Tao Te Ching

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And then there is Chapter XLVII, the chapter that may be my favorite from the entire Tao Te Ching: “Without stirring abroad/One can know the whole world;/Without looking out of the window/One can see the way of heaven./The further one goes/The less one knows” (p. 54). Fellow Beatles fans will recognize at once that this passage from the Tao Te Ching provides the lyrical inspiration for “The Inner Light,” a 1968 George Harrison composition that originally served as the B-side for the hit single “Lady Madonna.” George Harrison’s interest in the religious traditions of the East is a matter of record, and it makes perfect sense that, amid the chaos of being a Beatle, he would have been drawn to the Tao Te Ching’s message of letting go of the pursuit of material things in favor of seeking spiritual sustenance. Stephen Mitchell was born to a Jewish family, educated at Amherst College, [2] the University of Paris, [2] and Yale University, [2] and "de-educated" through intensive Zen practice. [3] He studied for four and a half years with Zen master Seungsahn and for two and a half years with Robert Baker Aitken, Rōshi. only to then immediately attempt to explain it anyway! They obviously never reached chapter 71: ”Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.” The Tao Te Ching is a classical text credited to Chinese philosopher and writer Lao Tzu (6th century) and on which Taoism is based. It consists of 81 short chapters written in poetic form which, using a pithy language brimming with evocative and, at times, repetitive contradictions, provide guidance on how humanity may have a harmonious relationship with nature, with the Tao. In an inspiringly laconic way, the chapters reveal the sage’s fundamental truths that range from theology to politics, inseparable components of the Tao Te Ching. Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories, Harper Collins, 1996, ISBN 0-06-092856-5

Stephen Mitchell Quotes (Author of Gilgamesh) - Goodreads Stephen Mitchell Quotes (Author of Gilgamesh) - Goodreads

You can’t label or define the Tao as by doing so you limit its function which is, inherently, limitless. All one can know is that it was “born before heaven and earth” and supports the universe. It is responsible for the strong being strong but equally responsible for the weak being weak. We can’t define it but we can definitely discuss the concepts that make up the Taoist teachings.A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around, by Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell, HarperOne, 2017, ISBN 0062651609

Tao Te Ching : A New English Version - Google Books Tao Te Ching : A New English Version - Google Books

The poem speaks of mother nature as replenishing and everlasting; she will always endure and is the gateway to heaven on earth, to our own nirvana. We can never completely spend her. The metaphor is for the path as Taoism and nature are one and the same here. For the speaker, Taoism (or the way) is the most natural of things we can partake in. We will also never drain the benefits of it and they will also last perpetually. And these ideas for me felt strong and real, but the writing also muses over empire.Homer (September 23, 2013). "The Death of Argos (Homer's Odyssey, Book 17: 260-327)". The New Yorker Magazine. Translated by Stephen Mitchell. Things change before our very eyes, whether our eyes are open or shut. A butterfly becomes a man, a man becomes a question mark, a question mark becomes a winged creature, carefree, doing whatever it likes. Thus identity melts away, and we are left with something more valuable: a self—a non-self—that includes it all. Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (with Byron Katie), Harmony Books, 2002, ISBN 1-4000-4537-1