What Is Tao?

In China the symbol in the center is also known as Tai Chi, the symbol for the two fundamental principles, the positive and the negative, the yang and the yin that are held to lie at the root of all phenomena in the world. The Chinese character for the word yang looks like a fish; it represents the light side, and means the southern or bright side

In other words, when we think of beauty we know very clearly what beauty is, but it is absolutely impossible to write down a set of laws and rules that can show us how to create beautiful objects.

In the same way, you will find that if you look up “to be” in a dictionary, it is defined as “to exist.” Then when you look up “to exist,” you will find it defined as “to be.” And are you any the wiser? A dictionary cannot really completely define itself; ultimately it can only put words together that correspond to other words. In this sense, to tr

Lao-tzu also said, “Those who speak, do not know; those who know, do not speak.”

The warning for us in this, whereby we might take advantage of their mistake, is to realize that we are doing the same thing with scientific method. There are certain kinds of personalities who tend to become very rigid in their scientific ideas and thereafter automatically exclude certain possibilities because they do not happen to conform with al

But there is a tremendous necessity for us to value — alongside, as it were, the aggressive, masculine element symbolized by the sword — the receptive feminine element symbolized, perhaps, by the open flower. After all, our human senses are not knives, they are not hooks; they are the soft veil of the eye, the delicate drum of the ear, the soft ski

Every stream, every road, if followed persistently and meticulously to its end, leads nowhere at all.

“The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

Many a time I have had intense delight listening to some hidden waterfall in the mountain canyon, a sound made all the more wonderful since I have set aside the urge to ferret the thing out, and clear up the mystery. I no longer need to find out just where the stream comes from and where it goes. Every stream, every road, if followed persistently a