Tao is everywhere so where should someone new to the idea of Tao look for Tao?
They have learned that this exists, they have interest, they wish to learn. The following list is ways to go about finding Tao, the list is in a deliberate order with the best at the top.
1) Go out somewhere nice, sit down, relax.
2) Have a nice cup of tea, don't think too much, but don't worry if you do.
3) Have a nice day not doing anything, just watch with an empty head.
4) Read one chapter of the Tao Te Ching (don't read the whole thing as a book), then meditate briefly on that chapter.
5) Read a Chuang Tzu story and see if you laugh.
6) Look at the Hua Hu Ching, but don't take it seriously or literally.
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99) Books explaining Tao
100) The internet
I place books explaining Tao and the internet very low on the list. You don't look for Tao on the internet. You can not be told by a book what Tao is. Anyone saying what Tao is does not know, as if they knew they would know it was not possible to say.
The Tao Te Ching does not define Tao or tell you what Tao is, in fact it begins by saying that is not possible.
That is why numbers one, two and three on my list do not even involve any writings on Tao.
Tao is such that there are people who have known it without ever having heard that name for it. And there are people who seek out this name (Tao) and never find it.
ReplyDeleteTrue indeed. Seek and ye shall walk past :)
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