Although the Dao that can be
named is not the true Dao, here’s an attempt at summarizing the unsummarizable.
Below are the five main themes of the timeless classic from Laozi, the Dao De
Jing (道德經), with
a link to a passage translated by Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng to illustrate each theme,
and a commentary below that.
Social
Ills and their Solution
絕聖棄智，民利百倍；絕民棄義，民復孝慈；絕巧棄利，盜賊無有。此三者，為文不足，故令有所屬：見素抱朴，少私寡欲。
~
Enough of being superficial, and attached to
worldly things and values. Let’s return to what’s real inside of ourselves.
Let’s return to the Dao. Let the government rule from the Dao, and the people
live with the Dao. The Way is simple, uncluttered with material possessions or
preconceived notions and frivolities.
Nonaction
為無為，事無事，味無味。大小多少，報怨以德。圖難於易，為大於細。天下難事，必作於易；天下大事，必作於細。是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難，是以聖人猶難之，故終無難。
~
Everything is more than it seems,
for each thing encompasses everything else, and therefore is also nothing.
Don’t take life too seriously. Don’t grasp too hard. Let go of letting go.
Don’t work too hard. Be. Don’t do. Don’t try to do the not-doing. Don’t try.
Just be. When you are in the natural flow of the Dao, you are acting without
acting, moving without forcing. Stop trying to explain it. You can never fully
define it, anyhow. Embody it.
Teaching Without Words
道，可道，非常道；名，可名，非常名。無名，天地始；有名，萬物母。常無，欲觀其妙；常有，欲觀其徼。此兩者同出而異名，同謂之玄，玄之又玄，眾妙之門。
~
Words cannot describe the fullness of life, or what is. Words
reduce something boundless into something bounded, a diminutive description of
something ineffable. Words delineate judgements. Judgments remove us from
reality. Nothing can truly be named. What is true, anyhow?
The Way
上士聞道，勤而行之；中士聞道，若存若亡；下士聞道，大笑之。不笑不足以為道。故建言有之：明道若昧，進道若退，夷道若類，上德若谷，大白若辱，廣德若不足，建德若偷，質真若渝，大方無隅，大器晚成，大音希聲，大象無形。道隱無名。夫唯道，善貸且善。
~
Follow the Dao, or the Way. The Way is gentle yet
powerful, natural yet beyond nature. Stop looking for it; allow it to reveal
itself. Stop working so hard; it comes naturally.
Active Mysticism
(Immanence)
古之善為士者，微妙玄通，深不可識。夫唯不可識，故強為之容：豫若冬涉川，猶若畏四鄰，儼若客，渙若冰將釋，敦若朴，混若濁，曠若谷。熟能濁以靜之？徐清。安以動之？徐生。保此道者，不欲盈。夫唯不盈，能弊復成。
~
Don’t elevate yourself in
haughty rituals that seek to remove you from the world. Make life your ritual. Don’t
strive to separate life and the practices that connect you with something
greater than yourself. Live the life that you pray for. Don’t try to make
yourself a better person. Be who you are, which is definite yet undefined,
fluid yet solid. Live in your questions, which are your answers. Live in the
ways that you praise your ancestors, in a path of easeful brilliance. Let every
moment and action be a graceful yet clunky prayer, a life of virtue and
respect, honesty and truth. Live alive and thriving, aligned with the nature of
yourself, the world around you, and the Way. This life is mundane yet sacred,
every moment full yet empty, teeming yet lacking with impossible possibilities,
with such a rich abundance of nothingness and everythingness. Flow.
~
References
Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, Tao Te Ching
Philip Ivanhoe and Bryan Van
Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese
Philosophy
Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching
Bryan Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy
