going all the way back
to when all was one.
66
Why are oceans greater than creeks and rivers and lakes?
Because they lay lower than the rest
because gravity carries the high to the low
because they are the lowest they are the greatest.
Wise one
to speak to people you must be lower than them,
to lead people you must be behind them,
to be first you must be last,
so that people will listen without feeling alienated ,
so that people will follow without feeling like sheep,
so that your quality can shine without contention.
This way the whole earth will feel your push
and not be bothered with the direction.
Without pushing
and without pushing
no one pulls back.
67
People say that this path is so easy,
simply the way things go
naturally
without trying.
Exactly
because it is so simple, so basic, so minimal
it is so great.
Religion
created from wants and desires, from miracles and visions,
from conflict between mortal and immortal,
is not normal, not natural.
From its ancient manufacture and people's need of it
you can see its smallness.
I have three commandments
compassion, simplicity, and humility
because
only with compassion is a person able to be truly brave
only by living simply can one be truly generous
only by humility does one become the leader.
Today your courage is based on the ease of attack and victory, yourgenerosity on your wealth, not poverty, and your humility on being thefirst, not the last. You will die, and it will all pass.
But compassion cannot fight without winning, or give without gaining,or be nobody without being somebody.
Nature gives a natural defense of lowliness -- like the "death" of thepossum, or the bared neck of the wolf, the sea depths of the ancient coelacanth-- to that which it wants to protect.
68
The best leaders stay with their local people
the best fighters are cool and calm
the best commanders win without engaging the enemy
the best supervisors act like the lowest employees
the best healers cure without medicine
the best laws have no transgressors
the best priests have no faith.
This is called power
power that comes with flowing with the way
power that is able to guide people
power that is mate to the universe
the oldest power.
69
Military strategists have said
When you don't think you have a good defense,
take the offense
When you don't think you have a good offense,
retreat.
Retreat is called marching in place
rolling up your sleeves but not showing any muscle
the rose in the fisted glove
confronting without threatening.
In life there is nothing worse than
getting mad and attacking
and finding
nothing there ...
?br>
Only by losing your possessions
and your self
can you have no enemy.
In war, when armies are recruited and conscripted
when battles are waged
the victor will be the reluctant nation
who takes no joy or glory from fighting.
70
These words of mine
are easy to translate and understand and discuss and practice.
So why is it
nobody anywhere
understands them? practices them?
My words
have culture, have reason, have a system
but try to make sense of them and you will fail,
try to apply them like rules and you will fail.
This is why people do not understand
my words.
So few understand it
but then
that is its value
guarded like
a pond
frozen
in the winter.
71
Knowing the depths of your own ignorance is healthy.
Thinking that you know
what you really don't
is a cancer.
Only by realizing that you don't know
can you be healed.
The way to heal this cancer
is to recognize your false knowledge
as a disease,
thereby freeing yourself
of it.
72
If your authority is not sufficient
relax
let go
the power of the universe will suffice.
Do not restrict others
or make them do things you want
let go
and they will stop running from you.
The wise
know themselves,
know their power
but do not show it,
know their own quality
but do not use praises or titles.
Let go
of that
take this.
73
People who are brave and who like dares
kill and destroy.
People who are brave and have no taste for daring
live and create.
Either may be appropriate,
both may be good and bad
still,
the universe has no taste for blood,
neither does the follower of the way.
The universe never tries to win
still,
it always does;
never tries to speak
still,
there is always an answer;
never tries to command
still,
everything is ordered.
The net of the universe is wide ,
its mesh is wide
still,
nothing escapes.
74
People not afraid of death
cannot be threatened with
death.
What, then, is the use of threats?
Even if people feared death
and were afraid of its strangeness,
who should be responsible
for carrying out the threat
and killing them?
Famine, rain, drought, hurricanes, snow, tornadoes
are more than sufficient.
For people to do the work of nature
is like
assuming the job of a master carpenter
and doing the sawing
you would be lucky
not to lose a finger.
75
People starve because
governments and religions and businesses spend
too much money
elsewhere.
That is the only reason there is hunger.
People demonstrate and rebel because
religions and businesses and governments make laws
to restrict them.
That is the only reason there isn't peace.
People have no fear of death because
businesses and governments and religions are
so busy trying
to survive.
That is why death carries so little fear for common people,
for having so little to get out of life themselves,
their lives are fuller.
76
At birth a human is soft and flexible,
at death a human is hard and fixed.
In life all things, plants and animals,
are soft and flexible,
but
in death all things
are hard and fixed.
What is hard and fixed is death's friend;
what is soft and flexible is life's friend.
The hard and fixed weapon will break,
the hardwood tree will be cut down,
the high shall be made low,
the first shall be last,
the poor and the meek
will win.
77
The way of the universe
is like
pulling the string of a bow
the bow bends
the top descends
the bottom ascends.
The way of the universe is
to take from the wealthy
and give to the poor.
The way of humanity is
to take from the poor
and give to the wealthy.
There is only one way that a person can have so much
that there is enough to give to poor and wealthy alike.
How?
