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The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching
By Demi Margaret K. McElderry Copyright © 2007 Demi
All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4169-1206-4
Chapter One Once Lao Tzu was asked how he found the Way of Heaven, and he said, "I made a great effort: I tried and tried and tried to find it, but I couldn't. Then one day as I was sitting under a tree, a dry leaf fell, slowly moving with the wind. The wind moved north; the leaf moved north; the wind moved south; the leaf moved south; then the wind stopped-and the leaf fell down and rested beautifully on the earth. Then again there was some wind, and again the leaf rose high in the sky. "Suddenly I became that dry leaf; and suddenly I understood the Way of Heaven. No longer was I separate from Heaven, but I was a part of Heaven. Wherever Heaven went, I went. "If it changed its mind, I changed my mind. If it stopped, I stopped. If it flowed, I flowed. And that is how I found the Way."
SILENCE
Those who know don't speak. Those who speak don't know. Close your mouth, dull your senses, smooth what's sharp, untie all tangles, shut out all glare, wipe away all dust. This is your real Self. Be on Heaven's Way without desires or dislikes, benefit or harm, honor or disgrace. This is being Heaven's highest, for one under Heaven.
KNOWING
Without leaving his door the Wise One knows everything under Heaven. Without looking out his window he knows the Way of Heaven. For the farther one travels, the less one knows. Therefore the Wise One arrives without going, sees Heaven without looking, does nothing, yet achieves everything.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching by Demi Copyright © 2007 by Demi. Excerpted by permission.
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