The Gate to Infinity E-Book

Lao Zi

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 30

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

For over two millennia, Laozi's Daodejing has illuminated paths to a more fulfilling life through its profound and paradoxical verses. This new revision offers a fresh perspective on this timeless wisdom. Are you seeking deeper meaning? Yearning for inner peace? Does the elusive Dao beckon you? Whether you seek inspiration for meditation, a clearer understanding of existence, or simply a better way to live, Laozi's words, now presented anew, offer a guiding light.

Leseprobe

The Gate to Infinity

Daodejing : Laozi

Rendered by Steve Brandl

Foreword

This book presents an English translation of my personal interpretation of the Daodejing, originally crafted in German. Rather than delve into the speculative history of Laozi or the text's origins, I have chosen to let the 81 chapters speak for themselves. My aim has been to capture the essence of Laozi's wisdom in a way that resonates and is easily retained, echoing the memorability of the original Chinese verses. This is not a scholarly translation, but a sincere attempt to make this timeless wisdom accessible.

Any similarities to existing English versions are coincidental, arising from a shared inspiration.

May Laozi's insights bring you as much benefit as they have brought me.

Warmly,

SB

One

The way you are going

Is not the eternal way.

The name you are using

Is not the eternal name.

Incomprehensible is the origin

of heaven and earth.

Comprehensible is it known

as the mother of all things and beings.

Without desire,

one recognizes the miracle.

Full of desire,

one recognizes only the desirable.

The incomprehensible and the comprehensible emerge as one,

separated only by our comprehensibility.

Obscure unity,

Mysterious, deep,

the gate to infinity.

Two

If everyone knows the beautiful

to be beautiful,

then everyone determines

the unpleasant and ugly.

If everyone knows the good

to be good,

then everyone determines

the bad and evil.

Being and non-being

generate each other.

Heavy and light,

long and short,

high and low

fulfill each other.

Sound and echo transform into one another.

Leading and following pursue one another.

The wise soul

practices effortlessness.

Teaches without dictating.

Appreciates the nature of things,

without judging.

Creates without demanding.

Helps without expecting anything in return.

After the work is done,

let it go.

Only letting it go

ensures that it remains.

Three

Without overrating, there is no exertion.

Without praising treasures,

there are no thieves.

If desirable things are unheard,

the heart and soul are undisturbed.

The wise soul

finds fulfillment within,

not in the external.

Untouched by knowledge and desire,

full of satisfaction.

Do by doing nothing,

and there is nothing

that cannot be done.

Four

The Dao is like a deep well,

never overflowing, never exhausted.

Everything springs from it and returns again.

It is so deep,

the source of

all things and beings.

The Dao weakens the powerful,

loosens the knots of the powerless,

merges with their shine,

becomes one with its dust.

So deep hidden,

transparent, permeable,

as if it doesn’t exist.

Not knowing where it comes from,

born before the gods.

Five

Heaven and earth are impartial.

Human-friendly? No.

Like offerings of straw,

all things and beings

are equal to them,

neither favored

nor disadvantaged.

The wise soul,

following heaven’s Dao,

is equally impartial

and unprejudiced.

Between heaven and earth is a bellows, empty yet inexhaustible,

it leaves room for everything.

The more movement, the more powerful.

Many instructions, much confusion.

Better to seek harmony in the Dao.

Six

The deep valley of the soul,

also called the feminine,

origin of heaven and earth,

everlasting, barely noticed,

gentle, effortlessly giving.

A blessing that never ceases.

Seven

Heaven is eternal, earth is long-lasting.

Why are they so enduring?

They do not live for themselves;

selflessness is their secret

to patience and stability.

Therefore,

with the ego placed behind,

the wise soul is leading.

With the self abandoned,

the soul is sustained.

The self detached

leads to self-fulfillment.

Eight

True goodness is like water;

it nourishes everything