Tao Te Ching, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #67.
Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.
I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.
2 comments:
The Tao Te Ching helps me get to the stuff that is deep within Christianity but is sometimes hard to access because of the associations I have with Jesus, my sense of guilt and duty, my preconceptions about what Jesus expects of me, which are often completely wrong. The Tao Te Ching subtracts down to the essentials. There they are, naked. Simplicity, patience, compassion. No more is needed.
Thank you, Lindsay. As always I go deep into myself - and the heart of love when I read your posts.
Post a Comment