…the circle the yang yin, like this see. So yin means then the order of flow, the wonderful dancing pattern of liquid, because Laozi Picasso likens Dao Dowel to water. Water, the great dowel, he says flows everywhere, to the left and to the right, like…

…have her catch your fish. But for the fish to be pleasure you've got to know how to cook it and that's quite an art. Laozi, the Chinese philosopher, said: govern a great state as you cook a small fish. That means, when you have a small fish in the…

…towards one's neighbor. And there's a famous passage which is quite apocryphal because they didn't live at the same time where Laozi and Confucius had a conversation and Confucius is trying to explain to Laozi what charity and duty to one's neighbor is.…

…because they didn't live at the same time where Laozi and Confucius had a conversation and Confucius is trying to explain to Laozi what charity and duty to one's neighbor is. And finally Laozi says: what stuff, sir you are causing great confusion to the…

…Confucius had a conversation and Confucius is trying to explain to Laozi what charity and duty to one's neighbor is. And finally Laozi says: what stuff, sir you are causing great confusion to the people. Look at the sun and moon: they are unswerving in…

…magical connotation or a connotation of power and peculiar skill. So then, what I want to do is to discuss the main ideas of Laozi, and of course naturally we have to start with tao now this word in Chinese is it is connected with motion, going on and…

…the idea of tao the flow of life, the flow of events, the world considered as a stream, and water is very often used by Laozi to give the idea of tao, because water always takes the line of least resistance. Water is very soft and yet one of the…

…wound. You can't squeeze it, you can't compress it. Tao is always gentle you see always yielding. It is feminine, in a way. Laozi says: although you may be a male, always have a certain feminine quality, and thus you will become a Universal channel. That…

…and you will see that the detail is clearer. And so now there's another story with which I will exemplify this. Later than Laozi there was another Taoist Sage called lietza, and he had the reputation of being able to ride on the wind. Of course that's…

…be arise mutually, difficult and easy are distinguished mutually, high and low are posited mutually. And these are the words of Laozi, an old Chinese philosopher who is supposed to have lived somewhere perhaps around 400 BC the traditional date is 600…

…BC the traditional date is 600 making him a contemporary of Confucius but modern scholarship feels that he lived somewhat later. Laozi an almost legendary figure, who was supposed to be a court librarian who wearying of the insincerity and the intrigue of…

…the book known as the tao te Ching, the book of tao and te of the way and its power. My favorite picture of Laozi is however this one by the Japanese 17th century Zen master sengai, which shows him in the sort of disheveled and informal style that…

…of the most delightful characteristics of the whole of Taoist Philosophy. I don't know any other philosophical works than those of Laozi and his successor zhuangzi that are so eminently readable because they're the two sages of all the great sages of the…

…the way Chinese names are pronounced is rather different from the way they're spelled when you try to put the spelling into English: Laozi it really means the old fellow Lao means old and Zhi means fellow or sometimes boy the old boy and then his…

…is the art of sailing rather than the art of rowing. So if you say now one of the most famous sayings in the Laozi book is: Superior Virtue has no intention to be virtuous and thus is virtue. Inferior virtue cannot let go of virtuosity and thus is…

…a Giles's Translation, although you could always get a selection from zhuangzi in the modern library in lin Yutang's book the wisdom of Laozi. But zhuangzi is required reading. Really he is, for my money the most delightful of all philosophers. C h u a n…

…following nature of things, we achieve things. It is not our private ambition to interfere the law of nature. So that is why Laozi called Wu Wei Wu Wei it is not means doing nothing but it is non interference. That non interference means that not…

…it it goes with you and vice versa. So this is the whole meaning of the Taoist idea that is called mutual arising. When Laozi says that to be and not to be arise mutually, that difficult and easy, suggest each other high and low, subtend each other…

…the void, the Chinese will translate the sanskrit shunyata with their character that means sky or space. And the taoists would say, quoting Laozi, the usefulness of a window is not so much in the frame as in the empty space through which something can be…

…They are more like the taoists, because the Taoist is really actually in Chinese History. Taoism is a way of life for older people. Laozi the name given to the founder of Taoism, means the old boy, and the legend is that when he was born he already…

…Ching, and of course the basic thing in the whole philosophy is the conception of tao. This word has many meanings and the book of Laozi starts out by saying that the tao which can be spoken is not the eternal tao, or you can there's a pun in there…

…in death he is rigid and hard. Thus suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity and hardness accompany death. I was quoting Laozi, the philosophy of the strength of weakness. You know it's a strange thing how I think men in the west, and…

