Tao Te Ching

Tao Te  Ching of Lao Tzu  is a book of  5000 Ancient Chinese characters, some of which are not in use now.  So translations differ and some of them read like different texts.  Again the subject is also an involved one, making a translator’s task difficult.  So a translation by a person, who knows not only Chinese and English well but also has a spiritual bent and is exposed to Eastern thinking without bias, may come nearer to interpreting Lao Tzu’s mind correctly.  The translation by Gia Fu Feng and Jane English is considered to be one such. Reading this without any commentary, and thinking about it, I find they may have captured Lao Tzu’s spirit in their work.  Maybe my own thinking that Tao represents Brahman, the Cosmic Supreme without form and qualities, and the opening chapter being eminently amenable to this interpretation in this translation, is at the root of my preference.  However I find this translation is widely used, as seen from many of the popular quotes from this book. 

This book consists of 81 chapters, no chapter exceeding a page which makes it easily readable.  Though one can read the whole book in a few hours, to understand it, even with sharp intellect may take days of reading and re-reading accompanied by subtle thinking on these words.  The topics covered are not only on Tao, but also on others like sage, virtues like moderation, humility, dispassion etc., the code for a just ruler, the futility of violence and war.  The language is not straight forward but bristles with paradoxes and aphorisms, as I mentioned in my earlier blog “Tao and Brahman”.

The first chapter runs as follows and its interpretation from my view is given below that.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.

The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.

Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.

These two spring from the same source

but differ in name; this appears as darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gate to all mystery.

Tao can be interpreted as Brahman. was seen in the earlier blog.  I want to qualify this as Nirguna Brahman, the one without form and qualities, as contrasted with Saguna Brahman, the one with form and qualities which is used in Upasana or Dhyanam and which is also referred to as Iswara.  Hereafter we will refer to Nirguna Brahman as Brahman and Saguna Brahman as Iswara. Iswara is Brahman with the power of Maya active.  It is Iswara who is the creator, preserver and destroyer of this universe and who is represented by various forms with names, used in worship.  So Brahman is the nameless and Iswara is the named mentioned in Chapter 1.  It can be realised only by a refined mind free from binding desires.  A binding desire is one that craves for fulfilment.  From binding desires spring other negative emotions like Raga (attachment), Dwesha(hatred), lobha (greed), Moha (delusion), Madha (pride), Mascharya (jealousy). Such an unrefined mind is lost in the material world and cannot visualise beyond the manifested world to understand Iswara, what to speak of  Brahman, from whom the manifested world has come through Iswara .  Darkness refers to mystery.  To such an unrefined mind stuck with binding desires Iswara itself is a mystery and Brahman a still greater mystery, a mystery within mystery, mother of all mysteries.
I give below a few quotes from Tao Te Ching which echo Indian philosophical thought and which need no explanation.

Being at one with Tao is eternal.                                                                                
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.   (Ch. 16)

Knowing others is wisdom;                                                                                 
Knowing the Self is enlightenment.                                       (Ch.33)

Tao abides in non-action.                                                                                             
Yet nothing is left undone                                                      (Ch.37)

Those who know, do not talk                                                                                    
Those who talk, do not know.                                                  (Ch.56)

Tao is the source of the ten thousand things                                                                   
It is the treasure of the good man, and the refuge of the bad.    (Ch.62)

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Tao and Brahman

Lao Tzu

The Tao that can be told 

is not the eternal Tao;

The name that can be named 

is not the eternal name, 

The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth;  

     (Tao Te Ching)

Tao Te Ching (The way and its power) was composed by Lao Tzu, as a record of his teachings, at the request of a guard.  Lao Tzu was a Chinese philosopher, who lived in the sixth century B.C.   He was the keeper of archives at the Imperial court. At one time he got disillusioned with people around him, quit his post and set out for the western border of China.  At the border gate, a guard, Yin Xi requested Lao Tzu to record his teachings for the benefit of people like him and that is how Tao Te Ching was born.  It is really a compilation of paradoxical poems.

Reading these poems one is struck by the similarity between Tao of Lao Tzu and Brahman, as revealed by the Upanishads.  Tao, meaning ‘Path’ and Brahman, meaning ‘Big’ are only just terms of reference for the Cosmic Supreme.  Both are only names given and not the name of the Eternal.

Lao Tzu’s statements are also in paradoxes like the Upanishadic truths.  One reason why paradoxes are employed is that they jolt our usual thinking process and make us pause and ponder.  They are pointing the finger the Supreme’s way and they want you not to look at the finger but in the direction it points.  For the Cosmic Supreme is not a thing or object of comprehension but one of realization by oneself following the path shown.   Guru and scriptures can only show the way; one has to travel that way and realize the Cosmic Supreme for oneself. 

Brahman is the cause of the Universe, both the material cause and the intelligent cause, as per Mundakopanishad.  Kena Upanishad states clearly that the one who feels or thinks he knows Brahman well, does not know Brahman at all.  So we can say even of Brahman:

The Brahman that can be told 
is not the eternal Brahman;
The name that is given 
is not the eternal name,
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth;

                                                                  

In verse 15, Lao Tzu states:

Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form.

Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound.

Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible.

These three are indefinable;

Therefore they are joined in one.

Kathopanishad speaking of Brahman says it is beyond the perception of all our senses; beyond form, beyond sound and beyond grasp, verbally and physically.  So Brahman is beyond all description in a positive way and hence undefinable.   We can only say of Brahman as it is said of Tao further in this verse 15:

The form of the formless,

The image of the imageless,

It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.

 In verse 26, Lao Tzu states:

Something mysteriously formed,

Born before heaven and Earth.

In the silence and the void,

Standing alone and unchanging,

Ever present and in motion.

Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things.

I do not know its name

Call it Tao.

For lack of a better word, I call it great.

The expression, ‘ten thousand things’, stands symbolically for all things created.  Not only are they created by Tao but also nourished by Tao and they all get back to Tao as given in verse 35:

It nourishes the ten thousand things,

And yet is not their lord.

It has no aim; it is very small.

The ten thousand things return to it,

Yet it is not their lord.

It is very great.

This means that Tao is not only the creator but also the nourisher and also final refuge for all things created  and Brahman is described as the srishti, sthithi, laya kartha for this universe, in Taittreya Upanishad.  Tao is described in this verse as very small and very great and Brahman is also described as smaller than the atom and greater than the greatest in more than one Upanishad.