Dao De Jing, Chapter 68

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 68

"The best soldier is not warlike the best fighter shows no anger
The one best at defeating the enemy does not engage him.
The one best at managing people puts himself below them.
This is the Te of not contending, this is the power to manage people.
This is being the Counterpart of Heaven equaling the very best of the ancients."
-  Translated by Michael Lafargue, 1992, Chapter 68  

"In the ancient times:
The perfect warriors were not warlike.
The perfect fighters were not angry.
The perfect winners were not aggressive and the perfect diplomats were humble before the world.
This is called the practice of the virtue of non-struggle.
This is called the use of the wisdom of benevolence.
This is called to comply with the ultimate Nature."
-  Translated by Tang Zi-Chang, Chapter 68
 
 "The best soldier is not violent.
The best fighter is not angry.
The best winner is not contentious.
The best employer is humble.
This is known as the power of not striving,
as ability in human relations,
and as being in accord with heaven."
-  Translated by Sanderson Beck, 1996, Chapter 68 


"The best warrior leads without haste fights without anger overcomes without confrontation
He puts himself below and brings out the highest in his men
This is the virtue of not confronting of working with the abilities you have of complying with the laws of Heaven
This is the ancient path that leads to perfection"
-  Translated by Johathan Star, 2001, Chapter 68  


善為士者不武.
善戰者不怒.
善勝敵者不與.
善用人者為之下.
是謂不爭之德.
是謂用人之力.
是謂配天古之極.
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 68 

  
shan wei shih chê pu wu.
shan chan chê pu nu.
shan shêng ti chê pu yü.
shan yung jên chê wei chih hsia.
shih wei pu chêng chih tê. 
shih wei yung jên chih li.
shih wei p'ei t'ien ku chih chi.
-  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 68 


"The best captain does not plunge headlong
Nor is the best soldier a fellow hot to fight.
The greatest victor wins without a battle:
He who overcomes men understands them.
There is a quality of quietness
Which quickens people by no stress:
'fellowship with heaven,' as of old,
Is fellowship with man and keeps its hold."
-  Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 68


"A good warrior is not bellicose,
A good fighter does not anger,
A good conqueror does not contest his enemy,
One who is good at using others puts himself below them.
This is called "integrity without competition,"
This is called "using others,"
This is called "parity with heaven," - the pinnacle of the ancients."
-  Translated by Victor H. Mair, 1990, Chapter 68

"Un caudillo sabio nunca es belicoso.
Un guerrero sabio nunca se enfurece.
Quien sabe vencer no ataca primero.
Quien sabe guiar a las personas no las humilla,
sino que, por el contrario, se coloca a sí mismo
en una posición más baja.
Así son las leyes de Te que renuncian a la ira,
al propio enaltecimiento y a la violencia.
Así actúan Aquellos Que representan a Te guiando
a las personas al Tao Primordial y Eterno.
-  Translated by Anton Teplyy, 2008, Tao Te Ching, Capítulo 68


"Those eminent for scholarly virtues are not fighting men.
Those eminent in war do not lose their temper.
Those eminent for victory do not struggle.
Those eminent for making use of others descend to their level.
This may be called the virtue which does not contend;
the power of utilizing men;
the utmost limit that can be reached in equaling Heaven and the men of old."
-  Translated by Frederic Henry Balfour, 1884, Chapter 68  

"Fight without violence.
Fight without rage.
Forget the supposed hurts done to you and do not seek vengeance.
Take pride in your humility.
Real decency is quiet, it brings people together and empties the self.
It is the same thing that holds the universe together."
-  Translated by Crispin Starwell, Chapter 68  

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes over 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.   


Chapter 68, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

One Old Daoist Druid's Final Journey  

Attention, Language and Time

 

Attention, Language and Time
Selected Poetry: 2016 - 2026
By Michael P. Garofalo

This WebBook is a collection of poems, quips, quintain stanzas, resource links, Onions, lists, docu-poems, short studies, reality slices, Kernels, concrete and Text-Art poems, sonnets, and hypertext explorations and diversions.
All by Mike Garofalo.

It features lifestyles and locales in the Pacific Northwest.

It traces the evolution of the poetic voices of one old man during a decade.

