Disgusting things avoided by love.
25
Four Infinities.
Before the World exists
There is mystery:
Silent, depthless,
Alone, unchanging,
Ubiquitous and ever moving,
The mother of the World.
I do not know its name, so I call it Tao;
I do not know its limit, so I call it infinite.
Being infinite, it flows away forever
Flowing away forever, it returns to the Self.
The Self follows the way of the World;
The World follows the way of Nature;
Nature follows the way of Tao;
Tao is the way.
Tao is infinite,
Therefore Nature is infinite,
Therefore the World is infinite,
Therefore the Self is infinite.
There are four infinities,
And the Self is one of them.
26
Calm
Gravity is the source of Lightness,
Calm, the master of Haste
So the leader of a great enterprise should not act lightly or hastily.
Acting lightly, he loses touch with the World,
Acting hastily, he loses control of the Self.
The sage journeys all day without losing control;
Surrounded by desirable things, he is calm and unattached.
27
Attention
A good traveller leaves no trail to be followed
A good speaker leaves no question to be asked
A good accountant leaves no working to be checked
A good container leaves no lock to be picked
A good fastener leaves no knot to be unravelled
So the sage nurtures all men
And abandons no one.
He accepts everything
And rejects nothing.
He attends to the smallest details.
So the strong must guide the weak,
For the weak are raw material to the strong.
If the guide is not respected
Or the material is not nurtured
Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
This is the essence of subtlety.
28
Being the Female
Knowing the male, being the female,
Being the course through which flows the World,
One embraces unfailing Love
And is again as a newborn.
Knowing the light, being the dark,
Being the World,
One becomes unerring Love
And returns to Tao.
Knowing honour, being humble,
Being the valley of the World,
Love suffices,
And one is as unshaped wood.
When wood is shaped it becomes tools.
Used by the sage, tools become powerful;
So a good carpenter wastes little.
29
Blindness
Those who wish to change the World
According with their desire
Cannot succeed.
The World is shaped by Tao;
It cannot be shaped by Self.
If one tries to shape it, one damages it;
If one tries to possess it, one loses it.
Therefore:
Sometimes things flourish,
And sometimes they do not.
Sometimes life is hard
And sometimes it is easy.
Sometimes people are strong
And sometimes they are weak.
Sometimes you get where you are going
And sometimes you fall by the way.
The sage is not extreme, extravagant, or complacent.
30
Violence
Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
For violence has a habit of returning;
Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
And lean years follow a great war.
A general is well advised
To acheive nothing more than his orders,
No matter how strong his army;
To carry out his orders
But not glory, boast or be proud;
To do what is dictated by necessity,
But not by bloodlust;
For even the fiercest force will weaken with time,
And then its violence will return, and kill it.
31
Tools of Violence
Soldiers are tools of violence, feared by all;
The sage will not employ them.
His purpose is creation;
Their purpose is destruction.
Weapons are tools of violence, not of the wise man;
He uses them when there is no choice
For he values peace and tact,
And does not delight in conquest.
For who delights in conquest
Delights in the slaughter of men;
And who delights in the slaughter of men
Cannot control them.
Slaughters should be mourned
And conquest celebrated with a funeral.
32
Shape
Tao has no true definition.
Like unshaped wood, it has no use;
If a ruler understands this
His whole country flourishes and obeys
In harmony with his Self,
Just as sweet rain falls
Needing no instruction
To slake the thirst of all.
When Tao is shaped by use,
The shape gains a name in the World;
One should not keep too many names
Lest their shapes stop up the Self;
Instead let Tao flow through the Self into the World
As water courses down a riverbed into the sea.
33
Virtue
Who understands the World is learned;
Who understands the Self is enlightened.
Who conquers the World has strength;
Who conquers the Self has love.
Who is contented has riches;
Who is determined has purpose.
Who maintains his home will long endure
Who maintains his influence will live long after death.
34
Tao Favours No One
Infinite Tao flows everywhere, creating and destroying,
Implementing all the World, attending to the tiniest details,
Claiming nothing in return.
It nurtures all things,
Though it does not control them;
It has no intention,
So it seems inconsequential.
It is the substance of all things;
Though it does not control them;
It has no exception,
So it seems all-important.
Because it favours no finite thing,
It is infinite.
35
Peace
Tao lacks art and flavour;
It can neither be seen nor heard,
Yet its application cannot be exhausted.
If you offer music and food
Strangers may stop with you;
But if you accord with Tao
The people of the World will keep you
In safety, health, community, and peace.
36
Influence
To reduce someone's influence, first cause it to expand;
To reduce someone's force, first cause it to increase;
To overthrow someone, first cause them to be exalted;
To take something from someone, first give it to them.
This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong,
For fish should not leave their depths;
And soldiers should not leave their camouflage.
37
Quieting the Heart
Tao does not act, yet leaves nothing undone.
If the Self understands this
All the things of the World naturally flourish;
Flourishing, they are constrained by Nature.
Nature does not possess desire;
Without desire, the heart becomes quiet,
And so the whole World may be made tranquil.
38
Religion
The loving do not act.
The kind act without self-interest;
The just act to serve self-interest;
The religious act to reproduce self-interest.
