Tao Book: "Lieh-Tzu, A Taoist Guide To Practical Living" by Eva Wong

After the Lao-tzu, or the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-Tzu, the Lieh-Tzu is the third most important text in philosophical Taoism and is probably the most enjoyable to read. It is a collection of stories and fables that give very practical advice on taoist living. It is also required reading for anyone interested in Taoism.

Lieh-Tzu was a real person who lived around 400 BCE, about 200 years after Lao-Tzu. However, the text contains writings over a span of some six hundred years. The stories take place during the volatile Warring States period, when life was precarious and politics were deadly and full of intrigue. It is in this setting that Lieh-tzu offers us an alternative life of the hermit. Historically, there were many different kinds of taoists with different approaches to life. Some held high government posts and were active in politics as advisers. Some tried to bring about change within the system through reforms. Still others tried to force change from without through rebellion. And some Taoists withdrew from society altogether and lived as hermits. But even among hermits there were different reasons for doing so. Some withdrew out of protest against the established government and others were disillusioned with society and worldly life. Lieh-tzu wasn't a hermit for any of these reasons. He simply wanted to live the quiet life close to nature.

Lieh-tzu stands apart from other great taoist sages. Unlike many other sages he never held a government post. He is also the only sage I know who is married. He lives apart from government and society, but he has very concrete problems to deal with in everyday life. When people start to read about Taoism, usually they first read the Tao Te Ching, then later the Chuang-Tzu, and finally they find Lieh-Tzu. However, in China or at least Hong Kong, children grow up on the stories of Lieh-tzu long before they even know what Taoism is. His stories are simple enough for children to understand and enjoy, but profound enough for adults to ponder. Even writing this review was different. For Lao-tzu or Chuang-tzu, I think in terms of philosophical teachings or great quotes. For Lieh-tzu, I think in terms of stories. His voice is quite different, too. Whereas sometimes you feel Lao-tzu is talking down at you, as if from a podium and Chuang-tzu is laughing at you in your confusion, Lieh-tzu talks to you.He is the most approachable of the sages. Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu are too high and removed, but Lieh-tzu is someone you could be friends and spend time with. Also, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu teach us about what it's like to be at one with the Tao, to be enlightened or how a sage thinks; the end result, but Lieh-tzu shows us how the sage lives. He shows us the path to enlightenment and the struggles along the way. His teachings are humorous and he isn't afraid to make himself the fool of his own stories and show us his mistakes.

This is an excellent rendering by Eva Wong. It's not a literal translation, but focuses on readability and understanding. It is divided into eight sections, each with its own collection of stories;

Part One, The Gifts of Heaven: All things come from the Tao. It is indivisible. Yin and yang arise from the Tao. Humanity and all things are the products of the interaction of yin and yang energies. Your life, your body, your spirit, and your children do not belong to you. These things are gifts from heaven and earth. This is the natural way of things. It is better to use your time to cultivate yourself and "forget yourself" this is how to attain the Tao.

Part Two, The Yellow Emperor:Part two teaches about yielding. Things that are rigid, break. Things that are soft and yielding survive the storm. Yielding also means openness. Throughout the Lieh-tzu, but particularly in this part there are many stories of people who attain a very high level in a particular skill, whether it be fishing, swimming, archery, or taming tigers. This is done not just come through dedicative practice, but through opening oneself to the natural flow of things. This is done to the point when the barriers between oneself and the art fall away and you become one with it.

Part Three, King Mu of Ch'ou:Part three questions the nature of reality. In this way it reflects the Chuang-tzu, "Was I dreaming I was a butterfly, or is a butterfly dreaming he's me." Our perceptions of things are what make it "real". We have the story of the man who lost his memory and couldn't remember things from one day to the next, yet was happy and free of worry, but after regaining them, became miserable. Or the story of the homesick man who became emotional when he thought he'd returned home, but was mistaken.

Part Four, Confucius:This part is all about the sages. What is the nature of the sage and who is an enlightened person? Sages have abilities far above other people and yet often prefer to remain hidden, anonymous. To the enlightened, enlightenment is an ordinary experience attainable by anyone.

