Tao
Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching was is attributed to Lao Tzu, written in China roughly
2,500 years ago at about the same time when Buddha expounded the Dharma
in India and Pythagoras taught in Greece. The Tao Te Ching is probably
the most influential Chinese book of all times. Its 81 chapters have
been translated into English more times than any other Chinese document.
It is perhaps the most famous and influential of all Taoist texts
and provides the basis for the philosophical school of Taoism, which
is an important pillar of Chinese thought. Taoism teaches that there
is one undivided truth at the root of all things. It literally means:
-
tao (the way)
-
te (power)
-
ching (scripture)
The verses of the Tao
Te Ching are written in ancient Chinese, utilizing mainly aphorisms,
and is very different from English. Abstraction and logic are not distinguishing
marks of the ancient Chinese language. A word does not stand
for a single concrete idea, but it evokes associations of different
ideas and things. Quite a few Chinese words can be used as nouns, adjectives
and verbs at the same time. Thus sentences composed of various signs
have a sort of suggestive power, evoking emotions, ideas, and pictures.
It is almost impossible to translate an ancient Chinese text properly
in English without losing some part. Different rendering of the
Tao Te Ching may appear as completely different texts. In order to understand
the original text fully it is helpful to read various translations that
consummate each other.
Tao
On opening Taoism's bible, we sense at once that everything revolves
around the pivotal concept of Tao itself. The text is divided
into two parts. The first part concerns the Tao, while the second part
expounds upon Te. Literally Tao means "path" or "way."
There are three senses, however, in which this "way" can be
understood.
First, Tao is the way of ultimate reality. This Tao cannot be
perceived for it exceeds the reach of the senses. If it were to
reveal itself in all its sharpness, fullness, and glory, mortal man
would not be able to bear the vision. Not only does it exceed
the senses, however; it exceeds all thoughts and imaginings as well.
Hence words cannot describe nor define it. The Tao Te Ching opens
by stating this point categorically. "The Tao which can be conceived
is not the real Tao." Ineffable and transcendent, this ultimate
Tao is the ground of all existence. It is behind all and beneath
all, the womb from which all life springs and to which it again returns.
Overawed by the very thought of it, the author of the Tao Te Ching bursts
recurrently into hymns of praise, for he is face to face with life's
"basic mystery of all life."
"How clear and quiet it is! It must be something eternally
existing!"
"Of all great things, surely Tao is the greatest."
Tao in the first and basic sense can be known, but only through mystical
insight which cannot be translated into words - hence Taoism's teasing
epigram, "Those who know don't say, and those who say don't know."
The second sense is, Tao is the way of the universe. It is the
norm, the rhythm, the driving power in all nature, the ordering principle
behind all life. Behind, but likewise in the midst of, for when
Tao enters this second form it assumes flesh and informs all things.
It "adapts it vivid essense, clarifies its manifold fullness, subdues
its resplendent lustre, and assumes the likeness of dust."
Basically, spirit rather than matter it cannot be exhausted; the more
it is drawn upon the richer, the fountain will gush. It is "infinitely
generous." Giving as it does without stint to nature and
man, "it may be called the Mother of the World."
In its third sense, Tao refers to the way man should order his life
to gear in with the way the universe operates. In Taoism, the symbol
Yin and Yang represents this balance and gives one a picture of
this order. of opposites in the universe. When the balance of yin
and yang are equally present, all is calm. One cannot exist without
the other, and they are considered to be complimentary aspects of the
Tao that create natural order in the world.
Te
Te is another complicated word to translate but probably can best be
thought of as "power" or "potential." Te literally
means 'virtue'. Coincidentally, like the English word 'virtue', Te can
be understood as both moral excellence, as well as effective power.
More specifically, in the Tao Te Ching, the energy that is Te can be
cultivated by a person through living harmoniously with the Tao. Together,
Tao Te Ching becomes "Classic of the Way of Power."
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