Problem Attic. Insert witty tagline here.

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Previously: Tragedy of the Commons! Since: And Again… 

The Tao for Today

31st Stanza

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

Posted on Fri 4 Aug 06, 11:10 am

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6 Comments

  1. Comment by We are deja Voodoo, and we rock more than you do • Fri 4 Aug 06, 11:39 am #

    that is really cool… very elegantly written, too. *sigh*… don’t see a lot of writing like that anymore :) Where are you finding all these wee tao things?

  2. Comment by matt • Fri 4 Aug 06, 11:58 am #

    The whole Tao is embedded in the documentation for one of the applications I use. You could probably find it on the world-wide-intarweb easy enough — it’s called the “Tao Te Ching,” by Lao-tzu.

  3. Comment by stan • Fri 4 Aug 06, 4:11 pm #

    you should check out a movie called Twin Warriors, it’s a big philisophical kung fu movie based on Tao

  4. Comment by matt • Fri 4 Aug 06, 4:27 pm #

    Do they have calligraphy in their hearts?

  5. Comment by stan • Mon 7 Aug 06, 8:53 am #

    yes, there’s a calligraphy scene in the movie

  6. Comment by We are deja Voodoo, and we rock more than you do • Mon 7 Aug 06, 3:40 pm #

    lol there’s a real Lao-tzu? for some reason I thought that was a name of character in Discworld :D

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