My view to Tao-Te-Ching
My own comments to the English translation of Tao-Te-Ching by Stephen Mitchell which is available in the internet.
Tao Te Ching
Written by Lao-tzu
From a translation by S. Mitchell
"
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding."
1.
Words are insufficient to describe the reality. You cannot reach the correct, best way to live by using words.
If your mood selfish, goal oriented, you see everything from the perspective of reaching your goals best and cannot see the world as it is and cannot be truly happy, cannot reach the best way of doing things and even the best way of reaching those goals of yours.
The darkness of not knowing lets you be perceptive whcih is good for your way of doing things and of living.
2
"
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever."
2.
All things are relative. They depend on the scale by which you measure things and that is determined by the circumstances, not by any absolute. Even things like whether you have reached your goals or not are relative. Do not base your valuing of the life on such estimates but concentrate on the level of living instead. Theory perspectives are just tools, they are not the absolute truth about life.
The master doas things without looking at them from any theory perspective, she lives at the level of sensations, making new perceptions each moment.
She does not claim to reach the level of living by words, she prefers gesture language, tones of voice and other natural means of communication. She is aware of how different perspectives to the world create different results if they are followed in action, so she uses the natural capacity of humans effortlessly and enjoyably to the fullest.
A part of the time things may follow her plans, a part of the time not. She stays observant oin any case, not rejectoing the reality because of her prejudices, she makes new plans - or the same old ones - according to the nature of the situation at each moment. She is aware of the world at large but not in a way that would restrict her from living the life.
She owns things and has qualities but she does not place her worth on them. More exactly she trusts the life in the living, the sensation of being alive.
She does things but is not interested in achievements except for practical reasons. She concentrates on the life at the level of the living and on the good quality work that it produces and not on pretended ability to robot like achieve things according to some premade plans.
She does not make social claims to her achievements, more likely she lets them take the place in the world that they deserve, so that everything that she has done is on a lasting errorless ground, without any fault.
3
"
If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal.
The Master leads
by emptying people's minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything
they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion
in those who think that they know.
Practice not-doing,
and everything will fall into place."
3.
If you by your estimates take the power away from the people, the land suffers.
If you misemphasise the importance of things in life, people lose their natural sense of right and begin to act like robots, chasing after money etc.
Because of this the master emties the minds of people of those misconceptions and lets them trust their heart's voice. They need to less follow the theory perspectives which command them to achievements that they arte not truly motivated to do and makes them listen to thir true natural motivation instead. The master makes them to be able to be true to their heart's voice and to withstand the forces that oppose action according to one's heart. She makes a shift in the values to follow and so confuses those who want to act robot like and pretend that they know what is most needed in today's world.
Do not force things to an artificial shape, and the world will reveal its own form which is very constructive and positive for happy life, very moral too in that it does not needlessly break things i order to force them to an artificial state in which they would be broken and not of much use to anyone.
4
"The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God."
True naturality in ways and in action is your priciple of functioning which makes you achieve best whatever you set yourself to do. It is versatile and creative at the same time as being extremely efficienct and erffortless. It is like a walk in the wilderness which strenghtens you physically while giving your mind, your whole being a rest. Also other sides of the natural life of humans are like that! For example you can enjoy music, getting refreshed, without the task of singing feeling like a labour to you: that is one part of the human nature.
You cannot form a rigid rule saying that this is naturality, you can just enjoy the naturality where you meet it. It is always the base of your functioning and the functioning of others, of the societyand of the world at large. The nature, what naturality is, has stayed unchanged during all of the known history and even longer. One reason for that is that what is best (in theory) does not change: that's what our nature is like because of the evolution's competition or because of God's wisdom.
5
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Hold on to the center.
The nature does not watch things through some theory perspective of what ought to be and what ought not. Undisturbed it gives birth to only good but also the functioning of evil ones is entirely based on it. So ther master who is much above others in skill does not take sides either: she sees the healthy ground in evrone and builds upon that, not lowering herself to the level that others have in their school like toughts reached but she may trust the morer emotional understanding of the people as a part of the healthy natural ground to build upon good moral.
We cannot reach the Tao by our school like memorised thoughts, they always err badly from the Tao. Still, it is just the Tao, true naturality which is extremely capable in everything: much more capable than we typically can even dream of with ouer minds which are used to our ordinary robot like ways.
The more you are in touch with true naturality, the more you can benefit from it. You can tune yourself to it. But the more you try to make it a school like memorised fixed thought structure's comntent, the less you will reach it in practise.
Keep your balance, Stay in touch with your true nature, with your feelings, your emotional understanding of the world and of life, your life at the level of practise as it is without any theory, the level of experience, the divine, emphasising just the main things with a holistic view of everything, the soul,...
6
The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.
It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.
Everything is basewd on true naturality, which is what nurtures everything and gives birth to everything, it is full of possibilities.
You are born of naturality. Even though you can use it in any way you try to, the end result isn't yours alone, it is nature's own intentions which come into existence from inside and between the threads of the fabric of your understanding. Sometimes you succeed well, sometimes poorly, it all depends on the amount in which you are in accpord with the nature, with your own principle of functioning and with tht of the natural world.
7
The Tao is infinite, eternal.
Why is it eternal?
It was never born;
thus it can never die.
Why is it infinite?
It has no desires for itself;
thus it is present for all beings.
The Master stays behind;
that is why she is ahead.
She is detached from all things;
that is why she is one with them.
Because she has let go of herself,
she is perfectly fulfilled.
The world is boundless, the nature of the world is unchanging across time. The nature is an expression of the nature of the world. Its principles follow the nature of the world, follow the objective truth of what ought to survive. Even if the nature woukd cease to exist in a nuclear explosion, the natures of UFOs etc would need to be alike. And if we would survivbe, we would be forever tiedd to that historical origin of ourselves, to the unchanging laws of nature, which result in the laws of human nature.The nature has no special goals, thus it is the same to everyone, with an enermous variation it always keeps the same identity.
The master has no goals that she would force upon things or people or herself. She is consentrated in the living. That's why she is in touch with her own principles of functioning and with thos4eof the rest of the world. That makes her achieve the best and makes her happy and fullfilled, in touch with her true nature.
8
The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.
In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
When you are content to be simply yourself
and don't compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.
The supreme good is like water in that it follows bnaturality. It is not too proud to correct its own errors or to notice them. Thus it can achieve better.
Respect the base of things.
Respect your everyday understanding: it is the most effciienct way of thinking and easy.
In conflict, do not get fixed to some theory perspective in which you do well. Instead try to see the point in the view of the other one: take it into account fairly and generously, so creating the ground for a good life together.
In important matters it is especially important to remember to not to force things. Instead rely on the nature of things to guide them to a good ending with you present to help things touch the heart and moral and be so guided right.
In work you can best endure and be of use if you do what you can best bear and what you are most motyivated to.
Live in the present moment, live your life to the fullest, express your emotions and build a strong bond...
If you stand on your own feet, people will respect you. If you are true to your heart's voice, others can look up to you.
9
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.
Typically in everything you hit ther point somewhat but not entirely, so you can go some way tpo the right direction but not follow your own advice all the way.
If you have chosen the method all wrong, you will not succeed in reaching for your goals that way. If you enter some game like way of living and doing things, you will suffer that and not be able to reach anything of worth, since you will pay attention to just empty rules like in a point game, instead of to anything of value in the world. Point games tend to get easier and easier by gettting less meaningful, less profound.
The only road to fullfilling your needs and reaching your goals is to care about the essentials and not about the point games that you and others tend to create if you think that it is just the points which make you happy or successfull.
10
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.
So stop living in your thoughts and take the life as it is. You are a whole: strong and sensitive at the same rtime. (Sensitivity menas that you should observe at least the main things correctly which creates strenght, not weakness, even though weakness makes one react, so one looks sensitive in some respect.) If you drop away bad habits, you reach nerer to the original oneness of being, nearer to its full functioning and happiness.
