Chapter 6 第六章

第六章

谷神不死，是謂玄牝。玄牝之門，是謂天地根。綿綿若存，用之不勤。中。

Chapter 6
The valley spirit never dies.
It is named the mysterious female.
And the doorway of the myserious female.
Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang.

It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.

Retrived From Here

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;
The female mystery thus do we name.
Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,
Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.
Long and unbroken does its power remain,
Used gently, and without the touch of pain.


Retrived From Here

Chapter 5 第五章

第五章

天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗；聖人不仁，以百姓為芻狗。天地之間，其猶橐龠 乎？虛而不屈，動而愈出。多聞數窮，不如守中。


Chapter 5
Nature is not kind;
It treats all things impartially.
The Sage is not kind,
And treats all people impartially.
Nature is like a bellows
Empty, yet supplying all needs,
The more it moves, the more it yields;
The sage draws upon Tao in the same way
And can not be exhausted.

Retrived From Here

Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be
benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt
with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they
deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with.
May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a
bellows?
'Tis emptied, yet it loses not its power;
'Tis moved again, and sends forth air the more.
Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see;
Your inner being guard, and keep it free.

Retrived From Here

Chapter 4 第四章

第四章
道衝，而用之或不盈。淵兮，似萬物之宗。挫其銳，解其紛，和其光，同其 塵。湛兮，似或存。吾不知誰之子，象帝之先。

Chapter 4
Tao is a depthless vessel;
Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it came from;
It came before Nature.

Retrived From Here

The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel;
and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness.

How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!

We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things;

we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.

How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue!
I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before God.

Retrived From Here

Chapter 3 第三章

第三章
不尚賢，使民不爭；不貴難得之貨，使民不為盜；不見可欲，使民心不亂。 是以聖人之治，虛其心，實其腹；弱其志，強其骨。常使民無知無欲。使夫知不 敢弗為而已，則無不治。

Chapter 3
If you overesteem great men, people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.

The sage leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion in those who think that they know.

Practice not-doing,
and everything will fall into place.

Retrived From Here

Not to value and employ men of superior ability is the way to
keep the people from rivalry among themselves;

not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves;

not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is the way to keep their minds from disorder.

Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government,
empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills,
and strengthens their bones.

He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge
and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge,
to keep them from presuming to act (on it).

When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.

Retrived From Here

Chapter 2 第二章

第二章
天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已；皆知善之為善，斯不善矣。有無相生，難易相 成，長短相形，高下相盈，音聲相和，前后相隨，恆也。是以聖人處無為之事， 行不言之教，萬物作而弗始，生而弗有，為而弗恃，功成而弗居。夫唯弗居，是 以不去。

All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful,and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the want of skill is.
So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.
Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech. All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to showitself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership; they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a reward for the results). The work is accomplished, and there is no resting in it (as an achievement).
The work is done, but how no one can see;'Tis this that makes the power not cease to be.

Retrived From Here

Chapter 2 : Qualities
When beauty is recognised , ugliness has been learned;When good is recognised, evil has been learned.
In this way:Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;Far and near are abstracted from position;Strong and weak are abstracted from control;Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;After and before are abstracted from sequence.
Therefore the sage acts without doing anythingand teaches without saying anything.Things arise and he lets them come;things disappear and he lets them go.He has but doesn't possess,acts but doesn't expect.When his work is done, he forgets it.That is why it lasts forever.

Retrived From Here

Chapter 1 第一章

第一章

「道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。」
「無名，天地之始。有名，萬物之母。」
「故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄，玄之又玄，眾妙之門。」

1. The Way
The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not true.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.

To experience without intention is to sense the world;
To experience with intention is to anticipate the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.

Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.

1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

What is the Tao Te Ching? 什麼是道德經?

Well....I don't know? I do know that it's a philosphy book written a long time ago. Tao Te Ching has many meaning to many different people. A high school student and a mother of 3 reading the same chapter can have different interpretations of what Lao Tzu is trying to say and how to apply it to their lives. This is a place where people can come together and interpreate what Tao Te Ching means to them, how do they apply in their lives, or any thoughts on it.


