What did Lao Tsu mean when he said "to die but not to perish is to be eternally present?"?

Answer 1

To increase your life, do not grasp at it.
It withers from constant tending.
To treat life as a possession is to make its destruction more tragic.
Life is not yours, it merely is.
Let life flow through you. Do not block its passage.
Who saves his life will lose it, and be forgotten.
Who spends her life until it is gone will not be lost.

In other words: Death is a part of life, not its reversal. Those who have lived, are. Fear of death makes us waste life. It's not how long you have it, it's what you do with it that counts. "There is no other longevity."

Answer 2

It's a little late for existentialism, but what the heck.

I'm not familiar with Lao Tsu, but his quote jives well with early existential philosophers' commentary. It establishes a difference between "death" and "perishing," implying that the former secures a sort of subjective immortality.

My best interpretation is this: Lao Tsu argues that death and perishing are not one and the same. To perish is to die without securing your name in the historical record. To die famously is to live on in memory, and as long as you are remembered, you are arguably "present" amongst your decedents, and "present" in a temporal fashion. Heavy stuff.

Answer 3

I guess you need to know who Lao Tsu is to answer this question huh?

Answer 4

I believe that he meant that if we live a good life and make the world a better place we will continue to live on in the changes that we have wrought...

- Atmadeepo Bhava -

Answer 5

To die but to leave your legacy, by which people will remember...
something important that you accomplished you will always live on. You will always be in the present in peoples mind and lips.