Tradition route
Read stories commonly grouped under this tradition lens.
Follow Taoist4 stories in this route
Zhuangzi (Inner Chapters)
The prince watched his cook carve a whole ox and heard music. He asked what skill he was witnessing. The cook said: it's not skill. It's Tao. I stopped seeing the ox three years ago.
Tao Te Ching
Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching gives three examples from everyday life to make a philosophical point that overturns the ordinary assumption that what is useful is what is present — and shows that usefulness belongs to what is not there.
Tao Te Ching
Chapter 78 of the Tao Te Ching delivers a paradox that has been proven by every river and every coastline: nothing is softer than water, and nothing wears down stone faster. This, Laozi says, is the principle of the Tao in action.
Tao Te Ching
The first line of the Tao Te Ching is also the last word on its subject: the ultimate reality cannot be described — and the book proceeds anyway, for eighty more chapters, pointing at what cannot be pointed at.
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