Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

Verse 80 is so counter-intuitive and counter-cultural today. Why travel, when ALL one needs is where one already is. It’s called “home.”

While we can be like turtles or snails carrying our home around with us everywhere, we should first consider that we do not need to travel frenetically, to be home. This is a most radical teaching for a culture always on the move, where staying at home seems a life of boredom, where our collective...

Verse 79 is TTC’s main place where Lao Tzu frames “score-keeping” with “faith-keeping”. So in this verse we look at the various ways we injure ourselves (and our futures) with strict accounting of alleged slights we see someone giving us. The resentments build until one of two things happen: A complete breakdown of communication, or, the moment when someone stops practicing keeping-score and instead practices keeping-faith.

We’re a...

Today’s episode was recorded outside in Fairview, NC, where the 17-year locusts are partying hard in the background. Verse 78 contains the third of only three instances of the word “water”. However, Water serves for Taoists through the centuries as THE single metaphor or model for Tao Itself. Act like water and you will live, refuse, get all brittle, and you’ll break upon the rocks. Water wears down mountains. Iterodes hard places,...

Verse 77 this time. I call it ‘The Tao of Robin Hood,’ who was an equalizer of his (mythical) day, like Tao is all the time. In its yin-yang algorithm, ‘just enough’ is given to all, so no one lacks, and no one has more than enough. If another, ‘human tao’ interfereswith ‘Heaven’s Tao,’ then the yin-yang balance actually takes from those with too much, and gives to those with not enough.

In this episode Marc confesses his love of Ma...

As we near the end of Tao te Ching’s 81 verses, we see Lao Tzu revisit some high themes we’ve seen before. Today’s verse 76treats how our grounding and rootage in the Way of Tao leads to a flexible, supple, resiliency, which leads to a longer or better life than one dedicated to grasping, getting hard-set and inflexible. In today’s podclass I provide some practices and ideas for living softly and nimbly, as well as reminder of thos...

Verse 75 recapitulates some themes we havealready seen in Tao Te Ching. Today we focus on how these themes are not Lao Tzu’s alone, but have wide and universal appreciation throughout the world’s spiritual traditions, philosophies, psychologies, and artistic endeavors. Thiswas so fun for me, and I hope you enjoy it, too. May your days begin with unclenched and empty hands, to become the sources for peace and hope in your world toda...

As we near the end of Tao te Ching’s 81 verses, we see Lao Tzu revisit some high themes we’ve seen before. Today’s verse 74 treats how our prior grounding and rootage in Tao is ever and always stronger than culture’s siren calls to pay attention to the worthless, lifeless dreads and find  of thinking. We hear from Paul Coelho, Abraham Lincoln, Cornel West, and the book of Ecclesiastes.

Reminder! Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am ...

Verse 73 has a unique take and message for us looking for patterns in the universe to support our penchants for assigning “good” and “bad”, or “right” and “wrong” in advance as the universe unfolds around us.

Instead, this verse might tempt us to flirt with becoming a student of the “Great Maybe” – a life where we let others make distinctions where there are none, while we return to the original uncarved block of existence where we ...

Verse 72 has been translated several ways through the centuries. We look at these differing translations, and then focus on the power of fear to dampen our experience of Tao’s adjacent, fecund wisdom. We conclude that there is a “right fear” – such as fear of not preventing an injustice – that can influence us to act, and help us to overcome any inertia not to act.

Reminder! Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am beginning a new series...

Strongly-worded verse this time! Lao Tzu teaches about the subtle conspiracies of ignorance to dumb us down, weigh us down, & bring us down. But who anymore thinks of ignorance is an illness? Verse 71 teaches how Ignorance is not bliss; it is brutal, and can make us into the walking dead.

How to work with or overcome ignorance? We offer several ways to deal with the silent killer disease of ignorance.
If you want my collection ...

What’sthe difference between knowing something, and understanding it? Maybe to know something is a mark of achievement and pride we saturate with our words, while to *understand* something or someone is a wordless condition, a state where we are VERY close to our original birthright status in Tao.

I mention in the pod today a daily Buddhist wisdom email I urge you to subscribe to. Here is the link.

Reminder! Along with Chandler Schr...

Today, Verse 69. The centerpiece of today’s verse is captured in a story I tell about being in the presence of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It’s a story that anyone who has an enemy may want to consider. Today’s awesome guest is Chad Smith, and his contact info is here: https://houseofmercyavl.com/connect

Reminder! Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am beginning a new series of podcasts called “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religi...

: This verse 68 is a work-out from verse 67’s three treasures: unconditional mercy, simplicity of wants, and humility. A personoperating from this strong triad of foundational virtues is not lured by the hell of violence, and encourages others to see the heavenly, peaceful way.

Reminder! Along with Chander Schroeder, I ambeginning a new series of podcasts called “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion” to which you can subscribe now...

Chandler Schroeder returns as my associate today to help us figure out how the triple treasures of kindness, simplicity, and humility are part of our very being, or as Oko Yono said, “We’ve been filled with great treasure for one purpose: to bespilled.”

For the Buddhist listener, these three treasures are our guides to counter the Three Poisons (Hatred, Greed, and Delusion) you already know about. This verse is a fantastic reminder...

Leadership, whether in nations, schools and homes today is usually of a style that preaches, however subtly, “You need me to save, teach or parent you.” But the truth is that the leader is the paragon of being a follower. So once again, Tao overturns our expectations, turning our norms upside-down, where leadership is following, teaching is a return to being a learner, and parenting is a back and forth dialogue where parent and chi...

What a treat this time! I have a local Taoist Reading Club joining me for Verse 65, a community within this magical Christian church in Asheville called “House of Mercy”. We look at a most-timely topic: How government leaders hoodwink the people with confusing, "clever" information that passes for knowledge, and colonizing citizens into settling for less than they actually are.

Also referenced here is a localanti-poverty i...

Today’s verse 64 we return to consider how things begin, and how we can understand wisely how to (i) let them begin and then grow without my meddling, and (ii) how to live attentively to the entire processes range of Tao’s wisdom for living. Chandler Schroeder, who has been on our show twice already, is our voice today.
Today, Chandler and I announced there will be more podcast classes in the near future, in the YouTube channe...

This verse 63 will pair up with 64’s themes. (i) Act with simplicity; avoid meddling, so you can align yourself with the natural flow of life.

(ii) Pay attention to beginnings. The small will become large, so address your first steps or beginnings with care and foresight.

And (iii) live with true-true integrity, and focus on matching your actions with situations, and abandon the temporary ways of the ego.

The voices of David and...