h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

{From the Tao Te Ching as translated by Brian Browne Walker}
{Entry #42}

Nonbeing gives birth to the oneness.
The oneness gives birth to yin and yang.
Yin and yang give birth to heaven, earth,
and beings.
Heaven, earth, and beings give birth
to everything in existence.

Therefore everything in existence carries
within it both yin and yang, and attains
its harmony by blending together
these two vital breaths.

Ordinary people hate nothing more than to be
powerless, small, and unworthy.
Yet this is how superior people
describe themselves.
Gain is loss.
Loss is gain.

I repeat what others have said:
The strong and violent don't die natural deaths.
This is the very essence of my teaching.

-Lao Tzu

[Just a little something I fell asleep thinking
about last night. =)D: ]
 
 
 

Have you read, "The tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet?" It probably demostrates the concepts of taoism better than actually pondering it yourself. In any case, it's a direction to take. Remember, whatever direction you take is one more step to whatever the outcome will be.

While the "Tao of Pooh" and the "Te of Piglet" are wonderful books,
there is a certain amount of self-exploration one must do to truly
understand the precepts of Taoism. And while I would never claim to
have reached enlightenment on the subject or to have even the
faintest idea what Lao Tzu is talking about in any real kind of
manner, I do like to read the Tao Te Ching over and over again...
perhaps I am absorbing the wisdom of the ancients through osmosis.

Perhaps I am a blithering fool. =)D:

"The Dao that can be named is not the eternal Dao", says the Tao Te Ching. Language can only be used as a pointer to the truth; it is not the truth itself. One of the most fundamental building blocks of Daoism is its reliance on inner searching /as opposed/ to finding the truth outside of yourself. "The Tao of Pooh" is great for pointing you in the right direction, but ultimately the truth can only be found in yourself.

Here's an analogy I read in "The Tao Speaks" by Tsai Chih Chung: If someone asks to see the moon, you would probably point at it with your finger; the moon, though, is not the same thing as your finger, nor must you point at the moon to be able to see it. Such is the Dao.