If you understand that everything that functions is build upon the healthy and that the healthy is by its nature a part of the healthy world and so completely moral in essence, you can see all that there is to see and it all will be just pure light - with just some parts of the healthy world missing and some parts fully broken, some confused by the artificialities and brokenness and broken because of that.
It is your very nature to love and to lead is to help the people to fullfill their wishes: that's what bureaucrats do and what all rulers do if they are not just manipulating and playing some mindless games. But of course you have to care for all the people that you affect, so also for the other countries too!
If you let the healthy world govern, it will lead everything toward good. That means existing yourslef and being available as you are needed but not making a predecided game out of the business of governing things.
If you let go of your tools of understanding, you will reach the original naturality and so the way that you think best: just like the senses, being aware of the environment, of everything in the world, responding naturally with your whole being, with emotions, understanding via atmospheres,... Seeing into your own nature because you rest in it, you see the natural in everything around yourself and because everything is based on the natural, can understand the functioning and the soul of everything around you.
If you create and care for instead of setting claim to, you create things of worth instead of exploiting them. Consequently youy will be righteously valued by yourself and others.
Live with things instead of building thought structures that say that you have gained some points by possessing things. Such thought games make your life miserable. It is the real content, the unselfish point of view of living with your feelings fully that makes you happy and makes you achieve things of worth that ypou can be proud of if you want.
Concentrate on each moment,on appropriate reactions to what kind of life that moment offers you, what kind of possibilities for exprexxing your acting moral nature in the world. Do not fix your thoughts to the future since the future is not here and so you miss this precious moment of your life, and if you make a habuit of missing this present moment, you will lose your whole life. So do not play the point game of arranging things well for the future but instead life fully each moment, doing your very best that precious moment inorder to arrange the future well for all fairly: just express your nature as an practically acting creature with an understanding and with feelings.
And then again, in trying to do your best, do not make predetermined plans of action but instead react naturally to each factor in your environment and to each circumstance of life, to each human being, to the world as a whole. IN caring for us all your biggest responsibility lies in your own life: that you have to care for, that you must offer to the Gods: in other words, in that you must follow naturality of ways of living fully, being in awe wiith the world, respecting things of worth really much, respecting the right spirit...
If you can follow these advices, you are likely to reach your goals like a master and be happy. ?
11
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.
We typcally conceive the reality in memorised word like forms. Those forms are useful in some way but on the other hand they miss the main point: it is the unconceptualised reality that gives the power to our actions.
We may play games with concepts, trying to reach some goal, but it is our nature which in fact does the job for us, our nature at a level which evades conceptualisation, evades the school book like form of our thoughts and plans, of pour so called wisdom.
We may try to reach the essentails with our limited thinking capacity but much of ewhat makes the world move and makes it stay in good shape, evades our thoughts. Like the rationality of the ways of women usually evade the eyes of men. So only of we follow our whole being, with feelings etc. affecting, can we keep the world and consequently our own life at a good state.
12
Colors blind the eye.
Sounds deafen the ear.
Flavors numb the taste.
Thoughts weaken the mind.
Desires wither the heart.
The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.
Even though the master sees the world as it is, she is aware thatgrasping unwisely each experience makes it once again a point game. Instead of drowning in the flow of life in a way which makes her blind to her fate, she seeks to keep her balance: the natural wise way of doing things all the time. Right attitude is everything, it determines what life feels like and how one succeeds in each thing. The right attitude isn't selfish, it isn't crippled. Instead it is sensitive like the open heart, it IS the attitude of the opem loving heart.
13
Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.
What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
you position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.
What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?
See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
If you succeed and get fixed to a theory perspective far from the life itself because you do well in that point competition, you are in an as poor position as when failure forces you to care about doing well in that theory perspective (or otherwise...!) So in both cases you tend to get jammed inside a vertain point game of reaching the goal. If you could trust life itself, you could live much much more happily since you would be in touch with the reality, with Life, and because you would be strong with the flow of life inside your veins and because you would behave according to each situation in a just the right way, you would succeed well in what you try to do: you would succeed in reaching the goals too IF you did not get crippled by the point game likedness foirst.
Look at the world as lovingly and as sensitivelyas you look at yourself: that is the correct way to look. LOving all things does not mean not caring for them: you have to protect what you find valuable, have to work for it. This way you will be in accordance with your true nature: you will get the strongest allegiance to achieve your true goals in life, realistically so.
14
Look, and it can't be seen.
Listen, and it can't be heard.
Reach, and it can't be grasped.
Above, it isn't bright.
Below, it isn't dark.
Seamless, unnamable,
it returns to the realm of nothing.
Form that includes all forms,
image without an image,
subtle, beyond all conception.
Approach it and there is no beginning;
follow it and there is no end.
You can't know it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you come from:
this is the essence of wisdom.
Look, and you cannot say that this shape or this colour. Listen and you cannot say that just this certain sound. Reach fpor it and you cannot say that just this sensation. If you try to understand it, you will always miss the point. It has to be lived!
It isn't wjhat you term good since you always have a wrong idea of good. It isn't what you call evil because even though it is healthily selfish it isn't unhealthily destructive. Beyond the words, it returns to the true naturality of being, to the pure unforced existence. Since from the nature of the world and of yourself all formd are born. It has a shape in some essential sense, yet you cannot reach that shape so as to make a fixed form out of it. Just live! Never foirce your heart. If you manage to not to force anby part of yourself or of the world AT ALL, if you just follow the natural rythm of life in your veins, you have reached the Tao. That means exprerssin yourself fully wile having noi preconceptions of who you are and what expression means. It does not mean a lack of wisdom either: the nearer you reach such a state, the wiser you become.
You cannot say that you haven't realised it: there is nothing in you but the realised part, i.e. the healthy parts. It is just that some parts of you are fully broken and some mislead, so the whole does not look right, instead it looks a mess. In teh present day fractured world, with your fractured starting point you can never perfectly reach it but on the other hand that does not matter so much: you can always become enermously nearer to it and gain so a lot for yourself and for others. Without you being a part of the world at large you cannot succeed, so much you deal with the environment in your life. Sosee what is healthy and natural in your life and practoise that, without selfish goals which reduce the wqorld to a point game. That is what the sectret of Tao is about inside the modern scientifical picture of the world, of humans as animals and products of evolution. Remember though that the evolution wasn't a strongest one wins competition - it was a safest one wins competition, so remember to ally: in other words, nbe perfectly moral like your heart wishes life to be angel like.
15
The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.
They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.
Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.
The way sof living of the ancient masters were so healthy and natural that they are unreachable by our presaent day concepts.
The ancient masters were observant, reacting to life with their whole being: not just would I choose this course of action or that inside some ready m,ade division of the world but adabting to each situation with their whole picture of the world, with their way of living. They were afraid of errors, trying to get everyything right all the wime in everything, so they were so alert and observant that their caoacity to notice things had to be enermous, consequently enermous was also their enjoyment of life: if you can have either ice cream or strawberries, that is good but having vboth is even better. They did not need to divide their forces in order to handle multiple tasks, instead they were able to handle many tasks at the same time without being distracted in anything. They were fully social and emphatic: sensing even the minor sifts of mood of the other one they were naturally avoiding big errors in social contacts and naturally capable ofd taking the feelings of the others into account. They had no prejudices, like for example our need to be selfish: instead they just observed life and did what was good in it to do: and lo, it was unselfishness which produced the most beneficial results: being agle to ally woith all, losing no forces in conflicts, they got from it the most benefit. Still, they did not make a strickt rule out of it but followed their heart's voice (that is the most natural, effortless course of action) instead. They tpoook life as it is, making clear observations of everything, of every side of their being, of each sensation, ofg its role in the world and of the world at large. Seeing to their own heart, they were able to understand the human nature which is the same to all and via that understand also the others.
