The valley spirit never dies;It is the woman, primal mother.Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth.It is like a veil barely seen.Use it; it will never fail.-Translation by Gia Fu Feng and Jane English This one is short and sweet, and mostly metaphor. I don’t really have a lot to say about it …
Tag Archives: Dao
Meditations on the Tao Te Ching: Chapter 5
The Tao doesn’t take sides;it gives birth to both good and evil.The Master doesn’t take sides;she welcomes both saints and sinners.The Tao is like a bellows:it is empty yet infinitely capable.The more you use it, the more it produces;the more you talk of it, the less you understand.Hold on to the center.-Translation by Stephen Mitchell …
Meditations on the Tao Te Ching: Chapter 4
The Tao is an empty vessel; it is used, but never filled. Oh, unfathomable source of ten thousand things! Blunt the sharpness, Untangle the knot, Soften the glare, Merge with dust. Oh, hidden deep but ever present! I do not know from whence it comes. It is the forefather of the gods. -Translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English The first line can …
Meditations on the Tao Te Ching: Chapter 3
If you overly esteem talented individuals,people will become overly competitive.If you overvalue possessions,people will begin to steal.Do not display your treasuresor people will become envious.The Master leads byemptying people’s minds,filling their bellies,weakening their ambitions,and making them become strong.Preferring simplicity and freedom from desires,avoiding the pitfalls of knowledge and wrong action.For those who practice not-doing,everything will …
Meditations on the Tao Te Ching: Chapter 2
Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil. Therefore having and not having arise together. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short contrast each other: High and low rest upon each other; Voice and sound harmonize each other; Front and back follow one …
Meditations on the Tao Te Ching: Chapter 1
I start this blog with the first in a series of meditations on the Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing) because so many of my ideas are, if not derived from this text, at least reflected in it. I am no expert in this text–I’ve only read it in its entirety a few times–so …
Under the Spell of Words 