How to Make Those Cool Chapter References

Luke Abbott

Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.

Chapter 54
What is firmly rooted cannot be pulled out;
What is tightly held in the arms will not slip loose;
Through this the offering of sacrifice by descendants will never come to an end.

Cultivate it in your person
And its virtue will be genuine;
Cultivate it in the family
And its virtue will be more than sufficient;
Cultivate it in the hamlet
And its virtue will endure;
Cultivate it in the state
And its virtue will abound;
Cultivate it in the empire
And its virtue will be pervasive.

Hence look at the person through the person; look at the family through the
family; look at the hamlet through the hamlet; look at the state through the
state; look at the empire through the empire.

How do I know that the empire is like that? By means of this

Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.

Luke Abbott

You've all seen Carl do it. Now you can too!

So, most of you know by now that there are these "codes" that are used in this message board ("BBCodes") for formatting. For example,

[b]bold this[/b]

shows up as:

bold this

You can check out the other standard codes when you post by using the formatting toolbar just above the post text box.

Now, given that this is a Taoist site I've added one non-standard BBCode: [chref]. There are two ways to use it. The first is to surround a chapter number with [chref][/chref]. For example,

This reminds me of another chapter [chref]40[/chref]

shows up as:

This reminds me of another chapter [chref=40][ch.40][/chref]

The second use is to surround a block of text with b][/b]chref=[i]n[/i[/chref], where n is a chapter number. So:

...just gotta remember [chref=27]not to leave wheel tracks[/chref]. ;-)

shows up as:

...just gotta remember [chref=27]not to leave wheel tracks[/chref]. ;-)

Tricks of the trade. :-)