Do you have difficulties making sense of traditional scholarly translations of ancient Chinese philosophical texts such as the Tao Te Ching and other books on Taoism? This is because they are mostly written by dry scholarly translators who are not involved in any spiritual practice. I found it refreshing to see that there is a adaptation of the works of Lao Tzu’s disciple Chuang Tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu by someone who has practiced Zen for decades. You may know Stephen Mitchell already, he is married to Byron Katie with whom he co-authored the book “Loving What Is“. Stephen studied at Yale and was de-educated (perhaps enlightened) as a result of decades of Zen practice.
In this Fora TV presentation Stephen reads aloud 9 chapters from his free flowing adaptation of the works of Chuang Tzu and Tzussu called “The Second Book of the Tao” . If you are a Byron Katie fan you will love this presentation. There are some great insights into happiness, freedom from suffering and overcoming the stress of modern life.
If you don’t have time to hear the full program skip to the famous “Butterfly Dream Parable” and to the “The Happiness Parable” – watch for those Byron Katie insights coming through.
About Danny Sheehan
Danny lives in Hong Kong but is originally from Australia. He is Married to Maggie and together they have two children with whom they enjoy sharing and enjoying an exciting life with daily. Danny's passions are freedom, adventure and discovery, mainly in nature and science but also spiritually. He is a great believer in living in the NOW.
More about Danny Sheehan
May 28, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Thanks for writing, I really enjoyed reading your newest post. I think you should post more often, you evidently have natural ability for blogging!