taoism, taoist thought, buddha, yoga, tai chi, shakuhachi
I regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 25′
Share on Facebook
Who says chickens are stupid? Stupid people I expect. While this research, Pigeons rival primates in number task, reported in Science News isn’t about chickens per se, it probably would apply to chickens. I mean how much smarter is a pigeon going to be than a chicken?
However, more importantly is how scant the difference really is between ‘higher’ intelligence and ‘lower’ intelligence. Our perception of difference is likely a symptom of our need to feel at the top of nature’s pecking order(1) . Continue reading ‘Who says chickens are stupid?’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 24′
Share on Facebook
It is striking how we humans relentlessly search for truth, and when we think we have it, how tenacious we hang on to our version of it. Politics and religion has always been fertile fields for this obsession. Not surprisingly, these two are two sides of one ‘tribal coin’. Indeed, not long ago, they were one and the same: the Emperors, Kings, Pharaohs… they all held the head role in a culture’s politics cum religion.
Are things so different in this current era of democracy? Scratch the surface and you will see the same tribal instinct driving people, some fervent on the political branch, others fervent on the religious branch—two branches of the same ‘tribal tree’. Politics and religion are both social hot spots when it comes to truth vs. instinct. Continue reading ‘Seeking Out Untruth’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 23′
Share on Facebook
Knowing, in the Taoist sense of the word, is not knowledge per se. As chapter 15 puts it, Of old, the adept student was minutely subtle, open and deep beyond knowledge. Times are different now.
Our modern electrified pace of life is continuously updating every facet of human knowledge. However, this is not so with knowing, which makes for an even starker contrast today. Continue reading ‘Earn It to Learn It’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 22′
Share on Facebook
The onion is an excellent metaphor for life’s reality. Each of us peel away layer after layer as our daily experiences steadily turn into a lifetime. With each decade, we see a little deeper (and become a little more humble in the process).
With one eye on the past, I always kept my other eye out for any hints about humanity’s possible future (1). I just peeled away what looks like another layer.
First a Review
Human suffering and confusion is a result of the cognitive projection of desires (need + thought) and worries (fear + thought)—no surprise there. Continue reading ‘Counterbalancing I.Q.’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 21′
Share on Facebook
Chinese characters occasionally say a lot symbolically in the arrangement of their parts. These ‘parts’ are just simpler characters composed of fewer strokes (lines). These simpler characters are put together to form the thousands of characters in the Chinese language.
The meaning of the component parts of words (or characters) can be very revealing. For example, decades ago, I wondered what the word religion actually meant, and so looked it up in the dictionary. Continue reading ‘Mind Run Away Mind’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 20′
Share on Facebook
Half asleep, I heard an East Indian on my clock radio say, “Everyone suffers, the poor suffer without comfort, the right suffer with comfort“.
I thought that would be a good kick-off for a post so I tried to find that on NPR’s Morning Edition online achieve, but alas, nothing.
Did I dream this, with the Indian accent and all? It could be. Anyway, dreams are just another side of reality, so on with my story… Continue reading ‘“The rich suffer in comfort”’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 19′
Share on Facebook
Predator and Prey
Moral values originate from an arbitrary line we draw between what is acceptable and what is not. I expect any moralist worthy of the name would find this an immoral view.
However, historical experience shows the moral line moves profoundly over time and geography. Morality draws its line somewhere along the food chain of user and the used, and with which side the moralist identifies.
Vietnamese eat dogs; Swedes eat horse; both practices are probably illegal in America. Abortion and the death penalty, in particular, exemplify morality’s moving red line. Chapter 2 speaks to the arbitrary, co-generating quality of morality’s good vs. evil… Continue reading ‘Self-Predation’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 18′
Share on Facebook
When do we give ‘life’ our all? Normally, we only give that 100% when other people are watching and evaluating our performance. Indeed, this is one key function of teachers and coaches; they watch and evaluate us.
Our habit of ‘living for others’ (1) is integral to our social nature, but our ‘true’ character only reveals itself when no one is watching us. What is the quality of your effort and action when no one is watching? Continue reading ‘Finding Your Original Self’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 17′
Share on Facebook
Have you noticed how there is something always ‘wrong’. No matter how good things are, something will soon go awry. All this is obvious, I suppose. That is what makes the News, news.
What is less obvious is how the perception and experience of good fortune and misfortune are complimentary, as chapter 58 puts it, Misfortune, yet of good fortune its resting place… and so on.
Understanding this connection helps take the edge off misfortune for me. However, this complimentary, ‘yin—yang’ view can be too abstract to fully satisfy at times. Something more concrete and empirical helps too… Continue reading ‘Feeding the Worry Gene’
Share on FacebookI regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Continue reading ‘Chapter: 16′
Share on Facebook
In a recent post, Good Enough Is, I said, “Obviously, we have a deep need for something to hold in mind: some goal to reach for—something to hunger for and feed our mind space. (I really see this as an emergent property of the basic hunter-gather instinct that drives life to live.)
The need for something to hold in mind confers a special problem for humans. Without a doubt, we hold most firmly to that which we think we know. Trusting what we think plays the major role here. The more we trust what we think, the more we’ll hold on. Alas, as chapter 71 points out, our thinking we know causes our dis-ease. This feels like a true conundrum. How can we resolve it? Continue reading ‘Hold the Knowable’
Share on Facebook
Recent Comments by Post