It essays the front and flanks of Time.

Poetry WebBook, 60 pages, October 2026. No Ads!

Subject Indexes to Dogen Zenji's 300 Koans Collection

 Eihei Dogen's 300 Koans Collection: Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo

Dogen's Shinji Mana Shobogenzo 300 Koans Collection DSMS

Buddhism: Dogen's Shinji Mana Shobogenzo Koan Collection 
DSMS 300 Koan Cases
Text Authority:
The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen's Three Hundred Koans.
Translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi and John Daido Loori. Shambhala, 2005, index, glossary, lineage charts, biographies, 472 pages.

Indexing by Michael P. Garofalo
Green Way Research, Vancouver, Washington
2nd Draft, May 30, 2023

Subject Index to All Cases in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. 
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 51 pages.

Alphabetical Order List of English Titles of Cases in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Cases in Numerical Order of English Titles in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection. 
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Alphabetical Order List of the Teachers in Dogen's 300 Koans Collection.
DSMS, May 30, 2023, PDF, 11 pages.

Subject Index to 1,001 Zen Buddhist Koans

DSMS

DSSS

Subject Index to 1,001 Zen Buddhist Koans

Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories

Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight.
May the Light from Our Inner Fireplace Help All Beings.
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers.
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations.
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources.
Koans Database Project.
Research by Michael P. Garofalo

The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo

Kenneth Rexroth on Chinese Classics

"In the Confucian writings Tao usually means either a road or a way of life. It means that in the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching, “The way that can be followed (or the road that can be traced or charted) is not the true way. The word that can be spoken is not the true word.” Very quickly the text drives home the numinous significance of both Tao and Te. Tao is described by paradox and contradiction — the Absolute in a worldview where absolutes are impossible, the ultimate reality which is neither being nor not being, the hidden meaning behind all meaning, the pure act which acts without action and yet the reason and order of the simplest physical occurrence.

It is quite possible — in fact Joseph Needham in his great Science and Civilization in China does so — to interpret the Tao Te Ching as a treatise of elementary primitive scientific empiricism; certainly it is that. Over and over it says, “learn the way of nature”; “do not try to overcome the forces of nature but use them.” On the other hand, Fr. Leo Weiger, S.J., called the Tao Te Ching a restatement of the philosophy of the Upanishads in Chinese terms. Buddhists, especially Zen Buddhists in Japan and America, have understood and translated the book as a pure statement of Zen doctrine. Even more remarkable, contemporary Chinese, and not all of them Marxists, have interpreted it as an attack on private property and feudal oppression, and as propaganda for communist anarchism. Others have interpreted it as a cryptic work of erotic mysticism and yoga exercises. It is all of these things and more, and not just because of the ambiguity of the ideograms in a highly compressed classical Chinese text; it really is many things to many men — like the Tao itself.

Perhaps the best way to get at the foundations of the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching is by means of a historical, anthropological approach which in itself may be mythical. There is little doubt that the organized Taoist religion, which came long after the Tao Te Ching but which still was based on it, swept up into an occultist system much of the folk religion of the Chinese culture area, much as Japanese Shinto (which means the Tao of the Gods) did in Japan. If the later complicated Taoist religion developed from the local cults, ceremonies and superstitions of the precivilized folk religion, how could it also develop from the Tao Te Ching or from the early Taoist philosophers whose works are collected under the names of Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu and who are about as unsuperstitious and antiritualistic as any thinkers in history? The connection is to be found I feel in the shamans and shamanesses of a pan-Asiatic culture which stretches from the Baltic far into America, and to the forest philosophers and hermits who appear at the beginnings of history and literature in both India and China and whose prehistoric existence is testified by the yogi in the lotus position on a Mohenjo-Daro seal. The Tao Te Ching describes the experiential or existential core of the transcendental experience shared by the visionaries of primitive cultures. The informants of Paul Radin’s classic Primitive Man as Philosopher say much the same things. It is this which gives it its air of immemorial wisdom, although many passages are demonstrably later than Confucius, and may be later than the “later” Taoists, Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu.

