Tao Te Ching Chapter 80-4 Boats & Cars

Today's Tao

Though there are boats and cars, there is nowhere to ride them. (Ch.80)


"You have boats and cars", that is to say, you have a vehicle to go across to the other bank of the river (=pāramitā / Higan 彼岸, =nirvāṇa / nirvana / Nehan 涅槃).

The vehicle can be either big or small.

It can be anything: conceptual and philosophical ideas or meditational exercises.

Lao Tzu emphasizes:

"There is nowhere to ride (the vehicle)".

Why?

We don't need it because we are already there, on the other bank of the river.

Or, I should say:

"There is neither here nor there, neither this side nor the other side".

Your life right here right now is perfect.

There is "nowhere" to go across.

Please don't fool around to find this "nowhere".


«Related Articles»
-Small country 80-1
-"110 vessels" 80-2
-Don't travel 80-3
-Boats and Cars 80-4
-Armor and Arms 80-5
-Tie the rope 80-6
-Hunger and Food 80-7
-Face transmission / Menju / Beauty 80-8
-Out-Tao (Heresy) Seniya / Gedo Senni / Settled 80-9
-Enjoy your customs 80-10
-Neighbors 80-11
-Moonlight and Dewdrops / Dogs and Roosters 80-12
-Life without intervention 80-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 80


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«Recommended Books 1» «Tao by Matsumoto» sincerely recommends these books to those who feel "a bit uncomfortable" with Zen Buddhism and Taoism. If you think they are "a little too exotic", the books will help you fill the gap between the East and the West. Besides, to a person who is well accustomed to the oriental philosophies, they will show that the grass is not necessarily greener in someone else's front yard. You don't need fancy costumes or enigmatic mantras. You have got an excellent poet who can initiate you into the world of the Eastern philosophies in a language you are familiar with. On the left, «Siddhartha» was written in 1922. If the book is still too "oriental", «Demian» by the same poet can be read as preparatory reading. Hermann Hesse wrote it three years before he completed «Siddhartha», his insurmountable contribution to humanity.