The Way that can be described is not the eternal Way.

The name that can be spoken is not the eternal name.

This nameless-ness is the boundary between our world and the mystery.

Naming is the birth of creation.

 

But the mystery and your reality emerge from the same source.

The source is beyond light.

Darkness born in darkness.

The root of all that can be known.

 

Before our universe was born, there was the one thing.

It is alone and empty, solitary and unchanging.

It is ever present and eternal.

It is like the mother of the universe,

It has no name, but we call it the Way.

 

It is everywhere.

Because it is everywhere, it is eternal.

Being eternal means all things return to it.

 

Way, Heaven, Life

 

Within our universe, these are the three great things.

 

Life follows Heaven.

Heaven follows the Way.

The Way follows itself.

 

The greatest virtue is to follow the Way, which is hidden and mysterious.

Yet you can always feel its presence.

Hidden and mysterious, its effects are glimpsed.

It is dark and quiet yet full of life.

That life is genuine and from within it you will find order.

 

The Way can be neither sensed nor known

It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge

 

Since before time it has existed.

It is beyond existence and non-existence.

How do you know where it comes from?

Peer inside and it will reveal itself.

 

Look for it and you won’t find it.

Listen and you won’t hear it.

Grasp at it and it cannot be captured.

These are the same.

 

The Way transmits sensation

Sensation creates meaning

Sensation and memory create thought

And thought creates all the world.

Each thing creates feeling and action and - in the mind - harmony with the Way

 

The Way is shaped by use, but soon loses that shape.

Do not cling to this shape

But let sensation flow through your world as a river courses to the sea.

 

Its high is not bright and its depth is not dark.

Beyond time and names it returns to nothingness,

No form or image - subtlety beyond your understanding.

 

Approach it but there will be no beginning.

Follow it but there will be no end

Grasp this ancient mystery and feel it in your life

 

To acknowledge mystery is the beginning of wisdom

 

Long ago you were profound and knew no subtlety

Your wisdom came from non-understanding

There was no description

 

The Way is like a bellows -

It is empty yet substantial.

The more it is used the more it produces.

The more you talk of it the less you can fathom.

 

The Way is an empty container.

Infinitely deep, it is the source of all things.

All potential, it can never be emptied and can never be filled.

It dulls the sharp and unties the knotted.

Darkens the light and unites everything in dust.

It is hidden but always present.

You can’t know what gave birth to it.

It is older than the idea of god.

 

This spirit in emptiness is immortal.

It is the Great Mother.

Because from it Life is born.

 

If you can empty your mind of thought your heart will embrace peace

Watch the movement of creation but contemplate its return to the source

All things return.

Returning to the source is called tranquility because you have realized the Way

 

Nurture this mystery of your soul until you feel whole.

Can you do this without fail?

Can you focus your life and feel newly born?

When you open your eyes will you be without flaw?

Can you love without need?

When you are given it and when it is taken away can you be content?

Will you understand these things and turn away from your understanding?

 

Can you be patient until your mind settles and all is clear?

Can you remain still until movement occurs?

 

The Way ebbs and flows, creates and destroys

From it all things are conceived and born

It claims nothing in return

It nurtures all things but does not control them

It has no intent

So it seems of no consequence

It is the substance of all things

Yet does not direct them

There is no exception.

 

Understanding this is called “enlightenment”

 

Heaven and Earth are impartial.

They treat everything like a passing fancy.

Be likewise, and do not choose sides.

 

By understanding you can accept things as they are

By accepting things as they are you can become impartial

By becoming impartial you can be one with the source

Being one with the source you are no longer concerned with losing your life

Because you are the source - eternal and beyond loss.

 

When you proclaim something is beautiful, ugliness is born.

When good is discovered evil is created.

Being and non-being define the other

Different and easy complement the other

Long defines short

High opposes low

Before follows after.

 

Heaviness is the judge of lightness.

Stillness is the measurement of activity.

 

Forget their “knowledge” and “wisdom” and you will be better for it.

