Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 8 of the Tao te Ching.

1. The highest good is like water;

2. Water is good at benefiting the ten thousand things and yet it [does not] compete [with them].

3. It dwells in places the masses of people detest,

4. Therefore it is close to the Way.

5. In dwelling, the good thing is the land;

6. In the mind, the good thing is depth;

7. In giving, the good thing is [being like] Heaven;

8. In speaking, the good thing is sincerity;

9. In governing, the good thing is order;

10. In affairs, the good thing is ability;

11. In activity, the good thing is timeliness.

12. It is only because it does not compete, that therefore it is without fault.

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 8 if you are not using iTunes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh8.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 7 of the Tao te Ching.

1. Heaven endures; Earth lasts a long time.

2. The reason why Heaven and Earth can endure and last a long time—

3. Is that they do not live for themselves.

4. Therefore they can long endure.

5. Therefore the Sage:

6. Puts himself in the background yet finds himself in the foreground;

7. Puts self-concern out of [his mind], yet finds self-concern in the fore;

8. Puts self-concern out of [his mind], yet finds that his self-concern is preserved.

9. Is it not because he has no self-interest,

10. That he is therefore able to realize his self-interest?

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 7 if you are not using iTunes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh7.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 6 of the Tao te Ching.

The valley spirit never dies;

We call it the mysterious female.

The gates of the mysterious female—

These we call the roots of Heaven and Earth.

Subtle yet everlasting! It seems to exist.

In being used, it is not exhausted.

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 4 if you are not using iTunes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh6.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 5 of the Tao te Ching.

Heaven and Earth are not humane;

They regard the the thousand things as straw dogs.

The Sage is not humane;

He regards the common people as straw dogs.

The space between Heaven and Earth—is it not like a bellow?

It is empty and yet not depleted;

Move it and more [always] comes out.

Much learning means frequent exhaustions.

That's not so good as holding on to the mean.

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 5 if you are not using iTunes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh5.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 4 of the Tao te Ching.

The Way is empty;

Yet when you use it, you never need fill it again.

Like an abyss! It seems to be the ancestor of the ten thousand things.

If files down sharp edges;

Unties the tangles;

Softens the glare;

And settles the dust.

Submerged! It seems perhaps to exist.

We don't know whose child it is;

It seems to have [even] preceded the Lord.

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 4 if you are not using iTunes.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCch4.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talked about chapter 3 of the Tao te Ching.

By not elevating the worthy, you bring it about that people will not compete.

By not valuing goods that are hard to obtain, you bring it about that people will not act like thieves.

By not displaying the desirable you bring it about that people will not be confused.

Therefore, in the government of the Sage:

He empties their minds,

An fills their bellies.

Weakens their ambition,

And strengthens their bones.

He constantly causes the people to be without knowledge and without desires.

If he can bring it about that those with knowledge simply do not dare to act,

Then there is nothing that will not be in order.

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 3 if you are not using iTunes. 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCC3.mp3

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.

This week we talk about chapter 2.

The sound quality is a little better but still needs work.

When everyone in the world knows the beautiful as beautiful, ugliness comes into being;

When everyone knows the good, then the not good comes to be.

The mutual production of being and nonbeing,

The mutual completion of difficult and easy,

The mutual formation of long and short,

The mutual filling of high and low,

The mutual harmony of tone and voice,

The mutual following of front and back—

These are all constants.

Therefore the Sage dwells in nonactive affairs and practices the wordless teaching.

The ten thousand things arise, but he doesn't begin them;

He acts on their behalf, but he doesn't make them dependent;

He accomplishes his tasks, but he doesn't dwell on them;

It is only because he doesn't dwell on them, that they therefore do not leave them.

Here is a link to the audio file if you are not using iTunes. 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh2.mp3

Thomas Brill and myself, Brian Parks, meet once a week to discuss the nature of existance and other topics of interest. We figured why not speculate on a specific topic each week just for laughs. Our first one is big. The 81 chapters of the Tao the Ching written approximately 300 or 400 BCE.

This week we start with chapter one. We are laypersons with no special training or knowledge giving our first impressions of the 1989 Hendricks translation.

As for the Way, the Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way;

As for names, the name that can be named is not the constant name.

The nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things;

The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.

Therefore, those constantly without desires, by this means will perceive its subtlety.

Those constantly with desires, by this means will see only that which they yearn for and seek.

These two together emerge;

They have different names yet they're called the same;

That which is even more profound that the profound

The gateway of all subtleties.

Link to episode one