Can you give up uor prejudices, your tools in living? Can you let life just be and yourself react aturally to everything? That way you would reach the best way to live and to do things. Resting does not mean refusing to act - that is already an action in the sense that TTC forbids it. Instead it means flowing freely with your nature while having a natural holistic view of the world. The holistic view solves the problems of iunwise action and of conflicts that you might otherwise have. Just form a landscape with all your feelings in it so that you can follow all your feelings at the same time, sor example take care of the future and to feel compassion for others whiler enjoying life at the present moment. A holistic view of the world you get the same way as you are automatically aware of your surroundings: here is the stools, there the door, there my spouce, outside the road and a little bit farther away the shop: so you get all the world to one map of a globe with everything that you know at right places in the whole. Timeline you can set to the remaining dimension: from down (history) to up (future). This is surely objective, holistic and easy for all if they just knwo how to zoom in and out in their mind's eye and how to lift to the front (for example by colouring them stronger) the things that they at each moment want to think about.
The masdter isn't looking for anything in the sense of trying to follow some plans which would lead her to the goal. Instead she rests in her true naturality which ois what is her instructions of usage and which so gives her the best capacity etc. in each thing to do. Her nmature guides her toward the right direction, that's why she is also perfectly happy �living that way.
16
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
If you do nto stress about this or that you can use your full capaciity and handle so the things that would have otherwise been impossible for you. Take part in the world but undertsand that it is the human nature which runs things and that the human nature is beautiful and at peace even if the views of different people about their own benefit are in contradiction. Seeing to the hearts of each one yousee how the all long for safety, strive for it. Peace is what gives safety. See the harmony of youyr nature with that of the others, understand life and you will find a natural way to live in harmony with the others. One such way is mine, the following: I love life, happiness and so I support from my heart the arrangements in the world which support good life i.e. moral in this sense of the word. What apleasant atmosphere it produces!
If you have your values in life right, you have your life ona strong ground. So you do not need to care about the point games that people play. Instead you can see the real point in doing each kind of thing in life. And since you are so much stronger than the others, you feel as if they, your friends in their essence, were your children, but being so distant and so small, they feel like your grandchildren and you are like a skilled aunt or a king caring for their needs. Your actions are backed by your heart's voice of what is right and by the common good of the people and of the world at large, so you appear serene, unmoving, dignified as a king.
You look around yourself and the world shines in its beauty. If we use some machine against its instructions of usage, it makes a kraah like sound. It is the same with humans. When we have reached the natural correct way to live, our senses sing. That's our guide to better functioning that our natural tendency to enjoy beauty and things that are according to feelings and the deepest understanding guide us toward. Life really is a great panorama of natural music to some: that's why we still love music. Seeing the world answer centeredly, i.e. the human nature and health senteredly, makes the world look beautiful, shiningly, effortlessly, enjoyably, efficiently - that is the beauty of nearlt full funtioning. Full functioning is something even better.
17
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.
If you don't trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.
The Master doesn't talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, "Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!"
It is best if things take care of them sleves. A leader who is able but lets people rely solely on her, leaves the country to trouble when she dies. It would be better if the customs were healthy enough (like in my homecountry Finland) so that the country would covern itself without the help of the leaders.
If a leader uses for in governing but tries to do so with respect for the values of the people, he is feared. But if he does not respect the values of the people, he is desposed and opposed.
If you do not understand that it is the nature of the people which creates the dynamics of the world and try to use force instead, you go ashtray. The best is if you can rely so much on the human nature that there is nothing else needed. The land will govern itself. The leaders are jsut the persons who make the arrangements that the people wish them to do.
18
When the great Tao is forgotten,
goodness and piety appear.
When the body's intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.
When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.
When the country falls into chaos,
patriotism is born.
If you do not find things from your own nature, you still try to replace them by soem thought of replicas.
19
Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won't be any thieves.
If these three aren't enough,
just stay at the center of the circle
and let all things take their course.
The first thing that you do in order to get things well, is to cling to holiness, wisdom, moral and justice and let go of the opposited of these. If this is not enough, there is propably something wrong with your idea ofd these good things or with the way that they are followed, so you can cure the situation by letting go of your rotten views and listen to your heart's voice with a holistic view of the world.
If you try to procuce something but others steal it, the society will noty prosper: all the able ones will turn to thieves, not producing anything of value and staying poorer themselves too. If everyone would be content with justice, just those who produce things of worth to the society would be suuported and all the abilities of the people would be used for the common good .i.e. for their own good. But if you use some artificial scale to measure prosperity, systems tend to get fixed to that measure because it is so easy to attach themselves to that. So people will start to run after that mesaure: after money, and since that is just a toll and not a goal in itself, they will set their goals all wrong and much likely begin to steal at the expense of the real valyues to follow.
If you manage to make these corrections and it still isn't enough, it is much likely that you are npot enough in touch with your true nature: so take some distance, settle to quietness, take a walk in the forect, enjoy the company of friends, care for children and the eölderly, do things that make you touch the right way to live and find a way in which you can be an example of a better way to live.
20
Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!
Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.
Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.
Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharper;
I alone am dull.
Other people have a purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.
I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.
All theories are just theories about some side of things. They fail to reach the essential. Only by living can you be in contact with the real reasons of why people do things, why the world turns out the way that iyt does.
Having a theory makes one look convinced, purposeful but that is justa fake, atheater act, nothing to do with the real life. Just enjoy life in the living, express yout true nature completely in everything and things will take the right course in your environment.
21
The Master keeps her mind
always at one with the Tao;
that is what gives her her radiance.
The Tao is ungraspable.
How can her mind be at one with it?
Because she doesn't cling to ideas.
The Tao is dark and unfathomable.
How can it make her radiant?
Because she lets it.
Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.
The master follows her heart's voice straightforwardly, like she does everything else. She is one with her true nature, she follows healthy ways of living and excéllent world wide moral without forgetting the emphasis on her own way of life in it.
She does not conceptualise herslef, instead she flows freely with life (WITH a holistic view of life). That's why she is able to live naturally.
She does not try to grasp the right way to live and to do things by words and concepts, not by any ideas. Instead she lets it be whatever it turns out to be like in its ever varying complexity, in its heart touching simplicity. She does not make rules saying that everything is OK except this or that, or that everything is ok on the condition that... nstead she takes every factor to take into account into account fully by her full holistic understanding, fitting the different factors together as if they were gummystrings attached to a set of goals.
There is something called the human nature. It is unchanging but varies accpording to the situation without its soul changing. This is know from knowing mysaelf in the everyday life.
22
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
The Master, by residing in the Tao,
sets an example for all beings.
Because he doesn't display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn't know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goad in mind,
everything he does succeeds.
When the ancient Masters said,
"If you want to be given everything,
give everything up,"
they weren't using empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao
can you be truly yourself.
You do not reach the things that you want by commanding things to be so or by claiming that they already are so. Instead you have to let things grow to that state. That means that you must not rob them before they are ready, you must give them room to grow, not overexploiting them.Take the goal as a goal for yourself, then you can grow to it.
If you want to achieve something great, you have to change your way of doing things toward healthier and more natural. That means that you have to give up your bad habits and among them your prejudices. For example you must give up your entire picture of the world in order to be able to build a new better one, in order to be able to be oservant. It is the same with other big things and gbig skills.
A master who lives in a healthy happy natural way, is an example to others. Others see her and recognise themselves in her way of living, seeing that she has reached something that they too hope to reach and so they naturally follow her example.
The master is not forcing himself upon people. He merely exists for others to see. So correct is his wisdom that it gets immedistely recognised and taken as the appropriate reaction in the situation.
23
Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
Live fully each moment, express your true nature completely. Do not make a theater out of doing things: "now this one would do a thing like this and it would result in..." So your deeds lack force, you have to live with all your undertsnading, with all your force in order to succeed best. Otherwoise you are like acrippled one.
Concentrate in reaching the healthy natural happy way to live straightforwardly according to feelings with a holistic view of the world and a sensitive touch with the environment.
