Emptiness makes it useful.
12
The eyes can become blind to the five colors.
The ears can become deaf to the five notes.
The mouth can become dull to the five tastes.
Too much hunting in a field over excites the heart and mind.
Precious goods hinder one抯 activities.
The sages attend to their souls, not to what their eyes see.
They discard the latter and take hold of the former.
13
Take on shame, fear, and disappointment with trepidation.
Take on your great misfortune with your body.
Why talk about shame, fear, and disappointment?
Favor acting from below.
Gain, it comes with fear.
Loss, it comes with fear.
This tells you about taking on shame, fear, and disappointment.
Why talk about your body taking on your great misfortune?
By means of the great misfortune, you are in a position for your body to emerge through reaching a state of not-self (emptiness).
You emerge.
This is why misfortune is reason to honor your body.
The action of Heaven below (the sacred body) can be trusted.
Heaven below expresses humanity through its actions
The action of Heaven below can be entrusted to Heaven below.
14
Look for it and you will not see it; its name is called invisible.
Listen for it and it cannot be heard; its name is called soundless.
Try to touch it and you will not be able to grasp it; its name is called formless.
It will do you no good to scrutinize these three.
They merge and become one.
Those above are not light.
Those below are not dark.
An unbroken thread. An unbroken thread that cannot be named.
It again returns to the original state.
It is a shape without a shape.
It is an image without substance.
This is called illusory and inexplicable.
Go toward it and you do not see its face.
Follow it and you do not see its back.
Retain the ancient ways of the Tao in order to take hold of the present.
You have the power to know the Source.
This is called the Tao抯 unbroken thread.
15
The masters* of ancient times could penetrate subtle mysteries too intense to be comprehended.
Students** of the Tao are truly not able to understand and feel compelled to describe these mysterious qualities.
Be hesitant, like crossing a river in winter.
Watchful! Like standing in awe of all four directions.
Reserved! And behave like a guest.
Yielding! Like melting ice.
Genuine! Like the natural state of uncarved wood or uncut jade.
Empty! Like a valley.
Turbulence! Like churning waters.
Who can be still and slowly calm the churning waters?
Who can be tranquil with this motion to insure the gradual birth?
The Tao is not depleted by deep-seated desires.
Separation from deep-seated desires is not new.
It completes.
* person who knows all from 1 to 10 (1 indicates Heaven, and 10 indicates being centered in the four directions)
** upstanding community member who is trying to do things correctly.
16
Attain the highest emptiness.
Keep a constant stillness.
Ten-thousand things (everything) come into being and flourish in unison.
I witness the return.
Now all things can flourish, flourish.
Every one is restored and returns to the origin.
The return to the origin is known as stillness.
This is called a return to life.
Repeating life is known as eternal.
Perceiving the eternal speaks of the light.
Not perceiving the eternal is an error that brings calamity.
Experience of the eternal is all-embracing.
The all-embracing opens and reveals.
The act of revealing connects Heaven, Humanity and Earth.
The act of connecting Heaven, Humanity and Earth is heaven.
Heaven is the Tao.
The Tao is enduring.
Till the end, the body is not in peril.
17
The superior person who is below* perceives reality.
The next best person loves and praises them.
The next best person is in fear of them.
The next best person despises them.
Good intentions are not adequate in that place of reality.
People are reluctant to not have good intentions!
They have words.
They reward accomplishment
True success is achieved when the hundred families (all people) say it is as though we all did it together.
* The concept that if you place yourself below everything then you will be able to receive everything and accurately perceive your world; e.g., the ocean lies below the rivers to receive them.
18
When the great Tao is abandoned,
Humanity with righteousness is the practice.
After that, intellect and knowledge appear.
Then comes great hypocrisy.
The six relationships (the entire family) will not be in harmony.
After that, duty and devotion to the state arise.
Families will be in trouble and there will be disorder.
After that, loyal ministers appear.
19
Renounce holiness, discard certainty, the people will benefit one-hundred fold.
Abandon benevolence with righteousness, people will return to devotion in the family.
Abandon craftiness, discard profit, and thieves and bandits will not appear.
Don抰 be content to use these three lessons as decorations.
Learn to depend on them.
Recognize simplicity, embrace the purity of uncarved wood or uncut jade.
Reduce self-interest, diminish desires, abandon learnedness, and the people will have no sorrow.
20
Abandon learnedness, and you will not walk slowly with a troubled head and heart.
I join together certainty with uncertainty so both can be discarded and come close to what is.
I join together the virtuous with the loathsome so both can be discarded and become what is.
People are afraid. They are unable to not be afraid.
Without restraint! They are without limits!
All people are busy, busy.
Like taking part in a great ox feast.
Like in spring climbing a terrace.
I alone remain calm!
I am one who gives no sign, like a newborn baby who does not smile.
Wearied, wearied!
I seem to be a person who has no place to return to.
People everywhere, all have excess.
I alone appear to be deficient.
I am a simple person in my heart and mind!!
Chaos, chaos!
Worldly people display, display.
I alone am dim, dim.
Worldly people are sharp, sharp.
I alone am dull, dull.
Tranquil! I seem like an ocean.
Whirlwind! It never stops.
People everywhere, all have a reason to exist.
I alone am thickheaded, and seem unrefined.
I alone differ from people and treasure being fed by the Mother.
21
The all-embracing action of the soul displays itself the same as the Tao to be followed.
The Tao acts on things entirely elusively and inexplicably.
Inexplicable! Elusive! Its center has form.
Inexplicable! Elusive! Its center has substance.
Deep! Mysterious! Its center contains the life force.
Its life force is very genuine, it can be tested.
Throughout the ages its presence has never ceased.
