Tao Teh Ching

I finished reading the Tao Teh Ching this weekend while I was getting my oil changed at Expressway Lube in Spanish Fork. It could be that I just haven't attained a proper state of enlightenment but I wasn't all that impressed by the book. I felt like Lao Tzu spent as much time extolling the virtues of the Tao as he spent actually explaining the principles of the Tao.

I had an English professor in college that did the same thing. He spent half the semester talking about how much we were going to get out his class. He told us how previous students had told him that his class had changed their lives. I was excited at first. After all, if an English class could change my life for the better, then I wanted to be part of it. As the semester wore on, I began to have my doubts. If the professor was actually going to change my life before the semester ended he was going to have to eventually stop talking about how he was going to change my life and actually start teaching me something.

What I got out of the book was that the Tao was about leading a simple life and finding happiness in your everyday life. While I agree with this as a general principle, I felt like Lao Tzu took the concept too far. Here is a passage (#26) that particular disturbed me:

Therefore, the Sage, travelling all day,
Does not part with the baggage-wagon;
Though there may be gorgeous sights to see,
He stays at ease in his own home.

In my opinion, life is all about exploration and adventure and finding beauty and "gorgeous sights". To advocate not seeking "gorgeous sights" is like telling someone not to live.

Despite some general disagreement there were a number of passages in the book that I agreed with and enjoyed. Here are a couple of my favourites:

Passage #9

As for holding to fullness,
Far better were it to stop in time!

Keep on beating and sharpening a sword,
And the edge cannot be preserved for long.

Fill your house with gold and jade,
And it can no longer be guarded.

Set store by your riches and honour,
And you will only reap a crop of calamities.

Here is the Way of Heaven:
When you have done your work, retire!

Passage #11

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub;
It is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges.

We make a vessel from a lump of clay;
It is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful.

We make doors and windows for a room;
But it is these empty spaces that make the room livable.

Thus, while the tangible has advantages,
It is the intangible that makes it useful.