Thus,
As names are perceived -
As distinctions among people arise -
Stop!
Knowing when to stop, danger may be avoided.
Tao in the affairs of the world is as natural as the rivers seeking the seas.
33
KNOWING ONESELF
To know and understand others, Is to have wisdom.
To know and understand oneself, Is to have wisdom and enlightenment.
To conquer others, Is to have physical force.
To conquer oneself, Is to have physical force as well as internal strength.
To be content with what one has, Is to be rich indeed.
To act with perseverance, Is to be strong willed.
To preserve one's natural essence, Is to endure.
To die, Is not to perish.
One's eternal presence is true longevity.
34
GREATNESS
The great Tao, flowing everywhere,
May go this way or that,
To the left or to the right.
All Things depending upon it for existence,
It is generous, no grace is withheld.
Silently and freely fulfilling its purpose and destiny,
It lays no possessive claim.
Nourishing and protecting All Things,
It has no desire to be master over them.
Without desire, asking for nothing,
Some may call it "The Small".
However, All Things belonging and returning to it -
Tho' it lays no claim to master them,
It is called "The Great".
Thus the Sage
Never making a show of greatness -
Manifests true greatness.
35
TAO PRESENCE
Tao presence in mind,
Quietude, comfort and harmony appear.
As music pleasures the soul -
As fine food delights the senses -
Passing strangers take note, pause to enjoy.
Compare then the Tao -
Flavorless to the taste.
Unseen to the eye.
Unheard to the ear.
Tho' using it - it is inexhaustible.
36
THE SUBTLE LAW
Expansion grows from contraction.
Strength grows from weakness.
Construction grows from destruction.
Receiving grows from giving.
Being the subtle law of nature,
Softness and gentleness overcome the hard and the strong.
As fish are preserved by hiding in the deep,
Preserve your weapons of survival from the view of the Idle Curious.
37
NEVER DOING
Tao never does, Yet through it, All Things are done.
If leaders observed this, All would develop naturally.
Desire for active doing would be restrained by the inherent simplicity of Tao.
Being free of desire, Stillness and tranquility reign.
Of itself, All Things are at peace.
38
THE SUBSTANTIAL AND THE SUPERFICIAL
The person known to have superior Te,
Has it as a result of natural instinct.
Possessing true virtue, acting naturally - never overtly,
Has no inner need to be regarded as virtuous.
The person known to have inferior Te,
Needs to make an overt display of virtue. Being in truth without Te - acts with overt display,
So to appear virtuous to others.
The person known to have superior kindness and humanity,
Acts effortlessly, with natural instincts.
The person known to have a superior sense of strict justice and righteousness,
Needs to act with overt display of power.
The person known to favor strict adherence to rite, ritual and ceremony,
When taking action and failing to obtain a response,
Attempts to force adherence, using violence
Sequentially: If people stray from the Tao, They tend to emphasize Te.
If Te is lost, They will rely on kindness and humanity.
That being lost, Strict justice and righteousness appear.
That, being of no effect, Resort to rite, ritual and ceremony.
Rite, ritual and ceremony are the mere shell of true faith and loyalty -
The beginnings of disorder, chaos and confusion.
These human characteristics, being merely a superficial aspect of one's true essence,
Are a beginning of folly.
Thus the Sage:
Knowing what to accept and what to reject -
Dwells upon the substantial,
Not upon the superficial.
Upon the fruit, not the flower.
39
THE UNIFIED WHOLE
From ancient times, there was an understanding of All Things as a unified whole,
Arising as from one.
Understanding and possessing this unity:
- Heaven attains purity and clarity.
- Earth attains stability and tranquility.
- Spirit attains life and essence.
- Valley attains fullness and fruitfulness.
- All Things attain creative life and growth.
- Leaders attain responsiveness.
All this - arising as from one, Is the true nature of things..
Were it not for:
- Purity and clarity, the heavens would cease.
- Stability and tranquility, the earth would crumble.
