Publisher's Synopsis
Legend has it that the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power) was the creation of a 160-year-old statesman who, disillusioned of political corruption, left his position at the Chinese Imperial Court. But his entrance to the high mountains was barred by a gatekeeper who demanded that before he pass on, Lao Tze write down what he had learned as a legacy to future generations. He complied. The result was this book. Following the tradition of ancient yogic masters, Lao Tze succeeded in purifying, integrating and mastering the elements of his animal nature. This is why many drawings of Lao Tze show him riding his ox, which symbolizes a sage-like ability to harness instinctive impulses to intentional goals, the better to reach humanity's ultimate, high mountain destination.What Lao Tze has given us in the Tao Te Ching is a vision of humanity's ultimate hope: the ability to maintain a sage-like balance between our instinctual, transitory nature on one hand, and our deepest, unchanging divinity, on the other - the experience of joining the manifest and unmanifest sides of creation in a seamless unity.Its 81 passages are saturated with the influence of the preeminent, enduring I Ching, which maps the laws of nature which Lao Tze brings to life in the form of relatable images and examples.Written at a time of wide-spread, economically draining wars, and therefore especially relevant to the current times, the Tao Te Ching offers insight into the causes of inevitable misfortune as well as an alternative, more harmonious approach to life.
