Legend says that Lao Tzu was keeper of the archives in the Chinese court. Weary of the decay he witnessed, he departed westward on a water buffalo. At the mountain pass, the guardian asked him to leave behind his wisdom. He wrote eighty-one verses and vanished into the wilderness. Whether the story is true matters less than the words he left.
The Tao Te Ching — "The Book of the Way and Its Power" — is perhaps the most translated book after the Bible. Its teachings seem simple. Their depths are inexhaustible.
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Free from desire, you see the mystery.
Full of desire, you see only the manifestations."
The first teaching: reality cannot be captured in words. Language is useful but limited. The ultimate truth must be experienced directly, not merely discussed. "Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know."
The second teaching: the value of emptiness. A cup is useful because of its emptiness. A room is useful because of its space. A wheel turns because of the hole at its center. The most powerful part of anything is what seems to be missing.
"The highest good is like water.
Water benefits all things
And does not compete with them.
It dwells in lowly places that all disdain.
This is why it is so near the Tao.
In dwelling, be close to the ground.
In thinking, be simple.
In conflict, be fair.
In governing, do not control.
In action, watch the timing."
The third teaching: wu wei — non-action or effortless action. This does not mean doing nothing but acting in harmony with the natural flow of things. The sage accomplishes everything without forcing. Water does not try to be powerful, yet it wears away stone.
"The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results."
Teaching 45
The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao. Emptiness is the source of usefulness. Be like water: benefiting all, competing with none, dwelling in lowly places. Act without forcing; accomplish without doing. The soft overcomes the hard.