standing up in the beginning

So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence:
As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.
These two flow from the same source, though differently named.
-- John C.H. Wu

thus in innocence we see the beginning
in passion we see the end
two different names
for one and the same
-- Red Pine

"Lao Tzu, this reminds me of my reply to some of my students when they were so desirous of knowing the end of things." said Jesus as the three of us were walking along through an open meadow.

Lao Tzu looked at him questioningly.

"I told them the place of the beginning is the place of the end."

Lao Tzu chuckled. "I bet they really understood that!"

"A few were starting to. They were accustomed to living according to the "outer aspects" and not according to the "inner essence," as you put it. They did not know that their outer perceptions are determined by their inner essence, that their perceptions of the world are determined by the quality and capaciousness of their inner being."

"So I gather you did not go into long philosophical discussions about this," said Lao Tzu, beginning to be uncomfortable with Jesus's amplification of his words.

Jesus laughed. "No. I responded with a question: Have you found the beginning so that you now seek the end?"

"Lord, Jesus! You are as bad as I am!" Lao Tzu doubled over with laughter.

"Well, I added a little more to it. I told them: Blessed is anyone who will stand up in the beginning and thereby know the end and never die."

We had climbed out of the meadow and were sitting atop a large rock, looking out across the serene and peaceful valley below. We sat quietly for a while.

Lao Tzu broke the silence. "That's true about never dying. When you know the beginning and the end, you know the source from which they flow."

the wheel we need to be

Jesus leaned forward and said: My buddy, Lao Tzu here, is always talking about the Way. I also spoke of the Way and it got me into a lot of trouble.

He continued: I said that I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me. Holy Moses! Has that been misunderstood! Let's get democratic here. My aim is for each person to be able to say those words with deep understanding.

Lao Tzu nodded in agreement: Yes, Jesus! When we know we are the Way waying, we live in a different world. Our consciousness has changed, as Georgie Boy would say.

I laughed and shook my head, appreciating his bringing me into the conversation: Georgie Boy? Well, I love you too, Old Dude.

Jesus said: I'm glad you two are having a love feast, but I have more to say. People set up a religion around me and that's okay. In the physical world, the forming always needs a form. The danger is that the form assumes priority and the forming hardens into set opinion.

Lao Tzu: Well said. I put it this way. "Thirty spokes converge on a hub but it's the emptiness that makes a wheel work."

Jesus leaped from his seat with exuberance: Yes! Don't get hung up on the wheel. The wheel will continue revolving and evolving. It's the boundless openness of our Father that we are to allow to embody us. Then each of us will be the wheel we need to be.

they look at me with amusement

[In my writing about Jesus and Lao Tzu, a triad necessarily exists: my consciousness state, the consciousness state of Jesus as implied by his sayings (Christ consciousness), the consciousness state of Lao Tzu as implied by his sayings (Tao consciousness). I find that as I sit and contemplate each of the two, a distinct personality of awareness forms for each. My role is to introduce them to each other within my own being. We merge while remaining distinct.]

Jesus, Lao Tzu, and I sit here together. They have twinkles in their eyes and merry hearts. They laugh sweetly at my desire to comment on their words. They do not comment on mine so how could I have such presumption?

"Because you are a sump pump," says Lao Tzu. We all three chortle at his word play. "You wish to pump in wisdom from beyond."

"The wisdom is here and walks among us. If we but have eyes to see and ears to hear." says Jesus.

I love these two. What greater friends could one have?

They look at me with amusement. We shall see what unfolds.

the Source sourcing

Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao.
Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name.
As the origin of heaven-and-earth, it is nameless:
As "the Mother" of all things, it is nameable.
(Tr. John C. H. Wu)

The way that becomes a way is not the Immortal Way
the name that becomes a name is not the Immortal Name
the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
the mother of all things has a name
(Tr. Red Pine)

Everything that exists arises from and is arising from our Source. Even now. Though Lao Tzu says no name can name it, he calls the Source from which all is continually arising the Tao or Way. Jesus calls the Source the Father. He says that he and the Father are one. So are we all.

A difference between us and Jesus is that Jesus knew it. We generally don't. We think of ourselves as separate from the Source, the Father, the Tao, the Way. By considering (a word that means by the side of) ourselves as separate, we ARE separate. We have named ourselves, have named and are naming everything.

We put our egg of consciousness on the wall we create between ourselves and our Source. What a setup! No surprise that the egg fell and splattered into a zillion pieces. No forces in the named world can put it back together again.

Jesus says that he is the Way. He is the Way waying, the Tao taoing, the Source sourcing. He invites us to do the same, to open our consciousness as the Source sourcing. As we shall see, Lao Tzu issues a similar invitation. .

Translations of the Tao Te Ching

Several translations of the Tao Te Ching exist.

I will consult the following translations as I go, but will quote directly in my posts from Witter Bynner's The Way of Life.

John C. H. Wu, Tao Teh Ching

Red Pine, Lao-Tzu's Taoteching

Victor Mair, Tao Te Ching

James Legge, Tao Te Ching

Takuan Soho (Tr. Thomas Cleary), Tao Te Ching: Zen Teachings on the Taoist Classic 

Ellen M. Chen, The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation With Commentary

Chang Chung-yuan, Tao: A New Way of Thinking

D. C. Lau, Tao Te Ching

Roger Ames and David Hall, Daodejing

Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching

The Way and Its Virtue

Previous writings in this domain exist, primarily Christ The Eternal Tao and Jesus and Lao Tzu, so why should I further complicate matters by starting a blog on the Tao of Christ? Because I love the teachings of Christ and I love the teachings of Lao Tzu and I experience the interflow of their teachings.

I use "Jesus" and "Christ" interchangeably, knowing that Jesus is the human manifestation of Christ and that Christ is the spiritual essence of Jesus. I regard the two as one.

Lao Tzu (roughly translated as "The Old Dude") is generally recognized as the author of the Tao Te Ching.  "Tao" is usually translated as Way, "Te" as Virtue, and "Ching" as Book; hence the Book of the Way and Its Virtue.

Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." In Lao Tzu language, Jesus is saying he is the Tao and Its Virtue. Lao Tzu did not say he was the Tao, but he did say It was birthing him.

Let us see as I continue this blog if I can let Jesus be Jesus and Lao Tzu be Lao Tzu without doing violence to either of them. My plan is to visit each of the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching and see what opens in a commentary on each one.