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The Wisdom of ‘Tao’

The Wisdom of ‘Tao’. By Sheh Seow Wah. What is ‘Tao’?. Lao Tzu (the old guy) lived in the 5 th century B.C. He wrote the Tao De Jing (Book of How Things Happen) with 81 chapters. The study of the ‘Tao’ – the ‘way’ which transcends time and space.

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The Wisdom of ‘Tao’

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  1. The Wisdom of ‘Tao’ By Sheh Seow Wah

  2. What is ‘Tao’? • Lao Tzu (the old guy) lived in the 5th century B.C. • He wrote the Tao De Jing (Book of How Things Happen) with 81 chapters. • The study of the ‘Tao’ – the ‘way’ which transcends time and space. • Central idea of Lao Tzu is to lead a ‘simple life’ by following the nature and the natural laws.

  3. What is ‘Tao’? • Chuang Tzu – lived between 3rd and 4th century B.C. (also known as the butterfly philosopher) • He wrote a total of 33 chapters. • Like Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu’s writings were paradoxical, imagery-laden and abstract. • To define, translate, describe, interpret and explain ‘Tao’- I have to make sense out of the non-sense, derive logic out of the ‘illogic’ and find meaning out of the ‘meaningless’.

  4. Framework of the study of ‘Tao’ Be Natural What is ‘Tao’? Non-Action Opposites All-Embracing Fluidity

  5. Be Natural “He who knows others can be called wise, He who knows himself is enlightened. He who conquers others can be called physically strong. He who conquers himself is mighty. He who is content is rich, He who acts with persistence has will, He who does not lose his root will endure, He who dies physically, but preserves Tao will enjoy a long life.” – Chapter 33 of Tao De Jing (Ren Jiyu, 1985) • be with the Nature, be yourself and use what is naturally useful. • Chapter 1 of Chuang Tzu- the difference between a large fish and a small bird.

  6. Be Natural • be child-like and get back to his childhood enthusiasm (Chapter 28 of Tao De Jing), • Enjoy challenge, being curious, like to imagine and experiment, and tolerate confusion and ambiguity. • see equality in all things and events, • a tree is as valued as an ant, an ant is as valued as a human being. • no distinction between a chair and a desk. To do what one’s desires and one’s is capable of is the main source of all happiness

  7. Opposites • Chapter 2 (part of) of Tao De Jing, “When all people in the world know the beautiful as beauty, There appears ugliness; When they know goodness as good, There appears evil……………………..” (Ren Jiyu, 1985) • opposites co-exist in harmony • the ‘Yin’ needs the ‘Yang’ and vice-versa, • husband and wife, parents and children, employers and employees • thing and no-thing co-exist • existence and non-existence co-exist • being and non-being co-exist

  8. Opposites • opposites co-exist in relative, • good or bad / right or wrong are relative • the ‘yin’ within the ‘yang’ and the ‘yang’ within the ‘yin’ • two sides to a coin – we are talking about the same coin (reward & punishment) • learn to understand and accept the paradoxes, • the good may turned out to be bad and the bad may turned out to be good. Intelligence within your foolishness; foolishness within your intelligence. The Art of Living is to embrace wisdom and foolishness.

  9. Non-Action (‘wu-wei’) • Nature follows non-action and yet everything is perfectly balanced. • all changes are cyclical and will ultimately go back to the starting point (in the long run, nothing has changed- changelessness)- self-balancing. • about one-third of the Lao Tzu’s classics were devoted to the principle of non-action. • let things unfold by themselves without unnecessary interference.

  10. Non-Action (‘wu-wei’) • Chapter 4 of Chuang Tzu – “When you are in accordance with the principle of non-action, your life cannot but be perfect. Life in perfection is nothing but happiness. Happiness is the perfection of life, and need no external things to be added to life.” (Fung Yu-Lan, 1931) The stronger one’s pushes, the stronger the system pushes back- action is always equal and opposite to re-action By doing nothing and yet nothing is left undone.

  11. Fluidity • Chapter 8 (part of) of Tao De Jing, “The highest good is like water. Water is apt to benefit all things and does not compete with them……Thus it is closest to Tao” - Ren Jiyu,1985 • characteristics of water- the path of the least resistance. • practice to overcome hardness with softness, to retreat in order to advance- Chapter 76 of Tao De Jing (analogy of the tree and the grass). The best style is no style and yet every stroke is immensely powerful.

  12. All-Embracing • to attain absolute freedom is to see things in a holistic manner such as see life and death as ONE, beginning and end as ONE, right and wrong as ONE…….. • the Universe is the unity of all things – everything is equal to everything. Be everything and yet belongs to nothing. • Tao transcends space and time (beyond definition) • spacelessness, timelessness and all go back to nothingness. • Tao underlies everything including Tao itself (define from within). • Tao is immortal and endless. Accept life as it is and live in totality by embracing the good and the bad, and the right and the wrong

  13. Tao “ Knowing what to do when you do not know what to do” Be inspired Sheh Seow Wah

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