Tao Te Ching

[Racer X]

http://www.taoteching.org/

Study....
Reflect...
Meditate....
Listen within.....

then....

LIVE by Practice!

[sound]

6 - Experience

Experience is a riverbed,
Its source hidden, forever flowing:
Its entrance, the root of the world,
The Way moves within it:
Draw upon it; it will not run dry.

~Tao Te Ching~

[Racer X]

Experience is the wind...
No one sees it coming or going....
You can "Feel" it....
You cannot "think" it.....

The Way opens to the open hearted .....
The Way never closes.....
but 'thoughtless thoughts' act like boulders covering the entrance....

Clear the way!
Through the hearts pain!

Clear the Way!
Through the brains pain!

Clear the Way!
Only You can block the way.....

Today.....
NOW!
Clear the Way by facing every inner pain and letting them go.


-Toad It-Ching

[A peaceful mind.]

The sage does not distinguish between himself and the world;
The needs of other people are as his own.

He is good to those who are good;
He is also good to those who are not good,
Thereby he is good.
He trusts those who are trustworthy;
He also trusts those who are not trustworthy,
Thereby he is trustworthy.

The sage lives in harmony with the world,
And his mind is the world's mind.
So he nurtures the worlds of others
As a mother does her children.

49 People

And..............

Honest people use no rhetoric;
Rhetoric is not honesty.
Enlightened people are not cultured;
Culture is not enlightenment.
Content people are not wealthy;
Wealth is not contentment.

So the sage does not serve himself;
The more he does for others, the more he is satisfied;
The more he gives, the more he receives.
Nature flourishes at the expense of no one;
So the sage benefits all men and contends with none.

81 Sage

[sound]

10 - Harmony

Embracing the Way, you become embraced;
Breathing gently, you become newborn;
Clearing your mind, you become clear;
Nurturing your children, you become impartial;
Opening your heart, you become accepted;
Accepting the world, you embrace the Way.

Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.

[TzuJanLi]

16
Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

[Racer X]

Live The Tao.....

Be The Tao....

You already are......

Even if you have only forgotten....

Be still and Know God-Divinity-Truth-Higher Self-No Self-Unified Field....

Simply put the desire to remember in your heart and then let it go.....

Leave the details to the Universe......

Without struggle you will return....

To The Tao.....

[sound]

15
The enlightened possess understanding
So profound they can not be understood.
Because they cannot be understood
I can only describe their appearance:
Cautious as one crossing thin ice,

Undecided as one surrounded by danger,
Modest as one who is a guest.
Unbounded as melting ice,
Genuine as unshaped wood,
Broad as a valley,
Seamless as muddy water.

Who stills the water that the mud may settle,
Who seeks to stop that he may travel on,
Who desires less than what may transpire,
Decays, but will not renew.

[sound]

52
The origin of the world is its mother;
Understand the mother, and you understand the child;
Embrace the child, and you embrace the mother,
Who will not perish when you die.

Reserve your judgments and words
And you maintain your influence;
Speak your mind and take positions
And nothing will save you.

As observing detail is clarity,
So maintaining flexibility is strength;
Use the light but shed no light,
So that you do yourself no harm,But embrace clarity.

[A peaceful mind.]

The river carves out the valley by flowing beneath it.
Thereby the river is the master of the valley.

In order to master people
One must speak as their servant;
In order to lead people
One must follow them.

So when the sage rises above the people,
They do not feel oppressed;
And when the sage stands before the people,
They do not feel hindered.

So the popularity of the sage does not fail,
He does not contend, and no one contends against him.

[A peaceful mind.]

Just had to share this :O)

The Tao Te Ching was written by Lao-tzu at the end of the sixth century B.C. In Red Pine's translation, he explains that the word "tao" translates to either the word "road" or "way." As one reads the text, there is a sense that something is being revealed, although it is enigmatic. The words of the Tao Te Ching cannot always be taken at face value or understood easily. Understanding the Tao is in itself a problem, because it is claimed that the Tao cannot be explained. Still, the text gives one a sense of where they should be looking.


"The way that becomes a way is not the immortal way."
"No-name is the maiden of Heaven and Earth, name is the mother of all things."
"All the world knows beauty, but it that becomes beautiful, this becomes ugly."
"The great masters of ancient times focused on the indiscernible and penetrated the dark."
"Without going out your door you can know the whole world."
"He who possesses virtue in abundance resembles a newborn child."
"Knowing how to endure we become wise."
"Where the government stands aloof, the people open up, where the government steps in, the people slip away.
"Act without acting, work without working, understand without understanding."
"The world calls me great, great but useless, it's because I am great I am useless, if I were of use I would have remained small."
"To understand yet not understand is transcendence, not to understand yet understand is affliction."
"When people no longer fear authority, a greater authority will appear."
"Bestowing no honors keeps people from fighting."
"Those who consider themselves don't appear."
"Those who display themselves don't shine."
"Those who flatter themselves achieve nothing."
"Those who parade themselves don't lead."
"Use the Tao to assist your lord, don't use weapons to rule the land, such things have repercussions."
"When you kill another, honor him with your tears...When the battle is won, treat it as a wake."
"Those who aren't affected by death live long."



