37
Tao does not act in the world of matter.* Yet the entire creation is a product of its creativity.
Act you too in the same manner, and then all the living will develop in the natural way!
When you live with simplicity, without paying attention to gossips and hostile attitude, in harmony with Tao, then you come to the state when you have no attachments and passions.
The absence of worldly desires brings one to the state of inner calm ?and then everything around comes to order.
* It is Te that acts.
38
Man representing Great Te does not force Himself to making good deeds: behaving righteously is natural for him.
Man who is far from Te may try to force himself to performing good deeds: righteousness is not natural for him.
Man representing Great Te does not aspire to activity in the world of matter: He acts in the state of non-doing.
Man who is far from Te lives in vanity and acts under the influence of his passions. In the religious aspect of life, his activity is reduced only to rituals; but believing in the 搈agic?of rituals signifies the degradation of religion! Such man also forces others to act as he does.
This happens only to those who do not have Tao in their lives. They cannot be trusted; they betrayed Tao already and can betray anyone.
The wise who cognized Tao is capable to distinguish people by these features. He chooses to communicate only with the people of good.
39
There are Those living in Unity with Tao since ancient time. Thanks to Them ?the sky is pure and the earth is stable, the nature is gentle and the rivers are full of water, the valleys are covered with flowers, all living beings multiply, the heroes of the spiritual Path are paragons of virtue. All this is provided by Those achieved the Unity!
If there was no Their help, then the sky would cease to be pure, the earth would crack all over, the nature would cease giving its beauty to all the living; the valleys would stop blooming and turn into desert; the living beings would stop multiplying and disappear; the heroes of the spiritual Path would not be paragons of virtue and would be ridiculed and banished?br>
People are a base for their rulers. Therefore, those earthly rulers who elevate themselves do not have a strong base. This happens because they do not consider people as their base. It is their mistake.
If one disassembles the chariot which he rides ?what would he be left with?
Do not consider yourself precious jasper! Be simple ?as common stone!
40
Interaction of the opposites is the sphere of Tao抯 activity.
The Highest Subtlety is one of the most important qualities of Tao. It is opposed by coarse qualities of evil people.
All the development of incarnate beings goes on in interaction of these opposites.
Yet, the very world of matter originated from the Subtlest Source?br>
41
The wise, having learned about Tao, aspires to self-realization in It.
The unwise, having learned about Tao, sometime keeps It in his memory and sometime loses.
Fool people, having learned about Tao, ridicule It. They consider insane those who cognized Tao?They view the wisdom as insanity? the higher justice ?as vice, the righteousness ?as depravity, the great truth ?as false?br>
Yes, the great square has no corners; the great sound cannot be heard; the great image cannot be seen?br>
Yes, Tao is hidden from idle looks. It leads to the Perfection only those deserving!
42
Once One came out from Tao. He took with Himself other Two. Those Two took other Three. And all They began to create various forms of life on the planet.*
All creatures are subdivided into pairs of the opposite yin and yang and are filled with the chi energy. All further development comes from their interaction.
All beings are afraid of loneliness and perceive it as suffering. This concerns, in particular, the earthly rulers.
All such people care only about themselves and refuse helping others.
Yet the correct decision consists in dedicating oneself to caring about others and forgetting about oneself.
The wise spiritual seeker, who dedicated his life to the goodness of everyone, will not be conquered by death. I prefer these words to all other precepts of all sages.
Those Who attained Tao merge in It into One.
* The author says here about several Holy Spirits (Te) that guided the evolution of souls on our planet (see more details about this in the book God Speaks. Divine Teachers ?about Themselves).
43
It happens that the weakest defeat the strongest. The reason for this is that Te is present everywhere, pervades everything, and controls everything.
This is why I view non-doing as beneficial.
There is nothing in the world that can compare to the teachings about the inner quietness and the benefit of non-doing!
44
What is more necessary: life ?or glory? What is more valuable: life ?or wealth? What hurts more: gain ?or loss?
