Browse 522 quotes about Tao.
“He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.
The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.”
Source: Tao Te Ching
“Not all scars show, not all wounds heal,
But, in time, you´ll turn head over heels.”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm at the end
as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.”
Source: Tao Te Ching
“The only path wide for us all is love.”
“The straight tree is the first to be chopped down; the well of sweet water is the first to run dry. Sir, your intention is to display your knowledge in order to astonish the ignorant, and by developing your self, to cast a light upon the crudeness of others. You shine, you positively glow, as if you carried with you the sun and moon. All this is why you cannot avoid disasters.
I have heard the great fulfillment man say, “The boastful have done nothing worthwhile, those who do something worthwhile will see it fade, fame soon disappears.” There are few who can forget success and fame and just return to being ordinary citizens again! The Tao moves all, but the perfect man does not stand in its light, his Virtue moves all, but he does not seek fame. He is empty and plain, and seems crazy. Anonymous, abdicating power, he has no interest in work or fame. So he doesn’t criticize others and they don’t criticize him. The perfect man is never heard, so why, Sir, do you so want to be?”
Source: The Book of Chuang Tzu
“Lao Tzu's first paragraph in the book "Tao Te Ching" is that the Tao that can be told is not the absolute Tao.
Lao Tzu has his own logic, the logic of paradoxes, the logic of life.
To understand Tao, you will have to create eyes.
Lao Tzu believes in the unity of opposites, because that is how life is.
The Tao can be communicated, but it can only be communicated from heart to heart, from being to being, from love to love, from silence to silence.
Truth is always realized in silence. In silence, the truth is realized.
You reach to truth through silence.
All spiritual books tries to say something that can not be said in the hope that a thirst, a longing, is created in your heart to know the truth.
Tao is totality. Life exists through the tension of the opposites, the meeting of the opposites.
Lao Tzu says that the opposite poles of life are not really opposites, but complementaries.
Thinking is always of opposites. Lao Tzu says: drop the split attitude. Be simple.
And when you are simple, you do not choose. Lao Tzu says: be choiceless, let life flow.
Enjoy both poles in life, and then your life becomes a symphony of opposites.
How to drop the mind: do not choose. If you do not choose, the mind drops.
Live life as it comes - float. Float with life. Enjoy the moment in its totality,
It is to live as part of the whole, to live as part of existence.
If you become silent and empty, everything will come on it's own accord.
When you live without any desire for power, position, fame or success, the whole existence pours down into your emptiness.”
“If I knew then what I know now
I guess it'd make no difference;
Fate's sure in the way somehow.
What's important is the essence.
Although we still have free will
We also have a whole lot to deal.”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“Being bad is not good, and being good is not bad!”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“The highest goodness is like water.
Water is beneficial to all things but not contend. It stays in places which others despise. Therefore it is near Tao. The weakest things in the world can overmatch the strongest things in the world. Nothing in the world can be compared to water for its weak and yielding nature; yet in attacking the hard and strong nothing proves better than water. For there is no alternative to it. The weak can overcome and the yielding can overcame the hard. This all the world knows but does not practice. This again is the practice of ‘wu-wel’ and nonviolence. Water may be weak, pliable, fluid, but its action is not one of running away from an obstacle. On the contrary, it gives at the point of resistance, envelopes the object and passes beyond it. Ultimately it will wear down the hardest rock. Water is a more telling symbol than land… crossing the river to get to the other side is, again, attaining the state of enlightenment.”
“A seeker of radical strenght
Keeps everything on track,
Feeble force yields at length,
Not sure where to go back.
When one can't find courage,
And all the efforts seem vain,
It's advised to fight like a sage:
Be powerful like a bullet train!
Too much work and no play
Can make a brain go astray!
Determined to live and stay
Can lead life into a long way.”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“Every blade of grass
holds a headline.
Every tree base is a bulletin board.
You call it dawdling.
I call it research.
The Way isn’t a straight path.
It’s a thousand scent trails
braided into meaning.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“Still I return.
Still I sit.
