Daily Tao

Verse 64

2012-01-28T07:25:00.000-08:00

64.

What is at rest is easily managed.

What is not yet manifest is easy to prevent.

What is rooted is easy to nourish.

What is brittle is easy to break.

What is small is easy to scatter.

Put things into order before they exist.

Prevent trouble before it arises.

The giant pine tree grows from a tiny seedling.

A tower nine stories high starts with a single brick.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Rushing into action, you fail.

Trying to grasp things, you lose them.

By forcing a project to completion,

you ruin what was almost ripe.

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.

So give as much care at the end as at the beginning,

and there will be no failure.

The Master takes action

by letting things take their course.

He does not collect precious things;

he learns not to hold onto ideas.

He helps people find their true nature

but does not venture to lead them by the nose.

This verse features perhaps the most famous line of the entire Tao Te Ching: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In keeping with the previous verse, it offers sage advice for taking action and dealing with whatever challenges we might face in the course of our lives.

We are urged to lay solid foundations, to deal with potential problems before they arise and to have the patience to avoid rushing things to premature completion. Instant gratification and immediate results are very much of the focus of our fast-paced society. But the Tao Te Ching advises us to avoid rushing into action and instead to pay careful attention to each step of our journey, being sure not to rush or force things. The more we rush, the more mistakes we make and the more we grasp, the easier it is to crush the very thing we are trying to nurture.

Everything in life has its own flow, its own pace and speed. If we can tune into that and align ourselves with it, we might find that we can indeed achieve without undue exertion and find an effortlessness and ease in everything we do. We will instinctively know what to do and when to do it. This intelligence comes from a place far deeper than the surface-level of the mind; it comes from our connection to the Tao.

Verse 63

2012-01-28T07:21:00.001-08:00

63.

Act without doing,

work without effort.

Think of the small as large

and the few as many.

See simplicity in the complicated.

Achieve greatness in little things.

Difficult problems are best solved

while they are still easy.

Great projects are best started

while they are still small.

The Master never takes on more

than she can handle,

which means that she leaves

nothing undone.

She never strives for greatness,

thus she achieves greatness.

When she runs into a difficulty,

she stops and gives herself to it.

Because she always confronts difficulties,

the task is always easier than planned.

Verse sixty-three offers advice for daily life, for approaching work and projects of any kind and for dealing with difficulties and avoiding undue problems.

The Master sees the large in the small and simplicity in the seemingly complex. Simplicity seems to be the key message. Rather than chasing after the grandiose, the Master keeps her focus on the small details, simply doing one thing at a time, and never taking on more than she can handle.

She works simply, effortlessly, without forcing things and is sure to tackle problems before they get out of hand. These simple instructions offer a Tao-based approach to daily life and promise an easier, smoother path than we might otherwise experience when we lose sight of the Tao.

Verse 62

2012-01-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

62.

The Tao is the true nature,

the secret source of everything.

It is the good man’s treasure

and the bad man’s refuge.

If a person seems wicked,

do not cast him away.

Awaken him with your words,

elevate him with your deeds,

repay his injury with kindness.

When a new leader takes office,

do not give him gifts and offerings.

Offer instead to

teach him about the Tao.

Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao?

Because, being one with the Tao,

you find without looking and

when you make a mistake, you are forgiven.

It is the source of all good,

and the remedy for all evil.

It is the most noble thing in the world.

There’s absolutely no doubt that in this world we often have to deal with ‘wicked’ people; those that are so misaligned and dysfunctional that they cause untold misery for themselves and all those around them. Relating with such people can be an enormous challenge. Lao Tzu gently advises us to embrace rather than reject them and to shine a light into the darkness around and within them.

In spite of all appearances, the darkness can never harm the light, for it is merely the absence of light. If you walk into a dark room, you deal with the darkness by switching on a light – and it’s gone, just like that. It may not be quite so simple when dealing with people – for many tend to cling to their darkness, having made an identity out of it – but the principle remains the same.

It is worth bearing in mind, however, that we should not try to force others to change, but simply accept and embrace them, and in so doing help them to become all they are capable of being.

Verse 61

2012-01-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

61.

A great country is like the lowland,

toward which all streams flow.

It is the reservoir of all under heaven,

the feminine of the world.

The female overcomes the male with stillness.

Her tranquility gives rise to her humility,

The more powerful a country grows,

the greater the need for humility.

If a great country lowers itself before a small one,

it wins friendship and trust.

And if a small country can lower itself before a great one,

it will win over that ‘great’ country.

If a nation is centred in the Tao,

if it nourishes its own people,

if it does not meddle in the affairs of others,

it will be a light to all nations in the world.

Most nations want to achieve ‘greatness’, to be higher, more elevated, prosperous and influential than other nations. Nationalism in all its forms is born of the ego’s desire to create a stronger identity for itself and it does so by trying to be ‘better’ than others. This is not the Tao. Lao Tzu asks us to adopt the very opposite approach and to recognise the value of humility.

Instead of trying to be bigger and better than other nations, we are asked to embrace humility, to become like the lowland toward which all streams flow along their path to the sea. This is the feminine approach, which is one of stillness, equanimity and peace.

There is no place for conflict, war or erroneous notions of ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ when a country is at one with the Tao. We’ve tried it the other way. It didn’t work. Perhaps it’s time for us to approach world affairs and foreign policy with an altogether different approach.

This doesn’t mean that we become the doormats of the world. The Tao is a state of perfect balance, not idle passivity. But it is a state of alignment and a very necessary recalibration after countless centuries of striving to be on top, to subjugate and dominate other nations. True victory is not coming out on top: it is unity, peace and harmony between all nations.

Verse 60

2012-01-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

60.

Governing a large country

is like frying a small fish.

You spoil it with too much poking.

Approach the universe with the Tao

and evil will have no power.

Not that it isn’t there,

but you will be able to step out of its way.

Give evil nothing to oppose

and it will disappear by itself.

Lao Tzu begins this verse with a humorous but pertinent metaphor, in which he again stresses that trying too hard to make things turn out right is likely to cause disaster and ruin. So don’t poke your fish too much! We need to relinquish our tendency to force things and to know when less is more.

This verse also speaks of evil. Another word for evil is ‘ignorance’, which is usually at the root of all acts of cruelty and harm and which begets other undesirable states such as hatred, prejudice and self-righteousness.

To be centred in the Tao is to bring a shining light into the darkness. The darkness is then either transformed by the light, or (as often happens with those that are deeply rooted in their ignorance) it is repelled by it. Either way, being centred in the Tao is the ultimate remedy for eradicating and transforming evil. It may not cease to exist, but it loses its power to harm.

Verse 59

2012-01-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

59.

There is nothing better than moderation

for governing people and serving nature.

Moderation begins with giving up one’s own ideas.

For those who follow the Tao,

nothing is impossible.

If nothing is impossible, then there are no limits.

If a man knows no limits, he is fit to lead.

Tolerant like the sky,

all-pervading like the sunlight,

supple like a tree in the wind,

he has no destination in view

and makes use of anything

life happens to bring his way.

This is the way to be deeply rooted and

firmly planted in the Tao;

the secret of long life and lasting vision.

This verse urges us to live in moderation and to let go of all our fixed ideas, notions and concepts, which only serve to limit us.

Instead, we are asked to find and embrace the limitless. Only then can we truly be in tune with the Tao; breathing, living and radiating the very rhythm of life.

This is the only real prerequisite for being a great leader, for we are no longer guided by the limited ego and a set of mentally-constructed ideas and concepts, but are instead like an empty flute, through which the breath of life can flow and create the most beautiful, harmonious music. This is the music the world most needs to hear.

Verse 58

2012-01-26T11:48:00.001-08:00

58.

If a country is governed with tolerance,

the people are comfortable and honest.

If a country is governed with repression,

the people are restless and disturbed.

Try to make people happy,

and you lay the groundwork for misery.

Try to make people moral,

and you lay the groundwork for vice.

Bad fortune is what good fortune leans on;

good fortune is what bad fortune hides in.

Good things seem to change into bad,

and bad things often turn out for good.

These things have always been hard

to comprehend.

Thus the Master is content

to serve as an example

and not to impose his will.

He is pointed but does not pierce;

he straightens, but does not disrupt;

he illuminates, but does not dazzle.

Lao Tzu’s lessons on leadership are not necessarily easily for the mind to grasp. The key is to lead by allowing, to nurture without imposing and to trust that people will manifest their own innate virtue if they are allowed to do so. The most common objections to this come from our fears that without adequate control and laws, bedlam would ensue and people would go about stealing, pillaging and killing. Is this true however?

All but the most dysfunctional have an innate sense of rightness that runs far deeper than any outwardly-imposed codes of morality and conduct. Imposing such sanctions only indicates our deeply-held misconception that our true nature is something grotesque and dangerous, that we are at core ‘wretched sinners’ as some religions purport.

This notion runs counter to the Tao. The more we try to impose what we think others ought to do, how they should be happy and what ways they should behave in terms of ‘morality’ (which is entirely a mind-made concept and which clearly is context and culture-dependent), the more we stifle them and cement over their true nature as expressions of the Tao.

Allow people to know what is best for them, what is right for them. Maybe they will initially make mistakes, for we have been driven by our mind and outer senses for too long, while being ignorant of our true inner connection and power. But it is from our mistakes that we learn.

‘Good fortune’ and ‘bad fortune’ are again but concepts in the mind and Lao Tzu reminds us that the two are indefinable and inseparable. Good fortune often comes from disaster and misfortune, while often the most seemingly fortuitous things contain the seeds of misfortune within them. Don’t be led by the mind and its notions of what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Be led instead by a deeper understanding of the Tao, in which you see all threads interconnecting to create the perfect tapestry that we call ‘life’.

The final lines tell us that the best way to govern is by example and not by imposing our will. This encapsulates the essence of the Tao Te Ching’s teaching on leadership, which, as noted before, is relevant to anyone in any position of power or authority, from those in government to CEOs, school teachers and parents. Lead gently, but pointedly, don’t impose unnecessarily and illuminate but do not dazzle. This is to lead in accord with the Tao.

Verse 57

2012-01-26T11:46:00.001-08:00

57.

If you want to be a great leader,

you must first learn to follow the Tao.

Stop trying to control.

Let go of fixed plans and concepts,

and the world will govern itself.

How do I know this is so?

Because in this world,

the greater the prohibitions,

the less virtuous people will be.

The more advanced the weapons of state,

the less secure people will be.

The more laws are posted,

the more thieves appear.

Therefore the Master says:

I let go of the law,

and people become honest.

I let go of economics,

and people become prosperous.

I let go of religion,

and people become serene.

I let go of all desire for the common good,

and the good becomes common as grass.

In this section of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu returns his attention to aspects of leadership and finding a means to govern that is in harmony with the Tao.

It would indeed be advantageous if our leaders paid heed to this ancient wisdom, for most the time our countries are governed with the exact opposite approach.

Leadership that is aligned with the Tao displays the characteristics of non-interference, equanimity, non-grasping and allowing. It’s abundantly clear that the more rigid and authoritarian the state, the more dysfunctional, disharmonious and unsustainable it is.

Nature itself is the greatest governor of all and it is nature that reflects the harmony and perfect balance of the Tao. It leads without effort, without the need to control or unduly shape its constituent parts. There is no clinging to concepts or imposing rules, for when all is allowed to be as it is, all flows in perfect harmony and governs itself.

Verse 56

2012-01-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

56.

Those who know do not talk.

Those who talk do not know.

Stop talking,

block off your senses,

meditate in silence,

release your worries,

blunt your sharpness,

untie your knots,

soften your glare,

harmonise your inner light

and settle your dust.

This is the primal union or secret embrace.

One who knows this secret

is not moved by attachment or aversion,

swayed by profit or loss,

nor touched by honour or disgrace.

Such a one is far beyond the cares of men

yet comes to hold the dearest place in their hearts.

This, therefore, is the highest state of man.

This verse begins with one of my favourite lines of the Tao Te Ching: ‘those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.’

The loudest and most visible ‘authorities’ are often the most deluded and ignorant. The TV evangelist spouting talk of fire and brimstone is arguably about as close to true understanding of the Tao as the murderer sitting in a jail cell. At least the latter does not claim understanding of something he clearly knows not.