If you accumulate much, you will lose much.
Show moderation and you will avoid failures. Show moderation and there will be no risk. Thus, you can live life in calm, without worries!
He who shows moderation does not suffer failure. He who knows when to stop avoids affliction. Thanks to this, he can manage to know Primordial and Eternal Tao.
45
People may confuse the Greatest Perfection ?with insanity, great volume ?with void, great curvature ?with straightness, great humor ?with foolishness, a great speaker ?with the unable to speak.
Intense movement overcomes cold; stillness overcomes heat.
Calm and harmony just ensure correct understanding of everything that happens in the world.
46
If the state lives according to the laws of Tao, then horses are used for tilling land.
But when the nation renounced Tao, then warhorses run over fields.
There is no greater affliction than uncontrolled worldly passions! Nothing destroys man more than the desire to multiply 揺arthly?treasures!
He who is satisfied with what he has is always happy!
47
The wise cognizes the world without leaving his house. Without looking from the window, he sees the Primordial Tao. He does not travel far to know more.
The wise does not travel ?yet he knows everything; he does not look ?yet he can describe everything; he seems to be non-acting ?yet he achieves everything.
In his heart he finds everything what is necessary.*
This is why the wise knows the things which cannot be reached by walking. And he can see the invisible to the common eye.
* Here the author means not the physical but spiritual heart ?developed through the methods of buddhi yoga to a large size. Inside this heart one cognizes Tao. From this heart one finds ways leading to other beings.
48
He who learns increases his knowledge every day. He who serves Tao decreases his worldly desires. In constant decrease of worldly desires, man can achieve non-doing.
In non-doing one can master all mysteries of the universe! Without non-doing one cannot achieve this.
49
The wise has no selfish motives. He lives in caring about others.
To good people I do good, to the unkind I also wish good. This is the goodness of Tao.
With honest people I am honest, with dishonest I am honest also. This is the honesty of Tao.
The wise lives in calm in his country. Yet, in the same land other people live: both good and evil, honest and dishonest, reasonable and fool, selfish and selfless, those listening to Tao and those denying It.
The wise views people as his children.
50
People are born on the Earth and die. Out of ten about three continue then paradisiacal existence; three go to hell by the path of death; and three yet are those who have not succeeded in the development of soul due to attachments to worldly affairs.
He who mastered the true life when living on the Earth is not afraid of rhinoceros or tigers; in the battle he is not afraid of armed soldiers. A rhinoceros has no place to plunge its horn into him, a tiger has no place to fasten its claws onto him, soldiers have no place to stab him with swords. It is so, because to him there is no death.*
* He who with the help of the methods of buddhi yoga became a large spiritual heart or even merged with Tao ?quite naturally feels himself non-corporeal. Such a person ?as a large consciousness ?cannot be wounded by animals or weapon. He is Immortal.
51
Tao creates beings; Te nurses them, raises them, helps to develop, to mature, takes care about them and supports them.
These beings grow as souls, develop, and achieve the Perfection.
Therefore, there is no person who would not be obliged to worship Tao and Te.
Tao and Te coerce no one; They give to all beings the possibility to develop according to one抯 own freedom of will, in a natural way.
To produce without owning the products, to create without boasting, to be older than others and do not command them! These are the principles of life of Great Te.
52
The material world has its Source, Which is the Mother of the material world.
When the Mother is cognized, then it becomes easier to know Her Children*.
Knowing the Children, one should not forget about the Mother. Then one lives life without troubles.
If one abandons personal desires and becomes free from worldly passions, then such a person lives without getting tired.
On the other hand, if one indulges his passions and becomes immersed in worldly affairs, then troubles are unavoidable.
To see the Subtlest is the true clearness of vision.
Preservation of the subtlety of consciousness ensures true power.
Contemplate the Light of Tao! Cognize Its Depths! It is the true Treasure! Do not lose It ?and you will avoid many troubles!
* Te.
53
He who possesses the true knowledge walks the Straight Path.