Concentrate on listening to your feelings and inner wisdom, tune yourself and your life to that wavelenght.
If you follow the mesage of your nature in how to react to feelings, even the negative feelings will help you: pain will help you to cure yourself by letting the hurt part rest, sorrow will mark the lost thing important in your picture of the world, fear concentrates your forces into avoiding the danger by making habits dizzy and appropriate reactions clear and easy, hate makes you defend your life aginst unhealthy things if you just extremely carefully take care that you get it right which thing bothers you and resist just that. Love and likings guide us to the right direction!
If you open yourslef to the right natural way to live, to the human nature in its beautiful form, you will get the best possible capacity and survive well even in the cynicaöl and broken modern world fullof aggression.
24
He who stands on tiptoe
doesn't stand form.
He who rushes ahead
doesn't go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can't know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can't empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.
If you overdo things, trying to place more weight on them than what they can bear, you will ruin your cahnges.
If you try to follow some definition of what you are like, you will go ashtray: you are not enough like that. You must let yourself grow to that direction if that is your goal, that is different from claiming to be already like that. In ca´laiming things you do not care for the ground for thode things. In just living you take care of the ground and consequently achieve much more.
If you do things in order to affect others, you cannot follow your hgeart's voice and you will lose sight of yourself.
So do not cling to your achie´vements because that way you cannot repeat them. Just live and do, that way you will be the happiest ( that is the goal + moral) and achieve the most (that is the side effect).
25
There was something formless and perfect
before the universe was born.
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao.
It flows through all things,
inside and outside, and returns
to the origin of all things.
The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
These are the four great powers.
Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.
Your nature and the nature of the world are primary to your picture of the world which is based on them but cannot reach them, much less be meaningfull in any way without them. This nature of the world, the correct way to live even in the present day world, since the existence of the artificialities has not changed our principle of functioning and since we were extremely well planned to begin with, this nature we call the Tao.
26
The heavy is the root of the light.
The unmoved is the source of all movement.
Thus the Master travels all day
without leaving home.
However splendid the views,
she stays serenely in herself.
Why should the lord of the country
flit about like a fool?
If you let yourself be blown to and fro,
you lose touch with your root.
If you let restlessness move you,
you lose touch with who you are.
Do not be bothered by the matters of the world so as to lose touch with who you really are, with your true nature. Do not get lost to the games of the world. You can play them if you just keep that as a side task and not the central theme of your life or of your mind at any moment. Life in itself is extremely valuable and cannot be reached by any point games. Being in touch with the human nature, you work miracles in the eyes of others. To you it is just the obvious when looked from the point of view of philosophy of life. The natural is the affortlessly effective. Others who measure things done by the labour done, never understand your workings. Yet their work too is based on the effortless natural part.
27
A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.
Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.
What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?
If you don't understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.
Do not rush to your goal eyes closed without regard for the needs pof the situation and for your own rythm of doing things. React appropriately tpo each thing.
Our emotional memories memorise which were the good well working roads and good things to use, so follpowing the positive road you are likely to quarantee sucess.
Sure perceptions are the ground of objectivity. Do not think by words but by sensations: this is like this and that is like that, while having a holistic påicture of the world.
The master is aqutely aware of the interconnectedness of the world. So she helps the ones who need her help, making so the world a much better place to live in. Whatever the starting point, she knows how to guide things toward better. She can see solutions and communicate them to others in simple well understandable ways. Her solutions arise from her being perceptive, sensitive to atmospheres and capable of describing them objectively in her own mind. So she has holistic thinking which is in fact immediate perception of the world in the light of human and naimal lives. The positive colours lead to solutions, the negative to disasters. She can tune herself to the positive answers and drag the social environment to that enjoyable road too.
If you are much more intelligent than others, you will just have to take others they are, not communicating with them but only to them, because you already understand all their thoughts. So you cannot build on what they have themselves done, you have to fins new solutions. But if you are not that much more intelligent, it is natural for you to guide along the usual routes: for good and away from evil. That is what the master too does but outside the old conceots of good and evil and outside their old roles in the world.
28
Know the male,
yet keep to the female:
receive the world in your arms.
If you receive the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you will be like a little child.
Know the white,
yet keep to the black:
be a pattern for the world.
If you are a pattern for the world,
the Tao will be strong inside you
and there will be nothing you can't do.
Know the personal,
yet keep to the impersonal:
accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your primal self.
The world is formed from the void,
like utensils from a block of wood.
The Master knows the utensils,
yet keeps to the the block:
thus she can use all things.
The w2omen's ways are a more intelliegnt version pof men's ways. The men's ways get their charachteristics of the miltary while women are concentrated on caring for the future of the world. That's why there ought to be women's culture in power all over the world - such would be for the good of us all.
If you try to solve the world's problems and be really objective in a holistic way, you will see that feelings reflect the importance of things in the world. So you can watch the world with your whole being, like a child does, and so solve the world's problems best, most objectively.
Know the theories, yet keep to the darkness of not knowingh. So you can use all your force and be in touch with the nature of humans, being a pattern for the world.
Accept yourself as a selfish feeling person, yet keep your objectivity two: have two pictures of the world: one about your own life experience, about emotions etc. and another about the world at large liek the sciences teach youto have. This way you can follow feelings fully without losing sight of the whole. Never lie to yourself. You are a pack animal, so you do fit well together with the rest of us, that makes you the happiest!
The conceptualised world, our pictures of the world describe the real unconceptualised reality, refer to it to have any meaningfulness. The master understand the theories but keeps the level of experience primary: that is from where all meanings come from, where all observatuions are made and so from where the besdt theories come from too. Being one with one's nature, the master's perception ability ois the best possible and most objective possible, much much more objective than that of those who memorise thoughts and try to think by words.
29
Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.
There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.
The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
The nature is the product of evolution or of intelligent palnning of God. In any case it is perfect, the best possible arrangement.
If you take your own stupid non-holistic way of looking at things and try to mess around in the world, you will end up hitting yourself, the plans that you make backfire because you were counting on things staying unchanged rehgardless of what you do, you were not cultivating the ground for things, so you end up being just a tiny little mosquito like bastard who gets squeezed away. If you would be wise, you would let the world be in peace and cultivate good things, others would respect you and let you live happily because you are so good to have around.
Even if you do not like the situation in whichyou are, you have to take it as a a starting point for yourslef. Tune yourself to the right attitude in such a situation and you will endure it better. The world is forever changing, you cannot complain that things are worse than beforem you can just enjoy life at this present way of living.
The master has healthy ways of living. She is a curin center for the whole world. She is in tune with the dynamics of the world, so she is like a source of power whose effect dies slowly away as the åpeople around her once again forget the right way to live. (This should not be so: she should also teach the right way to remember, btu I do not knwo how that is done.)
30
Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men
doesn't try to force issues
or defeat enemies by force of arms.
For every force there is a counterforce.
Violence, even well intentioned,
always rebounds upon oneself.
The Master does his job
and then stops.
He understands that the universe
is forever out of control,
and that trying to dominate events
goes against the current of the Tao.
Because he believes in himself,
he doesn't try to convince others.
Because he is content with himself,
he doesn't need others' approval.
Because he accepts himself,
the whole world accepts him.
***************** (I continue after a pause.)
The taoist master relies on the nature of the world, sees it power
dynamics and bases his actions on that instead of in making artificial
arrangements that have no real ground in the all kinds of power
dynamics of the world. Needing to use arms is different from just
walking to a town and claiming the territory which is the more skilled
solution of the strong. In the latter one relies on existing
supporting forces and uses one's strenght as a silent backup to what
one does. The change is a sliding one insteasd of like a declaration.
The master sees the natural deveklopments in the world and does his
part to support the good beginnings in them. He knows that he is just
a part of the world and cannot command the world to be of a certain
kind since the wolrd is too huge to obey any command, besides the
people do not have any power over what they are like.