Part Five, The Questions of Tang:Part five teaches about attitude and our approach to life. Our attitude to things greatly affects the outcome. One of the best stories of Lieh-tzu is about the Old Fool. The Old Fool was so-called because he was always coming up with impossible or impractical ideas. One day, tired of walking around the two mountains which blocked his valley, the Old Fool proclaimed he would move them out of the way. But the Old Fool was in his nineties and frail and could hardly pick up a bag of dirt. Everyone mocked him, including his wife. But the Old Fool said even if he couldn't finish the project his descendants would carry on, until one day the mountains would be gone. Every day he set out with his son, grandson, and another boy to dig away at the mountain. Eventually, the gods heard about his plan. They were so impressed with the Old Fool's will and tenacity that they intervened on his behalf.

Part Six, Effort and Destiny:Fortune and misfortune, success and failure, life and death are things beyond our control, so why fret and worry about things we can't change. Better is to try and control our reactions to events. Here we have the story of Kuan-Chung and Pao Shu-ya who were both powerful ministers, but never let fortune or misfortune affect their friendship. The always kept work and friendship separate and were honest and true.

Part Seven, Yang-chu: Life is short, so why not make the best of the time you're given. Names, titles, and social status are empty and gone with death. My favorite story comes here. There was once a powerful Prime Minister who worked tirelessly for the betterment of his country. He also had two brothers. The first brother was a drunkard. He lived in a brewery and spent all his time drinking and partying. The second brother kept a harem of beautiful women and spent all of his time making love. to them. Which is worse, to damage one's health in pursuit of idle pleasures or to damage one's health in pursuit of titles and power?

Part Eight, Explaining Coincidences: Cause and effect, retribution and reward, coincidence and accident. Are these things real or simply the meanings that we give to events? It's all in how you think.

This book is a treasure. It's full of ancient wisdom in concise little stories that are both highly entertaining and profoundly thought-provoking. With Lao-tzu or Chuang-tzu, you have to be in a certain state of mind to read and listen to them. Lieh-tzu you can read anytime and get something. And you will, time and time again. I highly recommend this delightful book.

Tao Book: "The Essential Chuang Tzu" By Sam Hamill

In philosophical Taoism, the Chuang Tzu is the second most important book after the Tao Te Jing itself, which is the source of all Taoism. These two books, in addition to the Lieh Tzu, comprise the core of philosophical Taoist thought. Chuang Tzu is required reading for anyone interested in Taoism. It is not only important to Taoism, but one of the most significant works of Chinese literature. It has been studied by poets and philosophers for over two thousand years. Its importance continues today and it has inspired and influenced writers both eastern and western, including the likes of Walt Whitman and T.S. Elliot. The Chuang Tzucontains 33 chapters and is an anthology of stories and parables that illustrate Taoist thought on topics such as nature, government, society, and freedom. The first 7 chapters, known as the Inner Chapters are attributed to the philosopher Chuang Chou (369-286 BCE). Subsequent chapters, known as the Outer Chapters were written by others.

There are many translations available, but The Essential Chuang Tzuis the best for readability. Sam Hamill and J.P. Seaton have done an excellent job in finding a balance between literal translation and free interpretation. This volume remains true to the original text, yet is expressive, funny, and enjoyable to the modern reader in English.

Far from being a dry, treatise on philosophy, it is full of humor, wit and paradox. Chuang Tzu is a poet who is fond of rambling on. At times, he seems set on confusing and confounding the reader. His stories meander and take abrupt and unexpected turns. This acts as a karate chop that takes the reader out of himself and opens his mind to a new way of thinking. Take for example this passage from Chapter 2 about how opposites create one another.

“That arises out of this, but this is also caused by exactly that. This is the theory that this and that are born together.” And although this is true enough, where there’s birth, there’s death, where there’s death, birth. Where there’s a possible, there is the impossible; with the impossible, possible. Cause right and you cause wrong, cause wrong, cause right. Right? So be it.

Or another famous passage from the same chapter:

To use the finger to make the point that a finger is not a finger is not as good as using a nonfinger to make the same point. To use a horse to prove that a horse is not a horse is not as good as to use a nonhorse to prove that a horse is not a horse. Heaven-and-Earth is one finger. All ten thousand things are one horse Okay? Not okay. Okay? Okay.

