Benjamin Hoff: Tao of Pooh highlights

As Lao Tzu stated in his Tao Te Ching, the Tao Virtue Book, earth was in essence a reflection of heaven, run by the same laws, hyphen, not by the laws of men. These laws affected not only the spinning of distant planets, but the activities of the birds in the forest and the fish in the sea. According to Lao Tzu, the more man interfered with the natural balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further away the harmony retreated into the distance. The more forcing, the more trouble. Whether heavy or light, wet or dry, fast or slow, everything had its own nature already within it, which could not be violated without causing difficulties. When abstract and arbitrary rules were imposed from the outside, struggle was inevitable. Only then did life become sour. (p.4)

The basic Taoism that we are concerned with here is simply a particular way of appreciating, learning from, and working with whatever happens in everyday life. (p.5)

For the written character P’u, the typical Chinese dictionary will give a definition of “natural, simple, plain, honest”. P’u is composed of two separate characters combined: the first, the “radical” or root meaning one, is that for tree or wood; the second, the “phonetic” or sound giving one, is the character for dense growth or thicket. So, from tree in a thicket or wood not cut, comes the meaning of things in their natural state – what is generally represented in English versions of Taoist writing as the uncarved block. (p.11).

When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that a simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is fun (p.20).

When we learn to work with our own inner nature, and with the natural laws operating around us, we reach the level of wu-wei. Then we work with the natural order of things and operate on the principle of minimal effort. Since the natural world follows that principle, it does not make mistakes. Mistakes are made or imagined by man, the creature with the overloaded brain who separates himself from the supporting network of natural laws by interfering and trying too hard. (p.69)

It’s not the Clever Mind that’s responsible when things work out. It’s the mind that sees what’s in front of it and follows the nature of things. (p.75)