- Fullness and fruitfulness, The valley would become a barren desert.
- Creative life and growth, All Things would become extinct.
- Responsiveness to leadership, The leader would fail and his subjects suffer.
The humble is the stem upon which the exalted grows.
The lowly is the foundation for the mighty.
Leaders of old, recognizing their dependence upon the lowly and humble for their success,
Called themselves orphaned, needy, worthless.
True understanding, as is the chariot,
Is not recognizable or useful as such, from its parts;
Its recognition and use coming from its assemblage into a unified whole.
A true Leader will not spoil the unity of his empire,
By putting himself far above his subjects.
He will not jingle rare jade bells in front of his subjects,
Who themselves possess mere common stone chimes.
40
THE NON-BEING
Returning to what was in the beginning,
Is the action of Tao.
Gentleness and yielding is the manner in which
Tao functions and employs itself.
All Things emanate from Being,
And being, most certainly emanates from
Non-Being.
41
HOW IT MAY SEEM
A wise person, hearing of the Tao,
Lets it become a central focus of life.
A mediocre person, hearing of the Tao,
Keeps to it or not, as the occasion, may suggest.
An inferior person, hearing of the Tao, Laughs aloud at it.
Truly, being inferior, had he failed to laugh at it -
It most certainly would not be worthy to be called the Tao.
Hence it is said:
- The bright way may seem dimly lit.
- The way ahead may seem like a retreat.
- The straight way may seem to be wavy and crooked.
- The highest virtue may seem to be devoid of substance.
- The pure may seem to be tarnished.
- The greatest Te may seem inadequate.
- The sturdiest Te may appear to be flimsy.
- The natural way may appear contaminated.
- The great square may appear with rounded corners.
- The greatest talent may be slow to mature.
- The most elegant music may be that which is faint.
- The greatest images may be without shape.
The Tao, hidden and nameless,
Nourishing All Things,
Brings them to fulfillment.
42
ONE, TWO, THREE, MANY
One, an undifferentiated unity, Comes from the Tao.
One, differentiated, becomes two - Yin and Yang, I and Not I.
Thence, are three realized - Such are Te, Ch'i and Shen.
And from three, All Things arise.
Of All Things -
In carrying the Yin and embracing the Yang,
Through the blending of these energies, Harmony is achieved.
People disdain being orphaned, needy and worthless,
Yet leaders and rulers, to appear humble, have so named themselves.
By diminishing themselves, they often gain -
By overt attempts to gain, they often lose.
As the ancient spiritual teachers have said,
The person living by violence,
Shall surely die by violence.
43
SOFTNESS AND YIELDING
As water will wear away stone,
So the softest and most yielding will overcome the hardest and most obstinate.
Being without substance, it penetrates the spaceless.
Hence the value of the silent action - The actionlessness of Wu-Wei.
Indeed, few understand - Teaching without words,
Work without doing.
44
ENDURING SAFELY
Does one's life and self character matter more than fame?
Is one's Life and self character treasured more than wealth?
Is loss of spiritual things more painful than gain of material things?
Hence:
Being attached to things while grudging expense,
One ultimately pays most dearly.
Hoarding most heavily,
One ultimately loses most heavily.
Being content,
One rarely suffers disappointment.
Knowing when to stop,
One is free from danger.
In this way, one is safe and can long endure.
45
TRANQUILITY
Rare is that perfection which is not to some degree incomplete,
Yet its utility is not impaired.
Rare is the abundance which is not to some degree empty,
Its fullness, tho', is not exhausted.
Paradoxically:
Ultimate straightness often seems croaked.
Profound skillfulness and intelligence often appears clumsy and stupid.
Great eloquence often sounds as awkwardness and stammering.
Movement overcomes the cold, but calm subdues all heat.
The Sage, by his clarity, serenity and tranquility,
Becomes a model for All Things
under the heavens.
46
CONTENTMENT
Of old -
When the land was in harmony with the Tao,
Horses were seen fertilizing and cultivating the land.
