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As long as the sun rises
And your heart beats,
Tao is at hand.
People think that Tao can only be known through fairy-tale stories of old men in the mountains or obscure poetry about gods riding dragons. Other declare that elaborate ritual, frightening talismans, and mumblings from the depths of spirit possession are necessary for understanding. This simply not true. Why put another’s experience before your own? Tao is in each of us. Admittedly, an individual’s common ignorance usually obscures awareness of Tao, but this does not mean that there is no Tao or that it is not important. Tao is there for us to experience any time that we can open ourselves to it.
Is the sun shining? Does night follow day? Is the sky blue? Do you have feeling? Then it is possible to know Tao directly and immediately. Don’t delay, don’t think yourself too insignificant. Feel for it. Right now. As long as you are alive, Tao is right at hand.
accessibility
365 Tao
Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao
ISBN 0-06-250223-9
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“Taoist Temple, Maoshan Mountain, Jiangsu Province” Er Dong Qiang 1999 Color Photograph 14" x 11" |
Stanford
Studies on DaoismLaozi
The Laozi Story “Laozi cultivated Dao and virtue,” as Sima Qian goes on to relate, and “his learning was devoted to self-effacement and not having fame. He lived in Zhou for a long time; witnessing the decline of Zhou, he departed.” When he reached the northwest border then separating China from the outside world, Yin Xi, the official in charge of the border pass, asked that he put his thoughts to writing. The result was a book consisting of some five thousand Chinese characters, divided into two parts, which discusses “the meaning of Dao and virtue.” Thereafter, Laozi left; no one knew where he had gone. This completes the main part of Sima Qian's account. The remainder puts on record attempts to identify the legendary Laozi with certain known historical individuals and concludes with a list of Laozi's purported descendants (see W. T. Chan 1963 and D. C. Lau 1963 for an English translation). Few scholars today would subscribe fully to the Shiji report. Indeed, according to William Boltz, it “contains virtually nothing that is demonstrably factual; we are left no choice but to acknowledge the likely fictional nature of the traditional Lao tzu [Laozi] figure” (1993, 270). Disagreements abound on every front, including the name Laozi itself. Although the majority takes “Laozi” to mean “Old Master,” some scholars believe that “Lao” is a surname. The Zhuangzi and other early texts refer to “Lao Dan” consistently but not “Li Er.” According to Fung Yu-lan, Sima Qian had “confused” the legendary Lao Dan with Li Er, who flourished during the Warring States period (480-221 B.C.E.) and was the “real” founder of the Daoist school (1983, 171). In an influential essay, A. C. Graham (1986) argues that the story of Laozi reflects a conflation of different legends. The earliest strand revolved around the meeting of Confucius with Lao Dan and was current by the fourth century B.C.E. During the first half of the third century, Lao Dan was recognized as a great thinker in his own right and as the founder of a distinct “Laoist” school of thought. It was not until the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), when the teachings of Laozi, Zhuangzi, and others were seen to share certain insights centering on the concept of Dao, that they were classified together under the rubric of philosophical “Daoism” (daojia).
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