The only thing that I am afraid of is to be absorbed by vanity.
The Straight Path is absolutely even. Yet, people prefer?meandering trails.
If the earthly rulers direct all their attention at the luxury of their palaces, then weeds overgrow fields and granaries become empty. Such earthly rulers wear luxury clothes and sharp swords; they are not satisfied with simple food; they accumulate for themselves too much wealth. This is equal to a robbery and is a violation of the principles of Tao.
54
By cognizing yourself, you cognize others. Help others ?and you will cognize everything.
He who can stand firmly cannot be overturned. He who can lean against support cannot be knocked down. Yes, such a person will be remembered by ancestors!
But when you become firmly established in Tao, then you will shine at other people with Its Light like rising sun!
Try to help in this to your family, to people living in your country and everywhere! By doing this you will gain great power of consciousness.
How did I cognize it? By doing this?br>
55
He who lives in Mergence with Great Te is pure like a newborn baby. Poisonous insects do not sting him; snakes do not bite him; wild animals and birds do not attack him. He refined the consciousness and is firmly merged with Tao.
He evaluates people not by the feature of sex or other outer qualities but look at their essence: at the soul.
He also perceives others as integral parts of the Whole*, in Unity.
And He possesses the ability to initiate in people the spiritual growth.
He can preach all day long, and his voice remains strong: He stays in constant Mergence with Tao!
In this way, He lives life in happiness!
Common people, having reached the prime of life, immediately begin to fade in old age?It happens so because they do not achieve Mergence with Tao.
56
The truth cannot be conveyed only through words! He who does not understand this cannot understand fully this treatise!*
He who abandons personal desires, becomes free from worldly passions, reduces his needs, achieves clear understanding, does not aspire to glory, stays in subtle state of consciousness ?such a person represents the Primordial and Deepest Tao.
He cannot be tempted, offended, forced, persuaded to be glorified. No one can harm him!
He shines like the sun! He is like a source that everyone can drink from!
He is the Highest Treasure among people!
* One can understand fully the truth only by realizing in practice everything that is described here.
57
From Tao originate calm, harmony, and justice.
Yet among people, there are selfishness, cunning, falsity, violence?br>
Yet one can enter Tao only through non-doing.
When people aspire to accumulation of multitude of unnecessary things, they become poor spiritually.
When they produce too much weapon, then unavoidably robbery and disorder arise.
When crafty masters direct all their efforts at creating material values, then miraculous phenomena cease to happen in the country.
When laws and repressions become too strict, then grow the number of unsatisfied people and their opposition.
This is why the wise abandons vanity and let everything happen by itself.
One has to begin changes with himself. I aspire to quietness and calm ?and others will be calm observing me. I do not aspire to possessing many material boons ?and people around me begin to be satisfied with little. I live without worldly attachments and passions ?and people around me come to simplicity and naturalness of life.
58
When earthly rulers rule in calm and harmony, people, too, are calm and peaceful. And they do not aspire to anything outside this wellbeing?br>
On the contrary, if earthly rulers act with irritation and aggressiveness, then people begin to suffer. Wellbeing is replaced then with troubles and calamities. And people begin to seek the way out, and some of them find it by coming to non-doing and becoming immersed into the Light of Infinite Tao. Then luck and happiness result from affliction.
As we can see, happiness and unhappiness give birth to each other?br>
The wise is always calm, gentle, and just. He does not want to take something away from others. He is selfless and does not harm anyone. He is honest and lives in harmony with Tao, with nature, and with other people.
He is bright but does not glitter.
59
In order to serve Tao successfully by helping other people, one has to be able to preserve and accumulate the power of consciousness. This requires renouncing everything that wastes this power.
Such a renunciation on the higher stages of the Path helps one to grow one抯 own Power of Te,* which can become inexhaustible and can help one to cognize Tao in fullness.
And Tao is the Eternal and Infinite Primordial Foundation of every man and of the entire material world. The way which unites one with that Foundation is called root.
