CenterTao.org – Page 11 – taoism, taoist thought, buddha, yoga, tai chi, shakuhachi

Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Is there any true difference between a generalist “jack of all trades” and a master? After all, isn’t a “jack of all trades” simply a master generalist? I’ve been doing several activities for many years: yoga (~55 years), tai chi (~45 years), shakuhachi sui Zen (~40 years), gardening (~35 years) and, I have various other […]

We only understand what we know

Chapter 56’s, One who speaks does not know has intrigued me for a long time. I came across this D.C. Lao translation in Vietnam in the early 60’s. I’ve referred to it often over the decades in various ways, and it launches the overview of CenterTao.org. (See What are the roots of thought?, p.602.) Please […]

Chapter 56

Picking up where “Chapter of the Week” left off, I plan to start posting chapters from my Word for Word translation here regularly. I encourage you to contribute—corrections, questions, comments, or even rewording the chapter. If anything comes to mind, please post it in the Leave a Reply box (below). With your help, a much […]

Two Paths

There are two main approaches to life. The most common one is striving to conform to your culture’s ideals of how to live. This typically amounts to expecting yourself and others to conform to your culture’s code of ethics… religious, political, and what not. I call this approach ‘small conformity’. Chapter 65 hints at the […]

The Trans Tribal Tao

Much in the Taoist worldview marches to the beat of a different drummer. So much so that if one has to ask “How so?”, one may not be genuinely ready to know how so. Anyway… Marching to the beat of a different drummer often boils down to feeling, acting and/or thinking outside-the-box, which can at […]

Resistance is Futile

This Science News article, Fighting willpower’s catch-22, (google the title) reports on how resisting desires makes following desires more tempting. I certainly have experienced this to be true, although it took me decades to recognize this and begin to manage it. Like maintaining balance, applying this always requires continuous re-realization. Why did it take so […]

A Brother is a Brother

I love how science is chipping away at our species-centric sense of superiority. This time it is a Science News report He’s no rat, he’s my brother. (Google [Rodents exhibit empathy by setting trapped friends free].) This bit of research speaks for itself. Of course, I can’t leave without reiterating my wonder at the peculiar […]

Really, Have We No Clue?

As a child, I marveled at how everything seemed to work so well. The infrastructure and logistics to run society blew my mind, although I didn’t know that was the word for it. How the authorities dealt with all the sewage and garbage my hometown produced baffled me. I am still in awe that civilization […]

Why?

Some say “love” is their favorite word. Others say “God” is. I’ve also had favorite words over the years, but “why” beats them all. So I ask myself, why continue posting these observations? It’s certainly not for money or fame. I actually prefer anonymity. In fact, years ago when my yoga students showed hints of […]

Gone Fishin’, Back Soon

The fish are still biting and I’m reeling them in, I’m just not posting them. Posting my fishy observations requires so much cleaning up to make them suitable for consumption. Finishing the last chapter of my translation of the Tao Te Ching — Tao Te Ching, Word for Word — was the catalyst I needed […]

Check One Off the Bucket List

(First Pass: “Chapter of the Week” 2011) This is chapter 81, the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching. My journey on this Taoist path began almost 50 years ago in Vietnam, as did my learning to read and write Chinese. Over the years, I have translated parts of chapters that puzzled me. This revealed […]

Opiate of the Masses

Karl Marx said religion was the opiate of the masses. Nonsense I say. The true opiate of the masses is prosperity, not religion. The United States has experienced decades of unprecedented prosperity. Indeed, most people have lived their whole lives accustomed to what is actually a historically rare era of unusual affluence. Now, the 2008 […]