Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 3/19/2007

Question
QUESTION: Dear John,

I wonder if you could offer some insight into Lao Tzu's 'to the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders'.

It seems to me that by stilling the mind and allowing 'natural' and unconscious processes to work and flow through you, it is you surrendering to the universe, rather than the universe surrendering to you.

There is something about the quote which I find very attractive and powerful, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Thanks very much,

ANSWER: Sorry for the delay, Ed.
Please tell me to what chapter of what version of the Tao Te Ching you are referring.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, thanks for your reply and sorry for my delay.

Unfortunately I don't have the reference,as I found it iosolation during one of my forays into philosophy on the Net.

Perhaps you could offer some insight based on the quotation out of context.

Thanks a lot.

Answer
Hello Ed,
There are very many different complete versions of the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) on the Net. It should be easy for you to decide for yourself first-hand what Lao-tzu is telling us. I personally also have a number of versions in my bookcase. My favorite is that by Wing-tsit Chan (on which I based my own Dutch version) and I recently acquired the new translation by Philip J. Ivanhoe, which they say is one of the best to date and which is not (not yet at least) on the Net.
Keep in touch if you wish.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda
http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/ananda.htm