Throw away charity and righteousness and you will gain brotherly love.

Throw away profit and greed and there can be no thieves.

 

Stop worrying and problems will fade.

Is there a difference between yes and no?

Is there a difference between good and evil?

Must you value what others have valued?

Realize how wrong you have been.

 

These alone are not enough to remain at the source, so we must be more.

 

Embrace simplicity.

Put others first.

Desire little.

 

Don’t seek fulfillment

Only those who are not yet full can feel complete

 

When free from desire, you can sense this hidden mystery.

Limited by desire, it is beyond you.

 

If you live simple without desire those without virtue cannot act against you.

Because you practice not-doing all things fall into place.

 

If you want to become whole, first let yourself be broken.

If you want to become straight, first let yourself be twisted.

If you want to feel full, let your self be empty.

If you want to feel new, let your self be old.

If you want have it all, then give everything away.

A life of acquiring “things” leads to a deluded mind.

 

For these reasons, you embrace the Way as an example to the world.

 

Because you aren’t obsessed with the self, people can see the light in you.

Because you do not boast of your self, you become a shining example.

Because you do not value your self, you become a person of esteem.

Because you want nothing from the world, it cannot overwhelm you.

 

When they said, “If you want to become whole, first let yourself be broken”,

These were not empty words.

All who do this will return whole to the source.

 

There is no greater mistake than following desire

There is no greater disaster than forgetting contentment

There is no greater sickness than seeking attainment

He who is content with the least finds that his contentment endures.

 

Health or fame? Which is held dearer?

Health or possessions? Which is worth more?

Profit or loss? Which leads to more trouble?

Great desire incurs great expense

And great riches breed fear.

But contentment is free.

If you know when to stop you avert danger and may long endure.

 

The disciple of knowledge learns as much as he can every day

A follower of the Way forgets as much as he can every day

Thus he reaches a state of inaction

He does nothing and nothing remains undone

To conquer the world, accomplish nothing.

Otherwise the world will remain beyond your grasp.

 

Without leaving your door you can know the whole world

Without seeing the sky you can know the clouds

The more you learn, the less you know

You wander without movement

See without looking

Accomplish without trying.

 

So you can act by doing nothing and can teach without words.

Things come to you and you accept them.

Things leave and you let them go.

You have without possessing and act without expectations.

When your work is done you take no credit.

That is why it will last forever.

 

Put your self last and find your self in a position of “authority”.

Detach your self from all things and become one with all things.

Give no thought to the self and be fulfilled.

 

If you celebrate the individual then competition will arise.

If you value possessions some will begin to steal.

Exhibition nurtures envy.

 

The Way that is heaven is eternal.

The Way of our Earth is long enduring.

Why do they endure?

The do not live for the self and thus can exist for all things.

 

Only without competition can we live in peace.

 

The supreme goodness is like water, which benefits all without effort.

It gathers in unpopular places.

In this it is like the Way.

 

Water overcomes stone

Without substance, it requires no opening.

This is the benefit of taking no action

Yet few practice experience without thought

 

Carrying without owning,

Nurturing without taming,

Shaping without struggle.

This is harmony.

 

The Way bears all things

Harmony nurtures them

Nature shapes them

Use completes them

You follow the Way and favor harmony.

Not by desire, but by being.

 

The Way will bear, nurture, shape, complete, shelter, comfort, and make a place for you.

 

But attempting harmony creates thought,

And following thought creates ritual.

Exceeding nature creates calamity,

And controlling nature gives birth to violence.

 

When the Way is lost, there remains harmony

When harmony is lost, there remains love

When love is lost, there remains justice

But when justice is lost, there remains only ritual.

 

Old laws are not easily uprooted

Long-held beliefs are hard to let go.

So ritual entraps generation after generation.

 

Harmony does not seek harmony, so it is easily attained.

But ritual enforces harmony, and thus can never attain it.

Harmony neither acts nor reasons

Love acts, but without reason

Justice acts to serve reason

But ritual acts to enforce reason.

