I have been contemplating the Tao Te Ching — that ancient Chinese book of wisdom — ever since I first read it over a decade ago. My notes and thoughts on these texts are collected here, largely for my own benefit but free for anyone to use.

On the one hand, understanding the Way is not about the words used, as the very first lines of the book explain. Yet the translation you use can still make the difference between confusion and insight.

It is the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching that first grabbed me, and immediately convinced me that it was worth my time.

A master works within the eternal Tao, not within the rising and falling of the ten thousand things.
Realize that the world we inhabit day by day is temporary.