At the
same time as Pythagoras was unfolding to his disciples the Pythagoric
Path to God, and Buddha was expounding the Dharma, or law, in India,
there was a third Venerable Master teaching spiritual truth in China.
He was
Lao Tzu, and his teaching is called "Tao-Te Ching"
Lao Tzu
was born in the year 604 BC, and his suggested commemoration-day is
24th March.
His name
means "old-young," and he has been called: "The Old
Philosopher."
He was
himself a symbol of that Mysterious Virtue and Supernal Simplicity
belonging to the servant of Tao, of which his writings speak. He was
a messenger of Peace, of Simplicity, of Humility:
The Teachings
of Lao Tzu though so ancient, are still quite new, and even modern.
In it are solutions to almost all the principal problems of the present
day.
The wonderful
freshness of the ideas propounded by the Old Philosopher is a striking
testimony that they are founded upon unchanging Truth: for, although
twenty-five centuries have elapsed since they first held the minds
of men, they are still today regarded as a corpus of thoughts of the
highest excellence and profoundest significance.
"Tao-Te
Ching" was Lao Tzu's only work, and might never have been written
but for his disciple Yin Hsi, who urged him to leave some evidence
of his teaching, when, at the end of his mission, Lao Tzu was on his
way to the Western Haven, the Abode of Peace. There in the solitude
and stillness of the mountain pass called Kwan Yin, he wrote his "Simple
Way" which breathes the influence of the spirit of that valley:
speaking of the Ineffable Source: and the Fathomless Deep.
"Tao"
is the Absolute, the Unmanifest ONE.
"Te"
is the Manifestation of Tao in the objective world-process.
"Ching"
means simply "classic" or "canon."
The complete
work "Tao-Te Ching" consists of about 5,000 Chinese characters
, contained in 81 short chapters, divided into two sections. In its
original form it possesses a peculiar and distinctive charm, a rhythm
of its own, which cannot be reproduced by a literal translation into
English. It is only possible to catch glimpses of this spirit - this
rhythm of life - by reflection on the words which veil and yet at
the same time partially reveal it.
The translations
which follows is a very free one, and differs from the other obtainable
versions, as they in turn differ from each other.
TAO.
The word
Tao cannot be represented by any single term since it has many
aspects.
Fundamentally, there are four distinct senses in which it can be understood.
Tao is
inexpressible, yet is ever being expressed.
Tao is the Plenum, and yet also the void.
Tao is not to be seen, yet shines through all that is.
Tao is tranquil and still, yet the source of never-ending activity.
Tao is the supreme Paradox, the Infinite Truth which never can be
uttered.
TEH.
Teh like
Tao, cannot be translated by any single term.
If Tao
is the Supreme Ultimate, the Unmanifested Absolute; then Teh is the
manifestation of Tao, the Universal Expression of Unity.
If Tao
is the Ideal, all-creative; then Teh is the Actualization of Tao,
the Objective World-Process, the Active-Potentiality, the Possible,
the unfolding of Tao.
If Tao
is Divine Providence, the Way of the Universe, the Giver of Grace;
then Teh is the Highest Excellence, the Grace, the Virtue, the Balance
of Tao made Manifest, - the Universal Nourisher.
If Tao
is the ultimate Goal, the Root and final Possession; then Teh is the
Realization of Tao, the Flower of Tao, the Universal Order, Spiritual
Insight and Interior Self-realization.
Yang and Yin.
The rhythm
of Life, which pulsates through the utterances of Lao Tzu, is the
action of complementary principles.
In the
"Tao-Te Canon" there is much suggestive of the ebb and the
flow, the action and inter-action of life and death, of existence
and non-existence, of the higher and the lower, of the inner and the
outer, of the strong and the weak, of the positive and negative, of
the full and the empty, of expansion and contraction, of the Universe
and our World. But this does not imply dualism, in the conventional
sense, because of the Unity of TAO. However, to understand the significance
of the basic principles may lead to a fuller realization of the meaning
of what only a paradox can contain.
Yang and
Yin constitute the Primal forces from which the idea of unity proceeds.
The Manifested implies the Unmanifested: even as existence implies
non-existence. This is because all things are encompassed by Tao,
the One Absolute.
Even as
Tao is in and behind and above all existing things, so also are Yang
and Yin.
From Yang
is derived the idea of their existence: from Yin is the idea of their
non-existence.
From Yang
is their activity: from Yin their passivity. From Yang is their power
to give: from Yin their power to receive.
In Yang
is their root form or paradigm and reason of existence: in Yin is
their root substance, or primal matter and basis of existence.
The active
composite of Yang and Yin is the efficient cause from which all things
spring.