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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Fifty-Eighth Chapter

Posted on December 5, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Eighth Chapter Tao-te Ching When the ruler knows his heart, the people are simple and contented. When he meddles with their lives, they become restless and contentious. Calamity is what happiness leans on. Happiness is what calamity hides in. Who knows the end of this process? Yet what is good soon becomes bad. And the bad again becomes good. People have been confused (by this) for a long time. The sage becomes an exemplar and does not impose his will. He is pointed but does not cut. He straightens but does not disrupt. He illuminates but does not dazzle. # As I Understand It: If our heart is pure the apparent reality is plain and simple. If we play games with others the reality becomes restless and flammable. This is because apparent reality--the 10,000 things--is in constant motion, neither permanent nor predictable. Only the Tao...

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Fifty-Seventh Chapter

Posted on November 28, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Seventh Chapter Tao-te Ching Govern the state with the Tao. Operate with surprise tactics. Let go of fixed plans and concepts. And the world will govern by itself. How do I know that this should be so? Because in this world, The greater the restrictions and prohibitions, the more impoverished the people become. The sharper the weapons of the state, the more troubled the nation will become. The more cunning and crafty the plan, the stranger the outcome. The more laws and orders are posted, the more thieves appear. Therefore the sage says: I take no action and people are reformed. I enjoy tranquility and people become honest. I do nothing and people prosper. If I keep from imposing on people they become themselves. # As I Understand It: Lao Tzu often suggests similarities between governing people and parenting children. He encourages non-interference with touch of common-sensical supervising. The highest form of...

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Fifty-Sixth Chapter

Posted on November 21, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Sixth Chapter Tao-te Ching He who knows does not talk. He who talks does not know. Shut the doors of your body. Close your mouth. Blunt your sharpness. Untie your tangles. Soften your glare. Settle your dust. This is called the secret embrace. He who knows this secret is unmoved by attachment or aversion, not swayed by profit or loss, or touched by honor or disgrace. He is far beyond the cares of men. For this reason he is honored by the world. # As I Understand It: The first two lines of this chapter have now become a cliché but its message is still meaningful. Yet, this common knowledge is rarely practiced. The highest state of knowing is not command of one's language or confidence in one's point of view. It is in silent knowing; the deep silent knowing within that can be felt but not communicated. Some...

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Fifty-Fifth Chapter

Posted on November 14, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Fifth Chapter Tao-te Ching He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn. Poisonous insects will not sting him. Fierce beasts will not seize him. Birds of prey will not strike him. His bones are weak, his sinews tender, but his grasp is firm. He does not yet know the union of male and female, But is whole. His manhood is strong. He cries all day without becoming hoarse, This is perfect harmony. To know harmony is to know the eternal. To know the eternal is to be enlightened. Things in harmony with the Tao remain. Things that are forced, grow for a while, But then begin to wither away. This is not the Tao. Whatever is contrary to Tao perishes away # As I Understand It: Some people seem to be blessed by lady-luck. Others wonder why "poisonous insects," "fierce beasts" or "birds of prey" do not...

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Fifty-Fourth Chapter: Tao-te Ching

Posted on November 7, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Fourth Chapter Tao-te Ching How do I know this is true? That he who is grounded in the Tao cannot be pulled out. He who has understanding of the Tao cannot be separated from it. Generations honor generations. When virtue is cultivated in the self, it is realized. When virtue is cultivated in the family, it overflows. When cultivated in the community, it increases. When in the country and the world, it abounds. The virtue of Tao is everywhere. It becomes everything. See it as a person. See it as a family. See it as a country. And see it as the world How do I know this is true? By seeing within. # As I Understand It: When we plant ourselves in the Tao we radiate joyful awareness. This consciousness is like a wave of energy that affects not only us but also what is around us. People...

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Fifty-Third Chapter

Posted on October 31, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Third Chapter Tao-te Ching If I have even just a little sense, I should walk in the Great Way, my only fear would be getting off the road. The Great Way is straight but people prefer devious bypaths. That is why the court is corrupt, the fields are weedy, the granaries are empty. Magnificent dresses are worn, sharp weapons are carried, Foods and drinks are consumed in excess, wealth and treasures are accumulated. This pomp and show is robbery at the expense of others. Is this the way of the Tao? # As I Understand It: The Great Way connects us all. But we continue to see ourselves as separate rather than one. The path of the Tao is straight and smooth but we walk paths that have painful ends. Half the world experiences opulence, the other half starves. Weapons of destruction receive funding while...

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Fifty-Second Chapter

Posted on October 24, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-Second Chapter Tao-te Ching The source of the universe is the Mother. He who knows the source discovers the ten thousand things. He who discovers the ten thousand things and holds on to the Mother, He is free from danger. Close the mouth. Guard the senses. And life will be peaceful. Open the mouth. Meddle with people's affairs. And life will be hopeless. See small, see clearly. Be flexible, be strong. See the radiance and save yourself misfortune. This is called the practice of eternal light. # As I Understand It: Lao Tzu has symbolized the Tao as water, deep valley or, mother, as in this chapter. He says that human life, from birth to death, is not a straight line. What lies before our physical existence and after, is a mystery having maternal qualities. Like a mother, it sustains us throughout our lives. But unlike...

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Discovering Virginia Woolf

Posted on October 20, 2008
in Being in Nature
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Several winters ago on a frigid January morning, I was at my lowest writing ebb. By habit, I sat in front of my computer screen staring at a blank document. I could not think of anything to write, not even a word. Where had my muses gone? I got out of the study, put on my coat, muffler and gloves and left home in search of my lost creativity. I tried to imagine June blossoms in January-a spring scene superimposed on the uncreative winter landscape-and felt dislocated, ending up at the local library. A book sale was on. The first book that caught my attention was A Room of My Own by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). I wondered what the book was about. The name of the author was familiar because...

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Fifty-First Chapter

Posted on October 17, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fifty-First Chapter Tao-te Ching Tao produces the ten thousand things. Te (Virtue) fosters them. Circumstances and tendencies complete them. Therefore the ten thousand things esteem Tao and honor te. Tao and te are free, spontaneous, perfect. Therefore all honor the way of Tao and value its te. Because the Tao gives them life, Te nourishes and nurtures them, Rears, protects and shelters them. The Tao produces them but does not take possession of them. It gives but does not expect. It leads but does not master. This is Tao's profound and hidden virtue. # As I Understand It: The Tao, our source of being, is not merely physical. We are born with a mystery, with spontaneity that sages call te. If I were merely material at birth with a predetermined role of who I am and how I should function in a family, in community, in...

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Fiftieth Chapter: Tao-te Ching

Posted on October 10, 2008
in Meditation, Reading
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Fiftieth Chapter Tao-te Ching Man comes in to life and goes out to death. Three out of ten are companions of life. Three out of ten are companions of death. And three out of ten in their lives lead from activity to death. And for what reason? Because of man's intensive striving after life. I have heard that one who is a good preserver of his life will not meet tigers or wild buffaloes, And in fighting will not try to escape from weapons of war. The wild buffalo cannot butt its horns against him, The tiger cannot fasten its claws in him, And weapons of war cannot thrust their blades into him. And for what reason? Because in him there is no room for death. # As I Understand It The fear of death is at the top of the list of all our dreaded fears....

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