 

Ritual is the end of compassion and honesty and the beginning of confusion.

Belief is a passionate hope or fear, and the mother of folly.

You follow harmony, not belief.

You dwell in the fruit, not the flower.

Accept substance and ignore abstractions.

 

It is better not to speak of things you do not understand.

 

It is location that makes a dwelling good.

A depth in understanding makes a mind good.

A kind heart makes the giving good.

Integrity makes a government good.

Accomplishment makes your life good.

A good decision lies in the timing.

 

Trying to do too much is not as good as finishing what you start.

 

Spokes join together a wheel but it is the center hole that gives it function.

You mold clay into a pot but it is the emptiness inside that makes it useful.

You fashion wood and brick into a house but it is the space inside that makes it livable.

We work with the substances but it is the absences that we truly use.

 

The Way lacks art and flavor.

It cannot be seen or heard

But its benefits cannot be exhausted.

 

Colors blind the eye.

Notes deafen the ear.

Flavor makes taste go stale.

Act for the belly and not the eyes and you will see things for what they are not.

Action clouds the mind.

 

Wealth causes crime, and pride brings its own trouble.

The sharper a knife the easier it is to dull.

The more you possess the harder it is to keep it.

 

Create and nourish without possessing.

Expect nothing in return.

Foster without controlling.

This is the mysterious virtue.

 

When you accomplish something, others should say, “Look what we have done.”

 

If you don’t trust others, they will become untrustworthy.

 

Love the whole earth rather than your self and you can truly be for all things.

 

Thus you are willing to help everyone and don’t know the meaning of rejection.

You are there to help all of creation and don’t abandon even the smallest creature.

This is called embracing the light.

 

At your best you value words and use them sparingly.

 

Nature uses few words.

When the wind blows, it will not last long.

When it rains hard, it will end soon.

What causes this? Life.

 

Why do we go on about small things, when nature does so much with so little?

 

If you open yourself to the Way, you and the Way will become one.

If you open yourself to virtue, then you can become virtuous.

If you open yourself to loss, then you will lose sight of the Way.

 

When the Way is abandoned, charity and righteousness appear.

When intellectualism arises, then hypocrisy is close behind.

When there is strife in a family, they speak of “brotherly love.”

When there is chaos the politicians will speak of country.

 

So some will lead, while others will follow.

Some will be warm. Others cold.

Some will be strong. Others weak.

Some will get to where they are going, while others fall beside the path.

 

Know the dark, but being light…

You realize harmony - and return to the Way.

 

Know the male but keep to the female.

Become a gateway to the world.

Embrace harmony and feel as if a small child.

 

Using strength, remain weak.

Be a root to the world.

You weakness strengthens the Way.

 

What is a good person but a bad person’s teacher?

What is a bad person but a good person’s work?

If you fail to love the teacher or the student, you will become deluded no matter your intentions.

 

You should not separate yourself from the world

The needs of others are your own

 

Be good to those who are good.

Be good to those who are not good.

Thereby you are good.

 

Trust those who are trustworthy

Trust those who are not

Thereby you are trustworthy.

 

When wood is carved it becomes a tool.

When a man is employed he becomes a tool.

A good carpenter can carve any wood.

 

The world is carved by the Way

It cannot be shaped by the will.

Try to change it and you damage it.

Try to own it and you will lose it.

 

If you wish to change the world in accordance with your desires, you cannot succeed.

 

The Way takes no action

Yet nothing remains undone

When you accept this, your world will flourish.

 

Long ago all things were whole.

All the sky was clear

All the earth was stable

All the mountains were firm

All the rivers were full

All of nature was fertile

All leaders were supported

 

But losing clarity, the sky tore

Losing stability, the earth split

Losing strength, the mountains sank

Losing water, the riverbeds cracked

Losing fertility, nature disappeared.

And losing support, the leaders fell.

 

The motion of the Way is the “return”

The sign of the Way is acceptance.

