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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Tao Te Ching: Fifth Chapter

Posted on November 20, 2007
in Meditation, Reading
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Tao-te Ching Chapter Five Heaven and Earth do not discriminate. They regard all things as straw dogs. The sage is impartial. To him no one is especially dear. He regards all people as straw dogs. Between Heaven and Earth there is a space like a bellows! Vacuous and inexhaustible -- the more it is used, more it creates. Keep to the center. Sit quietly and find the peace within. # As I understand it: The essence of Tao is like Heaven, Earth and the mind of the sage. It has no favorites. It sees everything as straw dogs. (Straw dogs were sacrificial objects in ancient China, discarded after the completion of a sacrifice.) In other words, Tao does not play favorites. It is neither partial nor impartial. Between the celestial and terrestrial regions there is a space that is vacuous and inexhaustible....

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Tao Te Ching: Fourth Chapter

Posted on November 13, 2007
in Meditation, Reading
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Tao-te Ching Chapter Four Tao is empty (like a bowl). It may be used but its capacity is never exhausted. It is bottomless, perhaps the ancestor of all things. It blunts its sharpness, It unties its tangles. It softens its light. It becomes one with the dusty world. Deep and still, it appears to exist forever. I do not know whose son it is. It seems to have existed before the Lord. # As I understand it: Tao is invisible. Yet, it is deep within us and around us. It links us to what is "more than" us - infinite awareness. It untangles the knots and smoothens sharp edges of life. And it includes dust as well as diamonds. We must remain aware of Tao and make those we love and those less fortunate aware of it. Tao within us has limitless creative...

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Tao Te Ching: Third Chapter

Posted on November 6, 2007
in Meditation, Reading
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Tao Te Ching: Third Chapter  Do not exalt the worthy, so that people shall not compete. Do not value rare treasures, so that the people shall not steal. Do not display the objects of desire, so that the people’s hearts shall not be disturbed. Therefore in the government of the sage, He keeps their hearts vacuous, Fills their bellies, Weakens their ambitions, And strengthens their bones, He always causes his people to be without knowledge (cunning) or desire, And the crafty to be afraid to act. By acting without action, all things will be in order. # As I understand it: In the Tao Te-Ching, the idea of personal achievements such as wealth, possessions, power and status is frowned upon because it promotes competition, jealousy, hate and anger. In an ideal state there is no need to award the worthy because all are award- worthy. But...

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Tao Te Ching: Second Chapter

Posted on October 18, 2007
in Reading
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Tao te Ching Second Chapter When the people of the world know beauty as beauty, There arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, There arises the recognition of evil. Therefore: Being and non-being produce each other; Difficult and easy complete each other; Long and short contrast each other; High and low distinguish each other; Sound and voice harmonize each other. Front and behind accompany each other. Therefore the sage manages affairs without action And spreads doctrines without words. All things arise, and he does not turn away from them. He produces them but does not take possession of them. He acts but does not rely on his own ability. He accomplishes his task but does not claim credit for it. It is precisely because he does not claim credit that his Accomplishment remains with him. # As I understand it: Why judge pairs of...

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First Chapter: Tao Te Ching

Posted on September 20, 2007
in Reading
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Tao te Ching First Chapter: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The Name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The Tao, the source of all the things between heaven and earth, is Nameless. The Tao, the mother of all the things, is named. Desireless feel subtleties of Tao, Desiring see the things Tao manifests. The subtleties and their manifestations are the same They both are deep and profound, The doorway to mystery. # As I...

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Learning Tao Te Ching

Posted on September 20, 2007
in Being in Nature
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Lao Tzu, the Grand Old Master, wrote Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and Its Power), during the sixth century B.C.E. This slim volume of eighty-one chapters is an inexhaustible vessel of inspiration. Lao Tzu wrote it when, wise with years, he retired from his job as the archivist of his native western state. He was dismayed with the way his fellow human beings lived. In search of solitude, he rode on a water buffalo towards the mountains of Tibet. At the Hankao Pass, a gatekeeper implored him to write his views for future generations. Obligingly, Lao Tzu squatted down for three days and composed the volume of about five thousand Chinese characters now known as Tao Te-Ching. To this day, it is the basic text of Taoism. The...

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Spirituality

Posted on August 29, 2007
in Being in Nature
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            I was born in a non-traditional Hindu family.             When I was nine I made my mother happy with a hand-made calendar with twelve illustrations.             For years I learnt Bharata Natyam and Kathak dances, and took painting lessons.             Once, a new girl in my class spoke to me in fluent English. She seemed to be saying something important. I looked into her eyes. I smiled when she smiled. I frowned when she frowned. At the end of the “conversation” she said, “Thank you;” the only words I understood.                       During our summer vacations in the Himalayas, I collected leaves and flowers. I pressed them between blotting papers and kept them to dry under my father’s dictionaries and thesaurus. In eleventh grade, I made an album of the dried collection and...

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Selective Verses From Dhammapada

Posted on March 1, 2006
in Meditation
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42-43 More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm. More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-disciplined mind does greater good. 50 Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; Give it to what you do or fail to do. 61 If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature. 62 "These are my sons. This is my wealth." In this way the fool (immature) troubles himself. He is not even the owner of himself, how much less of his sons and of his wealth. 64-65 ...

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Homage to Solitude

Posted on January 17, 2006
in Journaling
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The year-end holidays: Shopping in groceries and malls with well-equipped merchandise and clamoring crowds. Baking and boiling. Sweeping, mopping and dusting. Roasting and toasting. Food and fun with family and friends. At home, love abounds. Each year my husband and I look forward to spending the holidays with our daughters, son-in-law, and the rest of our family and friends. Our children's presence enriches us emotionally and makes me feel whole. But there are moments when I feel physically and mentally exhausted. It is time to stop and be quiet. Writing in my study with the door closed for nine to ten months each year has trained me to be by myself. I have discovered that in the hush of that space I find my balance, get to know myself and feel connected to...

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Readings for January – February 2006

Posted on January 1, 2006
in Meditation
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Keeping Quiet Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve And we will all keep still For once on the face of the earth, let's not speak in any language; let's stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together In a sudden strangeness. Fisherman in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers In the shade, doing nothing. What I want should not be confused With total inactivity Life is what it is about. If we were not so single-minded about keeping...

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