The famous parable of the butterfly dream comes to us from Chuang Tzu.

I don’t know whether it is Chou who dreamed he was a butterfly, or whether a butterfly dreams he’s Chuang Chou.

In Taoism, the person of ideal virtue is the sage who follows in the footsteps of the Tao. He is the wise man who knows nothing, the one does nothing and yet, nothing is left undone. But what does such a man look like, how does he act? The Chuang Tzu speaks much of the ancestral teacher. Even in Chuang Tzu’s time, the sage was ancient, from long, long ago:

…such a man doesn’t permit good and bad to wound his body. He goes as nature goes and seeks no benefit from life.

The True Ones of antiquity didn’t know to take joy from life, didn’t know how to despise death….They climbed high without fear. They went into the water without sinking. They went into fire without feeling the heat. ….The had no need to sweeten what they ate, they breathed deep.

If I take life as good, I must therefore take death as equally good.

The whole world could prize him and he would work no harder; the whole world could call him wrong and yet he would persist.

..he neither pursues profit nor avoids loss…He isn’t married to the Tao.

Chuang Tzu shows us that we are the source of our own sufferings. It is our attachments to things and our insistence on judging things as “good” or “evil”. But the answer isn’t dropping out of life. The sage cares for the world, yet remains impersonal. He travel with the herd, yet is unaffected by right and wrong. He does what is required and knows when to let go. It makes me think of the Samurai of ancient Japan, who were ready for death at anytime, or the Jedi of Star Wars who fight for the good of all, but are not swayed by emotions.

The Essential Chuang Tzu is a wonderful book. It’s ancient wisdom that is so desperately needed in our world today. It sets an example for all to strive for in our daily lives. It can be read in a single sitting, yet take a lifetime to understand. You get something new every time you read it. You need this book.

Tao Book: The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu; The Greatest Book I Ever Read

Many years ago, I was living in Paraguay as a Peace Corps volunteer. Paraguay is a small, kidney shaped country in the heart of South America. As a volunteer, you have to deal with countless delays. Because of the weather, distances, transportation, work ethics. culture; the list goes on. You find yourself with a lot of time on your hands. As a result, like most volunteers, I became a voracious reader. Luckily, the Peace Corps office in the capital Asuncion had a great lending library. One day, I went in to stock up on books. I was browsing through the shelves, when I came across a small book with an interesting title. I had heard of it before somewhere. It was about Chinese poetry or philosophy, or something. I threw it into the pile of books I had, mostly cheap novels and brought them back to my site and the tiny little house where I lived. I put the little book on my bookshelf and there it lay for some time. Later, after I had read every trashy novel in the house, and with nothing else to read, I decided to give it a try. I sat on my tiny porch one afternoon and started to read. Even after the opening pages, it didn’t make that great of an impression. But when I finally settled into the book, and really listened to the words, I started to feel a stirring inside me. I sank deeper into the book and its profound meaning. My heart started to pound and I felt as if I were on the cusp of something great. I wanted to read quickly, to find more, but I stopped myself, not wanting to miss anything. When I finished the short book, I was in a daze, my head spinning; a kind of rapture. I read it a second and third time. It’s not that the words were so new, quite the contrary, they sounded so familiar, like a voice coming from within me. This was how I had always innately felt about the world and everything.

That was the first time I read the Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tsu(the Mitchell translation) and was the beginning of a passionate interest in Taoism. The Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing) is the founding text of Taoism (Daoism). It was written in China around 500 B.C., which makes it far older than Christendom. As the story goes, its author Lao-tsu was the archive-keeper of a great library. At his retirement, he decided to travel away. At the western gate of the city, the guard asked him to leave behind a record of his life’s wisdom. He sat down and produced this little book and then travelled west, riding on an ox. Actually, historians doubt whether there ever was a single man Lao-tsu. Even his name is suspect, simply meaning “Old Master” or “Old Boy”. The book may have been the product of several writers. Almost nothing is certain about its origins. Taoism is one of the three main religions of China; Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.

“ The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.”

