Religion: Lao Tzu on the Tao : wise quotes from the Tao te Ching

“Not going out of the door, the sage has knowledge of the world. Not looking through the window, he perceives the TAO of heaven. The more one wanders about among objective things, the less he understands.”

Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

"The sage does nothing, and yet everything is done."

Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

"Go far into the Void, and there rest in quietness."

Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

“There is one thing in the universe that we can not see with our eyes, nor hear with our ears, nor grasp by our perceiving mind, which our senses fail to perceive or our mind fails to grasp yet may be realized in meditation. …If we concentrate our mind upon it, our mind becomes unified with it and becomes as empty as open space. This is what may be called the form of the formless, the image of the imageless. It is as if we were in a trance. When we meet it we cannot see its face and when we follow it we can not see its back. If, in dhyana, we tranquilize our minds by the wu-wei principle of TAO, some day we will realize our identity with its mystery. Then we are true apostles of TAO.”

Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

“TAO is invisible but permeates everywhere; no matter how one uses it or how much, it is never exhausted. It is wise for us to imitate its profoundness; that is, to keep ourselves in quiet confidence as being the unfailing source of all things. We should hide our wits and competencies; we should free ourselves from worldly entanglements; keep ourselves always in humility and courtesy; becoming ever more socialized and personally disinterested. …Should we attain all of these conditions, we would become as still and transparent as the pure water of a spring. Then we would not recognize any spiritual forefather because no one would be worthy to be our ancestor except the perfect Father, the Great TAO.”

Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

“When people abandon the idea of becoming a sage and give up ambition for worldly knowledge and learning, then their innate goodness will have a chance to manifest itself and will develop a hundredfold. When there is no activity of thinking to interfere, there is nothing that the mind can not accomplish in the way of good self-development.”

“There is a primal essence that is all-inclusive and undifferentiated and which existed before there was any appearance of heaven and earth. How tranquil and empty is it! How self-sufficing and changeless! How omnipresent and infinite! Yet this tranquil emptiness becomes the Mother of all. Who knows its name? I can only characterize it and call it TAO.”

“TAO acts without assertion, yet all things proceed in conformity with it. …Even the conception of the ineffable TAO’s simplicity ought not to remain in one’s mind. When quietness is attained, not by ideas and the satisfaction of desires but by the practice of wu-wei, the troubles of the world will right themselves.”

“In regard to knowledge: the more one studies, the more he accumulates learning; while in regard to wisdom the more one practices TAO, the more his desires and thoughts are lessened, even to perfect emptiness of mind, all his innate excellencies will be developed and manifested.”

“The original state is eternal. To understand this eternality of emptiness is enlightenment; without this enlightenment one’s mind is engrossed in confusion and evil activity. …To be heavenly means to have attained Taohood. To have attained Taohood is to become unified with eternity. One can never die even with the decay of his body.”