Those that genuinely get it are often the quietest and humblest of people. They have no need to make a show of themselves, for they have moved beyond such cares. They know the virtue and power of silence because, indeed, that’s where their wisdom comes from. It is the only place truth can be found, the only access point to that which remains changeless and is obscured when the senses are engaged only in the outer world of the transient.

Although the Tao is within and sustains all form as its deepest essence, it cannot be seen with the outer senses and is invisible to the eye. Therefore, it is necessary to go inward to get in touch with this essence.

Lao Tzu speaks of ‘primal union’ or ‘the secret embrace’, which can be achieved by sitting quietly in meditation, closing off the outer senses and settling into a peaceful experience of inner union with our source. It’s something we can strive after and seek to acquire as we would in the outer world of form, but more something we can relax into with effortless ease. It melts away our tensions, dissolves our problems and unties all our knots.

This primal union is the gateway to an experience of higher consciousness, which we can then invite into every aspect of our lives; a detachment and transcendence, an overwhelming and unconditional love and acceptance of life and all the beings and circumstances we encounter. This is to fully merge with the Tao and is, as Lao Tzu suggests, the ‘highest state’ available to us.

It is the way to peace and full union with the Tao. Perhaps this is the only worthy goal we can ever have for our lives. The ironic part is that it’s not a future state we can hope to achieve and move toward. We’re already there – we’re already at one with the Tao – we just have to remove the obstructions of mind and habit and realise that we already are that which we seek. It could never be any other way. Accept this invitation to primal union and see where it takes you.

Verse 55

2012-01-26T11:43:00.001-08:00

55.

One who is in harmony with the Tao

is like a newborn child.

The infant is protected from insects,

wild beasts and birds of prey.

Bones are soft, muscles are weak

yet its grasp is firm and strong.

Though its mind is innocent,

its body is virile,

so intense is its vital power.

It can cry all day without becoming hoarse.

This is perfect harmony.

The child is one with the Tao,

living within harmony and grace.

This is why the child

finds eternity within a single day.

To know harmony is to know the changeless;

to know the changeless is to have insight.

The Master understands that when something

reaches its prime

it will soon begin to decline.

To unnaturally try to extend life is not the Tao.

And whatever is against the Tao soon ceases to be.

Lao Tzu uses the example of a newborn baby or young child as being one that is in perfect harmony with the Tao. An infant cannot help but be at one with life, for its mind has yet to develop and attempt to take over the show.

The infant does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. Its body is soft, flexible and weak, and yet contains tremendous power (sometimes when a baby or toddler grabs your hand it’s amazing how much strength they possess!). The child has a great deal of integrity; there is no holding back, no role-playing, no getting lost in thought and conceptualisation – that will all come later, for better or worse.

The child expresses itself unreservedly, unapologetically, without any hesitation. It can be tremendously enlightening just watching a young child, for they live in a state of freedom and approach life with a great deal of immediacy and freshness. Until the ego develops and the child gets lost in a sense of “I”, “me” and “mine”, it approaches life effortlessly and largely without desire and preconception. Time is meaningless to the infant; the child lives entirely in the present moment, not yet lost in the mind-created concepts of past and future.

Lao Tzu advises us to ‘know the changeless’ as we progress through life and experience the inherently changeful nature of phenomenal existence. In spite of all the immeasurable changes that are forever occurring in and around us, what never changes? It’s worth spending time pondering this question. The answer is only within. Are you aware of the changeless, or the ‘constant’ as some translations call it? Can you be rooted in that? Can you avoid the desire to cling to and unnaturally extend life?

Because the Master is rooted in the changeless, he is unafraid of outward changes. He lets all things come and go as they please, holding on to nothing. He has no expectations, no desires, no need to cling to the temporal. Thus is his spirit immortal and unchanging.

Verse 54

2012-01-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

54.

Whoever is planted in the Tao

will not be rooted up.

Whoever embraces the Tao

will not slip away.

She who honours the Tao

will be honoured from generation to generation.

If the Tao is cultivated in your life

you will become genuine.

If the Tao is cultivated in your family

your family will flourish.

If the Tao is cultivated in your country

your country will be an example

to all countries in the world.

If the Tao is cultivated in the world,

then virtue will be with everyone.

How do I know this is true?

By looking inside myself.

To simply read and try to understand the words of the Tao Te Ching is insufficient. Each verse is an invitation to embody and actually live the wisdom of the Tao. This verse again emphasises the virtue of coming into alignment with the Tao; which is not so much something to be striven for, but simply allowed to happen. When we clear the obstructions to our true nature, we can be firmly planted in the Tao and nothing in the world of the 10,000 things will be able to uproot us.

The effects of being at one with our source, with the Tao, will spread outward like ripples across the surface of a pond, for in truth nothing exists in isolation. We can transform the world by first transforming ourselves, by consciously living the Tao.

This allows us to cultivate the way of the Tao in all our actions and interactions: in our family life, our work life, among our friends and gradually the effects will spread outward to encompass our whole country and world. Even if the effects are subtle or seemingly invisible, they are there nonetheless. By changing ourselves and coming into alignment with the truth of our being, we make it easier for others to do so. The elevation of our own consciousness is therefore perhaps the greatest gift we can give the world.

Verse 53

2012-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

53.

If I have even a little sense,

I should walk in the Great Way,

and my only fear would be straying.

The Great Way is very easy,

yet people prefer the side paths.

That is why there is corruption.

While farmers lose their land,

government officials spend money

on weapons instead of cures

and the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible

while the poor have nowhere to turn.

To wear fancy clothes and ornaments,

stuffing oneself with food and drink,

amassing wealth to the extent of not knowing

what to do with it,

is like being a robber and

is called the crime of excess.

This is not in keeping with the Tao.

Lao Tzu noted the flaws of society around 2,500 years ago and sadly those same flaws are still very much evident today: the crime of excess, of accumulating excessive money, possessions and power while others are penniless and starving. Why should we function like this? To behave in such a way is to be out of alignment with the Tao.

The Great Way of the Tao is the essence of simplicity itself, but it’s not a path that’s particularly attractive or alluring to the majority of people, whose egos and covetous natures are compelled by the accumulation of wealth and power at the expense of others.

“Getting ahead” and “getting what you want out of life” is still the general modus operandi of our society. And sadly it is the result of all the corruption we see on individual and collective levels. Governments are corrupt and have dubious priorities, focussing on power, supremacy and strong economies rather than harmony, balance, equality and holistic regard for all. In fact, so many people are curently rooted in their own self-interest that many simply wouldn’t allow a government to operate any way otherwise.Again, this is because most have chosen (whether consciously or unconsciously) the path of excess and greed over the path of the Great Way.

In order to live the Tao, one must let all that go. Clearly not everyone is up to that challenge. But that doesn’t matter, the only question that matters is this: am I up to it? Can I take the road less travelled and choose the Tao over the petty whims and desires of the ego?

It’s a simple choice, although not necessarily an easy one...but it is the choice between deep and lasting peace and a life of perpetual craving, striving and continual frustration and dissatisfaction.

When seen like that, you realise you’d have to be crazy to choose the winding side paths over the Great Way.

Verse 52

2012-01-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

52.

In the beginning was the Tao.

All things issue from it;

all things return to it.

This beginning is the Mother of the world.

To find the origin,

trace back the manifestations.

When you recognise the children

and find the Mother,

you will be free of sorrow.

When we know we are the Mother’s child,

we begin to protect the qualities of the Mother in us.

Keep your mouth shut,

guard the senses

and life is ever full.

If you keep your mind from judging

and aren’t led by the senses and desires,

your heart will find peace.

Seeing into darkness is clarity.

Knowing how to yield is strength.

Use your own light

and return to the source of light.

This is called practising eternity.

“Gnothi Seauton” were the words inscribed above the temple at the Oracle at Delphi. It translates as “Know Thyself”, which is perhaps the most powerful piece of advice ever given in the entire history of humankind. The root of all our problems is a deep ignorance of what we are.

This verse of the Tao Te Ching advises us to trace all manifestation back to its source. Everything is this world has a common source – that source being the Tao, or the Mother of the world.

Instead of getting lost in the “world of the 10,000 things” we must always stay aware of and rooted in the origin of all external form. In other words, observe the children (the form) but hold onto the Mother (the formless).

This means finding and real-ising the Tao at the core of our being. That is what is meant by self-realisation. It is the doorway from the transient to the eternal.

Verse 51

2012-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

51.

Every being in the universe

is an expression of the Tao.

It springs into existence,

unconscious, perfect, free;

takes on a physical body,

lets circumstances complete it.

That is why all beings

spontaneously honour the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,

nourishes and cultivates them,

cares for them, maintains them,

takes them back to itself.

The Tao creates without possessing,

gives without expectation,

guides without interfering,

fosters growth without ruling.

This is called hidden virtue.

The fifty-first verse is beautiful and poetic insight into the creation and sustaining of the universe. Form arises from the formless – that which we might call the Tao – but is never separate from it, in spite of the illusion of a world of disconnected objects as perceived by our physical senses. The formless that gives birth to the form is ever within and around it, as its innermost core and essence. The connection is never severed; the Tao continues to maintain, nurture and cultivate all it has manifested into the world of form.

The Tao might be seen as the ultimate parent, teacher, artist or ruler, embodying that which is called ‘hidden virtue’. It creates and nourishes and cultivates without any attachment to results or expectation of payback. It never interferes with or makes demands of its ‘children’. This is the true essence of love, a love that is utterly unconditional and ever-present. It is the life-blood of the universe and the force that keeps the planets spinning, the rivers flowing and our hair and fingernails growing. It creates out of love and only love, making no demands and harbouring no expectations.

The entire Tao Te Ching is an invitation to embody the Tao in our daily lives. What can we learn from this most profound example of hidden virtue, and how might we apply it in our lives? Can we realise and embody our essential nature to create, nourish and cultivate with the utmost love and without any expectation, demands or interference?

Verse 50

2012-01-15T06:22:00.001-08:00

50.

Between birth and death,

three in ten are followers of life;

three in ten are followers of death.

And men just passing from birth to death

also number three in ten.

What is the reason for this?

Because they fear death

and cling to this passing world.

But there is one out of ten, they say, so sure of life

that they walk safely among wild animals.

When in dangerous situations, they remain unharmed.

The animals find no place to attack them

and weapons are unable to harm them.

Why is this?

Because they dwell in that place

where death cannot enter.

Realise your essence

and you will witness the end without ending.

Lao Tzu speaks of four ways that people tend to approach life. The first two are by attachment and clinging to life, or by aversion and fear of death (which are, of course, but two sides of the same coin). The cycle of attachment and aversion is what motivates and unconsciously governs the lives of the majority of people. The third way is simply passing through life like a leaf in the wind, helplessly buffeted about, vainly hoping that things will get better while fearing they’ll get worse. At the root of all this is a desperate clinging to life, brought on by a fear of death, which is caused simply by our deep ignorance of what we truly are.

The Master, the rarest of all people, has a different approach to life because he has surrendered to life. He has no fear of death, and equally no fear of life. There is nothing he holds onto, nothing he resists. He is one with life.

It is suggested that the Master, realising his true essence and being rooted in that, is impervious to peril and danger. Whether this is meant to be taken literally or not is a matter of debate. What it perhaps means is that his lack of resistance to life and death allows for a kinder, gentler passage through life.

This doesn’t mean he will never encounter adversity or challenge, for such is the very nature of life. But it does mean that such adversity no longer has the ability to topple him. He no longer fears death or is clinging to a fragile sense of self that can be shattered by the slightest event; such as a hostile encounter with a stranger, an argument or even the mildest of criticisms. The Master transcends outward circumstances and reality. He is at one with everything.

Verse 49

2012-01-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

49.

The Master has no fixed mind;

she understands the mind of the people.

She treats those who are good with goodness.

She also treats those who are bad with goodness

because goodness is the nature of her being.

She is kind to the kind.

She is also kind to the unkind

because kindness is the nature of her being.

She trusts people who are trustworthy.

She also trusts people who are not trustworthy.

This is how she gains true trust.

The Master lives in harmony with all below heaven.

Her mind is like space.

People don’t understand her.

They look to her and wait.

She sees everything as her own self;

she loves everyone as her own child.

