Die erste und weitaus bekannteste zu den taoistischen Klassikern zählende Schrift heißt Tao-têh-ching. Der Titel bedeutet soviel wie das Klassische Buch vom Tao und seiner Gestaltungskraft. In 81 Abschnitten enthält es nur etwa 5000 Zeichen und mithin Worte, weshalb die Taoisten oft einfach von den 5000 Zeichen (wu-ch'ien-tzu) sprechen. Das Werk gehört zu den zeitlosen und am gründlichsten in die Tiefe der Sache gehenden Büchern der Weltliteratur, weswegen es geradezu zum Opfer europäischer Übersetzer geworden ist. Bereits 1978 hat man von fast einem Dutzend Eindeutschungen gewußt, und durch das gesteigerte Interesse an der chinesischen Kulter, gerade der chinesischen Kunst der Lebensführung bis in die 90er, dürfte das Angebot, mitunter an Ratgebern, bereits ins Undurchschaubare gestiegen sein. Wobei die poetische Ader der chinesischen Sprache leicht zu verfehlten Deutungen führen kann. Als Verfasser des Tao-têh-ching gilt traditionsgemäß ein gewisser Lao-tzu (heute allgemein Laotse), der nach den amtlichen Aufzeichnungen der Historiker ein älterer Zeitgenosse des Konfuzius gewesen und somit im sechsten Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeitrechnung gelebt haben müßte. Bei genauer Nachprüfung sind allerdings in diesen Daten Vermischungen von mindestens zwei Persönlichkeiten vorhanden. Außerdem schließt der Schreibstil auf das vierte Jahrhundert, in dem auch alle übrigen klassischen Lehrsysteme, auch die Ausreifung der Konfuzianischen Schule, erfolgt sind. Hinzu kommt die Annahme, daß dieses Werk von mehreren anonymen Verfassern erarbeitet sein muß, was auch aus einem widersprüchlichen Satz über Lao-tzu (Tzu steht für Meister) gelesen werden kann: "Mit seiner Lehre legte er es darauf an, selbst verborgen zu bleiben und sich keinen Namen zu machen." Das Motiv, Ruhm und Ehrungen zu entfliehen, ist ein Grundbaustein der taoistischen Schriften. Im 13. Abschnitt des Tao-têh-ching heißt es: "Gunst und Schande erschüttern gleichermaßen, Ehre ist eine die Persönlichkeit treffende Kümmernis (...) Wer Gunst empfängt, ist ein Untergebener. Empfängt er sie, bedingt dies eine Erschütterung, verliert er sie, bedingt es auch einer Erschütterung..." Dieses Satzgebilde belegt nebenbei eindrucksvoll, daß nicht bloß Konfuzius formulieren konnte, sondern die poetische Darstellung, ebenso auch die Darstellung in Metaphern fest zum chinesischen Sprachstil gehören.
Chuang Chou, genannt Chuang-tzu (Meister Chuang), verfaßte während seines Daseins von 365 bis 290 vor Christus einen weiteren, zumindest ebenbürtigen Klassiker. Der Reichtum und die Treffsicherheit seiner Metaphern wurde nur selten wieder erreicht. Sein Werk, von dem ihm heute lediglich die 1. Abteilung der inneren Kapitel zugesprochen wird, ist etwa um das zwanzigfache umfangreicher und besteht aus 33 in drei Abteilungen aufgeteilte Kapitel. Auch Chuang-tzu wiederholt das Ideal des verborgenen Meisters, des yin-shih. Zitat: "wie die Schildkröte, die lieber ihren Schwanz durch den Schlamm schleppt, als daß sie ihren Panzer im Tempel ehren läßt." Im alten China war es üblich, bei wichtigen Anlässen das Orakel zu befragen, indem man die Panzer getöteter Schildkröten, welche über dem Feuer erhitzt wurden, auf gebildete Risse hin las. Yin-chü, im Verborgenen leben kann man allerdings nicht als eigentliches Ziel des Taoismus ansehen. Die Einsamkeit sollte vielmehr als Hilfsmittel zur Selbstfindung genutzt werden, wenn die äußeren Umstände einen verfremdenden Einfluß bekommen. Als Ziel taoistischen Handelns nannte er den Begriff wu-wei, Nichtexistenz von Tun, wobei der Trugschluß aufkommen kann, daß ein Zurückziehen doch Ziel des Taoismus wurde. Allerdings ist mit diesem Begriff ein anderes Verhalten, nämlich das nicht beabsichtigte gesteuerte Tun, also das nicht überlegte, frei auf ein anderes Tun reagierende Tun gemeint, welches als Grundstock echter Menschlichkeit ohne falschen Einfluß gesehen wurde. Zitat: "Der Beispielhafte bleibt bei absichtlosem Tun und übt wortlose Lehre. Er bringt alle Wesen zur Entfaltung und versagt sich nicht. Er erzeugt und hält doch nicht im Besitz; er handelt und baut doch nicht auf sein Handeln. Hat er etwas geleistet, so verharrt er nicht dabei. Eben weil er nicht dabei verharrt, verläßt es ihn nicht."
Chuang-tzu beginnt somit, den Grundgedanken des Tao auszufeilen und zu erweitern, ihm ein definierteres Gerüst für die Umsetzung zu geben. Er geht bei der Beschreibung so weit, daß er das relative, das gewichtende Auffassen eines Menschen ablehnt und somit in Konflikt mit dem Individuellen gerät. Zitat: "Erkennen in der Welt alle das Schöne als schön, so ist das Häßliche gesetzt, erkennen alle das Gute als gut, so ist damit auch das Schlechte gesetzt. Denn Sein und Nichtsein entstehen wechselseitig, Schwieriges und Leichtes bedingen sich gegenseitig, Langes und Kurzes wechseln miteinander ab, Hohes und Niederes beruhen aufeinander, Ton und Stimme klingen zusammen, Vorderes und Hinteres hängen zusammen." Mit diesem Ausspruch hebt er die herrschenden Differenzen auf eine gleichwertige Ebene, wobei er gleichzeitig die Moral außer Kraft setzt, denn nach dieser Gewichtung wäre es egal, wie jemand handelt, denn es ist weder gut noch böse, sondern indifferent.

