Category: Tao Te Ching Explained

Explanation of the Tao Te Ching Verses

Tao Te Ching Explained3 Comments

Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Thirteen  “Accept disgrace willingly.Accept misfortune as the human condition.  What do you mean by “Accept disgrace willingly”?Accept being unimportant.Do not be concerned with loss or gain.This is called “accepting disgrace willingly.”  Our ego and pride get in the way of our contentment and often our relationships with family and friends. By ceasing our self obsession we are able to listen, understand, help and be more empathic and compassionate toward others. “What do you mean by “Accept misfortune as the human condition”?Misfortune comes from having a body.Without a body, how could there be misfortune?” Misfortune is a … Continue reading Accept Disgrace & Misfortune

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Power Of The Senses

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Twelve  “The five colors blind the eye.The five tones deafen the ear.The five flavors dull the taste.” The excitement and distraction of the senses outward creates the desires that solidifies the identity that society gives us. It’s important to be able to ‘seal the senses’ and turn them inward to understand who and what we really are. This is an important part of our mindfulness training. “Racing and hunting madden the mind.Precious things lead one astray.” ‘Racing and hunting” stimulate our survival instincts and base energies. The ‘fight or flight’ instinct is powered by adrenaline short … Continue reading Power Of The Senses

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Space – The Final Frontier

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Eleven “Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;It is the center hole that makes it useful.Shape clay into a vessel;It is the space within that makes it useful.Cut doors and windows for a room;It is the holes which make it useful.Therefore benefit comes from what is there;Usefulness from what is not there.” ‘Some thing’ can only exist by the grace of ‘no thing’. Space, apart from filling the void is 99.9999999% of an atom. If the space was removed from a human body the remaining matter would be as big as a speck of dust. It pervades … Continue reading Space – The Final Frontier

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The Primal Virtue

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Ten  “Carrying body and soul and embracing the one,Can you avoid separation? Attending fully and becoming supple,Can you be as a newborn babe?Washing and cleansing the primal vision,Can you be without stain?” A new born baby still belongs to the Tao, it doesn’t know yet that it will be indoctrinated into developing a ‘self’ by society, given a name, and becoming the subject of fear, anger, desire and addiction, separating it from the Tao. The skill is to engage in life and embrace the Tao, retaining that child like sense of wonder, this is washing and … Continue reading The Primal Virtue

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Don’t Fill To The Brim

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Nine “Better to stop short than fill to the brim.Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.” A lot of modern stress, anxiety and illness is the result of our modern stressful living. We seem to have lost the art of pacing ourselves, we are constantly pressured to do more, to become more and push ourselves beyond our limits. To not ‘fill to the brim or oversharpen the blade’ is good advice to stop at the point that where we can improve but not go too far. “Amass a store of gold and jade, and … Continue reading Don’t Fill To The Brim

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Be Like Water

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Eight This is one of my favourite parts of the Tao Te Ching because it gives the best and most simple advice on how to live your life. “The highest good is like water. Water give life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao. “ It reminds me of one of my favourite old Turkish saying “if you sleep on the floor, you won’t fall out of bed.” The more simply you live, the more content you will be. This leads on … Continue reading Be Like Water

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Heaven And Earth Last Forever

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Seven“Heaven and Earth last forever.” Heaven and Earth combined are seen as the Tao, the giver and taker of life. The alchemy of being human from earthly desires (jing energy) aspiring to the heavenly spirituality (shen energy).“Why do heaven and Earth last forever? They are unborn, So ever living.” To understand that which is always there is unborn, infinite, immortal and eternal therefore often not seen or recognised as being the container that contains all life and its potential. “The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead. He is detached, thus at one with all. Through … Continue reading Heaven And Earth Last Forever

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The Valley Spirit Never Dies

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching Part Six “The valley spirit never dies; It is the woman, primal mother.” ‘Valley spirit’ because it’s the Tao that underlies everything that is the primal mother, giving birth to everything in the universe and receiving it back, this is the same as western pagan thought. Diana the goddess giving birth to Herne the hunter at the beginning of each pagan year and receiving him back at the end, the circle of life. “Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth. It is like a veil barely seen. Use it; it will never fail.” Seen as … Continue reading The Valley Spirit Never Dies

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Heaven And Earth Are Impartial

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching part 5. “Heaven and Earth are impartial;They see the ten thousand things as straw dogs.The wise are impartial;They see the people as straw dogs.” Heaven and earth are not subject to human justice and morals but the universal laws of nature. Too many people expect karma to adhere to human values and it doesn’t. Learn to harmonise with the way of nature. “The space between heaven and Earth is like a bellows.The shape changes but not the form;The more it moves, the more it yields.More words count less.Hold fast to the center.” The earth has been around … Continue reading Heaven And Earth Are Impartial

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Something From Nothing

Steve Rowe

Tao Te Ching no 4 Quantum physics tells us that something spontaneously arises from and disappears into nothing. Taoism already knew this. The human gift and curse is a reflective conscious mind. It anticipates and complicates and works best when in a calm, wordless, insightful state. Our defining mind by its very nature can’t define the infinite, but our still insightful mind can experience it. Continue reading Something From Nothing