This verse challenges us to change the way we relate to the world and other people. It’s easy to be nice to people that are nice to us, to repay kindness to people that are kind to us and to trust those we deem worthy of our trust.

But the Master, who lives in complete alignment with the Tao, does not discriminate or differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. The Master treats all with love, kindness and compassion regardless of who they are and how they conduct themselves. In fact, the people that are most dysfunctional in their behaviour are usually the people that are most in need of our love and kindness.

Shifting to this mindset can pose a real challenge, for it might seem only ‘normal’ to reward kindness with kindness and repay hostility with hostility. The Master, however, shines upon everyone in much the same way as the sun does. The sun shares its light with everyone and never discriminates or judges who it deems to be worthy of receiving sunlight and who it ought to withhold light from. It just shines and shines, never holding back, for that is its nature.

Can we be like that? Some people will gratefully receive our light and will be appreciative and kind, whereas others might react in a less than gracious manner. Is it possible for us simply to love, accept and be good to everyone regardless of how ‘worthy’ or ‘unworthy’ they might appear?

This brings to mind one of my favourite quotes by Hafiz:

“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the Earth “you owe me”. Look what happens with a love like that: it lights up the whole sky.”

Verse 48

2012-01-13T11:11:00.001-08:00

48.

One who seeks knowledge

learns something new each day.

One who seeks the Tao

unlearns something new each day.

The practise of the Tao consists of daily diminishing;

less and less do you need to force things,

until finally you arrive at non-action.

When nothing is done,

nothing is left undone.

True mastery is achieved

by letting things take their natural course.

It cannot be gained by interfering.

Often people talk about the things they’ve learned in life, whether it’s information, knowledge or experience. The Tao Te Ching asks us to consider that perhaps the real key is ‘unlearning’ things. It’s often the case that more we think we know, the less we actually do know. And so rather than continually accumulating more and more knowledge, Lao Tzu is asking us to substitute our practise of daily accumulating for daily diminishing. Instead of continually adding to ourselves and our supposed knowledge of the world, we are actually subtracting from ourselves and letting go of all the things we think we know. Only in this state of complete openness – of not-knowing – can we approach the Tao, in much the same way that only an empty vessel can be filled.

From the moment we’re born, we are conditioned, socialised and indoctrinated into the ‘ways of the world’ or, rather the ways of the particular society we’re born into. As children we’re like sponges, continually soaking in new information and knowledge, a lot of it useful and necessary, but much of it erroneous and harmful. There comes a point in our lives when we have to challenge the conditioning of our formative years, particularly if it is of a dysfunctional nature. This is where it becomes especially helpful to take on the practise of daily diminishing; consciously letting go of old thoughts, beliefs, habits, world-views and conditioned ways of seeing things and responding to life.

The less encumbered we are with the viewpoints, opinions and belief systems instilled in us during childhood and beyond, the freer we are and the easier it is to have a direct experience of reality as it is, without having our view of everything distorted by our various mental filters. The practise of daily diminishing makes it easier to enter the flow of life, to allow all things to be as they are, bestowing life the freedom to be what it is...and to recognise that we are not separate from any aspect of it.

Verse 47

2012-01-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

47.

Without opening your door,

you can know the whole world.

Without looking out your window,

you can see the way of heaven.

The further you go,

the less you know.

The more knowledge you seek,

the less you understand.

The Master understands without leaving,

sees clearly without looking,

accomplishes much without doing anything.

The further you travel, the more you strive and the more knowledge you try to accumulate, the further you actually distance yourself from realising the Tao.

Lao Tzu tells us the answers are not to be found ‘out there’, but only within oneself. So, how is it possible to know the whole world and the way of the Tao without venturing outside our door? Why are we always told that the answers are within us?

First of all, it’s important to differentiate between knowledge and truth. Knowledge generally relates to the realm of facts, figures and quantifiable information. Truth – or wisdom – is something entirely different. It goes beyond mere information. When we seek truth, we seek to differentiate between reality and illusion. Only with truth, or Self-knowledge can we hope to understand the nature of our existence.
We can gather as many facts and statistics about the material world as we like (and, yes, we can do it without even leaving our house – by simply logging onto the internet!), but that doesn’t mean we know anything about the true nature of reality, only the realm of appearance. Nisargadatta once warned that “taking appearance to be reality is a grievous sin and the cause of all suffering.”

From within the dream, we can learn everything there is to know about the dream itself – but that doesn’t mean we know that we’re dreaming or are aware of anything beyond the dream. Surface-level knowledge alone is of limited use. Truth, however, points to a greater, deeper reality; that which exists prior to and beyond the dream-state.

Believing only that which can be perceived with our senses and buying into the notion that truth is something that is separate from us, that can be acquired outwardly, is a fundamental error. When we believe such notions, we embark on all kinds of futile quests to find answers outwith our selves; answers that can only be found in the stillness of our own hearts.

So why is the truth only to be found within us? Perhaps it is because we are the microcosm of the macrocosm. We are each miniature universes and contained within us are all the wonders and truths of the larger universe. The two are not separate. There is no ‘us’ and ‘the rest of the universe’. All such notions are but dualistic delusions created by the mind. The secrets of the universe and life are within us because we are the universe and we are life. There is no separation.

Everything that we perceive to be ‘out there’ – the entire vastness of the cosmos itself – is only an appearance in our consciousness. Consciousness is the unifying factor and the totality. Without consciousness, there would be no awareness of self and no universe. Consciousness occurs within, therefore the answers have to be within.

Trace consciousness to its source: know it, understand it, and thus understand life, the world and the universe.

Stop seeking outwardly, for that just takes us deeper into the dream, a dream occuring in consciousness. Lucidity comes from looking inward. As Carl Jung said: “he who looks outside dreams, he who looks inside awakens.”

The answers are already here, now – within.

Verse 46

2012-01-13T11:07:00.001-08:00

46.

When a country is in harmony with the Tao

running horses are retired to till the fields.

When a country runs counter to the Tao

warhorses are bred outside the cities.

There is no greater illusion than fear,

no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself,

no greater curse than covetousness,

no greater tragedy than discontentment;

and the worst of all faults is wanting more - always.

Contentment alone is enough.

Indeed, the bliss of eternity

can be found in your contentment.

War is counter to the very nature of the Tao. Its root lies in fear, the need to defend oneself (or, as is usually the case, simply one’s beliefs and viewpoints), greed, discontentment and our pathological craving for more and more. These cancers of the mind can lead us to conflict, war and eventual ruin.

Lao Tzu tells us that to be content with what we have is the key to the “bliss of eternity”. Contentment sows the seeds of happiness; never of conflict and war.

So can we let go of the need to make ourselves right and others wrong? Are we able to relinquish greed and grasping and simply be content with what we possess?

This could well be the choice between living in heaven and living in hell. It’s our choice – a choice we can make each and every moment of our lives.

Verse 45

2012-01-12T07:12:00.001-08:00

45.

The greatest perfection seems imperfect,

yet its use is inexhaustible.

The greatest fullness seems empty,

yet its use is endless.

True straightness seems crooked.

True wisdom seems foolish.

True eloquence seems awkward.

True wisdom seems foolish.

True art seems artless.

Stillness and tranquility set things in order

in the universe.

The Master allows things to happen.

He shapes events as they come. He steps out of the way

and allows the Tao to speak for itself.

Truth is beyond the scope of the grasping mind and rarely comes in the shape and form it is expected. The function of the mind is to divide, compartmentalise and categorise that which is ultimately indivisible. Thus we fail to understand that seeming imperfection is part of an overriding perfection and the emptiness at the core of our being is actually the true fullness of life in all its splendour.

We keep looking for things in all the wrong places. Because the mind has a notion of what life is, what it ought to be, what’s ‘right’ and what’s ‘wrong’, what’s ‘spiritual’ and ‘not spiritual’ and what’s ‘true’ and ‘not true’, we miss the obvious and are deceived by the paradoxes of life. This verse opens us to the possibility that the greatest wisdom, perfection and truth is actually the opposite of what we assume.
The final paragraph re-emphasises the Way of the Master, he or she that is at one with life. When the ‘person’ is set aside, the Tao is allowed to flow through the space previously occupied by notions of selfhood and ego.

‘Stepping out the way’ means letting go of the ego’s need to be in the driving seat, and allowing the process of life, the Tao, to flow as it naturally does, unhindered, unobstructed. We then become like a flute, through which the breath of life sounds its own primordial melody. Stop, allow and listen: it’s not so much coming from you as it is coming through you.

Verse 44

2012-01-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

44.

Fame or integrity: which is more important?

Wealth or happiness: which is more valuable?

Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfilment,

you will never truly be fulfilled.

If your happiness depends on accumulating wealth,

you will never truly be happy.

What you gain is more trouble

than what you lose.

Be content with what you have;

rejoice in the way things are.

If you know when to stop

and realise there is nothing lacking,

the whole world belongs to you.

The greatest secret in the world is simply this: happiness and fulfilment, that which every person spends their life striving for, can never be found outside of oneself.

The delusion that we need external success, renown, fame and wealth in order to be happy is a lie. In spite of our culture’s dubious fixation with celebrities and their extravagant lifestyles, we still haven’t figured that these people are usually just as dysfunctional and unhappy as the average person, and very often more so. Although it’s plain to see that fame and wealth do not bring happiness and joy (and often bring quite the opposite), many people are still focused on chasing these seductive phantasms.

Changing your perspective can change your experience of life in an instant. Why buy into the mass delusion that the more we gain the happier we’ll be? Lao Tzu suggests that the more we have, the more trouble we often experience. Stop for a minute to ponder the truth of this. I’m always interested by stories of lottery winners who suddenly amass millions of pounds, only to find their euphoria short-lived. In a lot of cases it actually ruins their lives and they end up far worse off than they were before.

The Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero once remarked that “to be content with what we possess is the greatest and most secure of riches.”

Know when to stop, and see how life blossoms in the most wonderful and unexpected ways. Happiness is no longer some obscure object of pursuit, but our deepest, truest nature. Don’t continually agitate the mind with seeking and striving, just be still and content now...and notice what happens.

Verse 43

2012-01-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

43.

The gentlest of all things

overcomes the hardest of all things.

That which has no substance

can enter where there is no space.

Hence I know the value of non-action.

Teaching without words,

performing without actions -

few in the world can grasp it -

that is the Master’s way.

The wisdom of the Tao Te Ching contradicts just about everything we’re taught and conditioned to believe in. Therefore this realisation of truth does not perhaps come easily or readily to us. We’re brought up to believe that strength and brute force is the hallmark of true power and that decisive action, and even at times violence, are necessary to overcome obstacles.

Lao Tzu asks us to consider the opposite. The wisdom of the Tao is based upon observation of the natural world. Nature doesn’t try to do anything and it doesn’t have to force or conquer or take action to sustain itself. Everything happens through non-action. It happens because it is its nature to happen. Nature operates through effortless effort.

The question is, can we do the same? Can we let go of the propensity to manipulate and mould the outer world and the conditions of our life to conform to what our minds tell us they ‘should’ be?

Can we come to realise and embody the virtue of non-action?

After all, in spite of the best efforts of mind and ego, we are not so much doings as we are happenings. In this realisation, we can perhaps surrender to the flow of life as it happens around, through and within us.

Verse 42

2012-01-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

42.

The Tao gave birth to the One.

The One gave birth to the Two.

The Two gave birth to the Three.

The Three gave birth to all of creation.

All things carry yin and embrace yang;

they achieve harmony by combining these forces.

People suffer at the thought of being

without parents, without food, or without worth.

Yet in losing, much is gained

and, in gaining, much is lost.

Ordinary men hate solitude.

But the Master makes use of it;

embracing his aloneness, realising

he is one with the whole universe.

For many, Taoism is strongly associated with the image of the the yin and yang symbol; the perfect interfusion and balancing of the polarities of light and dark, positive and negative. Harmony is only achieved by the combination of these forces.

Positive and negative polarities, when combined, create harmony by cancelling each other out. The result is zero. The Tao Te Ching speaks of the root of creation as being the womb of nothingness, so it’s interesting to note that the perfect combination of positive and negative creates nothingness.