Witness all things of creation.
How I know all things of creation is through this.
22
Yield to be whole.
Curl in order to straighten.
Empty in order to be filled.
Grow old in order to be renewed.
Reduce in order to receive.
Excess creates confusion.
The sage embraces unity to become Heaven below抯 (the sacred body's) example.
They do not display themselves, which allows them to shine.
They do not see themselves as being right, which allows them to be outstanding.
They do not show off, which allows them to be rewarded.
They are not arrogant, which allows them to endure.
It is precisely because the masters do not resist Heaven below that no one is able to contest them.
The ancients said yield to be whole.
How can these words possibly be hollow?
True wholeness will be preserved and return to its original state.
23
Scatter your words spontaneously.
Gusty winds do not outlast the dawn.
Torrential rains do not outlast the sun.
Why does Heaven Earth (nature) do this?
Heaven Earth (nature) honors the power of change.
Is it less so for people?
You need to pursue your activities through the Tao.
The Tao becomes one with the Tao.
The action of the soul becomes one with the action of the soul.
Change becomes one with change.
Become one with the Tao and enjoy the benefits of the Tao.
Become one with the action of the soul and enjoy the benefits of the action of the soul.
Become one with change and enjoy all the benefits of change.
Faith is never enough! Be in the place of change, not in the place of faith.
24
On tiptoes, they cannot be steady.
When they straddle something, they cannot go forward.
Self-display is not the light.
Self-righteousness is not outstanding.
Boasting about yourself is not of service.
Praising yourself cannot endure.
From the point of view of the Tao this is called excessive consumption and redundant actions.
All beings will detest this.
One who follows the Tao does not dwell in excessive consumption and redundant actions.
25
The substance that arose from the chaos is whole.
Before Heaven and Earth were born there was stillness! Formlessness!
Alone, poised, not yet changed.
Then it went out everywhere unhindered.
It then became Heaven below's (the sacred body's) mother.
We still know it by the name of the one.
The philosopher, they speak of the Tao.
Forced to create a name, I name it the great.
The great is called far reaching.
Far reaching, it is known to go far away.
Far away, it is known to return.
Thus the Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, the nobility of humanity is great.
Within the universe there exist four great directions and the nobility of humanity dwells there in the unity of the one.
Humanity emulates the Earth, the Earth emulates the Heavens, the Heavens emulate the Tao, and the Tao emulates itself.
26
Being solid creates a lighthearted foundation.
Unresponsive stillness makes an agitated master.
The sages all day go forward and do not separate themselves from their heavy load.
Though they have beautiful perception, they stay calm in an undisturbed manner.
Their resources are what a master of ten-thousand chariots has, yet they are a person who moves lightly in Heaven below (the sacred body).
Disregard follows the loss of their foundation.
Restlessness follows the loss of this master.
27
Good practices leave no trace of a rut.
Good words do not find fault.
Good plans are not calculated.
Good doors have no bolt or bar, yet cannot be opened.
Good bindings have no ties, yet cannot be loosened.
The sage is always good at embracing people because they do not abandon people.
They are always good at embracing all of life because they do not reject anything.
This is called following the light.
The good person is the bad person抯 teacher.
The bad person is the good person抯 lesson.
When the student does not value their teacher, they become cunning and very confused. They cannot cherish their lessons.
This is called the essential mystery.
28
Know your masculine.
Maintain your feminine.
Act in Heaven below's (the sacred body) valley.
Act in Heaven below's valley.
The eternal action of the soul does not divide or separate.
Return and revert to your original state like that of a new born child.
Know your purity.
Observe your evil.
Become an example of Heaven below.
Become an example of Heaven below.
The eternal action of the soul does not falter.
Return and revert to the origin through the highest emptiness.
Know your beauty.
Observe your shame.
Act in Heaven below's empty spaces.
Act in Heaven below's empty spaces.
Eternal action of the soul is enough.
Return and restore the purity of uncarved wood or uncut jade.
Purity* disperses and becomes the vessel.
The sage uses it and becomes an enduring leader.
Hence great rulers do no harm
* Purity: Energy from the Source of all creation.
29
If you have deep-seated desires to control Heaven below (the sacred body) and manipulate it, you will see that you do not benefit!
Heaven below is a sacred vessel that cannot be manipulated!
Manipulation destroys it.
Seizing it separates you from your reason for existence.
Sometimes you will progress, sometimes you will imitate.
Sometimes you will breath out, sometimes you will breathe in.
Sometimes you will be strong, sometimes you will be weak.
Sometimes you will break, sometimes you will be broken.
This is why the sage rejects extremes, rejects extravagances, and rejects excesses.
30
With the Tao guiding the people the rulers do not have a reason to use weapons and violence.
Heaven below's (sacred body's) activities will return to the highest degree.
The master knows when to stop, for brambles and thorny bushes live there.
Great battles are postponed, or surely there would be disaster for years.
The results are good when one does not venture to rule by force.
They succeed yet do not brag.
They succeed yet do not destroy.
They succeed yet are not arrogant.
They succeed yet do not possess!
They succeed yet do not overpower.
Life flourishes and then decays.
This is sometimes spoken of as not the Tao.
Not the Tao is when life ends before its time.
31
Those who are superior at warfare do not have good fortune.
They are likely to be detested.
The emergence of the Tao does not stop.
The honorable ruler dwells in and emulates this (the Tao) because they favor the left side.
Using weapons emulates and favors the right side.
Weapons are not a blessing and are not useful.
The honorable ruler does not obtain these instruments! Yet they still can function.
Tranquility and quiet become supreme.
Conquering has no beauty because it is as if you rejoice and delight at the slaughter of people.
