Inconspicuous like uncut wood
Willing and open like a deep valley
And yet obscure and inscrutable like troubled waters ....
Who can clear muddiness and lighten up darkness?
One who in the stillness and the silence clears and illumines itself.
And who can quicken the dregs without stirring them?
The Tao-united man who has emptied himself by letting-go.
Because he has become selfless he bestows life.
He no longer awaits the coming of fullness who has attained perfection.
16
Emptied of all I-ness you rest in the silent primordial ground of the Self.
Everything living swells to unfoldment
All beings move through change decay and return and disbecoming turn back to their root.
Turning back to their root means return to rest resting means going home to one's destination fulfilling one's destination means becoming aware of one's permanence becoming aware of one's permanence means to be enlightened.
Being enlightened about one's Self means to remain in the cycle of ignorance and subjection to grief.
One who becomes aware of his permanence is wise.
Wise he is just.
Just he is serene.
Serene he is of a heavenly nature.
Of a heavenly nature he is united with Tao.
United with Tao he is eternal.
Thus the circle closes.
Sure of the eternity of his Self the loss of his body leaves him serene.
17
True leaders are hardly felt less perfect ones find followers and devotion still lesser ones arouse fear and resistance unwise ones reap derision and disdain.
Only he who sows confidence reaps confidence.
The Sage chooses and weighs his words.
Imperceptibly he serves the good and leads to completion and the people feel free.
18
Separated from the origin there is talk of humaneness and justice.
Where wisdom gives way to smartness cunning and lying appear.
Separated from the All-relatedness and All-union man seeks a substitute in human relationships and family ties.
When consciousness of the unity of mankind vanished clans and peoples and feud without end arose.
19
Stop your hypocritical smartness and your calculating cunning and the well-being of all creatures will increase.
Stop demanding humaneness and justice and the certainty of oneness will be furthered.
Stop catering to the lust for power and possessions and the danger of theft and loss will disappear.
These three are not attained by regulations and laws but by the return to genuineness and oneness.
Therefore: turn self-seeking into self-discipline and prove yourselves pure then selflessness becomes a matter of course.
20
Replace knowledge by wisdom and your ignorance and worry will vanish.
Opinion or certainty do you perceive the difference? Following habit or following conscience do you feel the difference?
What all men honor should not be despised.
How else shall the darkening of the souls end?
The masses follow their lusts and desires as though life were a springtime and a feast without end ....
I am standing still serene and desireless like a newborn babe that does not yet smile like a homeless one whom nothing holds back.
The masses have manifold wants and aims
I am unwanting because of my foolish simple heart.
The masses are rolling on hurriedly like the waves of the sea beaming because of the diversity of their learning.
I am unmoved and dark like the depth of the sea.
The masses are busy and chase after progress
I remain in non-action different and alone ....
But the more different and alone the closer to the common All-one am I the closer to the maternal primordial ground of the Tao
21
The strength and goal of virtue is the imitation of Tao.
Tao invisible intangible is bot origin and essence of everything visible and tangible.
Invisible intangible it contains the germ of all things.
Invisible intangible it is the original source of all powers.
Invisible intangible it is the original nature of all beings.
In it life is rooted in it there is duration.
Beginning power and completion of all is Tao.
By whom was this knowledge imparted to me?
By Tao.
22
He who surrenders attains completion.
He who bends will endure.
He who empties himself finds fullness.
He who sacrifices himself is renewed.
He who desires nothing attains everything.
He who still craves attains nothing.
Likewise the Awakened Man:
By losing his identity in Tao he becomes a model for the world.
Because he does not try to shine he illumines.
Because he disregards himself he is highly regarded.
Because he wants nothing for himself he is successful.
Because he does not make much of himself he has power.
Because he does not resist nothing resists him.
Not vain talk is the wisdom of the ancients:
"One who surrenders attains completion."
The Awakened Man fulfills it.
23
Speaking rarely means following nature:
A hurricane does not last all morning a cloudburst not a day.
As these utterances of heaven and earth are of short duration so shouldn't be man's.
For more than outer life and utterance is the inner life:
One who lets Tao act through him is guided by Tao.
One who follows virtue is determined by it.
One who turns outward and follows outer things is determined from outside and has no stability.
If you are one with Tao Tao will serve you willingly.
If you are one with virtue its fruits will falls into your lap.
If you are one with the world your companion is want.
From where your trust flows an answer will be given you.
24
One who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm.
One who walks astride does not get on
One who tries to shine is not illumined.
One who asserts himself has no importance.
One who throws his weight about carries no weight.
One who exalts himself is no Exalted One.
Such an attitude is of little use to the Tao as refuse is to the preservation of the body.
One who has TAO keeps away from it.
25
Before heaven and earth arose, the ONE is without a second unmanifest perfect silent unfathomable primordial ground.
Unmoved It is without change and division pervading all yet Itself impervious primordial womb of the world.
Nameless it is the ONE.
I call It: TAO.
Formless It is without attributes.
I name It: the limitless the circle reverting to itself.
Tao is infinite heaven is infinite earth is infinite man is infinite.
There are four infinites one of them is man: his law is the earth the law of earth is heaven the law of heaven is TAO Tao is a law unto Itself.
26
The weighty guides the light-minded the stilled masters the restless.
Likewise the Sage:
He is anchored in his inner support and preserves his weight
He remains serene even when fame and wealth are calling.
For he who loses his inner support relying on things loses both weight and support.
Without weight he becomes light-minded and restless.
Without support he remains inferior and powerless.
