With his 5th Pick, Ronald Pagan of the Cart-drawn Mountebanks is proud to select, in the Religion and Philosophy category:
Dao de Jing
by Lao Tze
Thanks to my hapless pursuits of arts and humanities in undergrad, I was forced to read alot of philosophy. Now, I'm no philosopher but I found the classic western philosophy to be fairly pent up and awkward.
The Dao de Jing is a
masterwork written by the mysterious and mythical Lao Tze. To try to describe this book would almost be unfair. It is the backbone of Daoist thought and the major work of the Daost cannon.
Why is it so great? I dont' know, it's simple to understand, it provides a wonderful way to view the world and live your life. Important concepts are WuWei which is the art of doing but not doing, and dan tiang which is channeling the power of universe through you.
This is probably worst write-up, sorry.
Here's the entire Dao de Jing:
http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html
Here are some of my favourite excerpts:
Nature is everlasting because it does not have a Self.
In this way the sage:
Serves his Self last and finds it served first;
Sees his body as accidental and finds it endures.
Because he does not serve his Self, he is content.
Tao bears us,
Love nurtures us,
Nature shapes us,
Circumstance completes us.
We worship Tao and honour love;
For worship of Tao and honour of love
Are performed by being alive.
Tao bears us,
Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
Shelters, comforts, and makes a home for us.
Making without controlling,
Giving without demanding,
Guiding without interfering,
Helping without profiting,
This is love
The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.
Scholars of the middle class, when they hear of it, take it half earnestly.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they hear of it, laugh at it.
Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.