Because something in me knows
doors do open.
Waiting isn’t weakness.
It’s devotion with patience.
It’s choosing to remain
when leaving would be easier.
You think I’m wasting time.
I think I’m practicing love.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“Noise is easy.
But meaning?
That takes discipline.
I’ve seen dogs bark just to bark.
Fill the air,
say nothing.
But I wait.
I watch.
And when I bark—
it lands.
The Way doesn’t shout.
It hums low,
waits for the right moment,
then rings clear as a bell.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way isn’t lawless.
But it laughs
when the line gets wobbly.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way doesn’t require precision.
It requires willingness.
You won’t always aim true.
You’ll underhand the moment.
Overshoot the chance.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way isn’t obvious.
It’s camouflaged.
It dares you to doubt what you think you know.
So pause.
Check again.
Sniff it twice.
If something feels off,
it probably is.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way doesn’t shove.
It shimmers.
It zips through the room
and vanishes with grace.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way isn’t just about direction—
it’s about timing.
Even eagerness needs rhythm.
You rush too soon.
You hold back too long.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“The Way doesn’t hurry
just because you’re anxious.
Faith is not in the pushing.
It’s in the patience.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“Humans measure things.
Dogs just move.
Joy isn’t stored in a trophy.
It bursts midair
when the paws leave the ground.
There is no shame in bounding toward nothing.
There is no failure in missing the ball.
The game is the game
because it moves.”
Source: The Tao of Dogs
“These are the three stages of enlightenment, the three glimpses of satori.
1. The first stage enlightenment:
A Glimpse of the Whole
The first stage of enlightenment is short glimpse from faraway of the whole. It is a short glimpse of being.
The first stage of enlightenment is when, for the first time, for a single moment the mind is not functioning. The ordinary ego is still present at the first stage of enlightenment, but you experience for a short while that there is something beyond the ego.
There is a gap, a silence and emptiness, where there is not thought between you and existence.
You and existence meet and merge for a moment.
And for the first time the seed, the thirst and longing, for enlightenment, the meeting between you and existence, will grow in your heart.
2. The second stage of enlightenment:
Silence, Relaxation, Togetherness, Inner Being
The second stage of enlightenment is a new order, a harmony, from within, which comes from the inner being. It is the quality of freedom.
The inner chaos has disappeared and a new silence, relaxation and togetherness has arisen.
Your own wisdom from within has arisen.
A subtle ego is still present in the second stage of enlightenment.
The Hindus has three names for the ego:
1. Ahamkar, which is the ordinary ego.
2. Asmita, which is the quality of Am-ness, of no ego. It is a very silent ego, not aggreessive, but it is still a subtle ego.
3. Atma, the third word is Atma, when the Am-ness is also lost. This is what Buddha callas no-self, pure being.
In the second stage of enlightenment you become capable of being in the inner being, in the gap, in the meditative quality within, in the silence and emptiness.
For hours, for days, you can remain in the gap, in utter aloneness, in God.
Still you need effort to remain in the gap, and if you drop the effort, the gap will disappear.
Love, meditation and prayer becomes the way to increase the effort in the search for God.
Then the second stage becomes a more conscious effort. Now you know the way, you now the direction.
3. The third stage of enlightenment:
Ocean, Wholeness, No-self, Pure being
At the third stage of enlightenment, at the third step of Satori, our individual river flowing silently, suddenly reaches to the Ocean and becomes one with the Ocean.
At the third Satori, the ego is lost, and there is Atma, pure being. You are, but without any boundaries. The river has become the Ocean, the Whole.
It has become a vast emptiness, just like the pure sky.
The third stage of enlightenment happens when you have become capable of finding the inner being, the meditative quality within, the gap, the inner silence and emptiness, so that it becomes a natural quality.
You can find the gap whenever you want.
This is what tantra callas Mahamudra, the great orgasm, what Buddha calls Nirvana, what Lao Tzu calls Tao and what Jesus calls the kingdom of God.
You have found the door to God.
You have come home.”