The book is a guide for living, but also a treatise on good government. It speaks of the Tao, which is not a deity, but the source of all things. It is from which all things arise and to where all things return. It is indivisible, the natural way of the universe. The Tao is impossible to know or comprehend completely. It’s too big, but it is the attempt to know it that is important, not the result. The book and all subsequent books on Taoism offer advice on how to put yourself into accord with the Tao.

“We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.”

“We work with being,
but non-being is what we use”

The Tao Te Ching speaks of being and non-being. Being are those visible things. Non-being are the intangible, invisible things. Ironically, it is the intangible things which are more “real” than the tangible. Non-being can be the spiritual aspect of things we see.

“When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.”

The book is filled with dichotomy and apparent contradiction. We think of opposites and duality as real things, yet they are only concepts which create one another. This duality is expressed in the yin-yang which is the main symbol of Taoism. Yin is black, the feminine aspect, more passive. Yang is white, the masculine aspect, active. These two can never be completely separated. They each contain a piece of the other within. Taoism says that all things are the product of the interaction of yin-yang. I had always liked this symbol. In fact, I have a small tattoo of it on my right shoulder. I got it in college, years before I ever read the Tao Te Ching!

“Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.”

The text rejects the trappings of society. It is our very expectations and desires which cause us grief. And yet, it’s not about dropping out of society, but living in a more “natural” way like the Tao. The master or sage is impersonal and lets things come and go and follows a “natural” course.

“When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.”

Taoist philosophy is a more passive approach to life, but it is not pure passivity. It’s about not forcing things. Its greatest example is water, which is powerful, yet soft which always flows downhill and takes the path of least resistance.


Later, before I left Paraguay I put another copy of the Tao Te Ching in the lending library to return the favor, so that someone else might benefit. Sometime before the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, I quietly sent a copy of the book to each campaign headquarters with a message that any prospective leader of men would do well to read this book. We all know the result and the disasters which followed. I have no idea whether either candidate received the book. I’m guessing that Al Gore already knew of it. I’m guessing George W. Bush never has.

As far as classical Chinese texts, there are two other books that are a must read. Chuang-Tzu and Lieh-Tsu. They were both philosophers from ancient China. Chuan-Tzu has many parables and philosophical musings. The famous story of “ I was dreaming I was a butterfly or is a butterfly dreaming of me.” Comes from him. Leih-Tzu is full of even more stories and parables. Lieh-Tzu is more approachable and less intellectual than the others. His stories are a little more edgy and anti-establishment He seems particularly fond taking jabs at the philosophy of Confucius, a favorite target of Taoists. These three books comprise the core of Taoist philosophy. Honestly, I haven’t been very successful in living in accord with Taoist philosophy. I have too many vices. Caught up in the commitments of family and work, it’s been a while since I read them. Perhaps now it’s high time I revisited them.

Interestingly in Japan, most people know very little about the Tao Te Ching or Lao-tzu. Here he is known as “Roshi” which also means master, like Master Roshi of Dragonball Z. Buddhism is widespread having come to Japan via China and Confucius is well known and still studied. All Japanese know the name Roshi, but not much else. His philosophy never got a foothold in Japan. I’m not really sure why. My favorite image of Lao-tzu is of him riding West on the back of an ox. I was born in the year of the ox and I felt as if he were guiding me. There are many classical paintings of this image, but my favorite one can be seen at the National Palace museum in Taipei, Taiwan. I went to Taiwan on vacation several years ago with the main purpose of seeing that painting and visiting Taoist temples. Temples in Taiwan are amazing and so different from Japanese ones. Japanese temples are quiet, solomn places with simple dark colors and wood. Taiwanese temples are energetic, noisy places with bright reds and yellows and decorated with brightly colored, detailed dragon motifs and even neon lights! Unfortunately, when I went to the museum, the painting was not on display as the museum’s collection is too large to show all at one. However, I did find a nice, affordable reproduction in the gift shop and brought it home. It’s still hanging near my front door.

I strongly urge anyone and everyone to read the Tao Te Ching. It may not make as deep an impression on you as it did me, but you will come away with something of value, I guarantee. I guess I like the Mitchell translation the best, it was the first one I read. I have others, but any translation is good. I also have read and own many other books on Taoism. Let me know if you have any questions.