There are two kinds of esotericism in Oriental religion: the proliferation of spells, chants, rituals, mystical diagrams, cosmologies and cosmogonies, trials of the soul, number mysticism, astrology, and alchemy, all of which go to form the corpus of a kind of pan-Gnosticism. Its remarkable similarities are shared by early Christian heretics, Jewish Kabbalists, Tantric worshipers of Shiva, Japanese Shingon Buddhists, and Tibetan lamas. The other occultism (held strangely enough by the most highly developed minds amongst some people) is the exact opposite, a stark religious empiricism shorn of all dogma or cult, an attitude toward life based upon realization of the unqualified religious experience as such. What does the contemplator contemplate? What does the life of illumination illuminate? To these questions there can be no answer — the experience is beyond qualification. So say the Zen documents, a form of late Buddhism originating in China, but so say the Hinayana texts, which are assumed to be as near as we can get to the utterances of the historic Buddha Sakyamuni, but so say also the Upanishads — “not this, not this, not that, not that,” but so also say some of the highly literate and sophisticated technical philosophers (in our sense of the word) of Sung Dynasty Neo-Confucianism. So says the Tao Te Ching.

In terms of Western epistemology, a subject Classical Chinese thought does not even grant existence, the beginning and end of knowledge are the same thing — the intuitive apprehension of reality as a totality, before and behind the data of sense or the constructions of experience and reason. The Tao Te Ching insists over and over that this is both a personal, psychological and a social, moral, even political first principle. At the core of life is a tiny, steady flame of contemplation. If this goes out the person perishes, although the body and its brain may stumble on, and civilization goes rapidly to ruin. The source of life, the source of the order of nature, the source of knowledge, and the source of social order are all identical — the immediate comprehension of the reality beyond being and not being; existence and essence; being and becoming. Contact with this reality is the only kind of power there is. Against that effortless power all self-willed acts and violent attempts to rule self, man, or natural process are delusion and end only in disaster.

The lesson is simple, and once learned, easy to paraphrase. The Tao is like water. Striving is like smoke. The forces of Nature are infinitely more powerful than the strength of men. Toil to the top of the highest peak and you will be swept away in the first storm. Seek the lowest possible point and eventually the whole mountain will descend to you. There are two ways of knowing, under standing and over bearing. The first is called wisdom. The second is called winning arguments. Being, as power, comes from the still void behind being and not being. The enduring and effective power of the individual, whether hermit or king or householder, comes from the still void at the heart of the contemplative. The wise statesman conquers by the quiet use of his opponents’ violence, like the judo and jujitsu experts.

The Tao Te Ching is a most remarkable document, but the most remarkable thing about it is that it has not long since converted all men to its self-evident philosophy. It was called mysterious at the beginning of this essay. It is really simple and obvious; what is mysterious is the complex ignorance and complicated morality of mankind that reject its wisdom.

-  Kenneth Rexroth, Classics Revisited, 1968

Gardening in Vancouver, Washington

Gardening Information

Understanding your gardening environment is essential to success.  What are the climate conditions in your area during a year's cycle?  What is the soil like?
What kinds of plants are grown successfully in your area?  What nurseries are nearby.  

Vancouver, Washington, USA, Zip Code: 98662

Hardiness Zone:  Zone 8a: 10F to 15F

Average First Frost:  October 21 - 31

Average Last Frost:  April 1 - 10

Koppen-Geiger Climate Zone:  Csb - Warm-Summer Mediterranean Climate

Ecoregion:  3a - Portland Vancouver Basin

Palmer Drought Index:  Extremely Moist

Average Annual Rainfall:  43.55 inches

Heat Zone Days:  Rare Over 86F 

Elevation:  171 feet above the Pacific Ocean

Soil:  

Nurseries:  Yard and Garden, Shorty's, Tsugawa in Woodland, Lowe's and Home Depot.  

General Geography: 

The Pacific Ocean and Astoria, Oregon, is 100 miles to the West from Vancouver.
The south side of the City of Vancouver is the Columbia River, and across the river is Portland, Oregon.  The Cascade range and Columbia Gorge is to the East.  Looking north: 165 miles to Seattle, 494 miles to Vancouver, Canada; 105 miles to Olympia, and 45 miles to Mt. St. Helens.  

