Experiencing enlightenment

The Tao Te Ching , roughly translated as The Book of the Way and its Virtue is an ancient Chinese scripture. Tradition has it that the book was written around 600 BC by a sage called Laozi (WG: Lao Tzu, "Old Master"), a record-keeper in the Emperor's Court of the Zhou Dynasty.

This short work is one of the most important in Chinese philosophy and religion, especially in Taoism, but also in Buddhism. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers and even gardeners have used the book as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside the Far East, aided by many different translations of the text into western languages.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is the Way?

The Way is like a well: used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.
The Way doesn't take sides; it gives birth to both good and evil.
The follower of the Way doesn't take sides; but welcomes both saints and sinners.
The Way is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Hold on to the center.
The Way is called the Great Womb: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds.
It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.
The Way 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 Way stays behind; that is why it is ahead.
It is detached from all things; that is why it is one with them.
Because it has let go of itself, it is perfectly fulfilled.

Understanding the Way

The way that can be told is not the eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of all common things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the effects of the mystery.
Yet mystery and the effects of mystery arise from the same source. This source is called silence.
Silence within silence is the gateway to all understanding.

Spiritual Awareness

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good, other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the follower of the Way acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and the follower of the Way lets them come; things disappear and the follower of the Way lets them go.
The follower of the Way has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.
When the follower of the Way's work is done, the follower of the Way forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

Practicing the Way

If you overesteem great men, people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.
The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know.
Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place.

Tao Te Ching - Part 2


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