Does the thought of nothingness terrify you? The emptiness at the root of existence, as spoken of in the teachings of the Buddha, is an anathema to the human mind, which maintains its existence by perpetually latching onto objects, thoughts and things. This forms the basis of the ego, a separate sense of self based upon thoughts and objects infused with a sense of ‘me’, ‘mine’ and ‘I’.

Most people’s lives, so driven by the mind, are firmly rooted in the compulsion to acquire more and more things. Yet, Lao Tzu here points out that the more we gain, the more we also lose. Conversely, the more we lose, the more we gain, perhaps because this brings us closer to our ‘zero point’, the womb of creation and the essence of what we are at our core.

The question then becomes, can you let go of everything and in your solitude and nothingness realise your oneness with the entire universe and the underlying force that creates and sustains it?

Verse 41

2012-01-10T06:20:00.000-08:00

41.

When a superior man hears of the Tao,

he immediately begins to embody it.

When an average man hears of the Tao,

he retains some and loses some.

When a foolish man hears of the Tao,

he laughs out loud at the very idea.

If it were not for that laugh,

it would not be the Tao.

Thus it is said:

the path into light seems dark,

the path forward seems like retreat,

the direct path seems empty,

the easy way seems hard,

true power seems weak,

true purity seems tarnished,

true steadfastness seems changeable,

true clarity seems obscure,

the greatest art seems unsophisticated,

the greatest love seems indifferent,

the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is hidden and nameless;

Yet it alone nourishes and brings

all things to fulfilment.

When I first heard words of truth that seemed as undeniable to me as the brightness of the sun, I wondered why so many others scoff, deride and deny them. I came to understand that if we don’t realise the truth in ourselves, then we won’t be able to recognise it any place else. The wisest words in the world will sound foolish if it’s a fool that’s listening. Yet Lao Tzu here suggests that it is part of the balance of the Tao that foolishness coexist alongside the deepest of wisdom. It also pays to remember that at some point we’ve all played the fool.

The core of this verse points out the seeming paradox of authentic spiritual realisation. There’s nothing glitzy or glamorous about it and it’s rarely as rapturous or mystical as we might expect. It might seem more like diminishment than gain. This is the opposite of the way it’s painted by those trying to sell us the fast-track to enlightenment. It’s often more of a destructive process than a constructive one; for we’re not adding anything special to ourselves, rather we’re scraping away all the illusions and obstructions that hinder an experience of reality as it is, free from distortion, conditioning and mental filters.

It’s more a process of dissolution than expansion. It’s not what the mind thinks it ought to be. That’s why it’s necessary to move beyond the mind and to settle into the vast sea of emptiness, stillness or s p a c e that lies at the core of our being. To be rooted in this is far more wondrous than anything the mind could ever have conceptualised.

Verse 40

2012-01-10T06:17:00.001-08:00

40.

Returning is the movement of the Tao.

Yielding is the way of the Tao.

All things are born of being.

Being is born of non-being.

The end is in the beginning. The infinite is like an blank sheet of paper; empty, yet filled with the potentiality of all things. The moment a mark is made, something appears out of nothing. For a time it seems to exist independently, although in truth we can only perceive its ‘being’ by contrasting it with the counterpoint, the vast space of emptiness or ‘non-being’ from which it emerges and on which it relies for existence. Eventually the pen-mark fades and being again dissolves back into non-being; the ‘something’ returns to the ‘nothing’.

We’re all on a return trip. Most people cling to their ‘beingness’ and are hesitant to let it go. It’s not until death comes that they are forced to relinquish the illusions of their mind and ego. It’s only then that they realise that who and what they truly are is not defined by things, possessions, achievements, thoughts or beliefs; but by something altogether deeper and more enduring.

Yet we don’t have to wait for physical death. In each moment, we have the choice to “die before we die” and in so doing return to awareness of the Tao. This is to go beyond our screen of thoughts, concepts and beliefs and to have a direct experience of reality as it is, independently of what we think it is.

To reach that state of harmony and balance that can only come from living in alignment with our true nature. Not everyone is ready for this call to awakening – the dream is too alluring and too convincing for most – but for those that are ready, the opportunity is present in each moment. It won’t happen at some point in the future, it’s not some elusive goal to strive toward. It can only happen in this moment, right here, right now.

Verse 39

2012-01-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

39.

These things from ancient times arise from one:

in harmony with the Tao,

the sky is clear and spacious,

the earth is solid and full.

All creatures 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.

The pieces of a chariot are useless

unless they work in accordance with the whole.

A man’s life brings nothing

unless he lives in accordance with the whole universe.

Playing one’s part

in accordance with the universe

is true humility.

The Master lets himself be shaped by the Tao

as rugged and common as a stone.

This might be deemed the ecology verse. As we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century, perhaps the biggest challenge facing us as a species is taking responsibility for the damage we have done to the planet’s ecology and to restore balance to the whole.

On an individual level, when we live out of harmony with the Tao, the cracks soon start appearing in our relationships and the quality of our lives. When an entire species lives out of harmony with the Tao, we reap havoc not just among ourselves but upon the planet on which we depend.

We need to be aware of the whole and not just live focused on a narrow set of constituent parts that we call the ‘things of our life’. Every single action affects the whole and therefore we have to widen our concern from beyond the tips of our noses and outside of our homes and families and be aware of how our actions are impacting the whole.

The ego-mind likes to see itself as a separate entity, important in its own right. If we shifted our perspective to see ourselves as simply cells in a much greater organism called ‘humanity’, then we would realise that each cell exists to serve the greater whole.

When individual cells decide to go crazy and decide do their own thing, we call this ‘cancer’ and it’s generally not very conducive to the health and longevity of the greater organism. With this new, expanded perspective, how would we do things differently? Are our lives contributing to the health of the overall organism, or do we need to make some changes to better reflect our responsibility in this regard?

Just some interesting questions to ponder. A simple change of perspective is sometimes enough to change an entire life.

Verse 38

2012-01-09T05:30:00.000-08:00

38.

The highest good is not to seek to do good,

but to allow yourself to become it.

The Master doesn’t try to be powerful;

thus he is truly powerful.

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 person acts from the heart

and accomplishes a multitude of things.

The righteous person acts out of piety,

yet leaves many things undone.

The moral person will act out of duty,

and when no one responds

will roll up his sleeves and use force.

The highest virtue is to act without a sense of self.

The highest kindness is to give without condition.

The highest justice is to see without preference.

When the Tao is forgotten, there is righteousness.

When righteousness is forgotten, there is morality.

When morality is forgotten, there is law and ritual.

Law and ritual are the husk of true faith,

and the beginning of chaos.

Therefore the Master follows his own nature

and not the trappings of life.

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.

A long and powerful verse, containing some of those wonderful paradoxes of the Tao. The opening lines remind me of a quote from Eckhart Tolle: “You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge.”

Similarly, we do not become powerful by trying to chase after power, but by realising the power that is already within us. Those who spend all their energy continually seeking and acquiring rarely – if ever – have enough of what it is they are seeking. Perhaps it’s not until we end the quest that we truly find what it is we’ve been looking for.

Maybe when we finally relax and stop our compulsive ‘doing’, we’ll come realise that we don’t actually do anything - and we never have. Life does all the doing, including us. We don’t have to do a thing. Life does us, and not the other way around. That’s a very humbling realisation.

It’s possible that you’ve been brought up to think of righteousness, morality, law and ritual as being positive things. They’re imposed on us to try and make us “good”, the assumption being that at our core we’re nothing more than rotten sinners who, given half the chance, would go on a rampage, destroying, raping and thieving our way through life. So we’re foisted with notions of ‘righteousness’ and ‘morality’ and, just in case we aren’t successfully indoctrinated into being suitably ‘righteous’ and ‘moral’, laws and rituals are laid down just to make certain that we fully comply.

I’m not suggesting that a lawless society would be advisable at humanity’s current stage of development, because sadly the vast majority of the population live disconnected from their source and are therefore readily capable of harmful and destructive behaviour.

But if more people lived in alignment with the Tao, which is our essential nature, then laws would be unnecessary and ‘morals’ and ‘righteousness’ would be utterly useless and unneeded. Where there is love (and I mean real love and not grasping, ego-derived ‘love’), there is no need of morals or codes of conduct, for love always does the right thing.

It’s time to challenge the harmful fallacy that our true nature is somehow deficient (that we’re all “born sinners” as certain religions claim) and that we should be afraid of what we truly are and seek to circumvent it at all costs. It’s not our true nature that causes us to act in destructive ways; it’s actually our ignorance of our true nature which is responsible for that.

The Sage follows his true nature and is never led astray. There is no need of hollow rituals and limiting notions of how to be ‘good’ or ‘moral’. The Master shuns all such constructs and sees reality as it is, free of the filter of mind, concepts and beliefs. He dwells in reality and lets all the gross illusions shared by the masses vanish like the darkness in the presence of light. Perhaps in this way, he does nothing, yet nothing is left undone.

Verse 37

2012-01-09T05:28:00.001-08:00

37.

The Tao does nothing,

yet leaves nothing undone.

If powerful men and women

could centre 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.

When life is simple,

pretenses fall away;

our essential nature shines through.

When there is no desire,

all things are at peace.

When there is silence,

one finds the anchor of the universe

within oneself.

This verse is especially noteworthy for the famous phrase “the Tao does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone.”

It is a notion that bears contemplation. One of the key messages of the Tao Te Ching is about coming into alignment with the natural flow of life, and Lao Tzu frequently urges us to do this by observing and emulating the natural world.

Nature has no intention or desires of its own. It doesn’t set out to do anything. And yet through it, all things happen. There are cycles of birth and death, growth, expansion and contraction. All processes unfold of their own accord, fuelled by the subtle yet infinite intelligence of the Tao.

Perhaps from this we can learn to stop striving to make life conform to the image we have of how it ‘should’ be. When we relax, let go and trust, allowing life to be what it is, we find that things invariably take care of themselves anyway. Life becomes simpler, less stressful and we realise that everything is actually perfect as it is, without us having to do everything. Try adopting the following mantra: “I, as an expression of the Tao, do nothing, yet nothing is left undone.”

The moment we give up the desire for things to be different than they are – and the illusion that we have to continually do in order to somehow prop up the entire universe – there is peace.

Verse 36

2012-01-08T09:59:00.001-08:00

36.

Should you want to contain something,

you must first let it expand.

Should you want to weaken something,

you must first let it grow strong.

Should you want to take something,

you must first allow it to be given.

The lesson here is called

the wisdom of obscurity.

The gentle outlasts the strong.

The obscure outlasts the obvious.

The soft overcomes the hard.

The slow overcomes the fast.

Let your workings remain a mystery.

Just allow people to see the results.

The Tao Te Ching is filled with seeming paradox. And yet life is one big paradox. There is usually little truth in the obvious, however widespread its acceptance and ‘common sense’ is usually a contradiction in terms.

The most obvious, ‘common sense’ solution is often the thing that pushes what we want further out of reach. Sometimes adopting the opposite approach is what allows things to come to us; no struggle, not fret, no desperate clawing and grasping.

One of the central messages of the Tao Te Ching is to let go and allow life to be. The moment we cease grasping and trying to control and manipulate is the moment life begins to flow and all can come to us in the right time and in the right way, if it is in balance with the whole.

Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate some of the key conditioning of our culture, which indoctrinates us to believe that strength comes through force, harshness, aggressiveness, covetousness, plotting and being as hard and fast and unstoppable as we can.

Lao Tzu suggests that it may well be the exact opposite; that true power stems from gentleness, softness and slowness. There’s even evidence to support this. It’s been shown that those with kinder, gentler dispositions tend to enjoy far greater health and longevity in the long run than those of a more aggressive, grasping and restless nature.

It would therefore serve us well to try to eliminate the latter and cultivate more of the former in our lives.

Verse 35

2012-01-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

35.

All come to she

who keeps to the one.

She who stays centred 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 and dining are passing pleasures,

that may make people stop and enjoy.

But words spoken of the Tao

seem to them boring and stale.

When you look for it, there is nothing to see.

When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.

Yet when you use it, it is inexhaustible.

The majority of people are trapped on the level of form and sense perception, which is a superficial mode of relating to life. Many seek only tangible sensory pleasures and when encountering words of truth that point to the underlying root of creation, they are likely to be disinterested or to find such talk nonsensical and boring.