27
A good traveler needs no noseband, does not trespass
A good speaker makes no promise, causes no opposition
A good reckoner uses no counter and calculation
A good watchman locks without bolt and key yet no one can break in.
Likewise the Sage:
His will to help embraces all never wavers and locks no one out.
His serenity tolerates all never rests, despises and abandons no one.
Enlightened from within he leads all to the Light.
The wise man is the unwise man's teacher and the unwise is the material upon which wise man works.
One who does not value his teacher one who does not love his material misunderstands and misses the way of Tao the way to the mystery of enlightenment.
28
To be aware of one's male creative power and yet keep to one's female receptiveness is to become a river of life.
As a river of life he is a carrier of virtue and returns home to the security of the childlike state.
To be aware of the Inner Light and yet to keep to the dark is to become a luminary for the world,
As a luminary for the world he returns led from within home to the primordial ground of Suprabeing.
To be aware of one's greatness and nobility and yet keep small and modest is to become a valley floor of life.
As a valley floor of life he finds himself the source of virtue and unites himself with the simplicity of primordial Being.
Where such simplicity spreads it effects the perfecting of man.
The Sage in practicing it guides even the ruling classes without force and injury imperceptibly because self-less.
29
Winning and controlling the empire by deeds is the way that leads to failure.
Because the empire is a divine vessel not to be grasped and not to be bargained for.
One who tries to seize it does no comprehend it.
One who tries to take it loses it:
He thinks he is getting ahead and is staying behind.
He thinks he is increasing and is dwindling away.
He believes he is strong and reveals his weakness.
He believes he is above others and succumbs.
How different the Sage:
He avoids arrogance and impetuousness.
Instead of doing he accomplishes through non-action.
30
One who lets himself be guided by Tao rules without force conquers through non-resistance.
Where war rages only thistles and thorns grow great armies are followed by ravage and want.
The Sage conquers without a word.
Without effort without harshness without arming without bragging he rules rightly as an agent of Right.
One who is arrogant and hard soon breaks up because he is Tao-less.
One who is willing and gentle and has Tao has permanence.
31
Weapons cause pain.
The Sage is against violence
The Tao-filled man has no need of it.
One who lives in peace goes the way of the blessed.
One who takes up arms follows the path of the cursed.
Weapons bring disaster.
The Sage detests them.
How can a victory gladden which brings sorrow and death to others?
Injuring others means losing Tao.
One who follows wisdom goes the way of life and light.
One who chooses arms does the way of death pursued by curse and darkness despair and destruction.
32
TAO the ONE has no name.
Onefold He is the One in all cause of all motion and manifoldness of the All.
When the leaders are one with Him the people trust and follow them heaven and earth visibly bless their acts and without creating Right they are making men righteous.
When the Onefold unfolds He can be named.
Name, however, is a thing and a limitation and holds the unfolding back.
Yet one who pauses holding on to the One in his heart finds his was to the Absolute to the One in all to the TAO like brooks and rivers to the sea of completion.
33
He who knows others is clever;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who conquers others is strong;
He who conquers himself has might.
A man content with little, is rich.
A man who has a goal, knows his way.
A man who rests within himself, has permanence.
A man who has disbecome, has overcome death.
34
The Great TAO is all pervading All-present and All-effective.
All beings live out of It.
Never failing It does not refuse Itself to anyone.
It furthers without demanding
And dispenses Right without judging.
That It is undemanding and unattainable is Its nothingness.
That It is All-embracing and intangible is Its greatness.
Likewise the Awakened Man:
That he does not impose his will but lets Tao will through him in his nothingness.
That Tao fills him and acts through him is his greatness.
35
One who holds fast to the Great Symbol
Gains the whole world
Bestows purest peace
Serenity and bliss.
Yet the hasty wayfarer
Attracted only by outer chars
Tastes Tao and is not aware of it
Sees Tao and does not perceive it
Listens to Tao and does not hear it.
But whoever
Grasps and holds it
Amid impermanence
Is grasped by the permanent
And attains duration.
36
What is to shrink must first inflate itself.
What is to become weak must first become strong.
What is to fall must first arise.
If you would receive practice giving.
That is what I call the law of reversion: by yielding, the soft conquers the hard the weak, the strong spirit, force.
37
TAO does not do anything and yet leaves nothing undone.
Where the rulers do the same all will turn out for the best.
And where the manifoldness of cravings and desires stirs attachment to the ONE will tame them.
Attachment to the ONE makes man desireless
Desireless produces calm
Calm produces order.
38
Teh true virtue does not intend to be virtuous
That is why it is right and leads to completion.
Virtue eager to be known as virtuous is useless.
True virtue is at work invisibly without intention and without action.
Where there is intention and action in the visible there is cleverness but not virtue.
Goodness is at work but without calculation and intention.
Justice is at work calculates and has intentions.
Morality is at work calculates and meets resistance with force.
Therefore:
If the essential thing is missing the oneness with TA resort to virtue.
If the spontaneity of virtue is missing find support in goodness.
If goodness is lacking be just.
If the feeling for Right is missing only morality remains ....
Morality is outer-only virtue without a link with the inner leading to unreality, and useless for man's completion.
That is why the Sage turns to the essential thing inward instead of outward to the kernel instead of the shell to Being instead of appearance and letting-go all striving becomes a serene carrier of the virtue of the Tao.
39
All living things live by the Light of Oneness.
From it heaven receives its brightness earth its stability mind its insight space its fullness life its fertility and the leader his model.
If the Light of Oneness did not blaze in everything heaven would lose its brightness earth its stability mind its insight space its fullness life its fertility and the leader his model.
