道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。
名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。
無 名 天 地 之 始 ﹔ 有 名 萬 物 之 母
故 常 無 欲 以 觀 其 妙 ﹔
常 有 欲 以 觀 其 徼 。
此 兩 者 ， 同 出 而 異 名 ， 同 謂 之 玄 。
玄 之 又 玄 ， 眾 妙 之 門 。
玄 之 又 玄 ， 眾 妙 之 門 。
Although I am a Chinese descent, and was brought up in Chinese culture, I swear we did not learn much about Tao Te Ching in school. My friend, Helen, and her hubsband, Michael, were talking about it and we went together to Dr. Wayne Dyer's speech a couple weeks ago that Dr. Dyer talked about Tao Te Ching and his book " Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life". Some of his messages sounded interesting, that's the reason I decided to learn more about it. Of course, first thing I did was purchasing Dr. Dyer's book "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life". However, I only used it as the introduction to each verse and I read some Tao Te Ching commentaries on line and come to my own understanding.
The way of life that can be spoken of is not the constant way.
(Because in life, nothing stays constant)
The name that can be named is not the constant name.
The nameless was the beginning of universe.
The named was the mother of all things.
Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe the beauty of life.
(Desireless, to understand life.)
But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe the happenings in life.
(Desiring, to enjoy life)
These two are the same
(Both named & nameless are life, are the same)
They are diverged in name, however, came from the same source.
Being the same, they are called mysterious.
(Not only nameless is mysterious, but also the named is not completely understood.)
Mystery upon mystery
(There are a lot of things in the universe we stil don't understand. However, understand the more you explore it, the more it's unknown)
But it opens up the doorway to all beauties in life.
Philosophically I learned from this verse:
1. Nothing is constant, so don't try to hold on to anything, including your life, health, fame, wealth, happiness, success... etc. So, live in today, enjoy present time.
2. To balance the wanting and let go. Wanting is desiring and let go is desireless. Want what you want, but accept what the outcome is.
3. Don't be discouraged that you probably would never totally understand life. But exploring mysteries, in both material and spiritual aspects of life, will lead you to the doorway of seeing all beauties.
2 comments:
so i guess you are from china? :)
and where are you now by the way? :)
I look like Thai and I speak Mandarin like Cantonese. I am taller than average American, found my shoes heaven in the States. Was borne and raised in Taiwan, but call US home over 20 years.
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