skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Between the two of us, Marcus and I own three or four Tao de Chings. What is so appealing about this slight but hefty booklet for Chinese leaders? The paradoxical truths offered open up a type of wisdom usually understood only by those who have lived a long life. The verses teach that the path to strength is a yielding one. The path to dignity is through an investment in what presents itself to you. My favorite passages do this with a few turns of phrase that beckon you to sit back and contemplate the paradoxical nature of one's own efficacy. Below are some of my favorites. If I were to rename this book, I would call it "The Way of Grandma."
"Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water,
Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and strong,
For they can neither control nor do away with it.
The soft overcomes the hard,
The yielding overcomes the strong;
Every person knows this,
But no one can practice it."
Let's think about Buddhist compassion for a minute, and, since we were on the subject of nuns earlier, let's do it through the thoughts of a Buddhist nun. The question is: how can we best be compassionate? I would love to hear your response to this question since compassion seems to be at the root of ethics and I think we can all learn from each other. I do not think you have to be a Buddhist to have immense amounts of compassion, but Buddhists do, I think, turn it into a challenging art of life, which I deeply appreciate.
