Tao

Tao in Chinese means way, road, path, or expression. From the outset, the book differentiates a path that can be expressed (lower-case tao) from the inscrutable, eternal Way (upper-case Tao). The Tao cannot be perceived. The Tao is directly discussed in chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 60, 61, 62, 68, 69, 77, and 81, often through figures of speech. The Tao is like a well, used but never used up. The Tao is older than God and gives birth to good and to evil. As the "Great Mother," birthing worlds, infinite, and eternal - never born, never dying, desiring nothing for itself and present for all. All things end in the Tao, which flows everywhere, and all things are born from it, but it creates nothing. Every being is an expression of the Tao and spontaneously honors the Tao. The Tao's love is the nature of things. The Tao is the center of the universe - treasure to...