Tao Te Ching

I first discovered the Tao when I was 15 years old. Although I hardly understood any of it at first reading, I sensed that it contained wise and important teachings. I began a collection of translations and would compare them to discern the inner meanings. It was here that I first learned to see the limitations of duality, the difference between the experience of reality and judgments about reality, and the underlying oneness of being.

This version of the Tao that I adapted from is a retelling by Stephen Mitchell, who assembled it from various translations that he studied, without knowledge of the Chinese it was originally written in. Although it is not a literal translation, it remains my favorite because of its poetic quality and friendliness to our English language sensibility. Although Mitchell is my favorite rendition, it lacks specific insights that to me, unlock the inner message of the Tao.

There are several translations of the Tao at http://www.religiousworlds.com/taoism/ttc-list.html 

To see Mitchell’s original text, visit http://www.mindfully.org/Tao-Te-Ching-Lao-tzu.htm

It is in the spirit of sharing the message of a “wise old man” that I take the liberty of reworking and adapting Mitchell’s text. To look from the essence of the Tao, is to look from the integration of Third Order Intelligence. I don’t think the Tao was written to be a difficult or mysterious text. Rather, I think it was written to give simple instruction in how to see the world, and how to be in the world. Buried under literal translations, obscured by the mindless conditioning and disempowerment of our own insight, the hidden treasures of this ancient teaching have been difficult to access for too long a time.

If you connect with the spirit of theTao, you likely connect with Third Order Intelligence.
Educate and empower yourself.

About Lao-tzu, it's author, there is practically nothing to be said. He may have been a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BCE) and may have held the position of archive-keeper in one of the petty kingdoms of the time. But all the information that has come down to us is highly suspect. Even the meaning of his name is uncertain (the most likely interpretations: "the Old Master" or, more picturesquely, "the Old Boy"). Like an Iroquois woodsman, he left no traces. All he left us is this book: the classic manual on the art of living, written in a style of gemlike lucidity, radiant with humor and grace and large-heartedness and deep wisdom: one of the wonders of the world.
- From the forward by Stephen Mitchell.

Chapter 1 of the Tao

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