This, however, is their great loss. Because, as one translation of this verse exclaims: “How bland and insipid are the things of this world when one compares them to the Tao!”

There may be nothing to see and nothing to hear, but the Tao and its application is inexhaustible, for it is the essence from which all life is derived. It is the very paper upon which the pages of the book of life are scribed. Without them, there would be nothing.

It is said that “she who follows the way of the Tao will draw the world to her steps”. For such a person has found peace and tranquility in her heart, a radiant quality that tends to draw people of good virtue and repel those that lack integrity.

When we have found peace within ourselves, in spite of whatever might be happening in the outer world or that which we call “our lives”, we reach a state of integrity and authenticity, that’s more precious than anything in this world.

Verse 34

2012-01-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

34.

The great Tao is universal.

All beings depend on it for life;

even so, it does not take possession of them.

It accomplishes its purpose,

but makes no claims for itself.

It nourishes infinite worlds,

yet it doesn’t seek to dominate

even the smallest creature.

Since it is without wants and desires,

it can be called humble.

All of creation returns to it as to their home,

but it does not seek to master or control;

thus, it may be called great.

The Master imitates this conduct:

by not claiming greatness,

she is able to accomplish truly great things.

According to Lao Tzu the key to greatness is to witness the natural Way of life – the infinite flow of the Tao – and to emulate it as much as we can in our daily lives.

In living the Tao, we do what we do, but make no claims for ourselves. We nourish and sustain others, but never seek to dominate anyone or anything. We have mastered our tendency to relate to the world through a screen of wants and desires and express a true and authentic humility.

Perhaps one of the key lessons in this verse is to stop trying to ‘be great’. Instead, if we simply come into alignment with our true nature and quit trying so hard to ‘be’ and ‘do’, we find that a very natural and authentic greatness occurs all by itself. There’s really nothing we have to do in order to achieve this greatness. It arises spontaneously when we loosen the reigns and relax into a deeper, fuller expression of that which we are.

Verse 33

2012-01-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

33.

Knowing others is intelligence,

Knowing your self is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength,

Mastering your self is true power.

If you realise that you have enough,

you are truly rich.

One who keeps his course

surely lives long.

One who gives himself to the Tao

surely lives forever.

This is a famous verse of the Tao, particularly the first two sentences. The whole essence of the Tao Te Ching seems to be pointing us away from undue focus on the outward forms – on other people, situations, and events (basically the very stuff that tends to perpetually occupy most people to the point of obsession) – and back to the inner self, which is rooted in the Tao, yet which is largely unnoticed by all but a few.

It often seems like we know everything there is to know about the world and universe around us, but absolutely nothing about who and what we truly are. Therefore, knowing ourselves is of prime importance and brings a wisdom that runs far deeper than the surface-level knowledge we have of the outer forms.

Mastering that self, rising above the unconscious content of the mind and ego to embody that which is most authentic and real within us, is power in its truest, most unshakable sense.

Verse 32

2012-01-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

32.

The Tao is nameless and unchanging.

Although it appears insignificant,

nothing in the world can contain it.

Smaller than an electron,

it contains uncountable galaxies.

If powerful men and women

could remain centred in the Tao,

all things would be in harmony.

The world would become a paradise.

All people would be at peace,

not by official decree,

but by their own goodness.

Once the whole is divided, the parts need names.

There are already enough names;

know when to stop.

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.

All things end in the Tao

just as the small streams and the largest rivers

flow through valleys to the sea.

This verse again points us to the Tao, the elusive yet all-pervasive, unnameable source of all that is. When we lose touch with our source, conflict, violence, confusion and despair arise. Sadly, most people live their lives completely unaware of their source and so are like fish washed upon the shore, struggling and distressed, desperately gasping for breath. They look for their ‘fix’ in all the wrong places; empty consumerism, deadening media and hollow social interactions.

If people could remain centred in the Tao, they would be in harmony with everything and we could quite conceivably transform our world into a paradise. If enough people began living in alignment with the Tao, then it is possible we could reach a critical mass, enabling this mode of being to spread outward like a wave, inspiring and influencing people all across the world and in every walk of life.

Embodying that which is highest and best within us enables others to do likewise. We will all eventually return to the Tao. This is an inevitability. But why wait until we’ve shed the physical body? Why not return to the Tao now, while we are still alive, and witness how doing so can transform everything; ourselves, our lives, and the world itself.

Lao Tzu also suggests that we learn to stop naming things. The world is whole; there are no divisions. The mind by its very nature seeks to divide things and creates separation where none truly exists. We plaster names on things and then believe that we know the thing. In truth, we’ve just reduced reality to an assortment of words and labels and are experiencing life through a screen of conceptualisation.

Practise living in a non-verbal world. Go for a walk and instead of mentally labelling everything (“sky”, “tree”, “flower”, “dog”) just witness things as they are. Perceive sights, sounds, textures, tastes and smells. Be open, alive and as attentive as if this were your first day upon the earth. This is a hugely effective and enjoyable exercise that enables us to break free of deadening conceptualisation, bringing us back in touch with life.

Verse 31

2012-01-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

31.

Weapons are the tools of violence;

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 peace is his true objective

how can he rejoice in the victory of war?

His enemies are not demons,

but human beings, like himself.

He doesn’t wish them personal harm.

Nor does he rejoice in victory.

How could he rejoice in victory

and delight in the slaughter of men?

With the slaughter of multitudes,

we have grief and sorrow.

Every victory is a funeral;

when you win a war,

you celebrate by mourning.

This uncompromising verse has a simple and clear message: peace is to be our highest objective and war is to be avoided at all costs. Even if we are on the winning side of a war, so much death and suffering has been inflicted on both sides that the end result can only be grief and suffering. This message is as relevant now as it ever has been. War is not the way forward and all tools of violence must be set aside.

One of the biggest evils in the world is that of dehumanisation. We demonise our enemies, reducing them to mere caricatures in our minds, thus legitimising our will to fight and kill them. We have to go beyond the labels, stereotypes and generalisations that we plaster over other people and recognise our innate oneness, celebrating all that we share in common and letting go of our perceived differences.

We can put this verse into practise by making a commitment to end all the acts of violence that we casually and often unthinkingly perpetrate in our daily lives. Such acts might include speaking or behaving unkindly or aggressively to another person, being thoughtless or impatient, or dehumanising another human being by labelling them in some way. Instead we can replace all such acts of violence, however slight they might seem, with conscious acts of peace, kindness and compassion. This is living the Tao.

Verse 30

2012-01-06T04:31:00.001-08:00

30.

Those who lead people by following the Tao

don’t try to force issues

or use weapons to enforce their will.

For every force, there is a counterforce.

Violence, even well-intentioned

always rebounds upon oneself.

Whatever strains with force

will soon decay.

It is not attuned to the Way.

Not being attuned to the Way,

its end comes all too soon.

The Master does his job

and then stops.

He understands that the universe

is forever out of his control,

and that trying to dominate events

goes against the current of the Tao.

Because he believes in himself,

he doesn’t try to convince others.

Because he is content with himself,

he doesn’t need others’ approval.

Because he accepts himself,

the whole world accepts him.

This part of the Tao Te Ching offers advice to leaders and heads of state, although the wisdom applies to anyone in any position of authority, including leaders of organisations, businesses, social groups and even parents.

One of the key messages is for us to relinquish the need to control and dominate other people and events. Why do we spend so much of our time and energy trying to control that which is beyond our control?

No matter how much we stress and fret and struggle, the world remains as it is; night follows day and the seasons pass in cyclic succession. And no matter how much we try to dominate and control, others will always remain as they are, until such time as they change of their own accord.

One who lives in alignment with the Tao has no need to control life or to convince others of his worth and seek their approval. What lies outside of us is ultimately beyond our control; even if others give us the compliance, approval or validation we seek, they can just as easily take it away again.

But when we seek our fulfilment from within – from knowing and embodying the Tao within us – we have true power and no one can ever take that away from us. Why so much fuss and focus on dominating the outer world when it’s the inner world that really needs our attention?

Verse 29

2012-01-06T04:30:00.000-08:00

29.

Do you think you could take over the universe

and improve it?

I do not believe it can be done.

Everything under heaven is a sacred vessel

and cannot be controlled.

Trying to control leads to ruin.

Trying to grasp, we lose.

Allow your life to unfold naturally.

Know that it too is a vessel of perfection.

Just as you breathe in and breathe out,

there is a time for being ahead

and a time for being behind;

a time for being in motion

and a time for being at rest;

a time for being vigorous

and a time for being exhausted;

a time for being safe

and 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 centre of the circle.

This is a wise and profound verse. We’re often quite clear about what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and how things ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ be. But if you were given omnipotent power to change the world and make things better, do you think you would succeed? Or would you simply make things a whole lot worse?

Cause and effect is complex. Every effect has an innumerable chain of causes stretching all the way back to the beginning of the universe. The mind likes to chunk reality into separate events, components and constituent parts, but everything is a link in a chain that has been forged since the beginning of time.

Often when we try to control and improve things, we make things worse, because we fail to see the bigger picture. Try not to control and try not to grasp. Be detached yet compassionate. Instead of moving against life, let life move through you and observe what happens and what actions you are compelled to take.

We often try to force our lives into whatever configuration the mind dictates. We think that if can mould and direct our circumstances, we can always be on top, always be ahead, always be in motion and always be happy. This is an unreasonable expectation because life simply doesn’t work like that. The pendulum swings both ways because that is its nature.

We might breathe in and decide we want to retain that breath indefinitely because we consider oxygen to be positive and life-giving. But to do so would be to lose the rhythm and balance of life and our refusal to let go and breathe out would actually kill us.

It’s important to honour the rhythms of life and to let things be as they are, without the excessive need to control. We often think we know better than life itself, that the workings of our mind are somehow superior to the workings of the universe.

This, however, is the ultimate delusion and when you think about it – and consider the unthinkable vastness of the universe compared to the microscopic pinpricks that are you and I – it’s really quite laughable.

Go with life by aligning with the Tao. It knows better than you or I.

Verse 28

2012-01-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

28.

Know the masculine,

but keep to the feminine:

receive the world in your arms.

Be a valley under heaven;

if you do, the Tao will never leave you

and you will become as a little child.

Know the white,

yet keep to the black:

be a model for the world.

If you are a model for the world,

the Tao within you will strengthen

and you will return whole to the infinite.

Know the personal,

yet keep to the impersonal:

accept the world as it is.

If you embrace the world with compassion,

then you will live a life of abundant virtue.

The world is formed from the void,

like utensils from a block of wood.

The Master knows the utensils,

yet keeps to the block

because of its limitless possibilities.

When the unformed is formed into objects,

its original qualities are lost.

If you preserve your original qualities,

you can use all things.

Since recorded history began, our culture has been rooted in a very masculine principle: it has been about action, achievement, conquest and dominance.

Lao Tzu tells us to ‘know the masculine, yet keep to the feminine’, the qualities of which include nurturing, compassion, wisdom and acceptance. These are qualities that are greatly needed in the world, now moreso than ever.

Lao Tzu urges us to know the world and all its myriad forms, but to keep to the formless. When we are focused exclusively on objects and forget the source of the objects (such as the uncarved wood from which the utensils are crafted), we lose touch with our source and the result is invariably suffering for ourselves and others.

If we not only accept the world as it is but embrace it with compassion and open arms, then we will never lose connection with our source and will live a life of abundant virtue. Only then can we truly “be the change we want to see in the world.”

Verse 27

2012-01-06T04:26:00.000-08:00

27.

A good traveller has no fixed plans

and is not intent upon arriving.

A good speaker is well rehearsed

and speaks without causing harm.

A good artist lets his intuition

lead him wherever it wants.

A good intellect has freed itself of

concepts and remains open to what is.

A good knot needs no rope

and cannot be undone.

Thus the Master is available to all people

and doesn’t reject anyone.

She is there to help all of creation,

and doesn’t abandon even the smallest creature.

She is ready to use all situations

and doesn’t waste anything.

This is called embodying the light.

What is a good person but a bad person’s teacher?

What is a bad person but a good person’s job?

If you don’t understand this, confusion will arise

however clever you are.

This is the secret of prime importance.

Most of us live our lives and relate to the world exclusively through our ‘schemas’, which are internal maps or representations of reality. These schemas can come between us and a direct experience of reality as it is, stranding us on the level of merely how we think it is.

