Your peace of mind
is disturbed by the pursuit or avoidance
of things, but these things don’t force themselves on you;
in a sense, you force yourself on them. At any rate, if your faculty
of judgment doesn’t trouble itself with them, they too
will remain inert, and evidently you’ll
be neither pursuing nor
avoiding them.
Everyone
under heaven says that
my Tao is great, but inconceivable.
It is its very greatness that makes it inconceivable!
If it could be conceived of, how small
it would be!
I have three
treasures to hold and protect:
The first is motherly love. The second
is economy. The third is daring
not to be first in the
world.
With motherly
love one can be courageous.
With economy one can be expansive.
With humility one
can lead.
To be
courageous without motherly love,
To be expansive without practicing economy,
To go to the front without humility —
this is courting death.
Venture with
love and you win the
battle. Defend with love and you are
invulnerable. Heaven’s secret is
motherly love.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
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Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
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When a
wise person hears Tao,
he practices it diligently. When an
average person hears Tao, he practices it
sometimes, and just as often ignores it.
When an inferior person hears Tao,
he roars with laughter.
If he didn’t laugh,
it wouldn’t be
Tao.
Thus
the age old sayings:
The way to illumination appears dark.
The way that advances appears to retreat.
The way that is easy appears to be hard.
The highest virtue appears empty.
The purest goodness appears soiled.
The most profound creativity appears fallow.
The strongest power appears weak.
The most genuine seems unreal.
The greatest space has no corners.
The largest talent matures slowly.
The highest voice can’t be heard.
The most luminous image
can’t be seen.
Tao is hidden
and has no name.
Tao alone nourishes
and fulfills all
things.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, Wei wu Wei Ching,
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
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book.
The
origin and mother
of everything in the world is Tao.
Know the mother and you can know
the children. Having known the children,
return to their source and hold on to her.
Abiding by the mother, you are free
from danger, even when
your body
dies.
Don’t live
for your senses.
Close your mouth, close
all the body’s openings, reside
in the original unity. In this
way you can pass your
life in peace and
contentment.
Open
your mouth,
increase your activities,
start making distinctions between
things, and you’ll toil
forever without
hope.
See the subtle and be illuminated.
Abide in gentleness and be strong.
Use your light and return to insight.
Don’t
expose yourself
to trouble. This is
following
Tao.
from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
The place
that Solomon made
to worship in, called the Far Mosque,
is not built of earth and water and stone,
but of intention and wisdom and
mystical conversation and
compassionate
action.
Every
part of it is intelligent
and responsive to every other.
The carpet bows to the broom. The door
knocker and the door swing together
like musicians. This heart sanctuary
does exist, though it cannot
be described.
Solomon
goes there every morning
and gives guidance with words,
with musical harmonies, and in actions,
which are the deepest teaching. A prince
is just a conceit, until he does
something with his
generosity.