"Simple like an uncarved block."
Tao te Ching


"Like an acorn that holds the promise of a thousand forests."

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Slowly, gently and lightly

I have chosen to entitle my blog with a concept from the Tao te Ching. This ancient book of 81 quick chapters is a wonder to me and I have several translations. I compare the various renderings of each chapter and am fascinated by the different ways to read the original ideograms.
Tai Chi Master Chung-liang Huang at a workshop I attended explained that every time he reads passages from this wonderful book (in the Chinese language, of course) he found different ways of interpreting the ideograms and thus saw the messages in a new light. Thus the wonder and glory of the lessons taught by Lao Tsu.
Some of the main themes of the “The Way of Virtue Book” are the virtue of water, the efficiencies of non-doing (wu-wei) and the purity of an uncarved block. I will probably visit these ideas often as I explore how I have come to understand being and doing in this life.
As I learned in Tai Chi practice… slowly, gently and lightly go with the flow, simplify and laugh often.