A lesser mind is bound by concepts, ideas and expectations and tends to find only what it’s expecting or wanting to find. A bad artist loses the spontaneity of the creative process when his mind tries to direct what ought to be a product of intuition and inspiration. And the traveller whose journey is solely a means to an end is more focused on the destination than the unfolding journey and is thus blinded to the beauty around him.

The key here is to let go of our need to control and our need to know, plan or be right. If we let go and allow life to unfold around us, without the need to judge, control or manipulate reality according to the filters of our mind, then the result can only be more wonder and greater joy.

Impartiality is a key message in this verse. It’s all too easy to judge, label, categorise and so negate others. When we do this, we no longer see other people, we see only our mental judgements: good, bad, worthy, unworthy, kind, unkind, and so on.

The Master, however, is impartial and open to all life and is available to all people and all situations. No one is rejected and no situation is wasted.

The wisdom to see beyond the narrow judgements of mind and the ability to step out of duality to realise the oneness of all life is the hallmark of the Master and is referred to here as embracing or ‘embodying the light’.

Verse 26

2012-01-05T09:37:00.001-08:00

26.

The heavy is the root of the light.

The unmoved is the source of all movement.

Thus the Master travels all day

without leaving her home.

However splendid the views

he stays serenely in herself.

He stays poised and centred

in the midst of all activities.

Why should the Master be amused

at the foolishness of the world?

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.

The words of this twenty-sixth verse might initially sound a bit obscure. I believe the key message is to stay centred in who and what we are at all times.

It’s easy to lose ourselves in the world, to ‘let restlessness’ propel us into engaging in all kinds of pointless activities, both physical and mental. Many people have a very restless streak and can’t sit still for even a moment without having to engage in activities or be swept along by various trains of thought.

We lose ourselves in the world, in what’s going on, in what’s on television or the hundred and one things we have to do about the house, office or garden. We let ourselves be ‘blown to and fro’ all the time, and in our compulsive doing, we forget about our innate being – we completely lose touch with ourselves.

This doesn’t mean we have to spend our entire lives sitting in a vegetative state. But it does mean that no matter where we go or what we’re doing, we remain grounded in an awareness of who and what we are.

It’s a beneficial practise to never engage a full hundred percent of our attention upon the external, but to always have a small portion of it rooted in awareness of our true nature, which is consciousness. After all, we don’t perceive a world ‘out there’, everything and everyone that we perceive is an occurrence in our consciousness. No consciousness, no world, no self. Consciousness is the foundation and entirety of our experience of life and it is the essence of what we are.

By remaining aware of this, we find that in the midst of activity, we can remain serene, poised and centred.

Try stopping every so often and taking a few deep breaths. Breath reconnects us with our true nature, for it is invisible yet essential to our existence, much like the Tao – much like the animating consciousness that we are – and on a physiological level it also balances both body and mind. Then we can re-engage in our activities without fully losing ourselves in mind or in doing.

Verse 25

2012-01-05T09:35:00.001-08:00

25.

There was something formless and perfect

before the universe was born.

It is serene. Empty.

Solitary. Unchanging.

Infinite. Eternally present.

Is 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.

Earth is great.

Man is great.

Man follows the earth.

Earth follows the universe.

The universe follows the Tao.

The Tao follows only itself.

Here Lao Tzu provides some more pointers to the Absolute, that primordial essence which, for lack of a better name, he calls the Tao.

He tells us it is everywhere and in everything; older than the universe itself; empty, serene, unchanging, infinite.

Mention of the word ‘return’ is significant, for ‘returning’ is the motion of the Tao. It expands outward from its place of singular formlessness and creates a multiplicity of form and expression – everything in the phenomenal world that seems to have separate existence – and eventually all these things return to their source, to their origin in the Tao.

The universe is microcosm of the great Tao; just as the earth is a microcosm of the universe, and we of it. Like a hologram, each and every part contains the essence of the whole.

Verse 24

2012-01-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

24.

Those who stand on tiptoes

do not stand firmly.

Those who rush ahead

do not get very far

Those who try to outshine others

dim their own light.

Those who define themselves

can’t know who they really are.

Those who seek power over others

can’t empower themselves.

Those who boast of their accomplishments

will not endure.

When walking the path of the Tao,

these actions are unworthy

and must be left behind.

Just do your job, then let go.

This might be termed the ‘keep your ego in check’ verse.

It’s something we all have to be vigilant about, for the actions spoken of here are things we’ve been brought up to see as signs of power and success: rushing ahead, climing higher, trying to outshine others, creating a solid sense of ego or ‘self’ and displaying our accomplishments so that others can recognise how ‘great’ we are.

However, such behaviours are ultimately self-defeating and very often have the opposite effect than we’d hoped.

Just do your job, Lao Tzu suggests, and let the rest go.

Why the need to constantly fluff up our egos? To spend our lives living in such a way just leaves us exhausted and ultimately unfulfilled. Why not just get on with it and set aside the need to be “better” than others or have our accomplishments or virtue recognised. Let things be as they are.

Verse 23

2012-01-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

23.

Express yourself completely, then keep quiet.

Nature uses few words.

Fierce winds do not blow all morning,

a downpour of rain does not last the day.

These are exaggerated, forced effects,

and that is why they cannot be sustained.

If heaven and earth cannot sustain a forced action,

how much less is man able to do so?

If you open yourself to the Tao,

you are at one with the Tao

and you can embody it completely.

If you open yourself to insight,

you are at one with insight

and 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.

The message of this verse appears to be quite simple: stop trying to force things and just open yourself to the Tao. Let go and allow life to do what it does. Don’t resist it, because it’s going to do what it does regardless.

Sometimes we think that in order to to get where we want to be, we have to struggle, strive and force things. But this will inevitably leave us exhausted and frustrated, for even nature in all its power cannot create a storm that lasts indefinitely.

Forced action cannot be sustained, so it’s better to open ourselves to the Tao, in the manner that preceding verses have suggested. By doing so, we can follow and act upon whatever insights and promptings arise from the stillness within. Actions arising from insight are far more likely to be of benefit than those that are directed by the conditioned egoic mind, which can only ever see a limited part of the picture.

Another important point comes from the very first line, which urges us to express ourselves completely and then keep quiet. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of labouring points and debating our position, when in fact our energies are best served by retreating within once the point has been made.

As a wise friend once said to me: “silence is golden; if you can’t improve upon it, don’t even try.”

Verse 22

2012-01-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

22.

If you want to become whole,

first let yourself be broken.

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 living beings.

Because she isn’t self-centred,

people can see the light in her.

Because she does not boast of herself,

she becomes a shining example.

Because she has nothing to prove,

people can trust her words.

Because she does not who who she is,

people recognise themselves in her.

Because she has no goal in mind,

everything she does succeeds.

When the ancient Masters said,

“If you want to be given everything,

give everything up,”

they weren’t using empty words.

Only in being lived by the Tao

can you truly be yourself.

This verse twice states that if you want to be “given everything” you must first be willing to give up everything. This includes all definitions of who you think you are, what you think your life is about and whatever aims, goals and desires you’re clinging to.

We can never attain happiness and fulfilment without first clearing the decks. How can everything be given to us unless we first make room for it? How can we be full until we’ve first created some space and embraced the emptiness?

The vast majority of us are too fixated with objects and are stuck in the mode of grasping. Life doesn’t – and can’t – give us what we want, it can only give us what we are. So if all we ever do is take from life, then all life is going to do is take from us.

But if we can shift this modus operandi and instead live to give, then we might be amazed at just how much life becomes willing to give us.

The essence of this verse is perhaps contained in the sentence: “only in being lived by the Tao can you truly be yourself”. This implies that whatever notion you already have about yourself may not be the full picture.

Be willing to relinquish it and let it go. Be willing to die while you’re still alive – and see just how amazingly you are reborn, when you live your life aligned with the Tao...

Verse 21

2012-01-02T05:18:00.000-08:00

21.

The greatest virtue you can have

comes from following only the Tao.

The Tao is elusive and intangible.

Although formless and intangible,

it gives rise to form.

Although vague and elusive,

it gives rise to shapes.

Although dark and obscure,

it is the spirit, the essence,

the life breath of all things.

Since the beginning of time, the Tao has

always existed.

It is beyond existing and not existing.

How do I know the way of things?

I look inside myself and see.

Lao Tzu here offers more pointers to realising the Tao. It’s a tricky business. Try to understand it with words and ideas and you’ll fail, for it’s elusive and beyond all such abstraction.

Try to see it with your eyes and you’ll fail, for it’s intangible and invisible. Yet its existence can be demonstrated, in much the same way as electricity; for although invisible, its effects can readily be observed.

The Tao is like the ocean upon which all currents, waves and forms derive their existence. They rise from the ocean, exist only because of the ocean and then dissolve back into the ocean. It is the substrata out of which all form – the entire manifested universe – is created.

Lao Tzu closes by telling us that although we cannot outwardly see this invisible force independently of its effects, we can know the truth by looking within ourselves.

This is the only place truth can ever be found. Words can deceive, beliefs can be warped and the human mind is ordinarily a repository for all kinds of gross half-truths and distortions.

But beyond the mind – within, we can access the Tao and only from there can we truly understand the way of things.

Verse 20

2012-01-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

20.

Stop thinking and your problems will end.

What difference between yes and no?

What difference between success and failure?

Must you value what others value,

and fear what others fear?

How ridiculous!

In spring, some go to the park and climb the terrace,

but I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.

I alone don’t care,

I alone am expressionless,

like a newborn baby before it has learned to smile.

Other people have more than they need,

I alone possess nothing.

Mine is indeed the mind of an ignoramus

in its unadulterated simplicity.

I am but a guest in this world.

While others rush about to get things done,

I accept what is offered.

I alone seem foolish,

earning little, spending less.

Others strive for fame,

I avoid the limelight.

Other people have a purpose;

I alone don’t know.

Indeed, I seem like an idiot;

no mind, no worries.

I drift like a wave on the ocean.

I blow as aimless as the wind.

All men settle down into their grooves;

I alone am stubborn and remain outside.

But wherein I am most different from others is

in knowing to take sustenance from the great Mother.

For some people, this is not only the longest verse of the Tao Te Ching so far, but perhaps also the most challenging. Lao Tzu paints a portrait of life as a self-realised being and much of what he says runs counter to the ethos of our culture.

Instead of being filled with thoughts, the mind of the Master is empty and because of this, he has no worries. He is but a visitor in this world. Instead of rushing about trying to direct and control the events of his life, always with an eye to achieving and acquiring, he instead blows like the breeze, aimless, free and unencumbered.

Instead of constantly striving, he accepts whatever comes his way. Instead of deriving his sustenance from the things of this world, he takes his nourishment from the great Mother. This is the way of the Tao. Many people would likely be horrified at such a way of life and indeed, as Lao Tzu states, to most he would seem like an idiot. But one of the great secrets of life is that liberation and lasting peace can never come from anything external – they can only come from within.

Our continued attempts to control life and re-shape it into what we think it should be is what ultimately what keeps us locked into the illusion, running around like a hamster in a wheel.

The Master realises that we need do very little because, ultimately we’re being done by life itself. Surrendering to this realisation, we can allow ourselves to live in accord with the Tao and thus know true freedom.

I was once struck by the title of a Buddhist book which succinctly sums up what I believe is the message of this verse. It was called “Being no one, going nowhere”.

Perhaps the being alone is sufficient.

Verse 19

2012-01-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

19.

Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom

and the 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 will be no thieves.

All of these are superficial outward forms alone;

they are not sufficient in themselves.

Just stay at the centre of the circle

and let all things take their course.

It is more important

to see the simplicity,

to realise one’s true nature,

to cast off selfishness

and temper desire.

At first glance, this might appear to be a strange verse. Is Lao Tzu really asking us to relinquish sainthood and renounce wisdom, to dispense with morality and justice?

This makes no sense until you realise that in striving to achieve sainthood, wisdom, morality and justice we are buying into the notion that these are external things, separate from who and what we are and so we build structures and maps to help us find them.

Such notions are based on misperception. We become like an absent-minded man searching everywhere for his hat, creating all kinds of maps, diagrams and blueprints to help him find the hat – or to create new hats! – not realising that it’s been sitting on his head the whole time. In fact, if you were to take the analogy to its full completion, he would would eventually realise that not only does he already have a hat, but he is the hat!

