The female always surpasses the male with stillness. In her stillness she is yielding.
The rigid and big belong below. The soft and weak belong above.
Do not make them (people) weary at their work. If you do not make them weary, they will not be weary of you.
No misfortune is worse than underestimating the enemy. Underestimating the enemy, I risk losing my treasure.
Who has excess and supplies the world? Only the one who follows the Way.
Cultivate virtue in the world, and it will be universal.
What Heaven detests, who knows why? Even the sage considers it difficult.
All things flourish, and each returns to its source.
People are difficult to rule, because of their knowledge.
The weak overcomes the strong. The soft overcomes the hard. Everybody in the world knows this, still nobody makes use of it.
The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.
Cautious, like crossing a river in the winter.
A good door needs no lock, still it can't be opened.
Rituals are the end of fidelity and honesty, and the beginning of confusion.
The Tao's principle is spontaneity.
The way of heaven is to help and not harm.
Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.
Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.
Filling life exceedingly is called ominous.
When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.
What we mean by Tao is the way or course of Nature. This way has nothing good or bad, it is a mere flowing of things following the development and decline attributes of the moment.
Lao-tze's Taoism is the exhibition of a way or method of living which men should cultivate as the highest and purest development of their nature.
The I Ching tells us that for every ending there is a new beginning. In other words, what appears like a transition isn't really a transition; it's a continuum of existence. If you close your eyes for a moment the room will appear to go away. But does it really? Open your eyes again and the room will still be there. That's all death is.
If there's no background, no foreground, no opposition, no complements, then there's no change becasue there's no subject and object.
Regardless of what you want to call it, guys need some type of spirituality they can grab onto. If it's Christianity, which is a very structured approach, or if it's something that's a little more open-ended... like, Zen's something you can make yourself a part of. You can interpret it for yourself, like Taoism and stuff like that.