When the land was out of harmony with the Tao,
Horses were seen only on the battlefield.
Alas:
The paramount temptation is desire for the possessions of others.
The paramount predicament is self-destructive harboring of discontent.
The paramount misfortune is greed for acquisition.
Therefore:
Mastering contentment within one's own nature,
Is to be truly content far all time.
47
KNOWING
Everything under heaven may be known by
Searching no further than one's doorstep.
All ways of heaven may be known
Despite tters blacking the window's view.
The further one pursues knowledge by
traveling apart from the unity of the Tao,
The less is one's true knowledge and understanding.
The Sage:
Knows without searching about.
Understands without looking about.
Wu-Wei ! - Doing nothing, all is attained.
48
ACHIEVING INACTIVITY
Increasing knowledge day by day,
Is the pursuit of learning.
Decreasing and simplifying day by day,
Is the pursuit of Tao.
Decreasing, subtracting, lessening, diminishing, Until inactivity is achieved.
Through this inactivity, this pure spontaneity,
All things happen - nothing is left undone.
All is won by foregoing interference with the nature of things.
The compulsion to actively manage All Things,
Brings about the loss of All Things.
49
COMMUNITY OF HEART
Having an open and unconditioned mind -
Foregoing preconceived opinions and feelings -
The Sage regards the opinions and feelings
of the people as his own.
Being good and kind to the good and kindly -
Being good and kind to the evil and unkindly -
Goodness and kindliness are attained,
For Te is absolutely good and kind.
Being faithful and honest to the faithful and honest -
Being faithful and honest to the unfaithful, liar and cheat -
Faithfulness and honesty are attained,
For Te is absolutely faithful and honest.
The Sage:
Acting humble and shy,
may appear confused to an objective world.
But subtly, in a peaceful and harmonious manner,
Regarding all as his children,
Brings the world into a community of heart.
50
COMPANIONS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Aiming at life, death is achieved.
The limbs and apertures, forming thirteen companions during life,
The same thirteen, serve also as companions of death.
These thirteen companions of the life to death transition,
Serve as points of vulnerability -
Repaying the intense overtaxing of one's life force.
The Sage:
When walking about does not meet threats of danger.
In battle, is untouched by the warrior's weapons.
Not aiming at life -
Has no points of vulnerability,
- For the horns of the buffalo to pierce.
- For the claws of the tiger to tear.
- For the weapons of the warrior to enter.
He is beyond mortality.
51
TE AND All THINGS
As Tao gives birth to All Things, Te provides the nourishment to rear them - To shape them and form them - Permitting each to realize the capacity within. As Tao is revered and worshipped, Te is exalted and honored by All Things. Such, being neither requested nor demanded, Is the nature of things, Happening spontaneously, of its own accord.
Arising from the Tao,
By Te, are All Things nourished,
developed, cared for, sheltered, comforted, grown and protected.
In rearing All Things,
It seeks neither to lay claim nor possess them.
Acting as a help and guide,
It seeks neither credit nor reward.
Leading them,
It seeks neither to master nor control.
It is called profound and mysterious.
52
MOTHER AND CHILDREN
Being the essence, the universal beginning,
It is known as the Mother of All Things.
Knowing the Mother, the essence, the Tao -
All Things, being children of the Mother, are likewise known.
In truly knowing the children,
Better is the understanding of the Mother.
Harm and danger are forever elusive.
In silence and moderation of sensory disturbance,
Life's strengths are maintained.
In babble and meddlesome activity,
Life's burdens prevail.
Seeing the subtle and small is true vision.
Yielding, is the display of true strength.
Using wisely our worldly resources - the "Outer Lights",
The "Inner Lights" of true self are awakened and known.
Thus, eluding harm and danger,
Absolute and natural virtue prevail.
53
ROBBER BARONS
Possessing a modicum of awareness and insight,
Follow the straight path of the Tao.
A true fear might be in straying.