Further Study of the Tao Te Ching
The quotes above are pulled out of context, and although still interesting, they hold much more meaning when considered as a part of a whole. Red Pine's translation provides further insight, as every section is followed by explanation from various sources. With concentrated reading and study, one can begin to get a sense of what Lao-tzu means by the Tao. With care, that sense can blossom into true understanding.



Quotes From The Tao Te Ching (http://www.suite101.com/content/quotes-from-the-tao-te-ching-a278719#ixzz1A8tpuyJd) http://www.suite101.com/content/quotes-from-the-tao-te-ching-a278719#ixzz1A8tpuyJd (http://www.suite101.com/content/quotes-from-the-tao-te-ching-a278719#ixzz1A8tpuyJd)

[Perry J]

I don't know if this English interpretation of Tao Te Ching is "correct".
What I DO know, however, is that it's done by someone who has really got the true, inner message of it:

http://daodejingle.net/jimztao.html (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/redir.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fdaodejingle.net%2Fjimz tao.html)

[Racer X]

Wayne Dyer on the Tao Te Ching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbh0DW6RhCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Ih1gQhiXQ&feature=related

[sound]

67
Unimportance

All the world says,
"I am important;
I am separate from all the world.
I am important because I am separate,
Were I the same, I could never be important.

"Yet here are three treasures
That I cherish and commend to you:
The first is compassion,
By which one finds courage.
The second is restraint,
By which one finds strength.
And the third is unimportance,
By which one finds influence.

Those who are fearless, but without compassion,
Powerful, but without restraint,
Or influential, yet important,
Cannot endure.

[sound]

76
Flexibility

A newborn is soft and tender,
A crone, hard and stiff.
Plants and animals, in life, are supple and succulent;
In death, withered and dry.
So softness and tenderness are attributes of life,
And hardness and stiffness, attributes of death.

Just as a sapless tree will split and decay
So an inflexible force will meet defeat;
The hard and mighty lie beneath the ground
While the tender and weak dance on the breeze above.

[Mystique Enigma]

So many words to describe that what cannot be written about, that what cannot be spoken about .... strange :)

[Perry J]

Eckhart Tolle on Tao Te Ching. This is not the short talk we have seen before, but here he really goes into it and speaks way over one hour. It's amazing, and he gives tips on some of the best English translations too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvZs35QPXz4 (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/redir.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiritualforums.co m%2Fvb%2Fredir.php%3Flink%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww .youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253DhvZs35QPXz4)

(You don't need to read the Hebrew text. But if you insist I can't stop you...;-)

[Funny How Time Flies]

So many words to describe that what cannot be written about, that what cannot be spoken about .... strange :)

Right. At the end of the day the Daodejing is just a collection of concepts like any other book. Some might see it as a mere pointer, some might even laugh about that because what could a concept point at other than another concept?

[Funny How Time Flies]

I don't know if this English interpretation of Tao Te Ching is "correct".
What I DO know, however, is that it's done by someone who has really got the true, inner message of it:



There will never be a 'correct' translation. The Chinese character for 'dao' has more than 25 meanings alone. Also, there are several different versions of the Daodejing. The oldest versions contain Chinese characters that are not listed in any dictionary. So there is a lot of guessification going on with that book.

[Engima61]

What you need is a guide to really understand the layers of meaning in each character. I had a phenomenal Chinese Medicine teacher who could spend an hour going into the multiple meanings of a single character. To be able to approach Taoist philosophy from this point of view was quite mind blowing.

[Charliemcsnarly]

I got a good copy recently, don't have it on me so can't remember the translators. Only bits of it resonate strongly for me at the moment. There are a lot of passages that don't give me much. So much depth to it though.

one thing that really stood out was "so you're trying to control the world? I see you won't succeed!" I guess that was right timing for me.

[Flowing Hands]

The five most important themes of the DDJ

1 the self
2 the female principle
3 the spirit/energy
4 politics and human wisdom
5 enlightenment and spiritual cultivation

To download Li Erh Xian Shi's DDJ transmission to me go to my website.

[the_crow]

Tao te ching is the guide to surviving being human.
The only one that works.