January Average: 33F low, 46F high, 6" Rain

February Average: 35F low, 50F high, 4.99" Rain

March Average: 37F low, 56F high, 4.38" Rain

April Average:  40F low, 60F high, 3.28" Rain

May Average:  45F low, 67F high, 2.67" Rain

June Average:  50F low, 72F high, 1.88" Rain

July Average:  53F low, 79F high, .8" Rain

August Average:  57F low, 82F high, .5" Rain

September Average:  49F low, 75F high, 1.91" Rain

October Average:  42F low, 64F high, 3.41" Rain

November Average:  38F low, 52F high, 6.49" Rain

December Average:  34F low, 46F high, 6.68" Rain

Yearly Averages:  42F low, 62F high, 43.55" Rain


The Spirit of Gardening

Gardening in Red Bluff, California

Colors in the Garden: Vancouver, WA

Seeing: Quotes for Gardeners and Aesthetes

 

Seeing
Looking, Watching, Seeing, Sight
Vision, Perspective, Observing

Quotes for Gardeners and Lovers of the Green Way

Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

Spirit of Gardening Website

Quotes     Links     Recommend Reading     Home

Seeing     Hearing     Touching     Tasting     Smelling

Air     Earth     Fire     Water     Five Elements     The Five Senses    

Mind     Spirituality     Druids     Taoists     Tantrics     Process Philosophy

Months and Seasons     Gardening     Cloud Hands Blog 

 

Astoria, Oregon

Repost from 2024:

Today, I left my cozy yurt and said goodbye to Manzanita.  I drove home to Vancouver.  

I visited Fort Clatsop near Warrenton for the very first time.  This is one part of the Lewis and Clark National Park and National Wildlife Refuge.  Fort Clatsop is a recreation of the camp of the Lewis and Clark expedition crew in the Winter of 1805.  Video: Winter Story.  There is a very nice visitor center with excellent exhibits and a nice gift shop.  I walked around the small log cabins inside the small fort.  It was raining when I toured the recreated fort camp.  

The highway from Astoria to Ranier, Oregon 30, is very good.  It follows along the Columbia River in many places and then inland over hills and valleys.  I take the bridge from Ranier to Longview, then down Interstate 5 to Vancouver.  

Astoria, Oregon - Information

Astoria   Population 9,500   A small town with many tourist attractions.  There are many motels, restaurants, cafes, grocery, museums, theaters, historical sights, marina, docks, hospital, gas, stores, services, supplies. 

Astoria Images  

"Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state of Oregon and was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.[7] The county is the northwest corner of Oregon, and Astoria is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean. The city is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor and entrepreneur from New York City, whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site and established a monopoly in the fur trade in the early nineteenth century. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.  he city is served by the deepwater Port of Astoria. Transportation includes the Astoria Regional Airport. U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 101 are the main highways, and the 4.1-mile (6.6 km) Astoria–Megler Bridge connects to neighboring Washington across the river."

Columbia River Maritime Museum

Museums in Astoria

Astoria Lodging

Fort Astoria (1811-1825) History

Astoria Food 

Astoria   History1    History2

Astoria Column Historical Tower

Charter Boat Services in Astoria 

Lower Columbia River: Astoria to Portland, Ilwaco to Vancouver

Long Beach Peninsula  

Lewis and Clark Historic Sites

Clatsop County, Oregon  Population 38,000 

Fort Clatsop  Camp of Lewis and Clark in the Winter of 1805.  Video: Winter Story

Fort Steven's State Park  A World War II military base defending the Columbia River. 

Clatsop People

 

The following photographs were obtained on the Internet:

Astoria Column

Astoria and Bridge at the Columbia River 

Astoria Downtown

Longview and Ranier

Columbia River Near Clatskanie

Columbia River Near Clatskanie

Mt. Adams, Washington

Stratovolcano, 12,281 Feet (3,743 M) 

Cascade Mountain Range, Southwestern WA

Near Yakima, Packwood, Klickitat, and Goldendale WA

Mt. Adams - Wikipedia

Cascade Volcanic Arc

Karen and I have traveled all around this immense and dramatic mountain many times since 2016.  

Cascade Volcanic Arc

How Do You Get Out?

