| | The following link is to a page that has the complete Tao Te Ching:
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html
The old story, probably false, is that Laotse was a wandering ascetic who met a guard at an exit at the Great Wall before leaving China forever. The guard wanted to know Laotse's philosophy, so Laotse took a few hours to write down the Tao Te Ching. The guard then read the book and left with Laotse. Both were never seen again.
The exact dates of Laotse's birth and death are not known, but some authorities place his birth at around 600 B.C.E. He may have written under the name Li Erh because he was humble and self-effacing, not one to want his true identity known. Perhaps this person did have some thoughts which were included in the Tao Te Ching, but most scholars now think this book was a compilation which grew into its present shape.
There are also many differing translations of this text into English. Even in its original language, Chinese, the Tao Te Ching is paradoxical and difficult to understand. It is written in such a way as to make one unravel the meanings. And, in some cases, it says that the meaning cannot be put into words.
The "Tao" has been translated as the "Path" or "Way," but it could also mean "underlaying principle" or "God." Some people say it means "dharma," the teachings or duties as Hindus describe it. The first passage in the Tao Te Ching states the following:
| Quote: | The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding. |
This is very compatible with Buddhism and existentialism. It speaks of nothingness as if nothingness is a useful something. Check out the following passage:
| Quote: | We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use. |
This is almost like what Sartre said when he said nothingness is the hole that makes the doughnut possible.
The Tao Te Ching also talks about the Yin and Yang that westerners associate with Chinese philosophy. The Yin is the soft or feminine side that is always opposed to the hard or male side, the Yang. But there is a little Yin in the Yang and a little Yang in the Yin. Judo makes use of this by being strong in a "gentle way," using an opponent's force against him or her. Force has weakness, and suppleness has strength. If someone comes at me, I can move out of the way and pull or push my attacker in the same direction he or she wants to go, thus using my opponent's force to propel him or her off balance to fall and not be a danger to me. Water is very supple, but in encompasses that which is hard. So soft overcomes hard, and he who shows his power is without power. There is wisdom in this.
The Tao Te Ching also speaks of Ch'i, an energy that runs through things, but some people define it as "essence" or "life force." Some call it the "spirit." One tries to tap into this by using yoga, and the Judo practitioner tries to find it in focusing on a motion. The judo practitioner yells out a Kia, which focuses power. It should come at just the climax of the throw or maneuver to give one extra strength. When one tries to find one's center of balance, in a normal stance, it is just below one's navel. From here, we project out.
So, we can think of the Tao Te Ching as "the way and its power," keeping in mind that it really means so much more which words are not meant to describe.
bis bald,
Nick
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