TAO Wisdom Is Both Simple and Complex

True wisdom is inexplicable and inexpressible. That is to say, there is no blueprint for truly profound human wisdom. As a matter of fact, Lao Tzu, the author of the famous ancient Chinese classic Tao Te Ching, recommends giving up language because the true human wisdom cannot be expressed in words: Tao, (the word derived from the title of Tao Te Ching) which means the wisdom of Lao Tzu, is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and thus transcends any language.

According to the legend, Lao Tzu was born more than two thousands years ago with gray hair (a sign of wisdom related with age and experience). He lived in ancient China at a time of feudal warfare and constant conflict. At the city gate, riding backwards on an ox, he was “forced” to put down his brilliant ideas in writing before he was allowed to leave China for Tibet. Reluctantly, he put down his wisdom in 81 short chapters with exactly 5,000, but without any punctuation mark.

Tao wisdom in simple but profound; it is paradoxical but illuminating. It is all-embracing in that it is applicable to every aspect of life and living, even in this day and age. Tao wisdom is universal and timeless wisdom. To fully understand and internalize Tao wisdom in living, you must, first and foremost, have an open mind or an empty mindset that would be receptive to any unconventional thinking. In fact, you must not only think out of the box but, more importantly, create your own box of thinking. Your mind must not have any preconditioned ideas about anything. That is to say, you must have an empty mind for reverse thinking before you can intuit the true wisdom of Tao.

"Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.

Ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding."

(Tao Te Ching, Chapter One)th 

”My words are easy to understand

and easy to perform,

Yet no man under heaven

knows them or practices them.”

(Tao Te Ching, Chapter 70)

According to Lao Tzu, Tao cannot be expressed or described in words, because Tao is not a concept. Tao is something that existed before there were words, before there was human speech, before there was even human thought. Tao is something that one must live and experience in order to fully appreciate and understand what it is -- and that is the true human wisdom.

The simple answer is usually better than the complex one. There is much more to it than meets the eye, so we need to look inside of ourselves to fathom the unfathomable wisdom of Tao. Paradoxically, Tao wisdom is both simple and complex. The explanation is that it is simple and easy to intuit, but difficult to put it into practice. Well, maybe the human mind is complex, and that is why an empty mind is the prerequisite to understand Tao wisdom.

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Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau