Paulw

Emptiness is nothing more than space, the beautiful thing about emptiness is that you get to choose whether to occupy the space with something or just leave it as you found it, it's simplicity in it's finest form, invisible yet tangible.

I tend to agree with Simple Jack where the meditation is concerned and the chi as well, when I am practicing tai chi we are taught to breath into our lower dantien, approximately 2-3 finger widths below the navel, the aim is to concentrate the chi here and then make it move around the body, yes years of practice is required but believing that it can actually happen is the greater part of this achievement. If you were to be put into a room that was full of clutter and mess you would find it difficult to look for any singular thing, this is very much like life for most people, you sort one thing out only to be confronted by another feeling the need to use all of our senses, if the same room was empty then all there would be left to find would be yourself.

Watching our animals at play often makes me smile and laugh, we have 8 chickens, a dalmation and a cat, the chickens are fascinating to watch and seeing them lie on the grass and spread their wings to enjoy the warmth of the spring sunshine is a major smile. The dalmation, a 6yr old girl, is often very vocal and moans a lot, as if to say that she is missing out on things. The cat is still young, under a year, but completely full of natural tao and instinct, he really lifts my spirit and often makes me roar with laughter

First off what ever you wish to call it is fine with me as every persons view on Tao is slightly different, no one is right or wrong, you need to live and experience it to be able to understand it. The difference between religion and Tao, for me I do not believe that a god exists, the Tao shows me that we are all equally on our own personal path that also crosses the paths of others, just as the streams that flow down a mountain, we all take our own direction, when we find a rock in our way we simply flow around it rather than clear our way by destruction, we simply yield to it. There is nothing wrong with being religious so long as you accept every other religion to be also true and that people who do not believe in religion can be equally true to their own self if they so choose. I wish that I had your depth of knowledge when I was twenty life could have been so much easier, when making long journeys many maps are needed

I do like your grasp on it though I feel for me that it is not a religion as such, more a philosophy written by a wise man a long time ago as guidance for those who would be interested. Have another look at what tao means, often referred to as "the way", the way things work throughout nature and including all life are very similar and always relative, to label anything living or inanimate would be to carve the uncarved block.

"The Older Generation has really screwed up this world.." This really is a contradiction in it's self, after all if it's as simple as that then we may as well have a go at the first caveman who lit a fire because you're guaranteed that someone became jealous and built a bigger fire than his neighbour, but who should be blamed, the first for the discovery of warmth or the second for working out that a bigger fire means more heat ? There is a reason for everything and everything has a reason, the grandmother may well have said there that her granddaughter need not pray so hard but she may have also said that there are many ways to be thankful. We must always try to remember that relying on our external senses alone can be dangerous when they are in control of our hearts.

I was once in a supervisory job that I found extremely stressful and left the company to take another job with less money and less stress, the new company could see my potential and I was upgraded once again to assistant manager, unfortunately I failed miserably due to my wish to remain friends with the staff and the higher managers. I was unaware of the Tao back then and often wonder if I would have had better judgement had I known of the three treasures that Lao Tzu spoke of. Chapter 67 sums it all up. Everyone under heaven says that my Tao is great and beyond compare. Because it is great, it seems different. If it were not different, it would have vanished long ago. I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy; the second is economy; The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity; From humility comes leadership. Nowadays men shun mercy, but try to be brave; They abandon economy, but try to be generous; They do not believe in humility, but always try to be first. This is certain death. Mercy brings victory in battle and strength in defense. It is the means by which heaven saves and guards.

The TTC has inspired me to slowly unlock the gates within my mind, gates labelled with negative emotions, and reveal a complete new way of life and thinking for me. However I have also come to realise that it is also only a guide toward the Tao written by a man no different to myself other than the era that we have lived in. The book itself holds no reverence to any god, this showed immediate appeal to me as I have for the greater part of my life classed myself as an atheist, instead it has shown me the way to see Tao in behaviour of people, nature and just about everything that exists. The TTC has helped to me to stop reasoning with myself when making decisions, to understand about dualities and the need not to judge or compare. Generally an fantastic piece of work but I hold the Tao dear to my heart and not the book itself.

I have really enjoying reading these chapter studies, especially the different translations, they do make me smile as I only recall each chapter as I read it, then it is gone from my mind but leaving the sentiment of the chapter remaining, on the whole each translation leaves the same sentiment with little difference. Please don't stop posting

Thank you, I look forward to reading more

Hi all, I am new to the is forum and I have sat and read al the comments on this thread with much interest. I hope you don't mind me chipping in with my little take on chapter one. Although I enjoyed reading eloquence in language it does seem to lead the topic subject away from things a bit. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The way that I read these first two lines are that the eternal Tao cannot be named as it is forever changing, because you have named something whilst it is changing your description will never be a valid view of it and it will never be the same again. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. Because it existed before heaven and earth and will remain when heaven and earth are no more The named is the mother of ten thousand things. The mother is the fruit bearing tree and the eternal cycle of all life Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. Seeing is believing some do say, most only believe that they see with their eyes alone and not with their hearts, a solid form is the only reality to them but give them a sack and they cannot resist the urge to look in. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery. We will only find this gate when we fall over it, in searching it will elude us

Hi, I live in England and have just found this site, very impressed so far