              The Fireplace Records, Chapter 38

How Do You Get Out?

Porcupine Roshi was a jovial fellow. He enjoyed jokes.  He laughed often. He was fond of riddles.  

Porcupine Roshi died last winter of pneumonia. One of his friends was reading one of Porcuspine's many old notebooks. He found some curious riddles:

Imagine you are in a room with no windows or doors. How do you get out?

I dreamt I was in jail and to be executed for a crime I did not commit.  How do I escape?

I thought about all the bad situations I could get myself into. This was driving me crazy. What can I do?

Answers: Stop imagining; stop dreaming; stop thinking for awhile.

How many sides does a Zen Circle have?
Two! The inside and the outside.

Porcupine drew a small circle on the ground with his stick. He sat outside the circle. Then, he said, "We must choose to sit outside of the Zen Circle, or sit inside of the Zen Circle, or standing strong and passing between the two sides of the Zen Circle while laughing at ourselves."

Comments, Sources, Observations, Koans, Poems, Quips:

Know the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
Reasoning can be more useful than dreams or imagination.
It is easy to distinguish between being awake or dreaming.
Deal with real events, not how you imagine them beforehand.
Think about or imagine something positive happening.
Don't let your imagination cripple you.
Nobody ever gets away from the grasp of Death.
Imagining something does not make it real.
Watch out for Porcupine Roshi's sharp quills.

Draw the Zen Circle wide enough so that many can sit within.
A few Zen Koans are riddles, and a few Riddles are zen koans.
Surprise laughter after a riddle's answer is a minor insight of sorts.
Some puzzles have no solution, no resolution, no conclusion.
Drawing a circle is a common metaphorical act in Zen.
What side of the Zen Circle are you on?

Riddles (200+ Riddles, with No Ads.)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings, Quips, Maxims, Humor

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records (Blog Version) By Michael P. Garofalo

Or

Seeking a Literary Agent, Editor, and/or Publisher

I am seeking an author's agent, editor, and/or publisher
 to consider my books.

Discover your commercial success possibilities right HERE 
with books by Michael P. Garofalo.

My poetry is unique, creative, direct, experimental, philosophical, and
contemporary. Check out three of my poetry books that are ready for
publication right now:

Attention, Language and Time
Selected Poetry: 2016 - 2026
By Michael P. Garofalo

WebBook, 60 pages, October, 2026

At the Edges of the West: Highway 101 and 1.
Docu-Poems, Haiku, Photos, TextArt

The Tick-Tock Tractatus:
Speaking of Time: The Poetic Investigations

Five Corners of Time Eclectic Quintains and Tanka

My Daodejing Anthology and Concordance
is the very best. This Tao Te Ching anthology
is encyclopedic in scope, and well respected.

Other commercial possibilities
can be found at:

Twenty Five Steps and Beyond:
The Collected Works of Mike Garofalo 

Yes, the in-boxes of literary agents are filled to the brim with new manuscripts to read. And, they diligently proceed to try to discover value that will sell.

For a change, just open your web browser and you will find diverse creative work and whole books at my website.

As for reviews of my work, go here.

My 3,700+ Quintain poems at Bundled Up (Volumes 1 - 9) are designed for Ebook
publication. This is a special type of poetry and research for which readers frequently return. My quintain sonnets (5252, 554, 555, 553, 545) are an original formal and structural contribution to the genre.

I have saved $600 to help start this publishing process. I am not interested in talking to anyone who wants me to pay them for all the publishing and distributing of my creative works in paperback, hardback or Ebook formats.

I am seeking an author's agent and/or publisher who can see the possibilities
for commercial success from my writing and my existing books, takes the risks,
works with me on an ongoing basis, gets them published, and takes the lions-share of the profits.

What little money I might make will keep my websites afloat, and the excess
will be given to charity.

I don't have the funds or the time to actively market or promote my works to agents or publishers or the public. I will just let the wide range and value of my creative
works speak for themselves, and their commercial possibilities.

My goal is to write better and more! Since 1998, I have published all my creative work on my many Internet websites and blog.

