Divine Tao
There are 37 Tao Poems and 44 Te PoemsNew Thought Te 76 - explores the importance of flexibility and intelligence
Tao # 76 / Life / Death
Ф
Newborns are supple
their muscles flexible
the dying are stiff
their muscles tense
trees begin as flexible saplings
grasses wave in the wind easily
early in life
yet time marches on
and soon softness is gone
oxydization crumbles all to dust
just as aging parents lose their lust
life is epitomized
by the soft and pliable
death is demonstrated
by the hard and the dry
the key to victory
is found in flexibility
the strongest army
relies on intelligence
the weaker army
relies on brute strength
the soft reed bends in the wind
the mighty oak cracks with a gust
thus the wisest understand the strength of the soft
knowing that the rigid will soon be crushed
- Why is flexibility the key to victory?
- Why does the strongest army rely on intelligence?