"There is one Reality,
The Unmanifest-Manifested
Ever-Existent, He is Naam (Conscious Spirit)
The Creator; pervading all
Without fear, without enmity;
The Timeless, the Unborn
And the Self-existent;
Complete within Itself.
Through the favor of His
True Servant, the Guru,
He may be realized.
He was when there was nothing;
He was before all ages began;
He existeth now, O Nanak,
And shall exist forevermore."

Indian Master, Guru Nanak

The Sikhs Religion make up one of the true paths to God. They are one of three blended religions. It is sometimes said it is a blend of Hindusim and Islam. Guru Nanak had no teacher. He did begin his teachings in an area of India where Moslem and Hindu culture flourished together. A more accurate way to explain the teachings of the Gurus is to say that their teachings are in harmony with sufism and yoga.
These wonderful people have braved adversity to worship God. Since their religion clashed with two established cultures, they were persecuted from the very beginnings of their Religion. Quickly the national culture of those that followed the teachings of the Guru's became militant out of pure need for survival. They keep several gems of wisdom alive for the planetary consciousness. One is the understanding that rituals are not necessary for a son or daughter of God to achieve union with the Infinite Eternal. Once you understand that you are not separate from God but have forgotten your eternal connection to the Absolute Realm, you can shed the rituals and commune with God any time and anywhere for any reason. The second gem the Sikhs keep polished before the throne of God, is the understanding that one doesn't have to endure endless births and deaths, but can connect to God in one lifetime and qualify to pass into the Paradise of God.
The message of the Sikhs came to us through a series of 10 Guru's. The Eleventh and final Guru is the written text of the oral teachings of the 10 preceeding Guru's.

A Buddha is not defined by his personality. He is defined by the ultimate state of his being, which is beyond personality. And when a Buddha speaks, he does not speak like a person. He speaks through his ultimate awareness. In fact to say that he speaks is not good, not right. There is nobody to speak, there is no self in him to speak. And in fact he has nothing to say. He simply responds. Just as if you go and start singing in a valley the valley responds. The valley simply echoes you.
When you come to a Buddha, he simply mirrors you. Whatsoever he speaks is just a reflection. It is an answer to you, but he has nothing to say himself. If another Buddha comes to him, they both will remain absolutely silent, two mirrors facing each other... nothing will be reflected. The mirrors will reflect each other, but nothing will be reflected. Two mirrors -- just think of two mirrors facing each other. If Christ comes to see Buddha, or Buddha somewhere on the roads of life comes across Lao Tzu, they will be absolutely silent -- there will be no echo.
So when Buddha is speaking, remember it. He is not saying anything in particular. He is simply reflecting the people. That's why a Buddha can never be very consistent. A philosopher can be very consistent. He has something to say. He remembers it, he clings with it, he never says anything that goes against it... he manages. A Buddha is bound to be contradictory because each time somebody faces him, something else will arise. It will depend on the person who faces him.
It is just like a mirror. If you come before the mirror, it is your face. Somebody else comes, then it is his face. The face will go on changing. You cannot say to the mirror, 'You are very inconsistent. Sometimes you show a woman's face and sometimes a man's face, and sometimes a beautiful face and sometimes an ugly face. The mirror will simply keep quiet. What can he do? He simply reflects. He reflects whatsoever is the case.
So taoist sayings are very contradictory. Jesus is contradictory, Buddha is contradictory, Krishna is contradictory, Lao Tzu is tremendously contradictory. Hegel is not contradictory, Kant is not contradictory, Russell is not contradictory, Confucius is not contradictory, Manu is not contradictory. They have a certain dogma. They don't reflect you. They have something to say. They go on saying. They are not like mirrors, they are like a photograph. It doesn't bother who you are; it remains the same. It is dead. It has a clearcut definition and form.

