Tao Te Ching: intro and verse one

The Tao Te Ching is the central text of the Taoist school of thought. It is a collection of 81 short verses that seeks to describe the nature of ultimate reality or "Tao". The title is roughly translated as "The Virtue (Te) and Power (Ching) of the Way (Tao). It's verses are enigmatic and mysterious, seeming to exist just beyond the level of our understanding. Reading the Tao Te Ching can be both maddeningly frustrating and absolutely sublime - often at the same time. It is relatively short: you could read it all in less than an hour. And yet it can never ultimately be read in it's entirety because every time you read it, it has something new to say.

The Tao Te Ching is not so much a philosophical treatise as it is an open invitation to experience life more deeply - to find Tao in ourselves, to realize that Tao is in everything and IS everything.

The Tao Te Ching was written by the Sage Lao Tsu (lit. "Old Master") in China around 2500 years ago . The philosopher Karl Jaspers dubbed this era in humsn history "the Axial Age" to denote the massive revolution in human consciousness that occured around this time everywhere on Earth. In China there was Lao Tsu and Confucius. in India the Buddha broke the cycle of life and death, gaining enlightenment while Hindu philosophers started talking about an ultimate reality called Brahma, developing an extensive array of esoteric practices known as yoga to unify the self with this ultimate reality. In Israel the prophets railed against the inequalities and debauchery of their kings and elders while in Greece, philosophical rationalism and humanism were born. While the approach was different in these various places, the underlying principle was the same: There is an ultimate reality that can be understood and experienced by all without the need for kings or priests to spoon feed it to us. I think we are experiencing in our own time a second and even more pivotal Axial Age, but that is a topic for another post.

The legend is that Lao Tsu was the keeper of the imperial archives at the ancient Chinese capital of Loyang. His great wisdom attracted many followers but Lao Tsu refused to set his teachings down in writing, fearing they would solidify into hollow dogma. In his life and teachings he stressed simplicity as the key to truth and freedom and believed that a person should be guided solely by intuition and conscience. Seeing the imminent decay of the society he lived in, he resolved to ride away alone into the desert. But at a mountain pass he was stopped by a gatekeeper named Yin Hsi, who knew of his reputation for wisdom and who begged him to set down in writing the essence of his teaching. Lao Tsu consented, writing the 81 verses out of a deep compassion for all humanity, before resuming his journey, disappearing forever into the desert. Thus the Tao Te Ching was born.

The Tao Te Ching never fails to resonate deeply in the core of my being. If I had to have one desert island book, this would be it. I thought it would be great to do regular postings on the Tao Te Ching, going through the verses and maybe writing a short commentary on them. If any of the verses resonates with you, please leave your comments as I always love to hear echos back - Hey I started this Blog to generate dialogue not just to have a soapbox to stand on so your comments are very much welcome

For the text I'll be using the excellent 1972 translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. In the future I may also use some of my own translations as I want to start learning the basic Chinese characters so I can make my own translations of the text.

Tao Te Ching

Verse One

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.*
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

* i.e. : the phenomenal world

Commentary: I love how Lao Tsu qualifies his teachings right away in the first verse: "I really can't tell you what it's all about because the Tao is ultimate and eternal, and words are finite, so this whole thing isn't "it" - it's just a sign post man. YOU have to figure it out, YOU need to encounter it by yourself in your own way because I can only lead you into the darkness, up to the gate man. And that's all I'm promising to do. Don't think that you can just flip through my book and have me figure it all out for you. It doesn't work that way. And anyone who promises to do that for you is bullshitting you man. Listen, if you want easy answers, go watch Dr. Phil because I'm telling you right now that I not giving you that. I'm inviting you down into the rabbit hole, into the darkness, up to the gate of all mystery dude. What you do from there is up to you. If you're cool with that then read on and let's see just how far down the rabbit hole goes".

Ah Lao Tsu, You magnificent bastard! Thanks for giving it to me straight at the beginning. I think I'm ready to fall into the abyss, to slip quietly through the gate to the other side. . .

Stay tuned for verse two