"Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river." Lao Tze   TAOISM Tao (pronounced "Dow") can be roughly translated into English as path, or the way.  The founder of Taoism is believed by many to be Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE), a contemporary of Confucius. (Alternate spellings: Lao Tze, Lao Tsu, Lao Tzu, Laozi, Laotze, etc.).  It was said that he grew tired of working in the Imperial library and wanted to leave the city. As the citizens weren't allowed out of the gates after sunset, the guard told Lao Tzu if he wrote down his philosophy on life that he would let him go. He spent the night writing and the result was his book: Tao-te-Ching (a.k.a. Daodejing). In the morning Lao Tze left into the western desert and was never seen again.    Tao by definition is undefinable.    Therefore to express the concepts of tao one must provoke thought, in essence finding a place between the lines for those wishing to learn and understand to perceive or experience the tao.  Toward that end here are the Chapters of the Tao Te Ching. Enjoy the experience.     TAOISM (a.k.a. Daoism) Western traditions       The Tao Teh King   Taoism Initiation Page Online Resources for Home Study and Practice     Notes on the Tao Te Ching Words are words, they are not life. Words are used to draw lines and describe concepts. Life is not a concept, nor is it divided or explained by words. Words cause nonsense. Life is lived, not described. Words separate things: There is life/death, difficult/easy, long/short, high/low ... and all points in between. Music comes from varying tones. No sane person can determine the law of life, the way of life in between these points. No one knows the way, or what will or should happen next. How can a leader be important and show the way when they are limited. Never be important. Good government comes from many people who live by their hearts and not some important person's rule and direction based on their limited knowledge. The Universe can take care of itself. It does not need important people. People go crazy arguing about the Universe, though it has taken care of itself very long. Life is free -- the more you breathe, the more breath is left to breathe. The Universe is deathless. A human is like this also. They take care of themselves. There is an inherent undertone and current of health and integrity which takes care of a person. A person seeks a natural level with their Universe. Tao is quiet and unnoticed by the outside world. We live in the space (emptiness) of a house. Tao is empty of outside appearances. External orientation causes problems. Internal orientation is quiet and sensible. Life flows deeper than the rising and setting of the sun. A deeper existence is in each person as well. This is timeless. This cannot be understood, but it flows. "When the river is murky, be patient and let the rivers flow and take it's course, it will clear the mud." Accept life (birth, flowering, death) quietly and openly. Accept the flowing of the River. A good leader leads others to leading themselves. People lose Tao, distortion in the outward comes -- law, ritual, words, hypocrisy. This is not the inward quiet flow of life, but confusion and chaos. Again, words or analysis of life, distracts from life; status carries problems; law causes thieves -- these ways fail to bring happiness. Tao is in the heart, not in greed, status, or knowledge. People's knowledge is a distraction, their leaders are a fake. How can someone know the way for other people ? The material world is so important to people, they make their mark, while I am quietly nursing at the breast of life. You try to know or measure what cannot be understood or measured. Accept life that way, it precedes anyway. Yield to life forces. What can happen that cannot be mended ? Be natural following life, don't insist or force. Nature does not insist. Follow life naturally and you will be alive.