Sifu gave a beautiful explanation regarding the first verse of the Tao Te King. It can be found here.
Below is the quote.
Thanks for reading.
Answer 1
Lao Tzu was one of the greatest philosopher of China, or of the world. He was the First Patriarch of Taoism. Yes, it is wise tor read up on Lao Tzu. You can get a lot of material on him from the Internet if you make a search in search engines.
Lao Tzu's most important and most representative work is "Tao Te Ching", which means "The Way of Virtues". This classic sums up the basic teachings of Lao Tzu, and is very concise. Because it is both profound and arcane, which are characteristics of Taoist writings, this classic can be interpreted in many ways, and each way can be vastly different from another.
The "Tao Te Ching" has been widely translated into English and other languages. You should be able to find the book in its many translations and versions in book shops. However, most writers merely translate the book without giving any explanation, with the result that most readers do not actually know what Lao Tzu's teaching is about. I hope that in future I may write a book explaining and interpreting the "Tao Te Ching".
The most famous line in "Tao Te Ching" is its first line:
The Tao that can be named the Tao is not the Tao
My interpretation is that Cosmic Reality, called the Tao, is undifferentiated, i.e. it is a continuous spread of universal energy or consciousness. But ordinarily we do not see Cosmic Reality as undifferentiated, we see a minute part of it as our phonemeanl world. For example, we may see a moutain and animals and trees on the mountain. We see the animals, trees, the mountain and we ourselves as separate entitites. These animals, trees, the mountain, ourselves and all other countless entities in the world are phenomena, meaning appearances. They are not absolutely real. Other beings, like bacteria or gods, will see them differently.
In absolute reality, called the Tao, there are no entities. There is only one continuous spread of energy or consciousness. Modern science may help us to understand this great truth better. The mountain, trees, animals, ourselves and all other entities are made of atoms. All these atoms are made of sub-atomic particles. But sub-atomic particles actually have no boundaries. They are just concentrations of energy conceptualized as sub-atomic particles. In other words, there is no demarcation line separating one sub-atomic particle from another. This also means that there is no demarcation line separating any one entity, like an animal, from another.
An imperfect but useful analogy is an ocean with countless waves. We see the waves as separate entities, one wave differentiated from another wave. But these are only phoenomena or appearances. Actually there are no separate waves, they are all one continuous ocean.
But when we give a name to an individual wave or any particular entity like a tree or an animal, we differentiate that entity from other entitites. When we give a name to Tao or Cosmic Reality in its transcendental aspect, we isolate ourselves from Tao, thus starting the process of transformation into the phenomenal world.
The word "Tao" in Chinese ordinarily means the "way". But in this context it means "Cosmic Reality". In other cultures and languages, it may be translated as "God the Holy Spirit", "the Spiritual Body of the Boddha", "Tatagatha", "Brahman", "Allah", "the Supreme Being", "the undifferentiated spread of energy" or "Home".
.
Below is the quote.
Thanks for reading.
Originally posted by Sifu
Answer 1
Lao Tzu was one of the greatest philosopher of China, or of the world. He was the First Patriarch of Taoism. Yes, it is wise tor read up on Lao Tzu. You can get a lot of material on him from the Internet if you make a search in search engines.
Lao Tzu's most important and most representative work is "Tao Te Ching", which means "The Way of Virtues". This classic sums up the basic teachings of Lao Tzu, and is very concise. Because it is both profound and arcane, which are characteristics of Taoist writings, this classic can be interpreted in many ways, and each way can be vastly different from another.
The "Tao Te Ching" has been widely translated into English and other languages. You should be able to find the book in its many translations and versions in book shops. However, most writers merely translate the book without giving any explanation, with the result that most readers do not actually know what Lao Tzu's teaching is about. I hope that in future I may write a book explaining and interpreting the "Tao Te Ching".
The most famous line in "Tao Te Ching" is its first line:
The Tao that can be named the Tao is not the Tao
My interpretation is that Cosmic Reality, called the Tao, is undifferentiated, i.e. it is a continuous spread of universal energy or consciousness. But ordinarily we do not see Cosmic Reality as undifferentiated, we see a minute part of it as our phonemeanl world. For example, we may see a moutain and animals and trees on the mountain. We see the animals, trees, the mountain and we ourselves as separate entitites. These animals, trees, the mountain, ourselves and all other countless entities in the world are phenomena, meaning appearances. They are not absolutely real. Other beings, like bacteria or gods, will see them differently.
In absolute reality, called the Tao, there are no entities. There is only one continuous spread of energy or consciousness. Modern science may help us to understand this great truth better. The mountain, trees, animals, ourselves and all other entities are made of atoms. All these atoms are made of sub-atomic particles. But sub-atomic particles actually have no boundaries. They are just concentrations of energy conceptualized as sub-atomic particles. In other words, there is no demarcation line separating one sub-atomic particle from another. This also means that there is no demarcation line separating any one entity, like an animal, from another.
An imperfect but useful analogy is an ocean with countless waves. We see the waves as separate entities, one wave differentiated from another wave. But these are only phoenomena or appearances. Actually there are no separate waves, they are all one continuous ocean.
But when we give a name to an individual wave or any particular entity like a tree or an animal, we differentiate that entity from other entitites. When we give a name to Tao or Cosmic Reality in its transcendental aspect, we isolate ourselves from Tao, thus starting the process of transformation into the phenomenal world.
The word "Tao" in Chinese ordinarily means the "way". But in this context it means "Cosmic Reality". In other cultures and languages, it may be translated as "God the Holy Spirit", "the Spiritual Body of the Boddha", "Tatagatha", "Brahman", "Allah", "the Supreme Being", "the undifferentiated spread of energy" or "Home".
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