All things come from the Way

And the Way comes from nothing.

 

Honest people use no rhetoric, as rhetoric is not honesty.

Enlightened people are not cultured, as culture is not enlightenment.

Content people are not wealthy, as wealth is not contentment.

 

One who understands the world is learned

One who understands the self is enlightened

One who conquers the world has strength

One who conquers the self has harmony

One who is contented has wealth

One who defends his home may long endure it,

One who surrenders his home may long survive it.

So it seems all-important:

If you do not try to control the world, you follow the Way.

 

Dull your wit and simplify your purpose - accept the world

 

If you offer music and food, strangers may stay with you.

But if you follow the Way, all the peoples of the world will be with you.

 

Live in harmony with the world

And your mind is the world’s mind.

Nurtures the worlds of others

Like a mother to her children.

 

Reserve your judgments and words.

Forgive differences and release disagreements

 

When this is true - friendship, enmity, profit, loss, honor, disgrace - will not affect you, and the world will accept you in turn

 

Those who call themselves right don’t know how wrong they are.

Those who boast of accomplishment diminish what they have done.

 

Compared to the Way, these actions are unworthy.

If you are to embrace the Way, you must not do these things.

 

Those who stand on tiptoes do not stand firmly.

Those who rush forward do not get far.

Those who try to outshine others dim their own light.

 

To reduce their influence, first expand it

To reduce their force, first increase it

To overthrow them, first exalt them

To take from them, first you must give.

This is the subtlety of the Way.

 

When a great man learns the Way, he follows with diligence.

When the common man learns the Way, he follows on occasion

When a cruel man learns the Way, he laughs out loud.

Those who do not laugh do not learn at all

Therefore we say:

One who understands the Way seems foolish

One who progresses on the Way seems to fail

One who follows the Way seems to wander

 

For the most beautiful appears plain

The clearest truth looks cloudy

The best characters seem incomplete

The bravest heart appears meek

The simplest nature appears inconstant

 

The square, perfected, has no corner

Music, perfected, has no melody

Love, perfected, has no climax

Art, perfected, has no meaning

 

Perfection seems incomplete but does not decay.

Abundance seems empty but does not fail

Truth seems contradictory

Cleverness seems stupid

Eloquence seems awkward

 

As spring overcomes the cold, and autumn overcomes the heat, calm and quiet overcome the world.

 

As others have taught, so I teach

“One who loses harmony opposes nature”

This is the root of my teaching.

 

We flow into life, and ebb into death.

Some are full from life. Some are empty from death.

Some hold tight to existence and thereby perish.

As existence is a cloth wove from thought.

 

Those who are full of life need not fear nature or carry arms

Death finds no place for them

 

The beginning of the world is its mother.

Understand the mother and you can understand the child.

Embrace the child and you embrace the mother

That will not end when you die.

 

When filled with harmony you are like a newborn

Wasps and snakes will not bite

Hawks and tigers will not claw

The bones are soft yet the grasp is sure, for your flesh is supple.

The mind is innocent yet the body is virile, for your vigor is unending

The song is long lasting yet the voice is sweet, for your grace is perfect.

 

A newborn is soft and tender,

A crone is hard and stiff.

Plants and animals, in life, are supple and succulent

In death, they are withered and dry.

So softness and tenderness are attributes of life.

And hardness and stiffness are attributes of death.

 

Just as a sapless tree will split and decay

So an inflexible force will meet defeat

The hard and mighty lie beneath the ground

While the tender and weak dance on the breeze above.

 

As observing detail is clarity, so maintaining flexibility is strength

Use the light but shed no light, and do yourself no harm.

Embrace clarity.

 

With a small understanding you may follow the Way like it is a wide road,

Fearing only to leave it.

Following the road is easy, yet some delight in taking a different path.

 

Wearing fine clothes and bearing sharp swords

Glutting with food and wine and hoarding possessions

Are the ways of theft.

And far from the path.

