A detailed exploration of Chapter 14 of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, “Praising The Mysterious.” May 8, 1988

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, provides a detailed exploration of Chapter 14 of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, “Praising The Mysterious.” In it Lao Tzu calls Reason the form of the formless. Reason’s clue.

But if we can’t touch it or see it, how are we to understand it? Don’t to endow it with qualities. Don’t describe it. It may appear bright, but it is simply reflecting our brightness. But that is only what we perceive. It is, itself, not bright.

Our perception is limited. We perceive in twos. But the Tao is one. So how do we see it? To understand the world with the intellect…we compare, etc. But that is all abstraction.

Light is limited. But darkness has no boundaries. When light hits a prism, it becomes a rainbow of colors. Take the prism away and the colors disappear. But we love colors and are captivated by them.

They say,  ...