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Awaken with the Tao Teh King for Awakening

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We are happy to announce that Abbot George’s latest book, The Tao Teh King for Awakening: A Practical Commentary on Lao Tzu’s Classic Exposition of Taoism, is now available as a paperback and ebook at Amazon.com and other online outlets.

With penetrating insight, Abbot George Burke illumines the the wisdom of Lao Tzu’s classic writing, the Tao Teh King (Tao Te Ching), and the timeless practical value of China’s most beloved Taoist scripture for spiritual seekers. With a unique perspective of a lifetime of study and practice of both Eastern and Western spirituality, Abbot George mines the treasures of the Tao Teh King and presents them in an easily intelligible fashion for those wishing to put these priceless teachings into practice.

It is said that the Tao Teh King is the work of the great Chinese sage Lao Tzu. Disgusted with the degeneration of Chinese society, he decided to leave and vanish forever, which he did. But as he was leaving the capital, the warden of the gate asked him to set down his realizations since he would no longer be accessible to truth seekers. He did so, and then went out the gate into the lost pages of human history.

If a person wishes he can immerse himself in the stewpot of scholarly speculation as to who Lao Tze really was, whether he ever existed, and whether he wrote the Tao Teh King, or who did. None of this means anything. Taoist masters through the centuries have proved the truth of the Tao Teh King, and that is all that matters. For truth seekers it stands as a monument to Truth. Even those who understand it imperfectly will reap great gain from its study.

This week buy the ebook now for only 99¢ at theses universal book links: for all Amazon stores, and for all other online stores.

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An excerpt from The Tao Teh King for Awakening

The Spirit of the Valley

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;
The female mystery thus do we name.
Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,
Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.
Long and unbroken does its power remain,
Used gently, and without the touch of pain.
(Tao Teh King 6)

Swami Rama of HardwarOne of my most cherished memories of India was a day I visited the great Kashmiri yogi, Swami Rama, in his simple ashram on the banks of the Ganges in Hardwar. I had known Swamiji for several years and found that each visit to him opened new and wonderfully clear vistas. This would be no exception.

I had brought with me a young Austrian who had taken advantage of his parents’ vacation to take a plane to India without their having any idea of where he might be. Actually, he had not much idea either. His reading of purely theoretical books on nothing but the abstractions of Non-dual Vedanta had not prepared him for what he was finding in contemporary, Puranic Hinduism. Seeing his utter bewilderment at all this, I had invited him to go along with me to see Swami Rama, a total contrast to the intellectual backwater he had been struggling to comprehend. (He gave up. A wise decision.)

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An Introduction to “Vegetarianism and Occultism” by C. W. Leadbeater

vegetarianism and occultism

Vegetarianism and Occultism by C. W. Leadbeater was published by the Theosophical Society in 1913. Although things are much better a little over a century later, still there is far to go to realize the ideals set forth in the full article. The author’s words may seem intense–but so is the subject. And they merit serious consideration.

Leadbeater begins the article with six reasons for the superiority of a vegetarian diet from a purely physical/health standpoint, which include the following:

  • More Nutriment
  • Less Disease
  • More Natural to Man
  • Greater Strength
  • Less Animal Passion
  • Economy

He then follows with ethical, mental, and spiritual reasons. As an introduction to the article, we list the first of his health reasons. You can read the full article here.

The nutritional value of a vegetarian diet

First: Because vegetables contain more nutriment than an equal amount of flesh.

This will sound a surprising and incredible statement to many people. It must be clearly understood that this is not a question of habit, or of sentiment, or of prejudice; it is simply a question of plain fact. There are four elements necessary in food, all of them essential to the repair and the upbuilding of the body:

  1. Proteids or nitrogenous foods;
  2. carbohydrates;
  3. hydro-carbons or fats;
  4. salts.

This is the classification usually accepted among physiologists, although some recent investigations are tending to modify it to a certain extent.

Now there is no question that all of these elements exist to a greater extent in vegetables than they do in flesh. For instance, milk, cream, cheese, nuts, peas and beans contain a large percentage of proteids or nitrogenous matter. Wheat, oats, rice and other grains, fruits and most of the vegetables (except perhaps peas, beans, and lentils) consist mainly of the carbohydrates–that is, of starches and sugars. The hydro-carbons, or fats, are found in nearly all the proteid foods, and can also be taken in the form of butter or of oils. The salts are found practically in all food to a greater or less extent. They are of the utmost importance in the maintenance of the body tissues, and what is called saline starvation is the cause of many diseases.

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