In this sense
the world is our´tside anybody's control. But by observing what the
world is like you can reach much furher than by blind action. If you
have found the right course of action, the world will show if it
works, you do not need to talk others to your side since the reality
is the test. And if it works out well, all will accept your idea.
31
Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.
Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?
He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.
All tools have side effects, typically harmful. Weapons cause especially much harm. So one must calculate carefully when to use them and when to not to use. And since the most valuable things are difficult to estimate in numbers, it typically happens that weapons are used too much. alternative means would be better if one just had the skills for them. And the Taoist master has. The use of weapons cause losses which the master can avoid by his wisdom. besides, violence breaks much of the natural connections between people, lessening so the influence of both parties. To one who is very wise in influencing people in natural non-forcing pleasing ways, like the master is, that loss can be a big loss in influence.
It is just a fact that people die in wars. If you understand the dynamics of the world, you see how also the enemy is primarily a human being and as such mourned by one's nearest. Seeing to the human nature, you have also the possibility of living in peace and harmony.
To be honest, this perspective is so familiar to us in the Finnish speaking culture of Finland in Europe that I find it very difficult to say anything about it.
32
The Tao can't be perceived.
Smaller than an electron,
it contains uncountable galaxies.
If powerful men and women
could remain centered in the Tao,
all things would be in harmony.
The world would become a paradise.
All people would be at peace,
and the law would be written in their hearts.
When you have names and forms,
know that they are provisional.
When you have institutions,
know where their functions should end.
Knowing when to stop,
you can avoid any danger.
All things end in the Tao
as rivers flow into the sea.
The Tao isn't a physical thing like stone. It is more like the essence of things, the principles of functioning of the world.
A paradise of the healthy world is the best option in every sense. All dynamics of the world, both power, feelings, instincts, holistic rationality and moral, lead toward the healthy natural world. So if you take the essence of any/some/all of these natural things, it leads toward the same conclusion: the paradise of the healthy natural world. It is just when you use artificial ways of thinking and doing things when youy lose sight of this truth. So institutions which are followed beyond they reason&right for existence, can cause lots of damage. It is similarly with any schooled thinking: you cannot apply it as if it covered the whole wolrd, you must admit your limits, give each thing value according to what it is like and not according to some social calculations that do not take into account the whole world and so also the value of moral to the selfish individual.
33
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.
If you look to your own heartm you see deeper because you notice all kinds of things, knwo their roles in your life, knwo what you are like, and how you compare to other so that you know also more about others this way.
You can master others by using force. That makes them rebellious. If you know yourslef well, you see also to the hearts of others, which makes it possible for you to influence others in harmony with their nature: they will thak you instead of being rebellious, so you gain position...
If you reach for something that you don't yet have, you are out of balance if you tyr to base your life on that. You can base your life only on the positive things that you have, on the things that you can base your life on at this very moment. Listen to your heart's voice, feel what things are worth, do not think it through, even though it is good to know how to upkeep good things.
If you live in healthy ways and knwo that your life is just here, not in the future times when you might be dead already, you will live a full life, get an enermous strenght and vigour that is hard to compare to anything else. Then you will not be forcing things or yourself against their/your nature. Thus you will live naturally, according to your own nature, livelily, eagerly, lightly, enjoying life,... And so you will live longer. And the realistical sensitive heart-felt contact with the world around makes you achieve greater, makes the things that you do stay in people's hearts for a long long time.
34
The great Tao flows everywhere.
All things are born from it,
yet it doesn't create them.
It pours itself into its work,
yet it makes no claim.
It nourishes infinite worlds,
yet it doesn't hold on to them.
Since it is merged with all things
and hidden in their hearts,
it can be called humble.
Since all things vanish into it
and it alone endures,
it can be called great.
It isn't aware of its greatness;
thus it is truly great.
The nature of the world is presenmt everywhere, it gives birth to everything.
Observe all things, let all things exist. Nourish the good ones, cut away the harmful sprouts. You do not need to be in contact with something to be one to benefit from it. Find your own heartm find how it is the same as the heart of others. You will smile as you see them, thye will see your smile and understand the truth of how you are alike, you will be friends and so you will live in harmony - without knwoing each other, you will always be allies. And if you have found out what you are like, you will endure and so will your memoruy in teh eyes of others, they will live by your example. If you claim this to be so, others will say No, they are not your slaves or subordinates, you will spoil the whole thing. But if you just live happily, without commanding anyone, they will be your faitful followers.
35
She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart.
Music or the smell of good cooking
may make people stop and enjoy.
But words that point to the Tao
seem monotonous and without flavor.
When you look for it, there is nothing to see.
When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.
When you use it, it is inexhaustible.
If you are in harmony with the human nature, you will be in peace with all the others even if the times, and places and situations are difficult. I value happy life in safety with the future at a good state. So do the others. Let's share this froiendship!
Music.. Here I must disagree: the Tao, the human nature, invites our heart like music, impresses our nature like miracles, it is full and satisfying like all the things that our instincts invite us to do.
36
If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.
There is a balance point, the healthiest state of affairs. Do not mess with that. Just cut the extremes away if your undwerstanding is wise enough for that. But that is different from cutting away the likings opf others and keepig yours: like you have good grounds for the things that you happen to understand,m so have the others good grounds of an entirely different kind for their own truths wbout how to live - sometimes they even use your own perspective as a beginning point but achieve so much further that you cannot even imagine it, haven't heard about it even in tales...
Do not make a rigid rule of what you do and how to do it. Instead be content with life at the level of experience, the natural motivational ground for human action, the natural basic parts of all action, and let the rest be!
37
The Tao never does anything,
yet through it all things are done.
If powerful men and women
could venter themselves in it,
the whole world would be transformed
by itself, in its natural rhythms.
People would be content
with their simple, everyday lives,
in harmony, and free of desire.
When there is no desire,
all things are at peace.
The master never says that now I am going to do this. Instead she reacts naturally to the situation "When tired sleep, when hungry eat." Because she has a holistic view of the world, thsi works well!!!!!
If you knwo how to live, how to run the society at the same time, be an example to others just by being happy and so close to the human nature that all can copy the essentials from you.
38
The Master doesn't try to be powerful;
thus he is truly powerful.
The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;
thus he never has enough.
The Master does nothing,
yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things,
yet many more are left to be done.
The kind man does something,
yet something remains undone.
The just man does something,
and leaves many things to be done.
The moral man does something,
and when no one responds
he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.
When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.
Therefore the Master concerns himself
with the depths and not the surface,
with the fruit and not the flower.
He has no will of his own.
He dwells in reality,
and lets all illusions go.
If you try to be powerful, you are not building the base for your power, you are kind of lying to yourslef and to others about your power. In a short while the strenght of your youth will be lost in living that way. But if you concentrate on building the things that bring power, like skill, wisdom, health, well working social life, good enough moral etc., you can ride on those skills and good sides that you have, you will be the righteous winner each time plus the strongest one!
When you do something you get out of balance. You kind of take a package to carry and then you will have room only for so many more packages before you will run out of room in which to carry them or out of strenght to carry them any more. But if you drop away a package that you carry: a fixed view, a thing to do, a guideline etc, you will gain in strenght, typically so mmuch that you can in one second freely toss the package to its right place and be done with it. You gain strenght and that extra strenght makes life easier for you: you can get risd of other packages as well and get extra strenght with which to toss the packages to their right places or pile them and carry them easily all the time. By dropping thoughts away you reach meditation: a direct holistic view of the world. Instead of acting out of your memory you are eyes open and knwo things that you meet for the fiordst rtime better than you use dto knwo things old.
With kindness you keep your eyes open to the views of others, with goodness you keep your thoughts and speech open to the outspoken views of others, with moral you keep your mind open to the goodness in others. By closing their eyes they err away from true wisdom. They should follow fully the human nature! Then all things would fall into place.
