Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
Chapter 34An Unmoored Boat
Chapter 34
Awareness floats and drifts
Like an unmoored boat
Making no distinction between
Going this way and going that way.
Everything lives in its grace
And it denies nothing to anyone
Making no claims,
Having no desires.
Because it lacks the dualistic twist,
It’s considered insignificant
Though it gives birth to all things
Like the wind creating movement,
Water creating waves.
Because the wise never try to be great
They accomplish great things.
Commentary
“People were so consumed by their fears and ambitions, their desires. They were so busy planning and plotting their lives that they failed to live them.”
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“The Rearing Serpent sports in the mists,
This Flying Dragon rides on the clouds.
But when the clouds are gone and the mists have cleared,
They are no different from earthworms.”
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“Those who are skilled toil, and those who are clever worry. Meanwhile, those who do not possess such abilities seek nothing and yet eat their fill. They drift through life like unmoored boats.”
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“The Tao drifts everywhere. It can go left or right. It can go up or down. Wherever we turn, it’s there for us to use.”
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“In the landscape of spring, there is neither better nor worse. The flowering branches grow naturally, some long, some short.”
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“No direction is better or worse, East just as good as West. Those who know the meaning of this are free to go where they want.”
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“A monk asked Joshu, ‘Please guide me with your teachings, master.’ Joshu asked, Have you eaten your porridge?’ and the monk replied, ‘Yes, I have eaten.’ Josh then said, ‘Then go wash your bowl.’”
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“The heat of a candle flame can’t compete with the heat of the sun… When you grasp this, then all things will be your teacher.”
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“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses joy as it flies by
Will live in eternity's sunrise.”
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“Time is your boat not your home.
God is not remote from us. He is at the point of my pen, my (pick) shovel, my paint brush, my (sewing) needle - and my heart and thoughts.”
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“To overcome every obstacle to unite our beings without loss of individual personality, there is a single force which nothing can replace and nothing destroy, a force which urges us forward and draws us upwards…”
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“All that happens means something; nothing you do is ever insignificant.”
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“Each existence depends on something else. Strictly speaking, there are just many names for one existence… We have nowhere to escape… That is why we emphasize everyday life rather than some particular state of mind. We should find the reality in each moment, and in each phenomenon.”
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“Everything is naturally perfect just as it is, completely pure and undefiled. All phenomena naturally appear in their uniquely correct modes and situation, forming ever-changing patterns full of meaning and significance, like participants in a great dance… The everyday practice is just ordinary life itself.”
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“Chuang Tzu is mysterious because it is so simple that it can get along without being a way at all… Chuang Tzu would have agreed with St. John of the Cross, that you enter upon this kind of way when you leave all ways and, in some sense, get lost.”
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“No matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”
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“If we practice meditation, we can inhale all of the elements so that our inner and outer elements are mixed inseparably and our mind pervades everywhere, dissolving into clear space.”
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“we do not have to depend on feedback and we can relate with life as directly and straightforwardly as possible… Working with energy in a tantric sense is a decentralized process… energy is openness and all-pervasive… constantly expanding.”
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“‘All you have to do is wait,’ I explained. ‘Sit tight and wait for the right moment, not try to change anything by force, just watch the drift of things… If you do that, you just naturally know what to do. But everyone’s always too busy. They’re too talented, their schedules are too full, they’re too interested in themselves…”
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