For when Tao is lost, there is love;
When love is lost, there is kindness;
When kindness is lost, there is justice;
And when justice is lost, there is religion.
Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
So religion enthralls generation after generation.
Religion is the end of love and honesty,
The beginning of confusion;
Faith is a colourful hope or fear,
The origin of folly.
The sage goes by knowledge, not by hope;
He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
He accepts the former, and rejects the latter.
39
Wholeness
In mythical times all things were whole:
All the sky was clear,
All the earth was stable,
Allthe mountains were strong,
All the riverbeds were full,
All of nature was alive,
And all the rulers were supported.
But without clarity, the sky tears;
Without stability, the earth splits;
Without strength, the mountain collapses;
Without water, the riverbed cracks;
Without life, nature is barren;
And without support, the rulers fall.
So rulers depend upon their subjects,
The noble depend upon the humble;
And rulers call themselves orphaned, lonely or disabled,
To win their peoples' support.
Wholeness gains no support.
So there is weakness in power,
And power in weakness;
Rather than tinkle like jade,
One should clatter like stones.
40
Application of Tao
The motion of Tao is to return;
The use of Tao is to accept;
All things are made of Tao,
And Tao is made of nothing.
41
Taoism
When the strong learn Tao, they practice it diligently;
When the average learn Tao, they practice it sometimes;
When the weak learn Tao, they laugh out loud;
Those who do not laugh do not learn at all.
Therefore it is said:
Who understands Tao seems foolish;
Who progresses in Tao seems to fail;
Who follows Tao seems to wander.
So the greatest force appears vulnerable;
The brightest truth appears coloured;
The richest character appears incomplete;
The strongest heart appears meek;
The most beautiful nature appears fickle;
So the square, perfected, has no corner;
Art, perfected, has no meaning;
Sex, perfected, has no climax;
Form, perfected, has no shape.
So Tao can not be sensed or known:
It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
42
Harmony
Tao bears love;
Love bears restraint;
Restraint bears acceptance;
Acceptance bears the World;
All things begin with love and end with restraint,
But it is acceptance that brings harmony.
As others teach, I teach,
"Those without harmony end with violence";
This is my teacher.
43
Overcoming the Impossible
The soft overcomes the hard;
The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
Therefore I value taking no action.
Teaching without words,
Work without action,
Are understood by no one.
44
Contentment
Fame or Self: which is dearer?
Self or wealth: which is more valuable?
Profit or loss: which is more painful?
Great love incurs great expense,
And great wealth incurs great theft,
But great contentment incurs no loss.
Therefore:
He who knows when to stop
Does not continue into danger,
And may long endure.
45
Quiet
Great perfection seems imperfect,
But does not decay;
Great abundance seems empty,
But does not fail.
Great truth seems contradictory;
Great cleverness seems stupid;
Great eloquence seems awkward.
Though action overcomes contentment,
Stillness overcomes desire;
So calm and quiet control the World.
46
Desire
When the World is not in accord with Tao,
Horses bear soldiers through the fields;
When the World is in accord with Tao,
Horses bear horseshit through the fields.
There is no greater curse than desire;
There is no greater misery than discontent;
There is no greater ailment than greed;
But one who is content to be content
May always be content.
47
Knowledge and Experience
Without taking a step outdoors
You know the whole World.
Without taking a look out the window
You see the colour of the sky.
The more you experience,
The less you know.
The sage wanders without knowing,
Looks without seeing,
Accomplishes without acting.
48
Knowledge
The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.
By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
To conquer the World, do nothing;
If you must do something,
The World remains beyond conquest.
49
The Worlds of Others
The sage does not distinguish between Self and World;
Therefore the needs of the people of the World are as his own.
He is good to those who are good;
He is also good to those who are not good;
For love is goodness.
He trusts those who are trustworthy;
He also trusts those who are not trustworthy;
For love is trust.
He is in harmony with the World;
So he nurtures the Worlds of others
As a mother does her children.
50
Life and Death
Death enters life as man enters woman.
The limits of man:
Thirty years of growth;
Thirty years of decay;
Thirty years inbetween;
So death and life reproduce themselves.
He who would prolong his life
Will not meet tigers or rhinoceri in the wilds,
Nor soldiers in battle
So the rhinoceros finds no place in him for its horn,
The tiger no place for its claw,
The soldier no place for a weapon;
So death finds no place to enter his life.
51
Love
Tao bears us,
Love nurtures us,
Nature shapes us,
Circumstance completes us.
We worship Tao and honour love;
For worship of Tao and honour of love
Are performed by being alive.
Tao bears us,
Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
Shelters, comforts, and makes a home for us.
Making without controlling,
Giving without demanding,
Guiding without interfering,
Helping without profiting,
This is love.
52
Restraint
The origins of the World are its mother;
Know the mother, and you understand the child;
Know the child, and you embrace the mother,
Who shall not perish when you die.
Reserve your judgments and words
And you maintain your influence;
Draw conclusions and speak your mind
And your cause is lost.
As seeing detail is clarity,
So maintaining tact is strength;
Keep your eyes and mind open
So that you may not regret your actions;
This is restraint.
53
Distractions
With but a small understanding
One may follow Tao like a main road,
Fearing only to leave it;
Following a main road is easy,
But being sidetracked is also easy.
