a2thae
March 5th, 2009, 05:26 PM
The whole world knows that beauty is beauty: and this is ugliness.
Everyone knows that goodness is goodness; and this is what is not good.
Thus it is: existence and nonexistence give birth to eachother:
The hard and easy complete eachother:
The long and short are comparatively so:
The high and less high are so by testing:
The orchestra and the choir make a harmony:
And the earlier and the later follow on each other.
And puts into practice wordless teaching.
Since all things have been made, he does not turn his back.
This is why the sage abides by actionless activity, on them:
Since they have life he does not own them:
Since they act, he does not entrust himself to them.
When he has achieved any success, he does not stay by it.
In this not saying by his success he is unique;
And this is why he is not deprived of it.
Laotse wrote the book Tao Te Ching, which translates roughly to Teaching on the Power of the Way. He is the founder of Taoism, and I think he makes some great points. Often it is assumed that he was a contemporary of Confucius.
Of course he said that the cosmic order of nature can't be grasped by human intellect or expressed in words which is contrary to the Confucian meaning of Tao...
Anyway, that quote when I first read it made so much sense to me. I'm wondering your opinion on Laotse.
Everyone knows that goodness is goodness; and this is what is not good.
Thus it is: existence and nonexistence give birth to eachother:
The hard and easy complete eachother:
The long and short are comparatively so:
The high and less high are so by testing:
The orchestra and the choir make a harmony:
And the earlier and the later follow on each other.
And puts into practice wordless teaching.
Since all things have been made, he does not turn his back.
This is why the sage abides by actionless activity, on them:
Since they have life he does not own them:
Since they act, he does not entrust himself to them.
When he has achieved any success, he does not stay by it.
In this not saying by his success he is unique;
And this is why he is not deprived of it.
Laotse wrote the book Tao Te Ching, which translates roughly to Teaching on the Power of the Way. He is the founder of Taoism, and I think he makes some great points. Often it is assumed that he was a contemporary of Confucius.
Of course he said that the cosmic order of nature can't be grasped by human intellect or expressed in words which is contrary to the Confucian meaning of Tao...
Anyway, that quote when I first read it made so much sense to me. I'm wondering your opinion on Laotse.