Daily Tao

[Wu Wei]

May 20, 2024 in Beijing

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Sunday, 19 May, 2024 | 71​

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.

The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Thursday, 23 May, 2024 | 75​

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Friday, 24 May, 2024 | 76​

Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Thursday, 27 June, 2024 | 29​

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
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 center of the circle.

 

[Wu Wei]

No reason other that I like it

From the Tao of Pooh

 

[Wu Wei]

Saturday, June 29, 2024


52
The world had a beginning which we call the Great Mother.
Once we have found the Mother,
we begin to know what Her children should be.

When we know we are the Mother’s child,
we begin to guard the qualities of the Mother in us.
She will protect us from all danger even if we lose our life.

Keep your mouth closed and embrace a simple life,
and you will live care-free until the end of your days.
If you try to talk your way into a better life,
there will be no end to your trouble.

To understand the small is called clarity.
Knowing how to yield is called strength.
To use your inner light for understanding, regardless of danger,
is called depending on the Constant.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Tuesday, 16 July, 2024 | 48​

In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
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 can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can't be gained by interfering.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Saturday, 20 July, 2024 | 52​

In the beginning was the Tao.
All things issue from it;
all things return to it.

To find the origin,
trace back the manifestations.
When you recognize the children
and find the mother,
you will be free of sorrow.

If you close your mind in judgments
and traffic with desires,
your heart will be troubled.
If you keep your mind from judging
and aren't led by the senses,
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 practicing eternity

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Thursday, 1 August, 2024 | 64​

What is rooted is easy to nourish.
What is recent is easy to correct.
What is brittle is easy to break.
What is small is easy to scatter.

Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
The giant pine tree
grows from a tiny sprout.
The journey of a thousand miles
starts from beneath your feet.

Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.

Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm
at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Tuesday, 20 August, 2024 | 2​

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 Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

 

[PureX]

This one is a big favorite of mine. Though to claim a favorite is a bit weird, I know.

It's just that I find it so clear, and so true.

Clarity and honesty are two beautiful sisters that, when they show up together, one must behold with awe.

 

[Wu Wei]

Not from Daily Tao, but I came across this today

Chapter Two

As soon as beauty is known by the world as beautiful, it becomes ugly. As soon as virtue is being known as something good, it becomes evil. Therefore being and non-being give birth to each other. Difficult and easy accomplish each other. Long and short form each other. High and low distinguish each other. Sound and tone harmonize each other Before and after follow each other as a sequence. Realizing this, the saint performs effortlessly according to the natural Way without personal desire, and practices the wordless teaching thru one’s deeds. The saint inspires the vitality of all lives, without holding back. He nurtures all beings with no wish to take possession of. He devotes all his energy but has no intention to hold on to the merit. When success is achieved, he seeks no recognition. Because he does not claim for the credit, hence shall not lose it.

Tao Te Ching

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Wednesday, 30 October, 2024 | 73​

The Tao is always at ease.
It overcomes without competing,
answers without speaking a word,
arrives without being summoned,
accomplishes without a plan.

Its net covers the whole universe.
And though its meshes are wide,
it doesn't let a thing slip through.

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Monday, 11 November, 2024 | 4​

The Tao 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.


However I like this version better

4
The Way is empty, yet inexhaustible,
Like an abyss!
It seems to be the origin of all things.
It dulls the sharpness,
Unties the knots,
Dims the light,
Becomes one with the dust.

Deeply hidden, as if it only might exist.
I do not know whose child it is.
It seems to precede the ancestor of all.

 

[dybmh]

However I like this version better

From ctext ( The Chinese Text Project )

​

Dao De Jing 4:​

(The fountainless)​

​

道沖而用之或不盈。淵兮似萬物之宗。挫其銳，解其紛，和其光，同其塵。湛兮似或存。吾不知誰之子，象帝之先。​

​

The Dao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fullness. How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things! We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Dao is, as if it would ever so continue! I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.​

​

James Legge Translation​

​

I like the vessel imagery and the word choice: "bringing ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others". That's a lovely, dark, paradox.

 

[Wu Wei]

From ctext ( The Chinese Text Project )

​

Dao De Jing 4:​

(The fountainless)​

​

道沖而用之或不盈。淵兮似萬物之宗。挫其銳，解其紛，和其光，同其塵。湛兮似或存。吾不知誰之子，象帝之先。​

​

The Dao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fullness. How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things! We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Dao is, as if it would ever so continue! I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.​

​

I like the vessel imagery and the word choice: "bringing ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others". That's a lovely, dark, paradox.

I have a translation I picked up in Beijing several years ago, If I can find it, I will post it

 

[Wu Wei]

DailyTao.org
The Book of The Way, Day by Day

Tuesday, 12 November, 2024 | 5​

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the center.