 

When buildings are maintained

Fields are left to weeds and food is scarce

 

Is the action of nature not unlike drawing a bow?

What is higher is pulled down, and what is lower is raised up

What is taller is shortened, and what is thinner is broadened

Nature’s motion decreases those who have more than they need

And increases those who need more than they have.

 

It is not so with Man.

Man decreases those who need more than they have

And increases those who have more than they need.

 

To give away what you do not need is to follow the Way.

So you give without expectation,

Accomplish without claiming credit,

And have no desire for ostentation.

 

So you do not serve yourself

The more you do for others, the more you are satisfied

The more you give, the more you receive.

Nature flourishes at the expense of no one

So you benefit all men and contend with none.

 

You accept less than is due

And do not blame or punish

For harmony seeks agreement

Where justice seeks payment.

 

Practice no-action

Attend to do-nothing

Taste the flavorless,

Magnify the small,

Multiply the few,

Return love for hate.

 

One who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to be trusted

One who takes things lightly finds things difficult

You recognize difficulty, and so have none.

 

What lies still is easy to grasp

What lies far off is easy to anticipate

What is brittle is easy to shatter

What is small is easy to disperse.

 

Yet a tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot

A dam greater than a river starts with a clod of earth

A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.

 

Therefore deal with things before they happen

Create order before there is confusion.

 

Deal with the difficult while it is yet easy

Deal with the great while it is yet small

 

The difficult develops naturally from the easy,

And the great from the small

So you may, by dealing with the small,

Achieve the great.

 

He who acts, spoils

He who grasps, loses

People often fail on the verge of success

Take as much care at the end as at the beginning

So that you may avoid failure

 

You desire no-desire, value no-value, learn no-learning,

And return to the places that people have forgotten.

You could help all people to become natural, but then you would not be natural.

 

All people say,

“I am important. I am separate from the world.

I am important because I am separate,

Were I the same, I could never be important.”

 

My words have meaning. My actions have reason

Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.

 

One who understands does not preach.

One who preaches does not understand.

 

To use law to control a nation weakens the nation.

But to use nature to control a nation strengthens the nation.

 

Understanding these two paths is subtlety

Subtlety runs deep, ranges wide,

Resolves confusion and preserves peace.

 

The river carves out the valley by flowing beneath it.

Thereby the river is the master of the valley.

 

In order to master people one must speak as their servant

In order to lead people one must follow them.

 

So when you rise above the people,

They do not feel oppressed

And when you stand before the people,

They do not feel hindered.

 

Those who serve the people would control the land and grain

Those who serve the state would control the whole world

Truth is easily hidden by their rhetoric.

 

Do not take away their lands and do not destroy their livelihoods

If your burden is not heavy then they will not shirk it.

 

When rulers take grain so that they may feast, their people become hungry

When rulers take action to serve their own interests, their people become rebellious

When rulers take lives so that their own lives are maintained, their people no longer fear death.

 

People fear death because death is an instrument of fate.

When people are killed by execution rather than by fate,

This is like carving wood in the place of a carpenter.

Those who carve wood in place of a carpenter often injure their hands.

 

When people act without regard for their own lives

They overcome those who value only their own lives.

 

When people have nothing more to lose, then revolution will result.

 

One who is brave and bold will perish

One who is brave and subtle will benefit.

The subtle profit where the bold perish

For Fate does not honor daring.

And even you dare not tempt fate.

 

Fate does not attack, yet all things are conquered by it

It does not ask, yet all things answer to it

It does not call, yet all things come before it

It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.

 

Fate’s net is vast and its mesh is coarse, yet none escape it.

 

Good fortune follows upon disaster

Disaster lurks within good fortune

Who can say how things will end?

 

Perhaps there is no end.

 

Yet there are three treasures that I cherish and commend to you:

The first is compassion, by which one finds courage.

The second is restraint, by which one finds strength.

And the third is unimportance, by which one finds influence.

 

Those who are fearless, but without compassion,

Powerful, but without restraint,

Or influential, yet important,

Cannot endure.