Look right now! Where is your misery? In this moment is there any misery? Look inside. All has stopped. It is so silent... the benediction is upon you...
And this can be your life forever and forever. This is our birthright. Claim it.
If we stop doing anything to stop misery, misery stops -- that's the miracle. We are just doing something like a dog. Have you seen a dog chasing its own tail? And the dog starts getting crazy, because the more he tries to chase his tail... and it looks so close by, it is just lying there, and when he jumps the tail jumps. Naturally, the dog gets offended; a dog, after all, is a dog. He rushes more forcibly -- natural logic; all dogs are logicians. The natural logic is that he is not running enough after it, that's why he cannot catch it.
That's the logic in the market-place, that's the logic of the politicians: that if you are not getting what you want, it simply shows you are not running enough, you are not going fast enough. 'Go fast! Find more speedy means!' That's the whole logic of this century: speed. If you are unhappy then you must be going very slowly towards it. 'Go fast! Hire a jet plane and go fast! The faster you go the better. The greater the speed the better.' This is the logic. This has nothing very special about it -- dogs have the same logic.
And then the dog jumps, and faster and faster it goes, and round and round it goes. But it cannot catch the tail. And it is so close by, just by the corner, and he can look: it is there.
Just think of a dog. Just become a dog for a moment and think. 'So close? And you cannot catch it! Are you impotent or something?' It is such a challenge. Then the dog is exhausted, falls on the ground, panting, and it is there... he avoids looking at it, because it is so tempting -- and it is his own tail! There is no need to catch it. There is the catch: there is no need to catch it; it is already yours.
That's what is happening. If you are trying to become happy, trying to become not miserable, trying to stop misery and attain to blissfulness, you are chasing a tail that looks close by but which you will never be able to get at because it is already yours. You already possess it. Stop chasing, and see the root of the tail; you will find that it is joined to you. And you don't need any Master to join your tail to you: no therapist is needed to connect you; you are connected.

It happened on Charles Darwin's last birthday. He was very old and everybody was thinking that perhaps this was the last birthday, so all friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate it. The children of the neighborhood also wanted to contribute to the celebration, and they did a great job.
Charles Darwin's whole life was spent in studying insects, animals, birds, because he was in search of how evolution has happened and what the stages are.
The children played a trick on him. They caught many kinds of insects, cut those insects into different parts and made a new insect -- somebody's head, somebody's legs, somebody's body -- no such insect exists anywhere. They glued it perfectly well, made it ready, and when the party was on they entered, placed the insect before Charles Darwin and said, "People are afraid that you are not going to live long. We are also afraid, because you have not studied this insect up to now. There is no reference to this insect in your books."
He looked at the insect; he could not believe it. Such a thing he had never come across! And these neighborhood boys, from where did they get it? Then he looked from this side and that side, and those children were hilarious... and they asked, "Can you tell us the name of this insect?"
He said, "Yes. It is a humbug."
All religious scriptures are humbugs -- perfectly glued.
And those who don't have any experience of truth of their own cannot find what is missing in them -- because to find what is missing you must know it.
In nature, in existence, everything that is real.... A roseflower opens itself in the morning and by the evening it is gone. Only plastic flowers remain; they remain forever.
It is very difficult to find people who are searching and not imposing themselves on each other, but only helping each other if the need is there. If there is no need, even help can become a hindrance.
Just go on dissolving all that is false. It is beautiful to feel like a cloud, beautiful to feel like just a witness.
These are the moments, full of silence, full of gratitude, gratitude to the existence that has given you the chance, gratitude towards all those who have helped. And wait.
`Wait' is a key word.