Dao de Jing

Personal translations & commentaries on Lao tze’s timeless classic

  • Carrying Over Laozi

    The translation of Daodejing proceeds apace. Dear Wenlong works harder than ever to help me understand the simultaneous complexity and simplicity of Laozi. The term “to translate” literally mean to move something from one place to another or to carry… Continue reading

    Carrying Over Laozi
  • Whispering / Glimpsing

    Now/here flows the Way. Not in the words but around them, atop, beneath, behind, before, and after them. When ever we write, where ever we speak, the words themselves should not be the focus of meaning. While we can determine… Continue reading

    Whispering / Glimpsing
  • Yen Hui’s progress

    Originally posted on Andrew Taggart, Ph.D.: We read in The Inner Chapters of Yen Hui’s progress. He had given up ‘doing good and being right,’ but Confucius tells him this is ‘not quite enough.’ He goes away and returns. He had given up… Continue reading

    Yen Hui’s progress
  • Poem for Kris

    as said by them sages, “just so” just so-just so-just so non-interference with the flow forgoing and slowing forgoing all knowing when we see “to – be” just sewing-just sewing-just sewing Related articles Flowing / Swaying (keithwaynebrown.com) Daodejing 25 (keithwaynebrown.com) Body… Continue reading

    Poem for Kris
  • Flowing / Swaying

    Knowledge is holding power: directing actuality or enabling skill. Thus, knowing thinks as a kind of doing, taking-up, having-in-hand, putting-to-work. Knowledge embraces interference (striking-between) not only establishing but proliferating differences, setting apart and breaking down until the world is an… Continue reading

    Flowing / Swaying
  • Boon of Dandelions 9

    Dozing content on mid-may morning Cool pillow against my cheek Iced coffee just enough to keep me from going back into dreamland Birds squawking at the humid heat Sun bright, day brilliant Writing thinking planning ———————- My futon is tight… Continue reading

    Boon of Dandelions 9
  • Daodejing 28

    #28* Knowing power, abiding in modesty; like a stream under Heaven. Like a stream under Heaven- never abandoning eternal virtue, returning at last to purity. Knowing white, abiding in black; like this order under Heaven. Like this order under Heaven-… Continue reading

    Daodejing 28
  • Daodejing 27

    #27* The one who masters walking leaves no footprints. The one who masters speaking makes no slips of the tongue. The one who masters counting needs no tally tools to count. The one who masters shutting the door needs no… Continue reading

    Daodejing 27
  • Daodejing 26

    #26* Heaven is the root of lightness. Tranquility masters recklessness. Therefore the Sage travels all day careful to abandon nothing. Even in the face of luxury, like the swallow he flies undistracted. Why is the King with 10,000 chariots reckless… Continue reading

    Daodejing 26
  • Alan Watts on Waking Up

    My buddy-friend-guy of 9 years, Christopher, has been listening to this a lot in the last few days. I always love to hear the voice of Alan Watts. And this one kept grabbing my attention because of the ambient music… Continue reading

    Alan Watts on Waking Up
  • Daodejing 25

    #25* There is a thing born of Nature before Heaven & Earth. Soundless, formless Independent, unchanging Always turning, never stopping. Regard it: the Mother of All. I do not know its name, reluctantly I call it the Great Way (Dao).… Continue reading

    Daodejing 25
  • Daodejing 24

    #24* A show-off never learns A know-it-all never shines A braggart never achieves A boaster never gets ahead All of this is most unnecessary Seen from the viewpoint of the Way The person on the Way avoids all of this… Continue reading

    Daodejing 24
  • Daodejing 23

    #23* Speak rarely like Nature. Typhoons do not blow all morning. Thunderstorms do not last all day. Who makes the typhoon to blow and storm to thunder? Heaven and earth. If even Heaven and Earth cannot sustain things for long,… Continue reading

    Daodejing 23
  • A Frank Prayer

    Oh thou endless Great Way, broad and flowing in profound tranquility, Where hatred happens, let there now be love; Where weakness occurs, fortitude; Where doubt arises, faithfulness; Where despair crushes, hopefulness; Where darkness encroaches, enlightenment; Where sadness lingers, joyfulness. Encompassing… Continue reading

    A Frank Prayer
  • Advice while Awake

    When the occasion requires, speak mindfully. Be timely, not untimely. Be decisive, not confused. Be gentle, not harsh. Be generous, not miserly. Be compassionate, not cruel. Oh beloved friend, mindful of internal & external feelings, comprehend how few occasions ever… Continue reading

    Advice while Awake
  • Walking Meditation 20130309

    “Everybody knows how useful it is to be useful; nobody knows how useful it is to be useless.” –Zhuangzi Contemplating how seeking after the future makes all things but mere tools on the way to success in a later-on nowhere… Continue reading

    Walking Meditation 20130309
  • AI, or Awakened Intelligence

    unfueled – uncompromised – undefined – unconditioned – unbounded : mindful #liberation : #nirvana — Keith Wayne Brown (@pahndeepah) March 1, 2013 Let me make this over the top claim: “Artificial Intelligence” is actually what we do on a regular… Continue reading

    AI, or Awakened Intelligence
  • Everything – Something- Nothing

    Thirty years ago, before I began the study of Zen, I said, ‘Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.’ After I got insight into the truth of Zen through the instructions of a good master, I said, ‘Mountains are not mountains,… Continue reading

    Everything – Something- Nothing