Laozi, known by a dozen like-sounding names, is said to have lived in the sixth century BCE. He is remembered by the classic Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) which is a treasury of capsule wisdom. There are jolting insights in this work. Tao is the Way. Here we read (in rough translation) yjr following:
Way that can be defined is not Tao, the Eternal Tao.
The Name that can be articulated is not the Eternal Name.
That which is nameless, the Non-Being, is the origin of Heaven and Earth.
That which bears a name is the mother of all that we perceive, things and being.
Tao, the unknowable, the nameless Mystery is revealed to the one without passion.
He that is used to the fire of passion has but a limited vision.
Desire and Non-Desire, both states arise from the same source.
They are Darkness and Mystery
But in truth, it is in the depth of this darkness that one finds the door: the door to the Absolute, to the Marvelous Tao.
July 16, 2011
Spurts of Thought 