Walking the way: 81 Zen encounters with the Tao Te Ching

Foreword / Sojun Mel Weitsman

Introduction

Part I. Tao

1. "The way that can be spoken of is not the Eternal Way…"

2. "Point to beauty, then ugly must arise…"

3. "By not giving honors to the worthy…"

4. "The Tao is empty, meaning free…"

5. "Heaven and earth do not center on humans…"

6. "The valley spirit is deathless…"

7. "Heaven endures forever, earth lasts eternally…"

8. "Truly good people are like water…"

9. "Pouring more and more into a vessel?…"

10. "While carrying on your active life…"

11. "Thirty spokes converge on one hub…"

12. "Five colors blind our seeing…"

13. "Honor, disgrace-watch out! …"

14. "It cannot be seen, so we name it unclear…"

15. "Your beginningless ancestors, skilled at sounding…"

16. "Reach the pole of emptiness…"

17. "The best governor of your self, your world…"

18. "When the Way is forgotten…"

19. "Eliminate knowledge, discard reason…"

20. "Yes, no: not far apart…"

21. "True virtue is empty …"

22. "Supple bending, the whole unbroken …"

23. "Nature does not make long speeches …"

24. "A person on tiptoes cannot stand steady…"

25. "Prior to heaven, prior to earth…"

26. "The heavy anchors the light…"

27. "Good traveling leaves no trace…"

28. "To know the male and abide by the female…"

29. "Act on the world; try to control it…"

30. "One who uses the Way to assist the ruler …"

31. "As for weapons-they're instruments of ill omen …"

32. "The Way is timeless, nameless …"

33. "One who knows others is knowledgeable…"

34. "The Way flows easily, vast…"

35. "Hold up the Clear Mirror…"

36. "What is gathered in must first be scattered …"

37. "Tao everlasting docs not act…"

Part II. TE

38. "High virtue isn't virtuous …"

39. "Originally these realized oneness…"

40. "The Tao moves by returning…"

41. "When the ablest students hear the Tao …"

42. "The Tao gives birth to one …"

43. "The softest, most pliable thing in the world …"

44. "Your reputation or your body…"

45. "Great perfection seems lacking…"

46. "When the world practices Tao…"

47. "Without going out your door…"

48. "Seek learning: increase daily…"

49. "The sage has no set mind but simply is …"

50. "People appear in birth-and-death …"

51. "Tao gives birch to them …"

52. "The world has an origin …"

53. "If I have a little wisdom to follow the great Way …"

54. "What is well planted is not uprooted …"

55. "One who fully embodies Rightness …"

56. "One who knows does not speak…"

57. "Govern a state by nothing special…"

58. "When the government is dull…"

59. "In governing people and serving heaven…"

60. "Governing a great state …"

61. "A great state is downstream …"

62. "The Way is the reservoir of rivers, the sanctuary of streams …"

63. "Do not-doing…"

64. "It's easy to balance while at rest and peaceful…"

65. "Ancestors, adept at practicing the Way…"

66. "Rivers and seas can be kings of the hundred valleys…"

67. "The whole world says my Way is great…"

68. "A good captain doesn't show off her might…"

69. "In engaging in warfare there is a saying…"

70. "My words are easy to understand …"

71. "Knowing not-knowing: transcendence …"

72. "When the people fear no power…"

73. "If you're brave in being daring, you'll be killed …"

74. "If people do not fear death …"

75. "Why are people hungry? …"

76. "At birth people are supple and soft…"

77. "The way of heaven is like drawing a bow …"

78. "In the whole world …"

79. "Making peace when there's been great resentment…"

80. "Let the state be small, with a small population…"

81. "Truthful speech is not florid …"

Appendix: Poems Inspired / Lao Tzn's Tao Te Ching

Bibliography

Index of First Lines

Index of Subjects

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