Where there is love, there is no need of ‘morals’, because love always does the right thing.

When we are in touch with the Tao and know who and what we are, there is no need to try to be ‘saintly’; we give from the heart effortlessly, because it’s the nature of our being to do so. We have no need of industry or profit, because we are whole and at peace with whatever we’ve got.

Verse 18

2012-01-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

18.

When the greatness of the Tao is present,

action arises from one’s own heart.

When the greatness of the Tao is absent,

action comes from the rules

of “kindness and justice”.

If you need rules to be kind and just,

this is a sure sign that virtue is absent.

When intellectualism arises,

hypocrisy is close behind.

When kinship falls into discord,

piety and rites of devotion arise.

When there is strife in the family,

people talk of “brotherly love”.

When the country falls into chaos,

patriotism is born.

The laws and rules of society are designed to make people “good citizens”, to enforce “kindness and justice”. However, the need to impose such rules creates an artificiality and superficiality. Unless one can give from the heart rather than because of expectation and written or unwritten rules, it is better not to give at all.

If kindness and goodness have to be forced and manufactured, then their lack of authenticity is more corrosive than it is beneficial. If one could simply return to the Source, to live from the Tao, then there would be no need for rules, regulations and measures of expectation.

Lao Tzu simply but powerfully points out that when alignment with the Tao is absent, society will be overloaded with rules and regulations to try and make the people “good”. Intellectualisation breeds hypocrisy, lack of kinship creates a false sense of piety and empty devotional rites, as in the case of most religions. There will be an emphasis on “blood is thicker than water” and much talk of patriotism and “us versus them”.

There are two ways to view the world: though the eyes of mind and ego or through the eyes of love. Ego sees only separation and in order to build itself up, it grasps hold of notions of family and nationality to try and solidify its tenuous sense of identity. This creates more separation, division, hostility and a dangerous sense of false pride.

Looking at the world through the eyes of love we can relate to life in an altogether less separative manner. We no longer cling to false division, but are free to view all of life as it truly is: inextricably interconnected.

“Countries” are a man-made construct and so, to the Master, patriotism is seen as foolish and dangerously divisive. When we become aware of the oneness of all life, we can extend our love and affection beyond the boundaries of immediate family and can come to see everyone as our brothers and sisters. Our little worlds – and hearts – suddenly expand beyond all previous boundaries, when we realise that love is the highest truth of what we are.

Verse 17

2011-12-31T05:09:00.000-08:00

17.

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.

If you don’t trust people,

you make them untrustworthy.

The Master speaks little.

He never speaks carelessly.

He works without self interest

and leaves no trace.

When the work is done,

the people say: “Amazing:

we did it, all by ourselves.”

Verse 17 begins a section of the Tao Te Ching that is focused largely on leadership. Lao Tzu was perhaps addressing governmental and state leaders during what was a time of great upheaval in ancient China. His words, however, apply to anyone who is in a position of leadership or authority, including parents and teachers.

Very often, people’s egos dramatically inflate the moment they are put in a position of authority, no matter how great or minor. Many people can’t help but make it about themselves, as they want to be seen as a great or effective leader.

Lao Tzu suggests that the best leader is one whose presence is barely felt or recognised, a notion that runs counter to the demands of ego. Instead of trying to control people and micro-manage every detail, Lao Tzu advises us to trust people, to step back and gently guide from behind the scenes, without self interest (ego involvement) and to “leave no trace” once the work is done.

By keeping ourselves out of the picture as much as possible, we can allow people to flourish. As another famous quote from the Tao Te Ching states:

“If you don’t assume importance, you can never lose it.”

Verse 16

2011-12-31T05:07:00.000-08:00

16.

Empty your mind of all thoughts.

Let your heart be at peace.

Watch the turmoil of beings,

but contemplate their return.

Each being in the universe

returns to the common Source,

to what is and what is to be.

Returning to the Source is serenity.

If you don’t realise the Source

you stumble in confusion and sorrow.

When you realise where you come from,

you naturally become tolerant,

disinterested, amused,

kind-hearted 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.

Here we are urged to empty our mind of all thoughts, be aware of the turmoil around us and to realise something that most people don’t readily like to admit: that, like it or not, we’re all on a return trip.Returning is the nature of the Tao. A wave rises above the surface of the water but must ultimately return to that from which it came. So too it is with us. Lao Tzu calls this wellspring from which all life arises the ‘Source’.

Although we appear to be separate beings cut off from our Source, the truth is we shall all return to that Source, whether by physical death or by consciously aligning ourselves with it while we are still alive. This is called “dying before we die”. It allows us to consciously realise what we truly are. Many spiritual teachers over the centuries have highlighted this as the essence of spiritual awakening – simply, to know who and what we are.

Until we realise that from which we came, our lives are difficult and we stumble around in fear and sorrow. But when we realise where we came from – which is inseparable from what we are – we reach a state of peace with life. We naturally become tolerant, kind-hearted, disinterested (or detached, which simply means not unduly caught up in the transient comings and goings of life) and even amused by life.

In short, we are able to deal with whatever life throws our way because we are no longer caught up in the illusion that we are separate beings, disconnected from the whole, having to fight to survive in a hostile universe.

We no longer place undue emphasis on that which is but a transient dream, ever morphing and shifting – and, because we know what we are at the deepest level, we no longer fear death. Because we no longer fear death, we no longer fear life (which is really a far more tragic and crippling fear). Some have called this state of being ‘enlightenment’.

Verse 15

2011-12-31T05:05:00.001-08:00

15.

The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.

Their wisdom was unfathomable.

There is no way to describe it.

One can only describe them vaguely

by their appearance.

They were careful

as someone crossing a frozen stream in winter.

Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.

Courteous as a guest.

Yielding as melting ice.

Shapeable as a block of uncarved wood.

Receptive as a valley.

Amorphous as muddied water.

But the muddiest water clears

as it is stilled.

And out of that stillness

life arises.

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?

The Master doesn’t seek fulfilment.

Not seeking, not expecting,

she is present, and can welcome all things.

Lao Tzu here describes the “Masters of old”, those that lived their lives in constant alignment with the Tao.

He poetically depicts them as being like elements of nature and this is a central theme of the Tao Te Ching; that by observing and aligning with nature and the natural rhythms and flow, we reconnect with our deepest essence, that which might be described as the Tao.

The Master is awake, alert, kind, malleable and receptive. There is no element of self-seeking and, precisely because of this, the Master has an openness and can, as another translation of this verse states, “remain like a hidden sprout that does not rush to early ripening”.

Take some time to reflect on which of the characteristics spoken of by Lao Tzu you already possess, and which you can develop, cultivate or strengthen. Contrary to popular assumption, our our personality is not rigidly set in stone. In fact, it changes all the time, and with a little conscious effort can easily moulded and developed.

Lao Tzu makes reference to muddy water, which could represent our unconscious neuroses, fears, aversions, attachments and the assorted mind-stuff that continually churns around our head. How do we clear this muddy water? Do we get agitated and try to stir it up or boil away the mud? Such actions only serve to worsen it. Instead, Lao Tzu suggests retreating to that still place within, in which we are in constant connection with the Tao. He urges us to be rooted there; to wait patiently, allowing the mud to settle and allowing right action to spontaneously arise.

By letting go of our constant grasping and craving – and our never-ending quest for happiness and fulfilment – we can reach a place of peace, in which we are more in tune with life in the present moment; and in which all things begin to shine.

Verse 14

2011-12-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

14.

Look, and it can’t be seen.

Listen, and it can’t be heard.

Reach, and it can’t be grasped.

Its rising brings no dawn,

its setting no darkness;

it goes on and on, unnameable,

returning into nothingness.

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.

You can’t know it, but you can be it,

at ease in your own life.

Just realise where you came from:

this is the essence of wisdom.

Try describing the indescribable! Where do you even begin? Here Lao Tzu again provides some pointers to that which he has labelled “the Tao”, but which he again stresses is actually nameless and beyond all conception and grasping.

Like the Buddha, who often used negative terminology in order to prevent people from projecting concepts onto that which is far beyond conceptualisation, Lao Tzu demonstrates that the ultimate truth is far beyond our ability to ‘capture’ with thoughts and beliefs. To even try would be like trying to catch water in a sieve; the two just don’t – and can’t – mesh.

The words of this verse will be meaningless, perhaps even ‘stupid’ and ‘pointless’ unless the perceiver has a certain degree of openness and has the ability to step beyond the mind-stream, if only for a few seconds. Because, as this verse states, you can’t understand it, you can only be it.

Being goes far beyond thought. Awareness of the vast and intangible realm of the Tao can only happen when we are able to step beyond the surface ripples of thought and immerse ourselves in the still, deep river of being – even if only for a few seconds before the gravity of thought pulls us to the surface again. Even then, we can ask ourselves “what is the source of these thoughts?” What is the source of our attention, our awareness? What is this consciousness in which all external phenomena are made manifest? What is it? Where did it originate?

No words or concepts can provide us with these answers. They can only be known by being the knowing. The “essence of wisdom” is knowing “where you came from”.

No one can answer that for you. Can you sit in silence and find the answer for yourself...and then resist the urge to conceptualise it? This is the “returning” that later verses speak of.

Verse 13

2011-12-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

13.

Success is as dangerous as failure.

Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?

Whether you go up the ladder or down it,

your position is shaky.

When you stand with your two feet upon 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.

If we have no selves,

what trouble would we have?

Man’s true self is eternal,

yet he thinks “I am this body and will soon die”.

If we have no body, what calamities can we have?

One who sees himself as everything

is fit to be guardian of the world.

One who loves himself as everyone

is fit to be the teacher of the world.

This verse of the Tao Te Ching further deconstructs the way we see ourselves and relate to the world. Based upon the level of form, in which we appear as separate bodies, it’s considered ‘normal’ for human beings to be locked into a separate sense of ‘self’. This self is a conglomeration of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, conditioning and memories, all bound together by the glue of hope and fear, or what the Buddhists might refer to as attachment and aversion; the desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Lao Tzu warns that this sense of self, which might be referred to as the ego, is at the root of most of our troubles. This was echoed by one of the great Zen masters who, when asked to define Zen, simply stated: “no self, no problem”.

When we believe that we’re a separate ‘somebody’, alone and struggling to ‘make it’ in the world, our constant craving for success can actually be a great hindrance. Any attempts to climb the ladder will inevitably put us in a shaky position, no matter how high we might get. In fact, the higher we get the higher we have to fall – and inevitably we will fall, because what goes up must come down. Sooner or later we’ll have to come down from that ladder, either through choice or by force. Instead, Lao Tzu suggests that we might be better to keep our feet firmly planted upon the ground, for it is only there that we will find true solidity and balance.

The rest of the verse deals with what Albert Einstein referred to as an “optical delusion of consciousness”: namely, that we are separate selves enclosed in separate bodies.

Our true self is eternal, Lao Tzu states, yet so few people are aware of this and instead are bound by the tangible. Most people are aware only of the level of form and are completely unaware of the invisible, formless essence that breathes life into it.

If we could make a quantum shift in our awareness to encompass the greater aspect of our being instead of being stuck in the hollow surface level, we would be able to open our heart to all beings, because we would recognise the inherent oneness and interconnectedness of all life. As another translation of this verse simply states: “See the world as your self. Love the world as your self, then you will care for all things.”

I already referenced the words of Einstein and he beautifully encapsulated this wisdom in the following quote:

“A human being is a part of a whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Verse 12

2011-12-30T06:31:00.001-08:00

12.

Too many colours blind the eye.

Too many tones deafen the ear.

Too many flavours dull the taste.

Too many thoughts weaken the mind.

Too many desires wither the heart.

The Master observes the world

but trusts his inner vision.

He allows things to come and go.

His heart is as open as the sky.

One of the central messages of the Tao Te Ching can be summed up in the adage “less is more”, which is especially pertinent in a society that instead lives by the assumption that “more is better”.

Lao Tzu’s words are simple, but his message is timeless and relevant to us all. Isn’t it usually true that the less you have, the more you appreciate? Unless, of course, you’re locked into the acquisition mindset that grips our world, in which case you are likely to feel misery because you’ve bought into the mass illusion that the more things you have, the happier you will be.