 

Compassion is the finest weapon and best defense.

If you would establish harmony,

Compassion must surround you like a fortress.

 

Therefore,

A good soldier does not inspire fear

A good fighter does not display aggression

A good conqueror does not engage in battle

A good leader does not exercise authority.

 

A leader is well advised to achieve nothing more than his goals and not to take advantage in victory.

Nor glory, boast, or pride himself.

Do what is directed by necessity, not by choice.

 

To lead men in accord with nature it is best to be restrained

Restraint makes agreement easy to attain,

And easy agreement builds harmonious relationships

With sufficient harmony no resistance will arise

When no resistance arises, then you possess the heart of the people,

And when you possess the people’s heart, your influence will long endure:

Deeply rooted and firmly established.

This is the method of far sight and long life.

 

The best leader is one that you hardly know exists.

The next best is one who is loved and praised.

Next come those who are feared.

The worst is one who is despised.

 

This is the value of unimportance

This is how to win the cooperation of others

This to how to realize the same harmony that is seen in nature.

 

You lead by emptying the people’s minds of wanting, filling their bellies, softening their ambition, and making them strong.

 

Leaders depend on the people.

The noble depend on the humble

So leaders call themselves orphaned, hungry, and alone

To win the people’s support.

 

The Way has no shape therefore none can control it.

If a leader could control the Way, all things would follow at his desire

And sweet rain would fall, slaking every thirst.

 

The more morals and taboos there are, the more cruelty afflicts people

The more guns and knives there are, the more factions divide people

The more arts and skills there are, the more change obsoletes people

The more laws and taxes there are, the more theft corrupts people.

 

Take no action, and the people nurture each other

Make no laws, and the people deal fairly with each other

Own no interest, and the people cooperate with each other

Express no desire, and the people harmonize with each other.

 

When government is lazy and informal, the people are kind and honest

When government is efficient and severe, the people are discontented and deceitful.

 

Manage a great nation, as you would cook a delicate fish.

 

Do not attempt to master the people with laws, violence, nor espionage - guide them with inaction.

 

Armies are tools of violence.

They cause men to hate and fear.

You will not join them.

Your purpose is creation.

Their purpose is destruction.

 

Weapons are tools of violence

They are not for you

Use them only when there is no choice

Then calmly, and with regret

For you find no beauty in them.

 

If you find beauty in weapons, you can delight in the slaughter of men.

And those who delight in slaughter will not be content with peace.

 

You are advised to avoid violence, as violence will return to its source.

Thorns and weeds will follow an army’s trail, and lean years follow the war.

 

When conflict is reconciled, some hard feelings remain

This is dangerous.

 

Even the strongest force will weaken in time. Then the violence will return and destroy it.

 

The soft overcomes the hard,

The yielding overcomes the strong

Every person knows this,

But no one can act upon it.

 

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water,

Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and the strong,

For they can neither control nor defeat it.

 

The Way is the fate of men,

Treasure of the saint,

And the refuge of the sinner.

 

Why should someone appreciate the Way?

 

The ancients said,

“By it, those who seek may easily find, and those who regret may easily absolve”

 

So it is your most precious gift.

 

Honesty is forever deceived

Kindness is forever seduced

Men have been like this for a long time.

 

So you are firm but not cutting,

Pointed but not piercing,

Straight but not rigid,

Bright but not blinding.

 

Fine words are often borrowed,

And great deeds are often appropriated

Therefore, when a man falls, do not abandon him,

And when a man gains power, do not honor him

Only remain impartial and show him the Way.

 

The ancients said: “Nature is impartial - therefore it serves those who serve all.”

 

Live peacefully and delight in your society

Live close to your neighbors, but maintain your independence from them.

 

Let your community be small, with only a few people

Keep tools in abundance, but do not depend upon them

Keep weapons and armor, but never use them

Appreciate your life and be content with your home

Let everyone read and write, eat well, and make beautiful things.

by M.Adkins (June 2003)