All people ar e by their basic nature perfectly moral, so a world according to the Tao would be a moral paradise. (Without moral a paradise gets destroyed.) When people have because of the education and other artificialities lost their contact somewhat with their true nature, they still see some things as good and reach for them. At the next phase of alienation there is the memory of having had good things in life and in the world: moral. Still farther away there is the strange feeling inside that one ought to safeguard something somehow. It gioves rise to ritual without any real content. It no longer works to safeguard the good things in the wolrd.
So look to the soul of things, look at the outcome instead of at the glamour, interest yourself in the essence of all kinds of things, in the ground of everything, in the roiginal undisturbed form of biological things. Do not keep fixed plans about how things should be, instead looka t how things are and build on that!
39
In harmony with the Tao,
the sky is clear and spacious,
the earth is solid and full,
all creature flourish together,
content with the way they are,
endlessly repeating themselves,
endlessly renewed.
When man interferes with the Tao,
the sky becomes filthy,
the earth becomes depleted,
the equilibrium crumbles,
creatures become extinct.
The Master views the parts with compassion,
because he understands the whole.
His constant practice is humility.
He doesn't glitter like a jewel
but lets himself be shaped by the Tao,
as rugged and common as stone.
Following the inner nature of things makes one moral and puts things to a strong ground. The ways of living have it so well right that there is no need to cahnge them at all even if there are no fixed rules about how to do things. The best way, the natural one, is continuously observed anew to be the very best.
If people try to force things instead of living according to the nature of things, things go ashtray since the human thinking ability isn't as wise as the nature. When you command people, you aren't so building the ground for the things that you use, and at the same time you rob the group the brains and eyes of your subordinates. A natural hierargy according to skill anbd moral for each things separately, anew, is the best.
The master understands that perfect moral is best for himself, so he has plenty of time and motivations for true compassion toward others. Compassion - human values - health - working ability, justice - each thing treated according to its nature - arrangements make sense, honesty - the same as above, responsibility about all the conbsequences of one's actions - guidability, holistic objectivity - guidability.
Jewel... Here I must again disagree: the master looks beautiful and is proud like the nature is, she has natural social position much higher than the ordinary pweople because she is so right in her ways of living and in things that she does, that all just smile in admiration and effortlessly copy those things to their own lives too. Like: let's go and buy some ice cream we too! But this aren't a position that one could take - one needs to grow into it. Once one is experienced in it, one knows how to aknoledge it naturally, making it an official position: Yes, I am a good cooker!
40
Return is the movement of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
All things are born of being.
Being is born of non-being.
We constantly tend to make the error of supposing today to be like yesterday. But today is different: one of a kind, each moment an individual wonder like nothing else. To apprexiate that beauty is one side of being in accord with the right way to live.
All things that you value are something that already exists in some sense, but typically, almost always they are not cultivated by claiming that thye exist. Instead you have to let go, to not to do anything, not even decide that you do not do anything, but be fully alive since that is your nature and react to life fully according to what is your nature that very moiment. The things that others will claim as your handiwork are born from this natuirality of being, from the natural sides of your life and not from making plans and trying to fullfill them. Just live according to your dreams, heart-felt dreams according to the human nature, and you will have much more power than otherwise, you will find the pure tone which will make the world work even without you touching aything. If you know how to do things right, others will know it too if it really is a part of the human nature to do things that way. This is the way that the Taoist cures the world. It may include talking, enermous amounts of talking, but it does not include talking according to some fixed plan ("like this I could gain social position" - instead I gain position inthe obvious ways that truth, the nature of people, the values of systems, power play etc. give it - see my main page www.paradisewillwin.info about how all these fit easily together via the paradise movement idea), it may include writing, it may include all kinds of things that there are in the human nature but nothing else, so propably it does not include any evil things, not any meaningless or disastrous things etc.
41
When a superior man hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.
When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes it, half doubts it.
When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud.
If he didn't laugh,
it wouldn't be the Tao.
Thus it is said:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest are seems unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.
The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things.
If you see to the inner nature of things yourself and aren't fooled by fine schooled sounding looks and artificial ways, you will recognise things of worth yourself. Those with some understanding will half believe and half doubt because the truth does not look like a school book but very much like their own experience of life, is kind of too outspoken and wiothout official glamour. The stupid ones trust only others with high position so they bypass the messy reality and imitate only school like things which keeps them stupid too.
42
The Tao gives birth to One.
One gives birth to Two.
Two gives birth to Three.
Three gives birth to all things.
All things have their backs to the female
and stand facing the male.
When male and female combine,
all things achieve harmony.
Ordinary men hate solitude.
But the Master makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness, realizing
he is one with the whole universe.
The natural world exists physically. Thus it can be observed in forms, even though such observations seldom if ever can even in theory reach the complexity of the natural world. We must sense, experience with atmosphers, feelinsg and instincts and insight all the things in our world as one holistic landscape with an enertmous number of tones and variations, of differencies and similarities, of structures and atmospheric tones.
Strenght is what we see, sensitivity is what cultivates it: first sets the main features right, the the next biggest level etc. according to our nature, the nature of the society and the world and according to each specific situation and its riole in the world at large. When you cultivate the ground for things and use power wisely for protection and cultivation of the good, your course of action makes sense, is as wise as possible.
When you are alone (preferably in the untouched nature!) you aren't pressured by others. So you find your ionner nature easier. When you then meet people, you enjoy their company more, are in peace with their existence and with the world at large.
43
The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master's way.
Sensitivity brings strenght. When you are adabtable, like a really sensitive one is, you endure. This is different from weakness: weakness makes you react without a good reason. Sensitivity makes you finbd out the best ways and follow just them.
If you do not blabber about all things but just observe, feel the human bnature in you and in others, you can influnce very many impossibly difficult things since our true nature is something that takes everything into account and does not add any extra burden to anyone - no, it makes things lighter... If you just are and live eagerly, WITH a holistic view of the world all the time in everything, and do not take example from anything artificial - not from your home, schooled thoughts, the looks of written language, acted ways etc. - you get the best social skills, intelligence, other skills on any area of life, happiness, health, long life etc.
Experience is good to have but it should not make you robot like. Instead you should learn to bypass the artificialities ina constructive way and let your attention rest on the naturalities.
44
Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success of failure: which is more destructive?
If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.
Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
Integrity, happiness, success in these things is valuable.
Aren't this obvious?!
Live a natural life in a close contact with the nature, with healthy natural action according to feelings, instincts, your best understanding and perfect moarl.
45
True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.
True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.
The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself.
The nature and the experienced reality are so complex in their perfection that our artificial schooled scales of measurement say that they are somehow lacking because they are not so simple or unbalanced as wholes as to get the best points. Your best achievements arise from the ground of your true self. You cannot achieve as well if you are stuck in some premade theory perspective about how to do - tha aren't life in the action, so the thepry makes you very unrealistical, alienated from the base of your achiebvements. You achieve best when you throw the premade plans totally away and reach for the soul of things, your soul in life. You will so find yiourself in accord with the bature of everything, you will find such a stroing place for yourtself in the systems athat you couldn't previously even uimagine such.
The most rational thoughts go the same ways as feelinsg and instincts: feelings mark whether something is good for life or not. The answer of instincts has been tested by the tough evolution. You just cannot reach any better!
True wisdom aren't boasting with fine vocabulary instead of being understandable in communication. So it uses everysday langauge and everyday examples, touching things that everybvody is interested in, like the family talk of all.
Touching the human soul is very different from fine theory structures, even though it brings an even deeper understanding of the world than the theories.
Allow people to express their nature, whether it is in trusting school like thoughts that go ashtray or in fighting foolishly or whatever. Just shape the situation so that the next time it will not be that bad at all - stop the fight in the style "Live! and let otehrs Live!", express your thought of view of how such svhooled thoughts ought to lead toward good like this.
46
When a country is in harmony with the Tao,
the factories make trucks and tractors.
When a country goes counter to the Tao,
warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.
There is no greater illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself,
no greater misfortune than having an enemy.
Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.
