Tao Te Ching: Lao Tzu's Timeless Classic for Today

By David Tuffley

The Tao Te Ching was written 2,500 years ago, making it perhaps the oldest book still in print. Its longevity is due to the power and simplicity of its message. Come to know more of its simple power and allow that to transform your life.

The Tao Te Ching has always had the power to transform the reader, but the reader must first be able to understand the underlying message. Phrased, as it was, by its ancient Chinese author, the language and imagery were products of that far off time and place. Not easy for people in the modern world to understand. This edition presents this timeless message in plain English for all to understand.

The Tao Te Ching shows you how to create harmony in your life by finding the Middle Path. It describes a force called the Tao that operates uniformly throughout the universe and is the causal agent of everything that happens. It explains how you can develop personal power through being in harmony with the Tao.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Altiora Publications
• Release date: Sep 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452318431

David Tuffley

David Tuffley (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & Socio-Technical Studies at Griffith University in Australia.David writes on a broad range of interests; from Comparative Religion, Anthropology, Psychology, Ancient and Modern History, Linguistics, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Architectural History, Environments and Ecosystems.

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Tao Te Ching:

Lao Tzu’s Timeless Classic for Today

David Tuffley

Published by David Tuffley at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 David Tuffley

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Table of Contents

The essence of Taoism

The Tao Te Ching

Knowing the Tao

Using the Tao to become more conscious

Using the Tao to cultivate oneself

Using the Tao to lead others

Using the Tao to influence group dynamics

Using the Tao to refrain from action

A.The Essence of Taoism

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Zen is a blending of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism with its deep reverence for Nature with Mahayana Buddhism.

To appreciate Zen, you must know something of Taoist philosophy. In working towards Satori, you need to bring your life into a harmonious relationship with the world, with Nature. Taoist philosophy is about how to do this.

A central idea in Taoism is avoiding extremes and always seeking the middle path on our journey through life. The objective is to negotiate the middle ground between opposites or extremes so effectively that no act is followed by a reaction. The net effect is one of neutrality. Finding the middle path means not needing to suffer the consequences of an act. In terms of the doctrine of Karma, it means knowing how to avoid bad reactions, or bad karma.

The practice of Zen means learning to live in this way so that we do not swing like a pendulum from one drama to the next, creating disturbances in our lives that get in the way of calm inner reflection. It is finding the Middle Path. The Taoist element of Zen encourages us to sense the world around us directly and to contemplate our impressions deeply. It advises against relying on the structures and belief systems that have been created by others and put forward as orthodox truth. Such ideologies remove us from a direct experience of life and effectively cut us off from our Intuition. As discussed in an earlier chapter, the seeker after Satori should cultivate their Intuition since this is the only way that a person can truly know the world, and that is from an experiential rather than intellectual position.

The Middle Path requires you to develop an awareness of the physical forces that shape our world and direct its events. Such forces operate uniformly at all levels, from the macrocosm to the microcosm. They operate in the universe as a whole and in the minds and lives of individual people. An understanding of these natural laws and the forces they direct gives a person the power to direct events in the world without resorting to force, by using attitude instead of action. Influence on others is achieved through guiding rather than ruling. The objective is always to avoid taking action that will elicit counter-reactions. In Nature, an excessive force in a particular direction tends to trigger the growth of an opposing force, and therefore the use of force cannot be the basis for establishing an enduring social condition.

The Zen practitioner comes to understand that everything in the universe is in a state of flux, and that the emotional and intellectual structures that we like to build