5 phrases from Lao-Tzu to reflect on

Lao-Tzu is a Chinese word which means “old master”. It is also the name of a philosopher and thinker who, apparently, lived in the 6th century before our era. He is credited with writing the “Tao Te Ching.” However, everything around him is full of mysteries. In fact, many doubt that it ever really existed.

What is certain is that an intellectual legacy signed under the rubric of Lao-Tse has survived to this day. Whether he was one man or several, perhaps it does not matter much. The relevant thing about this figure is having had the ability to translate teachings that are still valideven thousands of years later.

We owe Lao-Tzu a legacy of wisdom. His thought reflects several of the essential principles of oriental culture. It is a call to prudence, simplicity and serenity. It represents an exaltation of intelligence and temperance. Below we present five of his wonderful aphorisms and sayings.

1. Happiness in the eyes of Lao-Tzu

Lao-Tzu reflected happiness. From his point of view, and many centuries before the era of consumption arrived, the Eastern philosopher separated happiness from possessions. one of those phrases immortals, in which he referred to the subject, says: “Who is not happy with little will not be happy with much”.

This reflection aims to place happiness within a framework in which it does not depend on what one has. In this way, having little is not synonymous with misfortune. Not even having a lot is equivalent to being happy. Well-being is achieved from realities that have nothing to do with possessions. The happiness and unhappiness are in the being, not in what surrounds it.

2. About rigidity and flexibility

Many speak of firmness and verticality as a great virtue. However, this perspective perhaps does not consult with the logic of what is alive. If there is life, there is change. And if there is change, adaptations necessarily have to occur. Rather than standing like steel, what life demands of us is to flow like water.

Lao-Tzu left us this wonderful reflection on the matter: “In life, man is elastic and evolves. At the moment of death he is rigid and immutable. Plants in the sun are flexible and fibrous but they perish dry and cracked. That is why what is elastic and flexible is associated with life and what is rigid and immutable shakes hands with death.”.

3. Love and be loved

Long before humanistic doctrines appeared and became popular, Lao-Tzu offered a vision of love as a power. He highlights the deep difference between loving and being loved in one of his sentences: “Being deeply loved gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”.

There is a subtle, but important difference between strength and courage. Strength can be defined as the physical or subjective ability to do something. Courage, on the other hand, refers to the courage and decision to do so. Strength is being able to do. Courage, wanting to do. There is a whole emotional constellation of difference between one concept and the other. While wanting leads to power, the opposite is not necessarily true.

4. Desire and frustration

The Orientals are very emphatic in their rejection of desire. They consider it the source of much suffering. His philosophy focuses more on the ability to give up what you have, rather than seeking what you want. Faithful to that philosophy, Lao-Tzu makes this reflection on the matter:

“He who does not desire does not get frustrated. And whoever is not frustrated does not become debased . Thus, the true wise man waits in stillness, while everything happens and desires do not rule. Thus peace and harmony take place and the world follows its natural course”.

For Westerners this thought may seem almost absurd. In these societies, ambition is a source of growth and progress. However, current reality shows that desire can be a bottomless pitwhich is never satisfied.

5. Fight or retreat

The East is the cradle of martial arts. But, paradoxically, most martial arts call for avoiding combat as the ultimate principle. The greatest wisdom that war brings is precisely that of trying to avoid it. That is what the philosopher affirms when he points out: “The strategist’s book says: Don’t provoke the fight, accept it; It is better to go back a meter than to advance a centimeter”.

Lao-Tzu’s thought is undoubtedly a great gift of wisdom. He not only offers a guide to the arts of good living, but also uses the language of poetry to impart his teachings. We have a lot to learn from this ancient character who seems more alive today than ever..

You might be interested…