Confucius and Lao-tsu are reported to have been contemporaries. Both are legendary figures in the cultural/moral ethos for many generations living in China. Both figures are larger than life. In this passage one overhears a conversation between the two. Confucius, author of the legal-ethico composite for China asks Lao-tsu to say more, speak more…
I am confounded, at impasse to understand how the tao can be maintained in view in a 21st century context of technology. Our species has been designated “homo faber” man-the-maker on account of the application of reason for tool making. Untold generations lived upon the earth between “discovery” of methods for making fire, and…
To understand what originates and sustains all is the highest beauty and the highest happiness. One who knows this highest beauty and happiness is the complete man/woman. Confucius said, “I would like to hear how this is achieved.” Lao-tsu replied, “Grass-eating animals do not object to changing their pastures; creatures born in the water…
the luck of the draw after decades and decades of poverty as I now approach the lip of the grave, suddenly I have a home, a new car, a spa, a swimming pool, a computer. will this destroy me? well, something is bound to destroy me soon enough. the boys in jails, the slaughterhouses,…
Yan Hui asked, “What do you mean when you saythat there is no beginning without ending?” Confucius said, “All thingsare undergoing a continuous changebut we do not know who sustains the processof transformation. How do we know the ending?How do we know the beginning? What we can do is simply to follow the natural…
The following is an exchange between Confucius and Grand Duke Ren, a friend and a follower of the tao. Ren said, “Allow me to relate to you the way of avoiding death. In the Eastern Sea there are birds called Yidai. They fly low and slowly as if they lacked strength. They fly near…
Zhuangzi laughed and said,“If I were to say that I would prefer to be in the intermediate position between being useful and being useless,That might seem to be in the right position.But it is not,for we will not be able to avoid difficulties. One who follows the tao is free of difficulties.He is above…
Zhuangzi was walking on a mountain when he saw a great tree with enormous branches and abundant foliage. A woodcutter was standing beside the tree without touching it. When asked why he did not, he replied, “It is useless.” Zhuangzi then said, “This tree will live out its natural term of life because it…
“Do to others, as you’d desire others doing to you”, my down and dirty paraphrase of the ‘golden rule’. Jesus said it… ergo for many there’s no greater authority. “All we need is love, love, love…” is another variation of the idea. So wrote Paul Mccartney and John Lennon. Come on people now Smile…
Today is the 2nd day of February, Groundhog day. The sky is gray as if a canvas were stretched horizon to horizon. Groundhog day is a wistful anticipation of an early end of winter’s cold. According to the German legend, the groundhog emerges from its borrow and has a look around. If the animal…
