The Tao Te Ching

An Esoteric Commentary

There are many translations of the Tao Te Ching. And probably many commentaries too. As far as I know, most commentators regard the Tao Te Ching as a collection of sayings. Some of these sayings are pithy, some profound, and some downright cryptic. It's the intention of this work to indicate that the Tao Te Ching is actually a consistent expression of a unified perspective. Rather than a loosely connected collection of exotic aphorisms it exhibits a highly directed, purposeful intention. This intention cannot be understood by a reshuffling of one's intellectual furniture. It is not written for the intellect. It can only be understood by a radical shift in perspective. It is this perspective that the Tao Te Ching is written from and its purpose is to direct us to this perspective. It is only from this perspective that the Tao Te Ching can be fully appreciated and hence the description of this commentary as 'esoteric'.

This shift in perspective can happen at any time in any place. This shift occurred for me as I was reading the beginning of Douglas Harding's On Having No Head. Douglas Harding has devoted himself over many years to helping others direct themselves to this perspective in an idiosyncratic but practical manner. The interested reader might want to refer immediately to http://www.headless.org for more information.

This website has been dormant for all of 2003. A draft of the commentary has been completed and the first few chapters have been revised several times. I've removed all the chapters that have been posted previously. It's my intention to post each chapter afresh over the course of 2004 on an irregular basis.

Although this commentary is primarily a personal exercise I'm putting it on the web in the obvious hope that it will be seen. There are two reasons for this. One is that it seems to me that Lao Tzu's book has only been picked at over the centuries, the precise intent of his work hardly appreciated if at all. The second reason is the hope that it might be of use to somebody else which adds to my motivation. (If I were to be completely honest then I must admit to a third reason: I must admit to an egoistic desire for some kind of aknowledgement. However, given the obscure nature of this enterprise and judging by the minimal acknowledgement that I've received my ego must retain its current forlornness for a considerable while to come. )

There are some lines in the Tao Te Ching which are quoted again and again but as far as I know, for some reason, nobody has ever tried to plumb the depths of this book from a 'headless' perspective. I sent an initial draft of the introduction and the first three chapters to Douglas Harding and he kindly sent me a note saying that he thought I "was on to a good thing, all right" though he made no comments on my text. He also enclosed a reference to page 258 of his book 'Head off Stress' where he states that the Chinese seal-character for the Tao consists of the characters for HEAD and GOING. I'd come across this elsewhere. It was the initial inspiration for this undertaking and I took Douglas Harding's note as an encouraging validation.

Here is my introduction and the commentary to the first six chapters.

Introduction

billgillies@tiscali.co.uk

Please note that apart from the verses quoted in italics all text on this website is copyright William Gillies © 2002.