What people value is peace and prosperity (because it brings a safe future). If you are rich, people come to you to learn from you, and if some come to fight or to steal, you have enough money and status to fight them back. Others will defend you.
If a culture has no idea of the impoirtabce of the cultivation of the ground for things, it invests in being a parasite. That aren't wise in the long run, since it forces others to invest in hard means too - in any case hard means get more room, the cultivation of good things less and so the quality of life drops.
Thus if you are afraid so that you get kind of stiff and prepare to defend yourself, being vary of enemies, you seek for the faults in others anbd so find lots of things to complain about instead of the old ground for a peaceful life together. Instead you should be serene, independent and ina good enough position to guide things to a peaceful ending. Aggression breaks the whole that people naturally form, making the aggressor stupid the same amount (a holistic view breaks intoa fragmented view). And well if you have ever thought while holding your breath after inhaling in a build environment, like aggressive ones do, you are the opposite of wise that way. And if you on the other hand think at the end part of relaxed breathing out in a nature environment, like peaceful ones tend to do, you have found the holistic wisdom bought by meditation.
If you see to the human nature also in aggressive situations, being able to be friends with others, you will be much much safer than the rest.
47
Without opening your door,
you can open your heart to the world.
Without looking out your window,
you can see the essence of the Tao.
The more you know,
the less you understand.
The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing.
You could really use some holistic thinking in everything that you do, in guiding your life and esopecially in setting its goals.
If you look to your own heart, you will understand everything. But that aren't a schooled look, it is your reactions to the things in life and the causes for them that you well know but may want to keep secret, that teach you everything.
If you learn about things, you tend to shiut your eyes to all other evidence. So the beginner is always the most sharp eyed. Just make your heart pure!
The master never leaves one's true nature, thus she has arrived! The master knows herself, she just enjoys the nice valuable things in life and knows such to be her true nature, so she does not need to get tangled to schooled thoughts to see how the world would work the best, be full of light - the human nature is moral, that moral, that liking toward good life is at the heart of all of us, whether we are free to show it or too much afraid, that direction toward better is till our nature. Just living according to that nature she fits people together like people live in peace ina garden district, like a life according to feelings ( by answering one's needs) makes one strong, like harmony brings meditaion and via that wisdom and skill,...
48
In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can't be gained by interfering.
Don't be depressed, follow your nature, your highest goals in any case. The nature is wise: what is beautiful is also useful. (Evolutionarily beauty ought to be a mark of health.) DFirst looka t your nature, follow it on your free time, only after that look at the work circumsoancies. If you do the other way around, you get stuck inside hundreds of things to do. Now starting from your nature and the ature of the world you can see other things as their expression. If you can do this fully, you have left nothing undone but done much more than what your work use dto contain. You will be happier!
49
The Master has no mind of her own.
She works with the mind of the people.
She is good to people who are good.
She is also good to people who aren't good.
This is true goodness.
She trusts people who are trustworthy.
She also trusts people who aren't trustworthy.
This is true trust.
The Master's mind is like space.
People don't understand her.
They look to her and wait.
She treats them like her own children.
The master isn't unrealistical. She starts from the situation that she happens to have. She builds on what people are like. She knows how to live in harmony with all kinds of people, seeing to their hearts and showing them some part of hers. She knows how tobuild good from the not-at-all good and just enjoys life, whatever environment shje happens to have, even though some are nicer than the others. Still it is good to correct the worst cases away. Most people aren't able to do likewise. That makes them confused since typically they cannot understand big differencies in skills and viewpoints. The master understand and knwos that things are at some part on her responsibility, so she just takes care pof that, defends herself easily and without drawbacks and is so secure that she can just enjoy helping the others.
50
The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.
He knows that he is going to die,
and her has nothing left to hold on to:
no illusions in his mind,
no resistances in his body.
He doesn't think about his actions;
they flow from the core of his being.
He holds nothing back from life;
therefore he is ready for death,
as a man is ready for sleep
after a good day's work.
Live fully, express yourself fully but completely morally. Make the air fresh, full of new possibilities, grasp the things that invite your deepest nature.
We all leave something undone when we die. That is no reason to feel sorry: we jsut are uncomplete by our nature. Live fully now, so you know each moment that you can let go if needed.
51
Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.
The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.
The nature of the world is reflected in the nature of the Nature which in turn is seen in the nature of all living beings. The nature is ideal, the best possible, so it lacks unrealisticality, dishonesty, unreactivity, lack of sensitivity and of the wisdom that it brings - lacks all negative qualities, is enermously reactive toward the strongest option which is also the one most according to feelings, real understanding and perfect unobstructed moral which takes the circumspances fully into account.
The nature fullfills the needs of living beings without there being any unhealthy artificial graving for anything. To feel strongly and be reactive is different from greed which is stiff and unreactive, senseless. We love the things which naturally fullfill our needs: our natural life in the natural living environment. We naturally dislike the breaks in that pleasurable state of affairs.
52
In the beginning was the Tao.
All things issue from it;
all things return to it.
To find the origin,
trace back the manifestations.
When you recognize the children
and find the mother,
you will be free of sorrow.
If you close your mind in judgements
and traffic with desires,
your heart will be troubled.
If you keep your mind from judging
and aren't led by the senses,
your heart will find peace.
Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.
In the beginning there was the undisturbed nature. The human nature has not changed after that. It may be that it is impossible for it to adabt to the artificialities because teh artificialities cannot fullfill all of our needs like the nature does. For example our thinking benefits from the enermous amount of seen sensory stimuli in the nature environment. So all that we do is based on the human nature. All things are in the end primarily expressions of some side or another of the ages old human nature.
To understand what naturality is like, what your own principles of functioning are like, think of the original undisturbed biological world where humans were like they niowadays are by their nature but where there were absolutely no artificialities: no tools, no schooling, no books, no laws, no nothing artificial. In order to understand what the roifginal state was like, you have to examine carefally what the present day humans are like and build from those pieces a picture of the ideal at the beginning of time. When you so learn to understand the nature of each side of human life, you learn how to fullfill your needs in natural ways, so you will be happy, in harmony with the nature of others too and capable to overcome the obstacles that life sets to you.
If you are greedy and lie to yourself and others, your head will be a mess without any truth in it. If you on the other hand take sensitive realism as a starting point and try to get things right according to their nature and not according to your wish to gain social position, the pieces will find their places and you will be content.
See to the nature of things as arising from the ages old human nature and you will see light also in obscure situations. Don't let your thoughts guide you, instead trust your intuition, your sensitive perceptions about all the things in life instead of what you have already memorised. This does not stop you from seeing humans in their right context: as beings intimately connected with the rest of the natural world by their veruy nature, as beings which feel confused because of all the artificialities in the world and because of the alienation of the natural ways of living, which are their own instructions of usage bringing strenght, wisdom and skill, that the artificialities have bought. If you practise the right natural way to live, without neglecting any part of your being - you recognise such neglections from a nasty feeling that thye produce - and with a holistic view so that all the things in life and in the world get their right objective emphasies in which there has been no taking of sides because taking sides makes it impossible to attain the strongest allegiancy: the fairest arrangement. Then you gain in strenght, profoundness, wisdom, skill and motivation and happiness. It is way of living that could be continued forver, without there being any need for a better one. It has already been optimised by the evolution or by God and it is exptremely adabtable and in harmony with the laws of the world.
53
The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.
When rich speculators prosper
While farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn-
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.
There is nothing lighter and easier than doing things in natural ways. It is what brings you the most enjoyment too. But it is so light and enjoyable that you who are used top stupid artificial ways, easily bypass it as doing nothing. You have to take care that you always measure objectively how mnuch you have achieved in each way and do not clasify something as worthless because it is so easy. Like singing is eays, still singing together for fun makes you get along with the other singers which is very valuable. And like you by wandering in the nature get plenty of exercise at the same time as getting refreshed. the refreshing effect isn't a sign of the exercise being of no value. NO: it is a sign that the wandering in the nature is very valkuable indeed.
