Who is brave in daring can kill or get killed [on a bus]. On the other hand, one who is brave in not daring, can survive or give life. Either approach can be...
April 10 Day 100 IMAGINATION Imagination is pale and fragile, Dreams grip with a false reality. Imagination can build bridges, Dreams can deceive. When we...
April 9 Day 99 HOMECOMING Where was Tao while I was gone? Wasn't I following it where I went? Do you think that there are two? After traveling awhile, we come...
April 8 Day 98 FAREWELL We part at the crossroads, You leave with your joys and problems, I with mine. Alone, I look down the road. Each one must walk one's...
April 7 Day 97 ENCOURAGEMENT One thousand miles from home, I open the same prayer book. Some nights it was only obligation; Tonight, it is comfort. It's best...
April 6 Day 96 CONSTANCY Clear sunlight on falling snow: fire and ice. Bare-boned trees stark to the horizon, Cold marshes, havens to ducks and geese. A...
If the people hardly fear what's dreadful, something greatly dreadful could descend. If people have no fear of force, then great force descends. So never mind...
April 5 Day 95 TRAVEL Body is the tabernacle. Traveling one thousand miles, The gods are still in place. The body is the temple of the gods. It should be kept...
To know that you do not know is best. Who knows that he doesn't know is the highest. To know when one doesn't know is best. Who pretends to know what he...
April 4 Day 94 PRACTICE Spiritual success is gained by daily cultivation. If you practiced for the day, then you have won. If you were lazy for the day, then...
My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice. Yet no one understands them; no one puts them into practice. But some of my teaching...
April 3 Day 93 CONFIDENCE Truth perceived gives assurance. Skill yields self-reliance. With courage, we can defy danger. To increase power, increase humility. ...
The strategists say: "If I dare not be the guest, then let me be the host. When I dare not take the offensive, then I'll take the defensive. If you doubt your ...
April 2 Day 92 ACCURACY Make every move count. Pick your target and hit it. Perfect concentration means Effortless flowing. A life that is spiritual requires...
April 1 Day 91 FUNERAL Hearse of weathered black enamel, Undertakers fingering cigarettes. Family, some crying, some bored, Some only thinking of themselves. ...
March 31 Day 90 LONGEVITY Contemplate in the morning. Pull weeds in the afternoon. The joys and labor of a single day Are part of a whole journey. If all you...
A skilful leader of troops is never oppressive with his military strength. The brave soldier is hardly very violent; The best fighter doesn't become visibly...
March 30 Day 89 DISENGAGEMENT Wearily I open my prayer book, Sepia photograph of sage on amber page, Flaming raven Sanskrit, strange syllables, Intone, chant,...
Every one says my dao is greatly like folly. Just because it's great, it looks like folly. Great ways don't look like the ordinary anyhow. If it did not look...
March 29 Day 88 INTERPRETATION The sage whose words are ambiguous you call great. Those who advocate discipline you shun. With one, you treat words the way you...
How did the great rivers and seas become the kings of the ravines? By being experts at keeping low. Therefore to be above the people you have to speak as...
March 28 Day 87 INTEGRATION Be still to know the absolute. Be active to know the outer. The two spring from the same source, All of life is one whole. In...
In old times those who practised a dao well, did hardly aim to enlighten people, but to make them ignorant and hold them that way. It seems that the more...
March 27 Day 86 IMAGES Sound, smell, taste, image, touch, sleep. Can you think without clinging to these forms? A thought without shape is rare, Knowledge of...
What remains placid is quite easy to hold. Not determined happenings can be prepared for well in advance. Before there has been an omen it's easy to lay plans....
March 26 Day 85 RETROSPECTIVE You could labor ten years under a master Trying to discern whether the teachings are true. But all you might learn is this: One...
March 25 Day 83 INTELLECT Scholars, drunk on words and obscure meanings, Weave a tangled web of concordances. Simple practice never occurs to them. Give up...
March 24 Day 83 PARTING You and I assumed forever When we became companions. But now, unhappy, you are leaving. The sky turns to bitter candescence Unslaked by...
Succeed in the magician's wu-wei: Accomplish seemingly do-nothing. Attend seemingly to no-affairs. And do completely without ado. What runs, acts without...
March 23 Day 82 ATTUNEMENT Traversing sun leads to a new season, Vernal breath attunes the leaves. Tao is here. It is we who are not always in harmony with it....