我不是很清楚, 但是我知道 道德經對每一個人的意義不一樣. 大學生和上班族看了會有不同的想法, 已婚和未婚也會有不同的想法, 再這裡就讓我們一起分享對道德經的感想吧.

老子是誰?

老子是古代偉大的思想家，生活於春秋時期，楚國苦縣人，他對後世的影響主要是一本叫《道德經》的著作，他開創了我國古代哲學思想的先河。但有關老子本人的 記載留下得不多，這就給後人創造了一個巨大的想像空間，有人把他神化，有人認為他就是太上老君，有關老子的傳說不勝枚舉，種種的遐想賦予了老子太多的神秘 色彩，那麼老子到底是什麼樣的呢？

　　老子作為道教的開山鼻祖，被尊稱為太上老君，這位神話般的人物，具有和其他聖人不一樣的名字，老子，他不同於常人的稱謂也許只有在神話傳說中才能解釋得清。

　　神話傳說給予了老子很多神秘的味道，這是一種後人對前人和聖人的敬仰。那麼，真實的老子是什麼樣的呢？

　　作為國家管理圖書的官吏，老子閱讀了大量的文獻典籍，在他管理圖書的若干年中，周王室日漸衰弱，老子決定離開東周，他的這一決定誕生了我國最早的哲學 著作，卻也暴露了老子自相矛盾的問題，老子在他的《道德經》中說“言者不如知者默”，也就是說有智慧的人，必定是沉默寡言的，老子主張大智慧的人不說話， 不寫文章，可是為什麼老子自己卻寫了五千言的《道德經》，這不是拿己之矛攻己之盾嗎？究竟是老子愚蠢還是另有智慧？

　　走出函谷關的老子，除了給人們留下一部《道德經》外，再也沒有任何別的資訊，直到現在，老子晚年究竟去了哪，最後死在哪，都是一個歷史之謎。而他的《道德經》也像一部謎書一樣，讓後人有說不盡的話語空間，《道德經》所闡述的道的精要人們未必全部理解。

　　《道德經》不過五千言，卻涵蓋了很多妙義，告訴我們許多法則。幾千年前過去了，老子和他的《道德經》一直活躍在我們身邊，有關老子的話題一直研究不完，解釋不盡，老子研究幾乎成了一個世界性的公共話題。

Lao Tzu -- Who is he?

Lao Tzu’s date of birth is unknown. Many say it was between 600 and 300 B.C.E. He was known for his writing of the “Tao-Te Ching” (tao-meaning the way of all life, te-meaning the fit use of life by men, and ching-meaning text or classic). Lao Tzu was not his real name, but in honor of his name, it meant “Old Master”

He attracted many followers, but he refused to set his ideas down in writing. He believed that written words might solidify into formal dogma. He wanted his philosophy to remain a natural way to live life with goodness, serenity, and respect. He believed a person’s conduct should be governed by instinct and conscience.

He believed that human life is constantly influenced by outside forces. He believed “simplicity” to be the key to truth and freedom. He encouraged his followers to observe, and seek to understand the laws of nature; to develop intuition and build up personal power; to use that power to lead life with love, and without force.

People say that he was a contemporary of Confucius and served as curator of the dynastic archives until retiring to the mythical K’un-lun Mountains. He transmitted his teachings to a border guard who compiled the Lao-Tzu, also titled Tao-te Ching. His work was dated back to 4th to 2nd century B.C. It’s parables and verse advocate passive and intuitive behavior in natural harmony with the Tao. This is a cosmic unity underlying all phenomena. It emphasizes the value of wu-wei by which one returns to a primitive state closer to the Tao. This is a stage of creative possibility symbolized by the child or an uncarved block. It also promotes a laissez-faire approach to government.

Lao Tzu set off into the desert on a water buffalo leaving civilization behind. When he arrived at the final gate at the great wall protecting the kingdom, the gatekeeper persuaded him to record the principles of his philosophy for posterity. The ancient Chinese text is the world’s most translated classic next to the Bible.