Perhaps it would benefit us to find ways to simplify our lives, to reduce our possessions, emptying our cupboards of the nonessentials that we tend to hoard but never use or appreciate. Maybe it would be better to give such items to charity.

In putting Lao Tzu’s words into practise, we might also seek to reduce the amount of extraneous – and often destructive – thoughts that compulsively dart through our minds unchecked. It’s been estimated that we think approximately 60,000 thoughts each day and around 90% of those thoughts are the same ones we had yesterday. In other words, the vast majority of our thoughts are unproductive, useless and repetitive. Sitting even for just ten minutes in meditation can help us to still and steady the mind, as well as reach a deeper state of peace and balance in the rest of our lives.

The final lines of this verse provide more insight into someone that has mastered the Tao: the primary focus of their attention is not outward, but inward. The Master doesn’t lose himself in the world, as most of us tend to.

Instead, he stays rooted within, trusting his inner vision. Inner vision relates to what some call the ‘zen mind’; that still, transcendent place within that lies beyond thought and conceptualisation. It’s the part of us that’s at one with the pure, unconditioned state of consciousness prior to its manifestation in thought, word or action.

This is the point of the Master’s power. And because he knows this to be his true nature, he is not unduly attached to things, but can let them come and go, while retaining a heart that is “as open as the sky.”

Verse 11

2011-12-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

11.

Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel;

but it is the centre hole

that allows the wheel to function.

We mould clay into a pot;

but it is the emptiness inside

that makes the vessel useful.

We fashion wood for a house;

but it is the inner space

that makes it liveable.

We work with the substantial,

but the emptiness is what we use.

The usefulness of what is

depends on what is not.

Most people relate to the world with a complete fixation upon external objects and forms.

I remember one occasion when this object-fixation was temporarily suspended for me. One day at art school we were given a still life to draw, but rather than drawing the objects themselves, we were instructed to draw the space around the objects. I found it surprisingly difficult, for I was so used to focussing upon the form and ignoring the space around it. But in that moment, I suddenly saw things in an entirely different way.

The human mind constantly grasps at and holds onto forms, rarely able to recognise the value of space. Our minds are almost like junkies, desperate to keep thinking, keep conceptualising, keep playing the same old stories, always seeking new input. It doesn’t matter whether it takes the form of socialising, reading, watching television or surfing the internet – any kind of mental input will do. More, more, more! It’s uninterested and quite averse to space of any kind.

However, this space, or emptiness as Buddhists often refer to it, is essential to our well-being and sanity. To be unable to step out of compulsive thinking is a most deleterious affliction. Yet most of us take it to be normal, so we keep pumping our mind full of fresh input, until there’s not even the slightest gap in our mental stream.

But, as Lao Tzu explains, without emptiness or space inside, the wheel, the clay pot and the house would be of little use, and the same is true for us. Emptiness and space give us the gift of stillness, which enables us to come into alignment with our essential nature. As a result we stop creating so much stress for ourselves and others and we gradually come into flow with the Tao.

Verse 10

2011-12-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

10.

Can you coax your mind from its wandering

and keep it to the original oneness?

Can you let your body become

supple as a newborn child’s?

Can you cleanse your inner vision

until you can see nothing but the light?

Can you love people and govern your domain

without self-importance?

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 possessing,

acting without expectation,

leading without controlling or dominating;

this is the primal virtue.

This verse imparts the essence of Lao Tzu’s teaching with great directness and clarity. The first sentence, asking if we can coax our mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness, urges us to tame our restless minds and be rooted in that still centre of peace within. This is the art of meditation: finding the space of pure awareness that existed prior to every thought, memory, emotion and perception and remaining centred in that.

This is again referenced when Lao Tzu speaks of cleansing our inner vision, which is often obscured by the untamed mind’s relentless barrage of thoughts in much the same way as heavy storm clouds block the sunlight. He compels us to step back from our own minds and thus allow true understanding to emerge. The Tao cannot be understood by the analytical mind and indeed, it may even sound quite nonsensical. But beneath the surface there is a place of inner stillness in which these words of wisdom can be understood and realised; the part of us that is fully at one with the Tao, in its pure undifferentiated state.

The rest of the verse relays some of the other prominent themes of the Tao Te Ching, as Lao Tzu implores us to lose our rigidity, relinquish our attachment to possessions, let go of our need to control others and instead let events “take their natural course”.

The entire Tao Te Ching might be seen as a set of directions to bring us back in touch with our essential nature and to live our lives more in tune with the flow and rhythms of the natural world, of which we are part.

Our perpetual striving and grasping is not only harmful for us and those around us in the long run, but it also runs counter to our true nature as expressions of the Tao. To live in tune with this mysterious essence is to rediscover “the primal virtue”.

Verse 9

2011-12-29T07:09:00.000-08:00

It is easier to carry an empty cup

than one that is filled to the brim.

The sharper the blade

the easier it is to dull.

The more wealth you possess

the more insecurity it brings.

The more you care about other people’s approval

the more you become their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.

This is the only path to serenity.

“Less is more” is clearly the message of this verse of the Tao Te Ching. Again, it is a notion that runs counter to the pervading values of our society, in which most people are obsessed with getting more: more wealth and security, more possessions and more esteem in the eyes of others. It’s very easy for us to fall into this trap, because it’s the way we’ve been conditioned and socialised since we were children.

But perhaps it runs counter to our true nature and certainly, as Lao Tzu points out, it can create more problems and suffering than it does satisfaction and fulfilment. The more we have, the more we have to lose. Even when we make it in the world, our satisfaction tends to be fleeting because we then become terrified of losing it. And, such being the nature of life, at some point we inevitably will lose it. Any attempt to grasp at things and create lasting security and permanence is ultimately futile, because life is characterised by impermanence and it is the nature of things to be fleeting.

Yet Lao Tzu isn’t suggesting that we abandon all doing. Instead, he advises that we do our work – which might mean whatever is in front of us, or whatever we love or feel drawn to do – and then step back, being unattached to the fruits of our labour.

With this detachment, life becomes a joyous dance in which we are no longer engaged in the stressful grasping that characterises so many people’s existence. We can be at peace and enjoy whatever comes our way without continually trying to force things to be different.

Verse 8

2011-12-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

The supreme good is like water,

which nourishes all of creation

without trying to compete with it.

It gathers in the low places unpopular with men.

Thus it is like the Tao.

Live in accordance with the nature of things.

In dwelling, live close to the ground.

In thinking, keep to the simple.

In dealing with others, be fair and generous.

In governing, do not try to control.

In work, do what you enjoy.

In family life, be completely present.

When you are content to be simply yourself,

and don’t compare or compete,

everybody will respect you.

One who lives in accordance with nature

does not go against the way of things.

He moves in harmony with the present moment,

always knowing the truth of just what to do.

In this verse, Lao Tzu describes the Tao as being like water. The paradox of water is that although it is one of the softest of substances, it is also one of the most powerful. Whilst water is gentle and flows around obstacles, it is also powerful enough to cut through rock and erode mountains. This is to say nothing of its essential life-giving properties. All forms of life are completely dependent upon it. Without water, there would be no life on this planet.

Lao Tzu muses that rather than climbing upward, water is content to flow downward, for that is its nature. This is the opposite of most people, who prefer to elevate themselves and are constantly trying to climb their way up the various ladders of life, making themselves ‘bigger’, ‘higher’ and ‘better’.

The rest of this verse offers Lao Tzu’s sage advice for living in alignment with the nature of the Tao. The key points are simplicity, gentleness, kindness and balance. He warns against competing and trying to control others and urges us to be in harmony with the essential nature of life and ourselves. All too often we see ourselves as somehow separate from life. Indeed, there’s an erroneous collective assumption that “me” and “my life” are somehow two separate things. Yet, as much as our egos might balk at the notion, it’s nevertheless true that we don’t “have” a life, we are life! That's a humbling but strangely comforting realisation.

Perhaps we could take Lao Tzu up on his analogy and see ourselves as water. Instead of trying to climb ever upward, what would happen if we allowed ourselves flow downward? When we try to act against our nature we usually experience blockages of some kind. The human mind likes to call the shots and determine our trajectory, but in doing so it often operates counter to our true nature.

If we could allow ourselves to be like water and to simply flow in the direction that life takes us, unafraid of the ‘low’ places disdained by those obsessed with getting ahead, then perhaps we will discover a peace and joy beyond understanding?

Being like water, we are soft and gentle, yet immensely powerful. We are able to offer life-giving and life-sustaining nourishment to any and all that might need it. And as with water, if we really have patience and perseverance, we can even move mountains.

Verse 7

2011-12-29T07:05:00.000-08:00

The Tao is infinite, eternal.

Why is it eternal?

It was never born;

thus it can never die.

Why is it infinite?

It has no desires for itself;

thus it is present for all beings.

The Master puts himself last;

that is why he ends up ahead.

He is detached from all things;

that is why he is one with them.

Because he stays a witness to life,

he is perfectly fulfilled.

What has never been born can never die. This applies to the Tao and it applies to us, as manifestations of the Tao. We’re told that we are born and will die and we assume this to be true. But upon closer inspection, we see that it although it is true for the body and its constituent parts, the same cannot be so easily said about the “I”, the formless awareness that comprises our being.

In essence we are consciousness, which operates through the brain and body but which is never actually born into form; it remains elusive, intangible, like an invisible vapour. Scientists can scan the brain and highlight the areas in which consciousness appears to operate, but this is no more than observing footprints in the sand. It tells us no more about that elusive essence than the footprints tell us about the person who left them.

We are the microcosm of the macrocosm; the Tao is the vastness of the universe and the essence behind and within all manifested forms. It is infinite and eternal, and it was never born (in spite of the appearance and dissolution of matter), and thus it can never die. It has no desires for itself, because it doesn’t see itself as separate from anything. At the deepest level it is all one, so all works in harmony. This is as true for us as it is for that which we call the ‘Tao’, because we are not separate from it; we are it.
The Master, fully realising that he is one with the Tao, can see beyond the illusion of being a separate self, a separate ego, which is little more than a cluster of memories, thoughts, habits and conditioning. Aligned with the effortless action of the Tao, he gives and gives with no regard to this notion of being a separate ‘self’. Being detached from the myriad things of phenomenal existence, he is at one with all things.

Many of us spend our whole lives trying to make ourselves happier, more fulfilled, successful and balanced. One of the biggest secrets in life is simply this: the way to true, lasting fulfilment is to take a step back from this compulsive, obsessive trap of self-interest. When we instead focus on helping and serving others, we align ourselves with the essence of the Tao, which is not about taking, seeking and acquiring, but is about creating, giving and nurturing.

The Master realises that true fulfilment and joy does not come from focussing on what we can get out of life, but by focussing on what we can give to life. As another translation offers:

“Serve the needs of others and all your own needs will be fulfilled. Through selfless action, fulfilment is attained.”

Verse 6

2011-12-28T06:31:00.001-08:00

The Tao is called the Great Mother:

empty yet inexhaustible.

It gives birth to infinite worlds,

yet its immaculate purity is never lost.

It assumes countless forms,

yet its true identity remains intact.

Listen to its voice,

hear it echo through creation.

Although invisible, it endures;

it will never end.

Without fail, it brings us

to our own perfection.

Using different translations of the Tao Te Ching, I rearranged the words of this verse quite a bit to best reflect what I feel is the essence of its message.

Lao Tzu moves deeper into his meditation upon the nature of the Tao, which is here referred to as the “Great Mother”, or the “mysterious feminine” and states that it lies at the root of creation.

Perhaps this “Great Mother” might be envisaged as being like a vast ocean. From the ocean seemingly separate forms might appear, such as waves rippling on the surface of the ocean and water rising as vapour and appearing as clouds in the sky. But the nature and substance of these forms remains of the ocean and, before long, the forms dissolve and return back to their source. As it happens, the Tao is compared to water more than once in subsequent verses of the text.

Although the Great Mother has taken form as universes, galaxies, stars, planets and various life forms, its true nature is unchanged and undiminished and can still be found within the forms themselves, as their very essence.

Although the myriad forms of life change and eventually dissolve, the great Oneness of the Tao remains untouched and unchanging throughout it all.