New Moon
The bright, thin, new moon appears, tipped askew in the heavens. It no sooner shines over the ruined fortress than the evening clouds overwhelm it. The Milky Way shines unchanging over the freezing mountains of the border. White frost covers the garden. The chrysanthemums clot and freeze in the night. –Tu Fu (One Hundred Poems […]
Musician Wen Learns to Play the Lute
“A long time ago there was a musician who could charm birds and fish into dancing with his music. A lute player named Wen . . . wanted to acquire the skill. So he left his family and went to study with the master musician Hsiang. “For a long time Wen could not play anything. […]
Mirror Mind
An Eighth Century Chinese Poem The wild geese fly across the long sky above. Their image is reflected upon the chilly water below. The geese do not mean to cast their image on the water; Nor does the water mean to hold the image of the geese. (Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, […]
Who Is a Sage?
“Who is a sage? What is an enlightened person? Are they people who are known and respected by many? Or are they the ones who hide their knowledge and wisdom and appear like ordinary persons? Lieh Tzu thinks that enlightened people are those who speak rarely and do not reveal their abilities and accomplishments casually” […]
Wu-Wei
“By taking the path of nonaction, wu-wei, nothing is left undone and everything is accomplished. . . . Nonaction means to not take any action that goes against nature” (Simple Taoism: A Guide to Living in Balance by C. Alexander Simpkins PH.D and Annellen Simpkins PH.D, p. 69). A Quiet Mind To act without acting […]
Light from Darkness
“Like a dry skeleton is his frame; Like sparkless ashes is his mind. Genuine is his knowledge, solid and true, Not supported by reasoning. Dark and dim, he has no mind, Not accessible to discussion. O! Lo! What kind of person is he now? In this story we have a good illustration of tranquility achieved […]
Thawing
“We are born with what the Taoists call the Mind of Tao, but the conditioning of society distorts it and replaces it with the Human Mind. Taoists believe that before we can resurrect this hidden Mind of Tao, we need to go into a process of Thawing, a de-conditioning of the ideas we already consciously […]
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