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Lao Tse is the sixth century BCE author of the ''Tao Te Ching''. Taoism follows his teachings.
[[File:DaodeTianzun.jpg|200px||right|Lao Tse, depicted as Daode Tianzun]]


See also: [[Ten Primordial Masters]]
== Excerpts ==


==From [http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sahajhist  Saints, Sufis and Yogis]==
There was another great, great philosopher who was called as Lao–Tse, of a very high spirituality like a great incarnation of a Master. (1995-09-13 public program)


Lao Tse in China has very beautifully, described as Tao, meaning the Kundalini. I have had a voyage through the Yangtze River through which Lao Tse had gone many times. I know he was trying to show that river, which is the Kundalini, is flowing towards the sea and one should not be tempted by the nature that is around. The nature around the Yangtze River is very, very beautiful, no doubt, but one has to go through the river. Also, there are lots of currents which flow and can be quite dangerous, and we need a good navigator who should take his ship across to the point where it is nearer the sea. At that stage, it becomes very silent and extremely simple in its flow. [China] has been endowed with great philosophers. I would say the greatest was Lao Tse because humanism was for the preparation of human beings for their ascent, about which Lao Tse had spoken. (1995-09-13 UN Conference on Women)


Lao Tse ('Old Master') is traditionally considered the author of the ''Tao te ching'', the seminal text of the Taoist tradition. He is considered to be a contemporary of Confucius.  
Tao means what you are. [Lao Tse] describes very nicely, that when you are that, what happens. Now, the gap was how to achieve that state. How to reach that state was not given. He only described people who were Tao, who were realized souls, who were of what level I wonder. I was surprised that he never said about the Kundalini, but he talked about the River Yangtze. That it is the Yangtze River, in a symbolic way, he was more poetic. But ultimately reaching the ocean, that river becomes the ocean and ... the qualities of the ocean he described so beautifully. (2001-03-20)


Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has stated that Lao Tse is one of the ten incarnations of the Primordial Master, and that the Tao is the Kundalini:
Lao Tse said ... that when a wise sees the way, he respects it and says this is the way. That is the sign of a wise man. And a mediocre [person] who is half way this way and that way, when he sees the way, he waits for others to go into it. And when the stupid sees the way, he laughs. But when the wise sees the stupid in himself, he laughs. So that power of wisdom starts shining through you, you become a wise, righteous, virtuous man. And such a balance you develop. (1984-07-08)


Lao Tse in China has very beautifully described Tao, meaning the Kundalini. And I have had a voyage through the Yangtze River through which Lao Tse had gone many times. I know he was trying to show that this river which is the Kundalini, is flowing towards the sea and one should not be tempted by the nature that is around. The nature around the Yangtze River is very, very beautiful, no doubt, but one has to go through the river. Also there are lots of currents which flow and can be quite dangerous and we need a good navigator who should take his ship across to the point where it is nearer the sea. At that stage it becomes very silent and extremely simple in its flow.  (1995-0913)
See also: [[Ten Primordial Masters]]


In 1990 in Hong Kong, Shri Mataji observed that Lao Tse was working out the left side, and that Confucius was working out the right side. (reported by Alex Henshaw)
== Misc ==
 
 
There is one thing that is invariably complete.
Before Heaven and Earth were, it is already there:
so still, so lonely.
Alone it stands and does not change.
It turns in a circle and does not endanger itself.
One may call it 'the Mother of the World’.
I do not know its name.
I call it TAO. …  (''Tao te ching'' 25)
 
 
The world has a beginning:
that is the Mother of the World.
Whosoever finds the mother
in order to know the sons;
whosoever knows the sons
and returns to the mother:
he will not be in danger all his life long.  (''Tao te Ching'' 52)


Lao Tse is the sixth century BCE author of the ''Tao Te Ching''. Taoism follows his teachings.


Lao Tse is one of the ten Adi Gurus or Primordial Masters.


Bibliography:
Lao Tse has been credited with saying: "Not knowing that one knows is the best. Thinking that one knows when one does not know is sickness. Only when one becomes sick of this sickness can one be free from sickness. The sage is never sick. Because he is sick of this sickness, therefore he is never sick."
''Tao Te Ching: the book of meaning and life'', translation by Richard Wilhelm and H.C.Oswald (London: Arkana (Routledge), 1985);
[http://www.divinecoolbreeze.org/DCB-magazine/NIRMALA-YOGA/Maha-Avatar/Maha-Avatar-JulySeptember-1980/] ''Maha Avatar'', July-September 1981, page 29
''Tao Te Ching'', translated by Ellen M.Chen (Paragon House, 1989);
Alan Chan, ‘Laozi’ [2013] ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/ ;
E.M.Chen, ‘Tao as the Great Mother and the influence of motherly love in the shaping of Chinese philosophy’, ''History of Religions'' 14(1), 1974:51-73;
‘Confucius and Lao Tse’
http://sahaj-az.blogspot.com/2007/11/confucius-and-lao-tse.html ;
Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, ''Women in Daoism'' (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2003);
Alex Henshaw, ‘The left and right side’ in ''Eternally Inspiring Recollections of our Divine Mother'', edited by Linda J.Williams (London: Blossomtime Publishing, 2nd ed., 2013), vol.5:125

Latest revision as of 18:15, 19 October 2016

Lao Tse, depicted as Daode Tianzun
Lao Tse, depicted as Daode Tianzun

Excerpts

There was another great, great philosopher who was called as Lao–Tse, of a very high spirituality like a great incarnation of a Master. (1995-09-13 public program)

Lao Tse in China has very beautifully, described as Tao, meaning the Kundalini. I have had a voyage through the Yangtze River through which Lao Tse had gone many times. I know he was trying to show that river, which is the Kundalini, is flowing towards the sea and one should not be tempted by the nature that is around. The nature around the Yangtze River is very, very beautiful, no doubt, but one has to go through the river. Also, there are lots of currents which flow and can be quite dangerous, and we need a good navigator who should take his ship across to the point where it is nearer the sea. At that stage, it becomes very silent and extremely simple in its flow. [China] has been endowed with great philosophers. I would say the greatest was Lao Tse because humanism was for the preparation of human beings for their ascent, about which Lao Tse had spoken. (1995-09-13 UN Conference on Women)

Tao means what you are. [Lao Tse] describes very nicely, that when you are that, what happens. Now, the gap was how to achieve that state. How to reach that state was not given. He only described people who were Tao, who were realized souls, who were of what level I wonder. I was surprised that he never said about the Kundalini, but he talked about the River Yangtze. That it is the Yangtze River, in a symbolic way, he was more poetic. But ultimately reaching the ocean, that river becomes the ocean and ... the qualities of the ocean he described so beautifully. (2001-03-20)

Lao Tse said ... that when a wise sees the way, he respects it and says this is the way. That is the sign of a wise man. And a mediocre [person] who is half way this way and that way, when he sees the way, he waits for others to go into it. And when the stupid sees the way, he laughs. But when the wise sees the stupid in himself, he laughs. So that power of wisdom starts shining through you, you become a wise, righteous, virtuous man. And such a balance you develop. (1984-07-08)

See also: Ten Primordial Masters

Misc

Lao Tse is the sixth century BCE author of the Tao Te Ching. Taoism follows his teachings.

Lao Tse is one of the ten Adi Gurus or Primordial Masters.

Lao Tse has been credited with saying: "Not knowing that one knows is the best. Thinking that one knows when one does not know is sickness. Only when one becomes sick of this sickness can one be free from sickness. The sage is never sick. Because he is sick of this sickness, therefore he is never sick." [1] Maha Avatar, July-September 1981, page 29

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