…a knife. It lets the knife go right through, but when the knife is withdrawn there's not even the trace of a wound. And Laozi also said that while being a man one should retain a certain essential feminine element, and he who does this will become a…

…seriously. Here is a Zen painter of modern Times, Saburo Hasegawa, a self portrait, and the writing underneath is a quotation from Laozi. The people of the world seem so satisfied, as if partaking of a formal dinner, as if climbing a terrace in…

…doctrine that a human being should always be rigid in conditions of suffering. I often like to quote a passage from that Chinese philosopher Laozi L a o t z u, which says: man at his birth is supple and tender, in death he is rigid and hard. Plants…

…I think, is the most easily available and one of the very best books for an introduction to Chinese Philosophy: the wisdom of Laozi by lin Yutang. It's published in the modern library now the advantage of this book is that it contains a translation of…

…Yutang. It's published in the modern library now the advantage of this book is that it contains a translation of the works of Laozi, the scripture that he wrote and the commentary. Well it isn't exactly a commentary on it, lin Yutang has so translated it…

…profound exponents of the daoist philosophy that ever lived. So these two men are both translated in this volume of lin Yutang's the wisdom of Laozi. L a o t s e, or you can spell it t z u by lin Yutang in the modern library, then books on Buddhism.…

…the whole world who is profoundly humorous. There's a book in the modern library published by random house called the wisdom of Laozi, and this is translated by lin yu tang, and he includes, along with the translation of Laozi, Huge sections of zhuangzi,…

…house called the wisdom of Laozi, and this is translated by lin yu tang, and he includes, along with the translation of Laozi, Huge sections of zhuangzi, and this is absolutely fascinating because of the humor of it. Indian Buddhism had very little humor…

…He often says people who are trying to help things along are a nuisance. All the do gooders. He has a conversation between Laozi and Confucius in which Confucius is prating about charity and duty to one's neighbor and Laozi says to him: this is nonsense.…

…gooders. He has a conversation between Laozi and Confucius in which Confucius is prating about charity and duty to one's neighbor and Laozi says to him: this is nonsense. He is just binding things on to people, putting burdens on them with charity and…

…it is by a certain man by the name of zhuangzi or zhuangzhu, who wrote probably about 350 a d in the tradition of Laozi and the tao te Ching. Zhuangzi elaborated the doctrine. But his whole work is full of the most marvelous anecdotes in which one of…

…kind of thing. And I have to tell you it takes an enormous effort to be lazy, to say: now wait a minute, go back to Laozi and never forget it. That when I see a man getting ready to put the world in order, I know there will be great trouble govern…

…back to a fundamental aesthetic principle of the Taoist Philosophy which underlies this whole thing it underlies Zen, originating from Laozi and zhuangzi, who lived somewhere around 400 and 300 BC. And very important in their thinking was something they…

…which we put around our homes, every piece of such driftwood is the uncarved block. And then there was something else that Laozi talked about which was unbleached silk you know how shantung silk is which has got little nubbles in it and is rather…

…suppose that last sentence is one of the most often quoted passages in the whole literature of modern philosophy rather reminiscent of Laozi saying: those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak. But as one looks over certain illustrations and…

…in sharp form. So in this way he says there is something incommunicable about all great arts. He says also following his mentor Laozi, the five colours make the eyes blind, the five tones make the ears deaf. That means if you think there are only five…

The subject of this seminar is going to be Taoism, as contained in the teachings of Laozi and zhuangzi, who lived approximately 400 years or more before Christ, separated probably by 100 years from each other. And as is often repeated, Laozi started out…

…who lived approximately 400 years or more before Christ, separated probably by 100 years from each other. And as is often repeated, Laozi started out by explaining that the tao which can be explained is not the eternal tao, and then went on to write…

During the last two sessions I've been talking to you principally about the philosophy of the Laozi book, the tao te Ching, and now I want to shift today over to zhuangzi. This zhuangzi, so far as we know, lived about 300 b c maybe a little earlier…

…lot of his wisdom he puts into the mouth of Confucius. He said that Confucius was one day doing this and he ran into Laozi and they had an argument and Laozi won. But then the next time he talks about Confucius teaching Laozi's Doctrines, and this is…

…of Confucius. He said that Confucius was one day doing this and he ran into Laozi and they had an argument and Laozi won. But then the next time he talks about Confucius teaching Laozi's Doctrines, and this is the immense confusion of everybody. But…

…didn't evolve a technology which was Taoist. The taoists were really interested in nature. If you read their writings in the Laozi and the zhuangzi, they are full of natural illustrations. The behavior of water, of insects, of the elements, are all used…