CALL ME MAGGIE

Dao de Jing

Personal translations & commentaries on Lao tze’s timeless classic

  • The Three Horsemen of the MOOCpocaplypse

    A small foray into the political after a few weeks of mostly concentrating on spirituality. But not too far in as my concern is prompted by my contemplation. I want to thank my good brother Lance W. for pointing out… Continue reading

    The Three Horsemen of the MOOCpocaplypse

  • Absolutely Awake to the Encompassing

    I am sure that if you look through my site, you would find me to be some kind of Buddhist social critic. I post all kinds of Buddhist sayings as well as lots of material on the Society of Control… Continue reading

    Absolutely Awake to the Encompassing

  • On the Way to No-Thinking

    When in the seen will only be what is seen. And in the heard only what is heard When in the senses, only what is sensed And in the known, only what is known You will not be influenced by… Continue reading

  • Struggle Falling Away: Love

    “Here it is–right now. Start thinking about it and you miss it.”  Huangbo, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po “Meditation is very simple. It means to surrender the mind, the body, and the world, from moment to moment, to the… Continue reading

  • No Room for Improvements

    You would find your own life and the lifeworld itself flourishes with more gracefulness if you just let-go the need to improve yourself. Wait, wait: Don’t misunderstand me. Not recommending that you stop doing Yoga or meditating or learning skills… Continue reading

    No Room for Improvements

  • Along the Great Way

    “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Laozi “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha “Oh beloved Phaedrus, where are you going & from whence do you come?”… Continue reading

  • Already Falling in Love

    The deluded among us who confound power with political position and happiness with wealth propagate a great confidence game, a colossal con, a great grift. They believe and would have all else believe that the great succession of their material… Continue reading

  • Daodejing 22

    #22* Sacrifice the part & save the whole. Bend that to make this straight. Hollow that to make this full. That withers, this blooms. Lose that, gain this. Determined then, confused now. Thus the sages insist on the one as… Continue reading

  • Daodejing 21

    #21 Great excellence relies only on the Great Way (DAO) How does Great Way make the way? Indefinetely & vaguely. Though indefinite & vague, there are images. Though indefinite & vague, things do happen. Too small to see & too… Continue reading

  • Many Rivers, One Foot, No Certainty

    “One can, therefore, step twice, and even innumerable times, into the same river, if the river is located by its slope, its banks, its direction, its flow, as it is by any discriminating mind-body; but one never steps twice into… Continue reading

  • Intersecting Wisdom

    “Are you the new person drawn toward me? To begin with, take warning – I am surely far different from what you suppose; Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal? Do you think it so easy to… Continue reading

  • wandering, wondering: (a)maze

    Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the… Continue reading

    wandering, wondering: (a)maze

  • Comments to a Walking Meditation 20130205

    The good is one thing, the gratifying is quite another; their goals are different, both bind a man. Good things await him who picks the good; by choosing the gratifying, one misses one’s goal. Both the good and the gratifying… Continue reading

  • Mindfulness = Emptiness

    Mindful thinking properly becomes emptiness or no-thing. This begins by the inward turn. Being now/here, there is no then/there to which you can race that will possess all the things you “need” to possess. Continue reading

    Mindfulness = Emptiness

  • Controlled Accident

    At the heart of perennial philosophizing is an always developing mastery that we can, following Alan Watts, call “controlled accident.” Others have done far better than I could in really detailing what is meant by this oxymoronic usage. But if… Continue reading

  • Handling this Very Moment

    The present moment contains past and future. The secret of transformation, is in the way we handle this very moment. Thich Nhat Hanh, Understanding Our Mind A perception, sudden as blinking, that subject and object are one, will lead to… Continue reading

  • Squeezing

    “The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.” Mazu Daoyi Source: facebook.com via Keith Wayne on Pinterest Related articles Letting-go Hateful Circumstance by the Naming of the World (keithwaynebrown.com) ‘Squeezed middle’ struggle to save – Confused.com (confused.com) Arts already being… Continue reading