November Read/2

Title: The Second Book of the Tao
Author: Mitchell, Stephen
Call Number: 299.51482 M682S 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang- tzu and Confucius's grandson Tzu-ssu, The Second Book of the Tao collects the freshest, most profound teachings from these two great students of the Tao to offer Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with east or west, but everything to do with truth. With his own illuminating commentary alongside each adapta­tion, at once explicating and complementing the text, Mitchell makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless. 
My Read:
Notes from the book--
Page 12-Nothing is absolute.
Page 13-Mind can only create the qualities of good and bad by comparing. Remove the comparison, and there go the qualities. The pivot of the Tao is the mind free of its thoughts.
Page 15-It's all a question of perspective. The fastest thing in the universe isn't light; it's mind.
Page 49-In dealing with people, you're always dealing with yourself.
Page 56-Don't believe what you think. The Master's mind is like a mirror; it responds but doesn't store, contains nothing, excludes nothing and reflects things exactly as they are. Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has.
Page 61-What happened is always the best thing that could have happened, because it's the thing that did happen.
Page 63-Wisdom is the art of cloudlessness.
Page 71- What is most valuable can't be taught; it can only be learned.
Page 79-Besides, entrepreneurship is less exciting than the adventure of discovering what is enough. How fine life becomes when what you want is exactly what you have.
Page 90-You can't reach for the positive and not create the negative by the very act of your reaching.
Page 94-You can't talk about the Tao with a person who thinks he knows something; he is bounded by his own beliefs. The Tao is vast and fathomless. You can understand only by stepping beyond the limits of yourself.
Page 96-Walk through life as though you didn't exist. When nothing is left to argue with and there is nothing to oppose. You will find yourself at peace and in harmony with all things.
-------Personally, I like the saying of "The Master's mind is like a mirror..." Encountering and interacting with people on a daily basis I found it hard to be at peace when the other party was in bad mood. The teachings in this book help me to be more aware and alert at dealing with people.