and impressions. Come back to your notes regularly to keep trying to work through your own ideas of the meanings in the text. Be aware that the style of the Tao Te Ching is poetic and the ideas are singular; the Tao Te Ching purposefully encourages contradictory interpretations through use of vague and ambiguous words.

There is no one right way of interpreting it and no single reader can claim to have the upper hand in understanding its "real essence". Perhaps its ambiguity is its real beauty, allowing you to reassess yourself, through varying stages of life. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Already answered Not a question Bad question Other. Tips You may also like to explore the links between Taoism and Buddhism.

It's fine just to admire the Tao as a nice series of poems that just might happen to point the way to being relaxed, balanced, enjoying life and avoiding suffering. The Tao Te Ching is only complicated if you decide to make it that way. The whole point of the Tao is to strive to be natural, exist in the moment, and live well: The first character can be considered to modify the second or can be understood as standing alongside it in modifying the third.

Ancient Chinese books were commonly referenced by the name of their real or supposed author, in this case the "Old Master", [14] Laozi or Lao-tze. The Tao Te Ching has a long and complex textual history. Known versions and commentaries date back two millennia, including ancient bamboo, silk, and paper manuscripts discovered in the twentieth century. There is some evidence that the chapter divisions were later additions—for commentary, or as aids to rote memorization—and that the original text was more fluidly organized.

The written style is laconic, has few grammatical particles , and encourages varied, contradictory interpretations. The ideas are singular; the style poetic. The rhetorical style combines two major strategies: The first of these strategies creates memorable phrases, while the second forces to create reconciliations of the supposed contradictions. The Tao Te Ching is ascribed to Lao Tzu , whose historical existence has been a matter of scholastic debate. His name, which means "Old Master", has only fueled controversy on this issue.

The first reliable reference to Laozi is his "biography" in Shiji 63, tr. He was an official in the imperial archives, and wrote a book in two parts before departing to the West. Generations of scholars have debated the historicity of Laozi and the dating of the Tao Te Ching. Linguistic studies of the text's vocabulary and rhyme scheme point to a date of composition after the Shi Jing yet before the Zhuangzi.

Legends claim variously that Laozi was "born old"; that he lived for years, with twelve previous incarnations starting around the time of the Three Sovereigns before the thirteenth as Laozi. Some Western scholars have expressed doubts over Lao Tzu's historical existence, claiming that the Tao Te Ching is actually a collection of the work of various authors. Among the many transmitted editions of the Tao Te Ching text, the three primary ones are named after early commentaries.

The "Wang Bi Version" has more verifiable origins than either of the above. Tao Te Ching scholarship has advanced from archeological discoveries of manuscripts, some of which are older than any of the received texts. Beginning in the s and s, Marc Aurel Stein and others found thousands of scrolls in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. They included more than 50 partial and complete "Tao Te Ching" manuscripts.

In , archeologists discovered copies of early Chinese books, known as the Mawangdui Silk Texts , in a tomb dating from BC.

Translation from Chinese

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