INTRO
Lao Tzu, author of the book of Tao Teh Ching, lived around 500 BC in China. According to history that was the period of warring state in China. China was split up into many states and each state was ruled by warlords who proclaimed kings over the country they ruled. And they were fighting with each other constantly for authority and power so China was in a chaotic state and the struggles among the warlords seemed never ended.
Lao Tzu saw this as a total mistake. He saw this as a hopeless case generated from the bad side of the human mind. Sick at heart, he rode on an ox and headed westward to leave the world behind. At the last gate of civilization a gatekeeper heard his lament and implored him to write down his philosophy for posterity. So he wrote the eighty one chapters of the book. The Tao Teh Ching
Lao Tzu saw this as a total mistake. He saw this as a hopeless case generated from the bad side of the human mind. Sick at heart, he rode on an ox and headed westward to leave the world behind. At the last gate of civilization a gatekeeper heard his lament and implored him to write down his philosophy for posterity. So he wrote the eighty one chapters of the book. The Tao Teh Ching
HISTORY
Lao Tzu, the author of Tao Teh Ching wrote his book 2500 years ago. It is amazing the wisdom of what he wrote not only applied then but is still evident and tested true in today’s world. His book, Tao Teh Ching talks about two things- Tao which is that mysterious thing that gave birth to everything in the world and teh, which is virtue, the practice of Tao, that keeps Tao alive in the world.
It seems to me from his writing, Lao Tzu, who had acquired the Tao, an enlightenment that it’s beyond human comprehension. And that the Tao whose powers to name a few, are omnipotent, omniscience and omnipresent. It is beyond human words to describe. He simply says it is a mysterious wonder.
Tao is what made the world work. Nature is part of Tao. Understanding how nature works is understanding the Tao. Understanding nature is wisdom, so if we work with the principle of nature we work with wisdom. And if we work with wisdom nothing cannot be accomplished.
It seems to me from his writing, Lao Tzu, who had acquired the Tao, an enlightenment that it’s beyond human comprehension. And that the Tao whose powers to name a few, are omnipotent, omniscience and omnipresent. It is beyond human words to describe. He simply says it is a mysterious wonder.
Tao is what made the world work. Nature is part of Tao. Understanding how nature works is understanding the Tao. Understanding nature is wisdom, so if we work with the principle of nature we work with wisdom. And if we work with wisdom nothing cannot be accomplished.
PHILOSOPHY
The book he wrote, called the Tao Teh Ching, explores the fallacies of the human mind. The human mind has two sides of perception- the good side and bad side. The bad side is generated by the wrong view such as greed, aggression, jealousy, pride and power. The good side is cultivated by kindness, generosity, love, sympathy, and compassion. The bad side has the wrong view because it conceives the world and everything in the world including power, materials, and even beauty to be permanent. It is wrong because there is no permanency in this world. The good side values kindness, generosity, love, sympathy, and compassion and these virtues lead to peace, tranquility, harmony and happiness in the world and is also in accordance to nature’s way.
WISDOM
Lao Tzu, in his book points out where we go wrong. We look at thing in the wrong way. We look at things superficially and we judge everything by appearance, by comparison. We ignore the reality and the truth. When we judge everything by appearance and by comparison we begin to discriminate and form ideas and that is the root of all evils.
He stressed that to correct the wrong we must start with the heart and the mind. He stressed the importance of cultivating virtues. He said building virtues paved the road to Tao- the ultimate goal of peace, tranquility and happiness of man kind.
The book called Tao Teh Ching talks about Tao Teh which is virtue. Lao Tzu should be credited for the earliest person in China who stressed the importance of virtue in developing model character for China.
He stressed that to correct the wrong we must start with the heart and the mind. He stressed the importance of cultivating virtues. He said building virtues paved the road to Tao- the ultimate goal of peace, tranquility and happiness of man kind.
The book called Tao Teh Ching talks about Tao Teh which is virtue. Lao Tzu should be credited for the earliest person in China who stressed the importance of virtue in developing model character for China.