Cover of Tao: The Pathless Path

Tao: The Pathless Path

In his commentaries on five parables from the Leih Tzu,Osho brings a fresh and contemporary interpretation to the ancient wisdom of Tao. Leih Tzu was a well-known Taoist master in the fourth century B.C., and his sly critiques of a Confucius provide abundant opportunities for the reader to explore the contrasts between the rational and irrational, the male and female, the structured and the spontaneous.

Read more

"Who Is Really Happy" uses the discovery of a human skull on the roadside to probe into the question of immortality and how misery arises out of the existence of the ego.

"A Man Who Knows How to Console Himself" looks beneath the apparent cheerfulness of a wandering monk and asks if there is really a happiness that endures through life's ups and downs.

"No Regrets" is a parable about the difference between the knowledge that is gathered from the outside and the "knowing" that arises from within.

"No Rest for the Living" uses a dialogue between a despondent seeker and his master to reveal the limits of philosophy and the crippling consequences of living for the sake of some future goal.

"Best Be Still, Best Be Empty" discusses the difference between the path of the will, the via affirmitivaof Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, versus the path of the mystic, the via negativa of Buddha and Lao Tzu.

A Q&A section addresses how Taoist understanding applies to everyday life in concrete, practical terms.

Audience
adult
Length
short · 192 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Tao: The Pathless Path? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Tao: The Pathless Path. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. 365 Tao: Daily Meditations Shares taoism, spirituality, nonfiction
  2. Wen-Tzu Shares taoism, tao, philosophy
  3. Tales from the Tao: The Wisdom of the Taoist Masters Shares spirituality, taoism, philosophy
  4. The Path of Love: On the Songs of Kabir Shares osho, spirituality, spiritual

“People who read Tao: The Pathless Path tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Book of Chuang Tzu
  2. The Tao Is Silent
  3. The Tao of Inner Peace
  4. The Shambhala Guide to Taoism

“If you want more of the same (self-help about spirituality), start with these.”

  1. Gateways to Now
  2. Outrageous Openness: Letting the Divine Take the Lead
  3. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume
  4. Meditation: The Complete Guide

“If it was the taoism that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Art of Dying
  2. Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony
  3. Taoism
  4. What Is Tao?

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Ethiopian Tattoo Shop
  2. Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi
  3. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
  4. The Parables of Jesus