When I first say the title of The Second Book of Tao, I was surprised. I had not known such a book existed. Considering how important the Tao Te Ching has been to me, I ordered a copy of this book without hesitation. That Stephen Mitchell was associated with the it only heightened my eagerness for its arrival. It soon arrived, and I quickly found out it was not the sequel to the Tao Te Ching I was expecting. It was a selection of the writings of Chuang-tzu, a follower of Lao-zu, and Tzu-ssu, a grandson of Confucius, along with a commentary on them by Stephen Mitchell.
The Second Book of Tao was not what I had expected, but I was in no way disappointed. I have found, not only the writings of Chuang-tzu and Tzu-ssu to be insightful and profound, but Mitchell’s commentary equally so, to the extent that I have been moved to write a series of haiku inspired by them. As with the Tao Te Ching, I will go chapter by chapter, in this case 64. With regard toThe Second Book of Tao itself, I will let excerpts from Mitchell’s forward speak for it.
“’A second book of the Tao? There’s no such thing! What did you do – pull it out of your hat?’
“Well, yes, if hat is defined as the treasury of recorded wisdom that is our common birthright. In that treasury, there is noting more precious than the wisdom of the ancient Chinese.
“The selections in this book have been adapted from two Chinese anthologies that were probably compiled between 300 and 100 BCE: the Chuang-tzu parts of which were written by the eponymous sage, Master Chuang (c. 369 – c. 286 BCE) and the Chung Yung (The Central Harmony), which was ascribed to Confucius’ grandson, Tzu-ssu (c. 483 – c. 402 BCE). I have anthologized these anthologies, picking from them the freshest, clearest, most profound passages. Facing each chapter there is a brief commentary, which is meant to clarify the text or complement it...
“...Chung-tzu has been called a mystical anarchist, and it’s true that his words sometimes have a contrarian flavor that seems to put them at odds with Lao-tzu’s concern for enlightened government. Given the least semblance of control, Chuang-tzu offers a whole world of irreverence and subversion. But if you look more closely, you’ll see that he is neither a mystic nor an anarchist. He’s simply someone who doesn’t linger in any mental construct about reality, someone who lives as effortless action and peace of hart, because he has freed himself from his own beliefs. What he subverts is conventional thinking, with its hierarchies of judgements, its fors and againsts, betters and worses, insides and outsides, and its delusions that life is random, unfair, and somehow not good enough. Learn now to govern your own mind, Chuang-tzu says, and the universe will govern itself. In this he is in wholehearted agreement with Lao-tzu and with the meticulous Tzu-ssu, for whom attention to the innermost self is the direct path to a just society.”
(The Second Book Of Tao, The Penguin Press, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014)
The Haiku
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