Over 81 consecutive weeks, beginning in 2018 and ending in 2020, I adapted the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching into kindness verses, one each week, as part of a personal meditation practice.
The idea of this project was to consider the ancient wisdom of the Tao through the lens of 21st-century kindness.
I shared my verses online as a way to center my practice and to offer them to others who might find them useful. You can find an archive of all 81 verses here.
As a sample, here’s my interpretation of verse 39:
39
THE BLOSSOM IS THE ROOT
Unity, harmony, wholeness,
synonyms for interconnectedness.
The finger is the hand.
Rooted in a pattern of humility,
nature takes its course.
The valley is the mountain.
Seeing oneness in all things,
kindness is a byproduct.
The blossom is the root.
Andy Smallman 