12 May 2014

The Secret of an Easy & Refreshing Life - Let Mother Nature Do the Work Lao Zi (6)

The secret of a stress free, easy going, effortless and refreshing life is so obvious that we are not even aware of it. It is following the Laws of Nature. Lao Zi tells us in Dao De Jing Chapter 6. This is also the key teaching of the Dao School of Lao Zi & Zhuang Zi.
One Word that Describes the Way/Dao
Lao Zi wrote Dao De Jing to tell us about his discovery of the Way of Dao, the way of Heaven and Earth. He emphasized repeatedly in his writing that the Way/Dao works all the time (taking no breaks and not needing them anyway), and doing them quietly, not ever complaining or claiming credits, and its energy is never exhausted. Chapter 6 is the second shortest of the 81 Chapters and summarizes the characteristics of the Way in one Word - Mother. The title for the chapter is "The Way/Dao is the Mother of Endless Love".

The Text and Translation


Original Chinese Text English Translation Comments
1 谷神不死 是谓玄牝 The spirit of the valley never dies. This is the unfathomable motherhood. The valley is where we find the richest growth of plants and animals
2 玄牝之门 是谓天地根 The door of motherhood is the root of heaven and earth. The Way/Dao created everything and provides the environment for their growth.
3 绵绵若存 用之不勤 It quietly and continuously spreads out everywhere, and using it will be effortless and tirelessly. The Laws of Nature are for life and they operate quietly. As long as we follow them, living will be naturally easy and revitalizing.


The above description captures the key attributes of a Mother.

What does a mother do?
  1. Give births ... Source or Root of everything. v2.
  2. Love and Care for her children no matter how old. v1
  3. Her love is unconditional. Just go to her whenever and whatever your needs may be v3.
  4. Her love is never-ending or exhausted. v3
  5. Her love surrounds always.v3
The Principle for a Stress-Free Living - Let Nature do the Work
The main teaching of Lao Zi for a stress-free, joyful, refreshing living is simple ... follow nature and let nature do the work for you. 

Develop Your Natural Abilities and Choose a Career where your abilities are the Strengths
For your character and capability development, the principle is simple, focus on the discovery and development of your natural abilities and choose work that fits with your natural abilities. Those things that you do well easily and enjoy doing are your natural abilities. Whenever you use your natural abilities, the more you use them, the more vitalized you become.  What about your 'weaknesses'? Outsource them to others with those strengths. It takes a team of members with complementary strengths to become a championship team.

Application to Science - the Clean Energy Sources
Let gravity do the work. A great invention is this GravityLight | doing more with less
Let the waterfalls do the work.
Let the wind do the work.
Let the Sunlight do the work.
Any time we break the law of nature and work against it, we will end up using a lot of energy and creating a lot of harmful by-products called pollutants that we need to handle with the use of more energy.

Your Own Health
For a healthy life, follow the laws of nature. Work well and rest well. Don't overstress and overstretched yourself. Eat and exercise with balance. Your body can tell you when you violate the law of nature for too long.

Remember Mother Nature on Mothers‘ Day - Mother's Laws are for your Good.
The Law of nature is the Law of Liberty. Don't be fooled that the laws are limiting your freedom. Rather, the laws are healthy and long life. A life of energy and joy. Follow the laws of nature.

Lim Liat (c) 12 May 2014

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