"The name that can be named is not the eternal name."
Chapter 1
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.
Chapter 2
Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because there is evil.
Therefore having and not having arise together.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short contrast each other:
High and low rest upon each other;
Voice and sound harmonize each other;
Front and back follow one another.
Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking.
The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease,
Creating, yet not.
Working, yet not taking credit.
Work is done, then forgotten.
Therefore it lasts forever.
Chapter 8
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.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In daily life, be competent.
In action, be aware of the time and the season.
No fight: No blame.
The Tao Te Ching is, for lack of a better word, The Bible of Taoism. Those are some of my favorite chapters. The translations vary slightly between one another. Chuang Tzu's writings read a little easier for most. They're written more in the form of western religions (iow, stories). When I was 12 I sought out Taoism on my own - scared hell out of my mother because she was raised (and remains) a Southern Baptist. I went to several churches, both Catholic and Protestant, but none that spoke to me. Taoism did. Taoism is non-theistic, not to be confused with aetheistic. Taoism doesn't ponder the question. One of Chuang Tzu's stories (severely paraphrased and simplified) speaks to the existence of a deity.
Life is a corridor and death is a door. As you pass through the corridor, if you focus on the door and what potentially lies beyond it, you miss everything in the corridor.
I was glad I found Taosim when I did. At 13 I lost three of my closest friends in an automobile accident that left my mom in the hospital for 18 months. I kept thinking about one of Chuang Tzu's stories about a man who hears that his friend's wife has died. He knew the couple loved each other dearly and that they had been married a very long time. He went to see his friend to offer his condolences. When he arrived at his friend's house, he was horrified to find his friend laughing, feasting and having a party. He said to his friend, "Have you no feeling? How can you enjoy yourself so? Do you not mourn the death of your wife?" His friend replied, "If I mourn her death, I would be mourning her birth and how could I do that?"