To Contact Me

Thanks, Michael Peter Garofalo

Humanism

Humanism: Good Reads

The Little Book of Humanism: Universal Lessons on Finding Purpose, Meaning and Joy. By Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts. Piatkus, 2022, 256 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope. Penguin Press, 2023, 454 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

American Humanist Association

Humanists of Greater Portland, Oregon

Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.  By Greg M. Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University.  William Morrow, 2009, 250 pages. FVRL, Hardbound. Outstanding presentation!

I have enjoyed and benefitted from reading three books by the fine writer, humanist, and scholar: Sarah Bakewell. 

How to Live, or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.

At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails.

This week, I have enjoyed reading her newest book:

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry and Hope. Penguin Press, 2023, 454 pages. VSCL.

I have a number of webpages with my notes on Humanist philosophy:

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Pragmatism

My Views on Religion

Free Thought

"You are what you make of yourselves. Aim high, aim for the stars, and you may yet clear the rooftops. You will need courage, tenacity, motivation, and a good sense of humor on the route. Quality of character, happiness, fulfilment of potential and of human needs can be improved through changed values, through redirection of individual life, by a process of personal change, and personal evolution."
- Jeaneane Fowler

"The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile." - Bertrand Russell

"Is it so small a thing To have enjoyed the sun, To have lived light in the spring, To have loved to have thought, to have done; To have advanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes.

That we must feign a bliss Of doubtful future date, And while we dream on this Lose all our present state, And relegate to worlds yet distant our repose? - Matthew Arnold

The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought.  By Susan Jacoby.  Yale University Press, 2013, 246 pages. VSCL. 

 

Subject Index to the Book of Serenity 100 Zen Buddhist Koans

 

Book of Serenity 100 Koans (BOS)

Book of Equanimity or Book of Serenity (BOS)

The Book of Serenity (BOS) Book of Equanimity
100 Cases of Brief Stories, Spiritual Encounters, Koans, Wisdom Tales, Sermons, Dialogues, Parables
Compiled and published around 1224 CE.

Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. Second Draft on August 26, 2023.

Primary Source for Indexing: The Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues. Translated with commentary by Thomas Cleary, 2005, 512 pages.

Subject Index to Cases in the Book of Serenity (BOS) 100 Koans Collection. Second Draft, August 25, 2023, 26 pages, PDF.

Alphabetical List of Cases in the Book of Serenity (BOS) 100 Koans Collection. Second Draft, August 25, 2023, 4 pages, PDF.

List of Cases by Case Numbers in the Book of Serenity (BOS) 100 Koans Collection. Second Draft, August 25, 2023, 4 pages, PDF.

 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans and Discourses

The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans. By Gerry Shishin Wick. Foreword by Bernie Glassman. Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2005. Recommended reading list, list of names index, 331 pages. ISBN: 9780861713875.

Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues. Translation and commentary by Thomas Cleary. Shambhala, 2005, glossary, notes, 463 pages. 100 Koans. VSCL, paperback.

Book of Serenity Translated by Joan Sutherland Roshi and John Tarrant Roshi. "The hundred koans of the Book of Serenity, also translated as the Book of Equanimity, were among those written by twelfth-century Chan teacher Hongzhi Zhengjue. In the thirteenth century, Wansong Xingxiu compiled Hongzhi’s koans and wrote commentaries for each. Although the collection is associated with the Caodong / Soto school, they are also taken up in koan study by Linji / Rinzai practitioners." Online PDF Version.

Shoyoroku (E. Book of Serenity, C. Ts’ung-jung lu) Online version of the Book of Serenity. Congrong Lu.
A collection of 100 koans, originally compiled in the 12th century by Wanshi Shogaku (C. Hung-chih Cheng-chüeh).

Book of Equanimity - Wikipedia 100 Cases. Compiled by Wangsong Zingxiu (1166-1246), and first published in 1224. The book comprises a collection of 100 koans written by the Chan Buddhist master Hongzhi Zengjue (1091-1157), together with commentaries by Wansong. Wansong's compilation is the only surviving source for Hongzhi's koans.

Buddhism: Bibliography, Links, Information, Resources. Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Zen Buddhist Koans and Information: https://www.egreenway.com/buddhism/koansdup1.htm By Michael P. Garofalo.