“Yesterday it was relaxation day. So I seated in a lotus position and closed my eyes to meditate. "Are you relaxing? I wish I had your peace of mind," someone said. "No, I'm working." I answered. Then I got up and started to paint. "Are you working now?" "Nope," I said, "I'm just relaxing... " When I finished painting, I showed it up saying, "Here's my piece of mind!”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“Silent our body is a sacred temple,
A place to connect with other people.
Can't we just stay any younger?
Really, we might keep it stronger,
Elated, rather than so tilted or feeble!!”
Source: ACross Tic
“It's all a series of serendipities
with no beginnings and no ends.
Such infinitesimal possibilities
Through which love transcends.”
Source: The Tao of Physical and Spiritual
“We suffer because our hearts are disconnected with the heart of the Tao.”
Source: Akashic Records Reading with Tao Chang: and Messages from my Heart for Healing and Transformation
“During my time here, I learnt that one could not escape the secular world anymore than one could escape the web of karma that one had sown. True enlightenment comes not from isolation but immersion. The monks in the temples never really abandoned the world. Their doors were always open, and they took up arms when necessary as they had demonstrated countless times before. Their severance with attachment was to connect them with greater compassion, a higher love.”
Source: Snow at Heaven's Edge: A Tale from the Carefree Swordsman Saga
“With whatever time is left to you, play your part well — perfectly. Play it as you want to be remembered. No more can anyone ask of us or can we ask of ourselves.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“The ancient sages tell us that it is only through daily self-renewal of character that we can attain and continue at the height of our powers.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Mentally focus your attention on the part of you that needs healing. Now slowly take a deep breath, slowly filling your lungs to capacity while you send the oxygen to the part of you that needs healing. Now slowly breathe out, visualizing the ailing part being healed.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“The way to peace is to be peaceful.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“You suffered, not realizing that the events were part of the plan to give you strength, wisdom, and good fortune.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“An event is just an event. How you respond to the event determines its outcome in your life.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“When we use our mind, not our brain, to think, to imagine, to plan, to wonder about existence, we are drawing upon the Taoversal consciousness that streams through us.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“In order for there to be light, there must first exist non - light or total darkness. Nowhere in the Taoverse would there be light. No stars. Total darkness. Zero light. The blackest of the black. Therefore light exists in total darkness.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“When we are proud of someone, they bask in the glow of our appreciation, as do we when we are appreciated.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Our destiny is not fixed. It’s a moving destiny, one that we constantly influence and shape as we move along our path toward enlightenment.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“You change your future and influence it by how you are being every moment.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Everything that was created changes. But time was not created. Time does not change. Time does not “ do ” anything. Time is a word we use to describe what existence exists in.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Your destiny is constantly changing according to your actions.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Your destiny was billions of years in the making.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“If you hurt someone intentionally, you changed your karmic destiny. If you were mean to someone, your karmic destiny changed to take into account what your meanness would create in your life and in the life of the person you were mean to — a constantly moving, shifting panorama of destinies.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Karma is Tao’s response to the sum of your actions.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“As you transition at the end of this life, your physical body will begin its slow transformation into the substances that will support other living things. Your consciousness, however, will not transform. It is already a complete entity unto itself.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Living your life authentically means living your life being true to what is highest and best within you without misrepresentation.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Living authentically means living as the real you without deception. It means you are the person you say you are, not the person you want people to believe you are or the person others expect you to be.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“As long as you treat seemingly bad things as though they are truly bad, you give them the power to be bad.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“So everything that has happened to you, that will happen to you, that is happening to you is perfect for you. Treat it that way, and your whole existence will change — perfectly.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“Once you have gotten all you need from a situation, it passes out of your life, never to return.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“The person with a joyous heart is a treasure to be with, a wellspring of inspiration, and a fit companion.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition
“When we are joyous of heart, we hear a resonance in the songs of the birds, see resonance in the opening of a flower, and feel it in the pressure of a friend’s hand.”
Source: That Was Zen, This Is Tao: Living Your Way to Enlightenment, Illustrated Edition