The truth isn't flashy.
Flashy words aren't true.

Educated people
aren't always smart.
Smart people
don't always have an education.

Good people don't argue.
People who argue aren't good.

The Masters don't hang on to things.
They're always doing something
for other people,
so they always have more to give.
They give away
whatever they have,
so what they have is ( Read more... )

Lao Tzu had a dream
about a small country
with very few people.

They didn't need machines
to get their work done faster.
They took their lives seriously,
and stayed close to home.

They may have owned
boats and carriages,
but they never went anywhere.
They may have owned weapons,
but they kept those weapons
locked up, securely hidden.
They had so few ( Read more... )

Sometimes,
when an argument is settled,
feelings of resentment still remain
on either side.
What's the point of carrying a grudge?

The Masters care
about what they owe other people,
not what other people owe them.

People who are in touch with Tao
do their duty.
People who aren't
try to force others into submission.

Tao doesn't play favorites.
But if you do ( Read more... )

Nothing is softer
or more yielding
than water.
Yet, given time,
it can erode even the hardest stone.
That's how the weak
can defeat the strong,
and the supple
can win out over the stiff.

Everybody knows it.
So why don't we apply it to our own lives?

Lao Tzu used to say:
"Take on people's problems,
and you can be their leader.
Deal with the world's problems,
and ( Read more... )

Lao Tzu said using Tao
was like pulling on a bowstring:
The top bends down,
the bottom bends up,
and all the energy
is focused in the middle.

Tao takes energy from where it is,
and sends it where it needs to be.
But most people take from those
who don't have enough,
so those who have too much already
can have more.

So who in this world
is truly generous to ( Read more... )

A baby's body is soft and gentle.
A corpse is hard and stiff.
Plants and trees are tender
and full of sap.
Dead leaves are brittle and dry.

If you are rigid and unyielding,
you might as well be dead.
If you are soft and flexible,
you are truly alive.

Soldiers trained to fight to the death will die.
A tree that cannot bend with the wind
will snap.

Here's a ( Read more... )

People starve
because the government
taxes them to death.
People rebel
because the government
tries to run their lives.
People act like life is meaningless
because the government
takes everything they have.

People who know how to enjoy life
are wiser than people who value their lives.
-

The Beatrice Tao.

Daily Tao - 75

If people's lives suck,
and they look forward to death,
what good does it do
to threaten to kill them?

If people are afraid to die,
and the wicked are condemned to death,
then who would dare to commit evil?

But that doesn't mean you or I
can just take life and death
into our own hands.
That'd be like walking up
to an industrial buzzsaw
and trying to use it
( Read more... )

Those who dare to be bold die.
Those who dare to be careful survive.
So--what do you want to do?

Why is life like that, you ask?
I don't know.

This is how Tao works:
It doesn't push itself,
and it always succeeds.
It acts silently, and it always reacts.
It can't be summoned;
it comes whenever it's ready.
It can't be rushed; it's always on time.

"Heaven casts a ( Read more... )

When you show no fear at all,
the universe gives you something
to really be afraid of.

Don't try to fence people in
or grind them down.
Just let them be,
and they'll always be on your side.

The Masters know themselves,
but they don't reveal themselves.
They love themselves,
but they know
what their lives are worth.
They let go of all that
to concentrate on this ( Read more... )