Readings from Taoism: An Overview

The point of a fish trap is the fish: onceyou’ve got the fish, you can forget the trap.The point of a rabbit snare is the rabbit:once you’ve got the rabbit, you can forgetthe snare. And the point of a word is theidea: once you’ve got the idea, you canforget the word.How can I find someone who’s forgottenwords, so we can have a few wordstogether?

Chuang-Tse

Sources:

☯

Chan, Wing-Tsit, translator and editor:

A Source Book in ChinesePhilosophy, 1963

☯

Hinton, David, translator:

The Inner Chapters of Chuang Tzu, 1997

☯

Lawall, Sarah, editor:

Norton Anthology of World Literature(Volume A), 2002

☯

Ludwig, Theodore M.:

The Sacred Paths of the East, 2001

☯

Mitchell, Stephen, editor:

The Tao Te Ching, 1988

Being & non-Being

We join spokes together in a wheel,but it is the center holethat makes the wagon move.We shape clay into a pot,but it is the emptiness insidethat holds whatever we want.We hammer wood for a house,but it is the inner spacethat makes it livable.We work with being,but non-being is what we use.

Lao-Tse, Chapter 11

Being a beginning. Being not yetbeginning to be a beginning. Beingnot yet beginning to be a not yetbeginning to be a beginning. Beingbeing. Being nonbeing. Being not yetbeginning to be nonbeing. Being notyet beginning to be a not yetbeginning to be nonbeing. Thensuddenly, being nonbeing. And whenit comes to nonbeing, I don‘t knowyet what's being and what'snonbeing.There now: I've spoken. But I stilldon't know whether it was beingspoken or nonbeing spoken.

Chuang-Tse

Change, Death, Transformation

Long ago, a certain Chuang Tzu dreamt he was a butterfly – a butterfly flutteringhere and there on a whim, happy and carefree, knowing nothing of Chuang Tzu.Then all of a sudden he woke to find that he was, beyond all doubt, Chuang Tzu.Who knows if it was Chuang Tzu dreaming a butterfly, or a butterfly dreamingChuang Tzu? Chuang Tzu and butterfly: clearly there’s a difference. This is called

the transformation of all things

Chuang-Tse

Knowledge, Names, Distinctions

The tao that can be toldis not the eternal Tao.The name that can be namedis not the eternal Name.The unnamable is the eternally real.Naming is the originof all particular things.Free from desire, you realize themystery.Caught in desire, you see only themanifestations.

Lao-Tse, Chapter 1

To wear yourself out illuminating the unity of all things without realizing thatthey're the same -- this is called 'three in the morning.' Why 'three in themorning'? There was once a monkey trainer who said at feeding time, 'You getthree in the morning and four in the evening.' The monkeys got very angry, so hesaid, 'Okay, I'll give you four in the morning and three in the evening.' At this, themonkeys were happy again. Nothing was lost in either name or reality, but theywere angry one way and pleased the other. This is why the sage brings 'yes this'and 'no that' together and rests in heaven the equalizer. This is called taking twopaths at once.

Chuang-Tse