The 64 hexagrams of the Chinese classic I Ching and what they mean in divination. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link). 90 of the most spread false Lao Tzu quotes, why they are false and where they are really from. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).įake Lao Tzu Quotes Erroneous Tao Te Ching Citations Examined. 389 quotes from the foremost Taoist classic, divided into 51 prominent topics. Tao Quotes The Ancient Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. The great Taoist philosophy classic by Lao Tzu translated, and each of the 81 chapters extensively commented. Tao Te Ching The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained. My Taoism Books Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link). Click the header to see a list of them.Ĭlick the header to read a "fake" interview with Stefan Stenudd, the author of Fake Lao Tzu Quotes. There are many more fake Lao Tzu quotes examined on this website. This revised quote, attributed to Lao Tzu, was repeated in several books the following decades, and then on the Internet. It is A Guide for the Advanced Soul from 1985, by Susan Hayward (page 17). The first book after Howard's to use the quote, as far as I have found, does so with the exact shortened wording of the quote examined here, and accredits it to Lao Tzu. That quote, by the way, is discussed in the chapter Perfect kindness.Īnyway, it is safe to say that the quote discussed here originates with Vernon Howard, though reproduced in a slightly shortened form. On page 80 of the same book he puts a saying within quotes and accredits it to Lao Tzu: "Perfect kindness acts without thinking of kindness." He mentions both Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, but makes no claim to lend the words of either.Īnd it is clear that he knows the distinction. Howard makes it clear that he is not quoting, but explaining with his own words what he regards as Taoism's teaching. Be like a pebble carried effortlessly along the stream of life. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Don't resist them don't wish things were different. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. The earliest occurrence of this quote I have found in a book is already from 1967: The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power, by Vernon Howard (page 112). That still means it might be a free paraphrasing or interpretation of something from Tao Te Ching. So, the quote discussed here is close, but no cigar. It flows through places that people loathe. Water greatly benefits all things, without conflict. It is interesting that the last sentence of the quote suggests we should let things flow, since Lao Tzu liked to compare Tao to water. He might instead use the concept of 'ten thousand things,' which I and many others translate to 'the world,' indicating everything in the world. Lao Tzu might even wonder what it could mean, since he never discussed either reality's opposite or absence. What could reality be but reality? The quote would be better without this sentence. The third sentence of the quote examined here, though, is so superfluous that it becomes odd. The world is a sacred vessel that cannot be changed. Chapter 29 of Tao Te Ching states (my version): Trying to change this only leads to damage and failure. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).īecause Tao is simply the way things work in the world, it would be pointless to resist. To him, it was as fixed - and therefore predictable - as we regard what we call the natural laws.ĩ0 of the most spread false Lao Tzu quotes, why they are false and where they are really from. He certainly saw this process as natural, but hardly spontaneous. Tao, the Way, was to Lao Tzu the principle behind it all, ever present and ever the same. Well, things change but the cosmic order by which that happens does not. ![]() Its title suggests that everything changes and nothing can be expected to stay the same forever. Already back then I Ching ( The Book of Change) was a classic. The first sentence in this quote is modern in form, but still not that strange to the Chinese mind at the time of Lao Tzu. ![]() Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." ![]() Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. "Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
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