By following the way,
directing but never with force,
accomplishing but never praised,
better than others
but unknown.
78
Nothing is softer, more flexible, or more giving than
water
nothing can resist it
nothing can take it away
nothing can endure it
there is no way to hurt it.
The flexible overcomes what resists it,
the giving overcomes what takes it,
the soft overcomes the hard,
but who uses this knowledge?
?br>
Only the person who knows the earth
as intimately as the trees and grasses
can rule the earth,
only the person who accepts
the guilt and evil of humanity
can rule the universe.
Straight tongues seem forked.
Straight talk seems crooked.
79
Stopping wars
feeding the hungry in foreign lands
building inner-city housing projects
not using racist or sexist language
will not succeed
because the deeper problems are not solved.
Stay at home
claiming nothing from others
giving everything
and the universe will give to you.
80
A small land
with small groups of people
using horses instead of cars
plows instead of tractors,
themselves and their families attached,
dying on the land rather than leave it.
Ships never boarded, airplanes never sat in,
missiles never aimed, guns never loaded.
Ribbons around fingers to remind us
instead of newspapers
simple talk
simple food
simple clothing
simple fireplace
simple work
Imagine growing up and dying
hearing the neighbors' dogs and chickens and cows
but never
having been
there.
81
True words are not pleasant to hear
sweet-sounding words are not true.
Good people do not prove things by argument
those who prove things by argument are not good.
Wisdom is different from book learning
book learning means little wisdom.
Wise people have no need to store things up
when all has been given to others
they have more than before.
The path of the universe
is to attain the end
without means
do
without acting.
English_Kwok_TTK
Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse
Chinese - English by
Kwok, Palmer, Ramsay, 1993
1
The Tao that can be talked about is notthe true Tao.
The name that can be named is notthe eternal Name.
Everything in the universe comes outof Nothing.
Nothing - the nameless is the beginning;
While Heaven, the mother is the creatrixof all things.
Follow the nothingness of the Tao,
and you can be like it, not needinganything,
seeing the wonder and the root ofeverything.
And even if you cannot grasp this nothingness,
you can still see something of theTao in everything.
These two are the same only calledby different names
- and both are mysterious and wonderful.
All mysteries are Tao, and Heaven istheir mother:
She is the gateway and the womb-door.
2
Beauty and mercy are only recognized bypeople
Because they know the opposite, whichis ugly and mean.
If the people think they know goodness
Then all they really know is whatevil is like!
Nothing, and Heaven share the sameroot -
Difficulty and ease are a part ofall work.
The long and the short are in yourhands,
Above and below exist because theyeach do,
What you want and what you say shouldbe the same...
Neither future nor past can existalone.
the sage has no attachment to anything,
and he therefore does what is rightwithout speaking
by simply being in the Tao.
Life, all life began without words.
Life is made-and no one owns it.
The Tao is neither selfish nor proud.
The Tao is generous and graceful inwhat it does
Without ever claiming any merit
And the sage's greatness lies
in taking no credit.
3
If the sage refuses to be proud
then people won't compete for hisattention:
If the sage does not buy treasures
Then the people won't want to stealthem:
If the sage governs with vision
Then his people will not go wrong.
So in his wisdom, he restrains himself:
- by not being greedy for food
- by not dominating the State
- by keeping himself healthy and fit.
The sage always makes sure
that the people don't know what he'sdone,
so they never want to be in control-
and are never driven by ambition.
He keeps them in truth like this actinginvisibly.
You see, if there is nothing to fightfor
then there is nothing that can breakthe flow.
4
The Tao pours out everything into life-
It is a cornucopia that never runsdry.
It is the deep source of everything-
it is nothing, and yet in everything.
It smooths round sharpness
and untangles the knots.
It glows like the lamp
that draws the moth...
Tao exists, Tao is
but where It came from I do not know.
It has been shaping things from beforethe First Being,
from the before the Beginning of Time.
5
Heaven and earth are not like humans.
The Tao does not act like a human.
They don't expect to be thanked
for making life,
so they view it without expectation.
Heaven and earth are like a pair ofbellows:
they are empty, and yet they can neverbe exhausted.
Work them, and they produce more andmore
- there's too much talking, it's reallybetter to stay quiet.
There are too many laws, when all youhave to do
is to hold on to the centre.
6
The Tao is the breath that never dies.
It is a Mother to All Creation.
It is the root and ground of everysoul
- the fountain of Heaven and Earth,laid open.
Endless source, endless river
River of no shape, river of no water
Drifting invisibly from place to place
... it never ends and it never fails.
7
Heaven and earth are enduring.
The universe can live for ever,
because it does not live for itself.
And so both last - outliving themselves.
The sage guides his people
by putting himself last.
Desiring nothing for himself,
he knows how to channel desires.
And is it not because he wants nothing
that he is able to achieve everything?
8
The sage's way,
Tao is the way of water.
There must be water for life to be,
and it can flow wherever.
And water, being true to being water
is true to Tao.
Those on the Way of Tao, like water
need to accept where they find themselves;
and that may often be where watergoes to the lowest places, and that is right.
Like a lake the heart must be calmand quiet
