Lost verses of Lao-Tzu
Posted by majutsu on April 9, 2008
Two fun selections:
1
“Man’s desire for control is always greater than his desire for justice. Therefore:
The people submit their freedom for stability, the control over disorder.
The government commits any atrocity for wealth, a greater control over more subjects.
And the mystic seeks to understand, to gain control over confusion, rather than confront.
And so folly is heaped on folly until we learn to desire justice more than control.”
2
“Every day a young man took a fishing net to the river. He would fill his net with a certain number of smooth, small river-stones. Then he would lift the bag from the ground clear over his head with a mighty push. Every day he added one more stone to the bag, day after day, year after year.
He noticed that sometimes he was sad, but he would lift his duty of stones easily. Sometimes he was happy, or maybe had too much wine and fun the night before, and the stones would be hard to lift. He learned that his being happy or sad was like a dream. If it didn’t matter to his own arms and legs, what did his happiness matter to his wife, his children, his friends, or his government? He also learned that when something weighed on his mind, he had to put it aside, or that burden and the stones together would be too much to lift.
In this way the stone-lifter grew very strong and very wise through work and duty.”