Be wary of measuring things in points. That makes you very stupid, like a computer guided tractor would be compared to an adabtible insect. Measure things in their ultimate value that they produce: not in money but in what you can buy with that money, in all the things that you want to your life, whether you can buy them or not, whether you will lose them in reachig for money or gain more of them that way.
Always be aware of what is the base oif things and cultivate just that. The affairs of a country are based on the well productive labour that people do - whether it is in thinking, farming or in arranging the whole country. If those who in practise are parasites prosper instead of honest workers pospering, the people will start to invest in stealing and the amount of productive labour will get smnaller and things so to an unsustainable basis in the long run. Just be wise: safeguard the base of things always, and talk others to respecting it too!
54
Whoever is planted in the Tao
will not be rooted up.
Whoever embraces the Tao
will not slip away.
Her name will be held in honor
from generation to generation.
Let the Tao be present in your life
and you will become genuine.
Let it be present in your family
and your family will flourish.
Let it be present in your country
and your country will be an example
to all countries in the world.
Let it be present in the universe
and the universe will sing.
How do I know this is true?
By looking inside myself.
If you have found the right chord, for example that you like music or some other thing that is deep in the human nature, you will not find any error there: your life is on a strong ground at that part. And if you cultivate that natural thing in natural ways in your life, all the others will see it in their nature too, will find a closer contact with a thing that they can call truly theirs, and so your work and your fame with it will last for a long long long time. It will be a pleasure for all and a guideline for them to follow in their lives, it will help to set things straight whatever the state of affairs happens to be.
If youu live in contact with your own nature, the others will smile as they see even a glimpse of you, so you have nothing to fear from the others and so you will see it wise to grow to be a genuine.
If you have found out what human relationships are about. "Live! and let others Live!" at least but much much more too. The your family and your whole social environment will flourish.
If your country's ways make sense both from the common sense's and holicstic objective thinking's and emotions' points of views, if it is in accordance with the nature of things and of the ature of humans, then it is suited to be an example to other countries too.
And if all the countires will find peace and harmony, a great weight will be lifted from the shoulders of the people and their hearts will sing!
55
He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.
The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.
56
Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know.
Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.
Be like the Tao.
It can't be approached or withdrawn from,
benefited or harmed,
honored or brought into disgrace.
It gives itself up continually.
That is why it endures.
57
If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.
The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.
Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.
58
If a country is governed with tolerance,
the people are comfortable and honest.
If a country is governed with repression,
the people are depressed and crafty.
When the will to power is in charge,
the higher the ideals, the lower the results.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.
Thus the Master is content
to serve as an example
and not to impose her will.
She is pointed, but doesn't pierce.
Straightforward, but supple.
Radiant, but easy on the eyes.
59
For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.
The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.
Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people's welfare
as a mother cares for her child.
60
Governing a large country
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.
Center your country in the Tao
and evil will have no power.
Not that it isn't there,
but you'll be able to step out of its way.
Give evil nothing to oppose
and it will disappear by itself.
61
When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea:
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.
A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts.
If a nation is centered in the Tao,
if it nourishes its own people
and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others,
it will be a light to all nations in the world.
62
The Tao is the center of the universe,
the good man's treasure,
the bad man's refuge.
Honors can be bought with fine words,
respect can be won with good deeds;
but the Tao is beyond all value,
and no one can achieve it.
Thus, when a new leader is chosen,
don't offer to help him
with your wealth or your expertise.
Offer instead
to teach him about the Tao.
Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao?
Because, being one with the Tao,
when you seek, you find;
and when you make a mistake, you are forgiven.
That is why everybody loves it.
63
Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.
64
What is rooted is easy to nourish.
What is recent is easy to correct.
What is brittle is easy to break.
What is small is easy to scatter.
Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
The giant pine tree
grows from a tiny sprout.
The journey of a thousand miles
starts from beneath your feet.
Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm
at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.
65
The ancient Masters
didn't try to educate the people,
but kindly taught them to not-know.
When they think that they know the answers,
people are difficult to guide.
When they know that they don't know,
people can find their own way.
If you want to learn how to govern,
avoid being clever or rich.
The simplest pattern is the clearest.
Content with an ordinary life,
you can show all people the way
back to their own true nature.
66
All streams flow to the sea
because it is lower than they are.
Humility gives it its power.
If you want to govern the people,
you must place yourself below them.
If you want to lead the people,
you must learn how to follow them.
The Master is above the people,
and no one feels oppressed.
She goes ahead of the people,
and no one feels manipulated.
The whole world is grateful to her.
Because she competes with no one,
no one can compete with her.
67
Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.
I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.
68
The best athlete
wants his opponent at his best.
The best general
enters the mind of his enemy.
The best businessman
serves the communal good.
The best leader
follows the will of the people.
All of the embody
the virtue of non-competition.
Not that they don't love to compete,
but they do it in the spirit of play.
In this they are like children
and in harmony with the Tao.
69
The generals have a saying:
"Rather than make the first move
it is better to wait and see.
Rather than advance an inch
it is better to retreat a yard."
This is called
going forward without advancing,
pushing back without using weapons.
There is no greater misfortune
than underestimating your enemy.
Underestimating your enemy
means thinking that he is evil.
Thus you destroy your three treasures
and become an enemy yourself.
When two great forces oppose each other,
the victory will go
to the one that knows how to yield.
70
My teachings are easy to understand
and easy to put into practice.
Yet your intellect will never grasp them,
and if you try to practice them, you'll fail.
My teachings are older than the world.
How can you grasp their meaning?
If you want to know me,
look inside your heart.
71
Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.
The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.
72
When they lose their sense of awe,
people turn to religion.
When they no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon authority.
Therefore the Master steps back
so that people won't be confused.
He teaches without a teaching,
so that people will have nothing to learn.
73
The Tao is always at ease.
It overcomes without competing,
answers without speaking a word,
arrives without being summoned,
accomplishes without a plan.
Its net covers the whole universe.
And though its meshes are wide,
it doesn't let a thing slip through.
74
If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you aren't afraid of dying,
there is nothing you can't achieve.
Trying to control the future
is like trying to take the master carpenter's place.
When you handle the master carpenter's tools,
chances are that you'll cut your hand.
75
When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.
Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.
76
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plats are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
77
As it acts in the world, the Tao
is like the bending of a bow.
The top is bent downward;
the bottom is bent up.
It adjusts excess and deficiency
so that there is perfect balance.
It takes from what is too much
and give to what isn't enough.
Those who try to control,
who use force to protect their power,
go against the direction of the Tao.
They take from those who don't have enough
and give to those who have far too much.
The Master can keep giving
because there is no end to her wealth.
She acts without expectation,
succeeds without taking credit,
and doesn't think that she is better
than anyone else.
78
Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.
Therefore the Master remains
serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter his heart.
Because he has given up helping,
he is people's greatest help.
True words seem paradoxical.
79
Failure is an opportunity.
If you blame someone else,
there is no end to the blame.
Therefore the Master
fulfills her own obligations
and corrects her own mistakes.
She does what she needs to do
and demands nothing of others.
80
If a country is governed wisely,
its inhabitants will be content.
They enjoy the labor of their hands
and don't waste time inventing
labor-saving machines.
Since they dearly love their homes,
they aren't interested in travel.
There may be a few wagons and boats,
but these don't go anywhere.
There may be an arsenal of weapons,
but nobody ever uses them.
People enjoy their food,
take pleasure in being with their families,
spend weekends working in their gardens,
delight in the doings of the neighborhood.
And even though the next country is so close
that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking,
they are content to die of old age
without ever having gone to see it.
81
True words aren't eloquent;
eloquent words aren't true.
Wise men don't need to prove their point;
men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
The Master has no possessions.
The more he does for others,
the happier he is.
The more he gives to others,
the wealthier he is.
The Tao nourishes by not forcing.
By not dominating, the Master leads.
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