Books, which help to connect with the Tao - i have one for you

[Kati]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how to really connect with the Tao through spiritual practice. I realized that reading can help a lot—books that make Taoist ideas more relatable, that help me feel it.

For example, Awakening to the Tao by Liu I-Ming really resonated with me. It helped me feel how trust and love for the Tao can grow, and how that makes my practice feel safer, deeper, and more natural.

 

Here is something out of that book:
"Dung Beetles
Dung beetles roll balls of dung, from which their offspring are born after a time. Balls of dung are originally dead things, with nothing in them, but by the communion of female and male energies joining into one energy that does not disperse, the spirit congeals and the energy coagulates, and is thus able to produce substance and form where there was no substance or form. What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of producing being from within nonbeing. People are born with the two energies of heaven and earth, yin and yang, so they have these two energies, yin and yang, within their bodies. If people can bring the yang to the yin, and cause the yin to follow the yang, yin and yang adhere to each other. In the midst of ecstatic trance there is a point of living potential, coming into being from nonbeing, whereby the spiritual embryo can be formed and the spiritual body can be produced. When this practice reaches its consummation, you break through space and have a body outside your body. Walking on the sun and moon without form, penetrating metal and stone without hindrance, you transcend Creation."

Here another poem, for those who don’t feel particularly drawn to a Daoist poem about dung, haha: 

"Thunder and Wind
Thunder is fierce, intense, and strong; wind is gradual, far-reaching, and soft. When wind and thunder combine, then there is soft gentleness in the midst of hard intensity, and there is hard intensity in the midst of soft gentleness. Hardness and softness complement each other. What I realize as I observe this is the Tao of balanced harmonization of hardness and softness. When people practice the Tao to develop character, dealing with events and society, if they are always hard they will be impetuous and aggressive, excessively impatient, so their actions will lack perseverance and their keenness will be blunted. Then again, if people are always soft, they will vacillate, fearful and ineffective, and be too weak to succeed in their tasks. That softness is useless. If people can be firm in decision and flexible in gradual practice, neither hurrying nor lagging, neither aggressive nor weak, with hardness and softness balancing each other, achieving balance and harmony, then they will benefit wherever they go. If they study the Tao in this way, eventually they will surely understand the Tao. If they practice the Tao in this way, eventually they will surely realize the Tao. Therefore a classic written by a sage says, “Balance is the mainstay of the world, harmony is the way the world arrives on the Tao. Achieving balance and harmony, heaven and earth are in their places therein, myriad beings grow up therein.” Such is the importance of the Tao of balance and harmony"

 

I’m curious—what books or writings have helped you feel a connection with the Tao? Ones that don’t just explain it, but somehow help you live it, feel it, bring it into practice.

[Haribol]

On 28.2.2026 at 10:45 PM, Kati said:

I’m curious—what books or writings have helped you feel a connection with the Tao? Ones that don’t just explain it, but somehow help you live it, feel it, bring it into practice.

Perhaps I should now that Tao is before I respond, but anyhow:

Sri Upanishad (very short)

https://vedabase.io/en/library/iso/

 

Isha Upanishad (equally short 😁)

https://shlokam.org/text/isha-upanishad-7ES7.htm
 

Sermon on the mount:

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

-Matthew 6:25–34
 

The Gita (all of it, but a few favs):

«For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.»

«Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.»

 

Asscosation with great sages and bums (with a special shoutout to the Oracle popularly known as @Nungali)

The heart sutra

https://oshoworld.com/the-heart-sutra-by-osho-01-10

 

https://www.osho.com/osho-online-library/osho-talks/intelligence-awakening-intellect-e42f5cb9-2f2?p=097a03a2a79d3003f15ebfbd123f987f

 

https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Spiritual-Self-Discovery-Novel_Get-Captivating/dp/0062315005
 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLT43ZF8
(By @dwai)

 

Voluspa

61. In wondrous beauty | once again
Shall the golden tables | stand mid the grass,
Which the gods had owned | in the days of old,

62. Then fields unsowed | bear ripened fruit,
All ills grow better, | and Baldr comes back;
Baldr and Hoth dwell | in Hropt's battle-hall,
And the mighty gods: | would you know yet more?

63. Then Hönir wins | the prophetic wand,
And the sons of the brothers | of Tveggi abide
In Vindheim now: | would you know yet more?

64. More fair than the sun, | a hall I see,
Roofed with gold, | on Gimle it stands;
There shall the righteous | rulers dwell,
And happiness ever | there shall they have.

65. There comes on high, | all power to hold,
A mighty lord, | all lands he rules.

66. From below the dragon | dark comes forth,
Nithhogg flying | from Nithafjoll;
The bodies of men on | his wings he bears,
The serpent bright: | but now must I sink.

 

Havamal

 

136. Strong is the beam | that raised must be
To give an entrance to all;
Give it a ring, | or grim will be
The wish it would work on thee.

137. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,--
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
When ale thou drinkest) | seek might of earth,
(For earth cures drink, | and fire cures ills,
The oak cures tightness, | the ear cures magic,
Rye cures rupture, | the moon cures rage,
Grass cures the scab, | and runes the sword-cut;)
The field absorbs the flood.

138. I ween that I hung | on the windy tree,
Hung there for nights full nine;
With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was
To Othin, myself to myself,
On the tree that none | may ever know
What root beneath it runs.

139. None made me happy | with loaf or horn,
And there below I looked;
I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them,
And forthwith back I fell.

140. Nine mighty songs | I got from the son
Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father;
And a drink I got | of the goodly mead
Poured out from Othrörir.
 

 

 

141. Then began I to thrive, |
and wisdom to get,
I grew and well I was;
Each word led me on | to another word,
Each deed to another deed.

142. Runes shalt thou find, | and fateful signs,
That the king of singers colored,
And the mighty gods have made;
Full strong the signs, | full mighty the signs
That the ruler of gods doth write.

143. Othin for the gods, | Dain for the elves,
And Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Alsvith for giants | and all mankind,
And some myself I wrote.

144. Knowest how one shall write, | 
knowest how one shall rede?
Knowest how one shall tint, | knowest how one makes trial?
Knowest how one shall ask, | knowest how one shall offer?
Knowest how one shall send, | knowest how one shall sacrifice?

145. Better no prayer | than too big an offering,
By thy getting measure thy gift;
Better is none | than too big a sacrifice,
. . . . . . . . . .
So Thund of old wrote | ere man's race began,
Where he rose on high | when home he came
 

 

And also…. Music.

[Haribol]