Why the Tao Te Ching?
We need words that are 2,600 years old. I don’t care that the world of ancient China is very different from our world today. You may wonder what words written centuries ago have to do with our situation. Surprisingly, they are very relevant to our situation. There is a commonality of wisdom that arises from psychological maturity and deep spiritual experience that transcends any single culture or period of history. Today, they provide a roadmap for the way past this time of darkness and pointing to a future that just might work.
So, what is the Tao Te Ching?
Let me tell you a story. . . Long, long ago there was a man named Lao Tsu, who worked as an archivist. Along with keeping the records of his kingdom safe and categorized, he was also charged with preserving the ancient written work of the wise men who had come before him. He lived in a very troubled time when the Chau Dynasty was crumbling all around him. Perhaps, he learned too much from those ancient scrolls, because, finally, he quit his job. He could no longer bear to work in a society that was politically corrupt and morally bankrupt. Enough was enough! He left his “civilized” cesspool of a kingdom behind and set out to live in the wilderness, to meditate, and to abide in peace.
One last wall, and one last gate, the Western Gate, stood between Lao Tsu and his escape. And standing in front of that gate was Yin Xi a simple gatekeeper and guard. He recognized that, if he let this sage pass through the gate he guarded, and out into the wilds beyond this wall, the kingdom was about to lose a great source of wisdom. He begged Lao Tsu to stop his journey, rest here for a while, and write down some of his insights to leave behind him. 81 Numbers and 5,000 Chinese characters later, Lao Tsu completed his task, and walked into the mists of time.
His work is called the Tao Te Ching, the Book of the Way and of Virtue. It has travelled around the Earth, survived the huge cultural shifts that have erupted in the past 2,600 years, and made it all the way to this moment in time. There must be something that is rather mysterious and profound about this work, for it to have made that journey.
The Tao Te Ching consists of 81 chapters divided into two books; the first 37 chapters are about the fundamental building block which makes up the true nature of things (the Tao). The second 44 chapters are about two things: how to live in alignment with the true nature of things, and how to lead others from that spiritual foundation. The “chapters” were only added later by other commentators. The only division in the original text was between Book One (about the nature of the Tao) and Book Two (about how to live with virtue and in harmony with the Tao). Basically, this work was one long prose/poem from Lao Tsu to us, with psychological and spiritual ideas, themes, and images weaving into each other throughout this one seamless work.
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