The Tao Te Ching Summary – Ancient Philosophy
A 400BC-year-old book that gives you a test of the ancient school of philosophy, Taoism (or Daoism). The Laozi who invented Taoism will teach the three principles of life; Simplicity, patience, and compassion while doing so, you can master the art of living right.
The Tao Te Ching Quotes
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
“When there is no desire, all things are at peace.”
“If you understand others, you are smart. If you understand yourself, you are illuminated. If you overcome, others you are powerful. If you overcome yourself, you have strength. If you know how to be satisfied, you are rich. If you can act with vigor, you have a will. If you don’t lose your objectives, you can be long-lasting. If you die without loss, you are eternal.”
“When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.”
The Tao Te Ching Summary
A Chinese philosopher Laozi wrote this book 400BC-year-ago, surely it won’t be easy to read. It has been translated by many times yet it’s still hard to read and hard to understand what Laozi is trying to teach us.
I have tried my best and I will try my best to simplify this book for you but before you start reading The Tao Te Ching, make sure you know these things…
- The Book is written years ago and has been translated many times but still, the English is a bit hard to understand. So if you don’t know English or want to learn English then this is not the best book to start from.
- The author doesn’t explain anything, so you will have to understand what Laozi is trying to say to you. In short, it’s not for beginners, it goes a bit deeper into spirituality.
As I have said, The Laozi trying to teach us Simplicity, patience, and compassion.
As per him, if we can understand the real meaning of life by accepting reality and seeing things as it is, by doing so we can master the art of living rightly.
That being said, let me share with you three lessons from the book which I have learned from Laozi.
Let go of Everything
We all know, everyone will die one day, and no one is immune, the time will come and even you have to go but before you leave this earth, live the life you want to live.
Laozi has said that when you go to bed, tell yourself there will be no tomorrow. Whatever problem you have, leave those aside, go to sleep and tell yourself, if I wake up tomorrow, I will live in the reality rather than questioning the past or thinking about the future.
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Life is beautiful and it’s simple too, don’t make it hard because something didn’t go well as per your plan. You will get another chance and if not then accept the reality and live by the movement without doubting yourself.
Let go of your ego, jealousy, anger, and hate and understand that all of them are just a word, you’re the one who is giving the definitions
You Made Mistakes, Accept Them
One of the worst things you can do is to ignore the mistakes you made and please yourself that it wasn’t because of me, it was because of my friends, employee, or family.
Accept that, you made mistake and fix it because every problem has a solution, you just have to find it in the right direction but before that, you will have to admit that you made mistakes.
I know, admitting your faults is hard but if you can do it then you will never hide anything whether it’s your failure or anything else, you will accept the real you.
The Real-Me
Never hate someone or wish bad for someone because he/she said something bad about you or your family. When you were born, you didn’t know the meaning of F or N-word, it doesn’t mean anything, these are just words which we humans give definitions.
Money, power, and control are just emotions we have and they won’t stay with us forever, the emotion will change. You just have to understand the meaning behind it. Understand, why I get angry, why I hate this person, why I’m obsessed with this person and why I can’t forgive myself.
Understand the real you.
Conclusion
Frankly speaking, I have bought three translated versions of The Tao Te Ching to fully understand the mind of Laozi and I feel at a certain level, I have a bit of understanding of what he was trying to teach us.
Also, I love to read old books because I get to understand people and their thought.
In the end, I will say, It’s a good read and you should read it if you love to explore ancient times.
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