1 - The Tao that can be explained...

Chapter 1 (Original in italics)


The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name

To do something one needs three things:
One's consciousness, attention, dhyana
Henceforth to be called the doer, seer, speaker etc
The process of doing, seeing speaking and
Something to be done upon, seen, spoken of.

All these three will require one to be
In the realm of time, space, separation.
In the experience of the Tao all the above three
Including time, space, separation merge.
It becomes like one's deep-sleep state:
One is alive, one is one with the all
One is in some way even aware of it
Yet one cannot speak of it, name it
There being no separation or sense of separation.


The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things

From the nameless originates the world of names
Of time, space, separation; first of two major parts
Called Heaven (all the rest) and Earth and then of
Myriad further parts on both sides (involving the whole Universe)


Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations

Desire is always of something separate
Something with separate form and hence name.
So one without desire will naturally be seeing beyond forms and names
That is, at nameless, also called essence
And one with desire will be seeing its myriad forms with myriad names.


These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders

Essence and forms are eventually one
Like gold (essence) and its ornaments (forms).
But since being aware of the both simultaneously is difficult
Because here too sort of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle will apply
"Either you see forms or you see substance/essence"
 It becomes mystery.
If one fathoms this mystery - is able to see both simultaneously
Which is possible if one transcends the dividing mind
By experiencing the nameless like masters/sages do
One can see the whole in a new wondrous way
Which cannot even be imagined by ordinary people

Simple? Yes!

This author is of the well-reflected view that Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching was written around 400-500BC on BC era cycle. And that we as a global culture are again approaching the identical period on AD era cycle.

What the above in practice means is that just as a person will understand love better when he himself reaches youth, similarly, Tao Te Ching can be understood better now when the present global culture cycle is again reaching the identical period to the BC era cycle in which it was first written.

Secondly, this is neither a translation of the original Tao Te Ching nor yet a commentary on it. It is just an effort to present it in a more simple way at least as the author sees it.  Read, appreciate, tell others if you like, ignore if you do not.

Third, the original English text on which this writing is based is taken from www.Taoism.net and Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths in 2006 and translated into English by Derek Lin.


*Bertrand Russell in his book A History of Western Philosophy divided the AD era global cultural cycle from AD 0 to the present (20th century) as: Dark to Middle Ages, The Age of Romanticism and The Age of Reason. This author is of the opinion (based on his own book Self-Designed Universe which explains whole evolution in terms of myriad four-phased cycles each in terms of four basic forces or interactions) that post 20th century we are going beyond the Age of Reason and entering what he calls The Age of Intuition/wisdom. Same happened post Aristotle in BC era cycle, that is around BC 400-500, when in East such books as Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita were written. So in a way we are now again entering identical periods to BC era period.