1. Flow
Flow courses within the world
Like poetry within a text,
Reflecting the distinctions
That shape reality.
Unconsciously, distinctions are sensed;
Consciously, distinctions are anticipated,
Sensation blending with anticipation
To form a continuous surface.
Beneath this surface lies mystery,
Flowing ever deeper and more subtle.
2. Distinction
When beauty is discovered
Then ugliness emerges;
When good is discovered
Then evil emerges.
So alive and dead are distinguished from nature,
Difficult and easy from progress,
Long and short from contrast,
High and low from depth,
Song and speech from melody,
After and before from sequence.
The gentle assume no distinction,
Undertake no action,
But accept the rise and ebb of things.
They nurture, but do not own,
And live, but do not dwell.
3. Inaction
Not praising the worthy prevents rivalry,
Not esteeming the valuable prevents theft,
Not displaying the beautiful prevents desire.
So the gentle govern people:
Emptying their minds,
Filling their bellies,
Weakening their ambitions,
And strengthening their bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire
Then they can not act;
If no action is taken
Harmony remains.
4. Limitless
Flow fills a limitless vessel:
Embraced by the senses, it is not contained by the world;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it comes from;
It comes before nature.
5. Nature
Nature is not kind;
It treats all things impartially.
The gentle are not kind,
And treat all people impartially.
Nature is like a bellows,
Empty, yet never ceasing its supply.
The more it moves, the more it yields;
So the gentle draw on experience
And cannot be exhausted.
6. River
Experience is a riverbed,
Its source hidden, forever rising;
Its entrance, the root of the world,
Flow courses within it:
Draw upon it; it will not run dry.
7. Endurance
Nature endures because it does not contend.
The gentle fall behind, but find themselves ahead,
Ignore their ambition, but find themselves content.
They endure because they do not contend.
8. Water
The best of humanity is like water,
Which benefits all things
And does not contend against them,
Which runs in places others disdain,
Abiding within flow.
So the gentle:
Live within nature,
Think within the deep,
Give within impartiality,
Speak within trust,
Govern within order,
Craft within ability,
Act within opportunity.
They do not contend, and none contend against them.
9. Retire
Fill a cup to its brim and it is easily spilled;
Temper a sword to its hardest and it is easily broken;
Amass the greatest treasure and it is easily stolen;
Claim credit and honor and you easily fall;
Retire once your purpose is achieved - this is natural.
10. Harmony
Embracing flow, you become embraced;
Breathing gently, you become newborn;
Clearing your mind, you become pure;
Nurturing your children, you become impartial;
Opening your heart, you become accepted;
Accepting the world, you embrace flow.
Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.
11. Continence
Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
Clay is moulded into a vessel;
Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
Walls are built around a hearth;
Because of the doors we may use the house.
Thus distinctions seem to contain,
But their use is to transform.
12. Substance
Too much color blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much talk confuses the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.
In this way the gentle care for people:
They provide for the belly, not for the senses;
They ignore appearance and hold fast to substance.
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13. Self
Both praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self;
Without self, to whom may fortune and disaster occur?
Therefore,
Distinguish self from world
and you may be given the world,
But identify self with world
and you may accept the world.
14. Flow
Looked at but cannot be seen - it is beneath form;
Listened to but cannot be heard - it is beneath sound;
Held but cannot be touched - it is beneath feeling;
These depthless things evade sensation,
And blend into a single mystery.
In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond distinction,
Lining what can not occur;
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name silence;
Follow it, it has no back,
Meet it, it has no face.
Attend the present to deal with the past;
Thus you grasp continuity,
The essence of flow.
15. Muddy Water
The gentle possess understanding
So profound they can not be distinguished.
Because they cannot be distinguished
I can only describe their appearance:
Cautious as one crossing thin ice,
Undecided as one surrounded by danger,
Modest as one who is a guest,
Unbounded as melting ice,
Genuine as unshaped wood,
Broad as a valley,
Seamless as muddy water.
Who stills the water that the mud may settle,
Who seeks to stop that he may travel on,
Who desires less than may transpire,
Decays, but will not renew.
16. Decay and Renewal
Empty the self completely;
Embrace perfect peace.
The world will rise and move;
Watch it return to rest.
All the flourishing things
Will return to their source.
This return is peaceful;
It is the tide of nature,
An eternal decay and renewal.
Accepting this brings contentment,
Ignoring it brings misery.
Who accepts nature's tide becomes all-cherishing;
Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
Being magnanimous he becomes natural;
Being natural he becomes one with flow;
Being one with flow he becomes immortal:
Though his body will decay, flow will not.
17. Rulers
The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
The next best are loved and praised;
The next are feared;
The next despised:
They have no faith in their people,
And their people become unfaithful to them.
When the best rulers achieve their purpose
Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
18. Hypocrisy
When flow is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.
When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion appear;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
19. Simplify
If we could abolish knowledge and wisdom
Then people would profit a hundredfold;
If we could abolish duty and justice
Then harmonious relationships would form;
If we could abolish artifice and profit
Then waste and theft would disappear.
Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
And so they are inadequate.
People need personal remedies:
Reveal your naked heart and embrace your original nature;
Bind your self-interest and control your ambition;
Forget your habits and simplify your affairs.
20. Wandering
What is the difference between assent and denial?
What is the difference between beautiful and ugly?
What is the difference between fearsome and afraid?
The people are merry as if at a magnificent party
Or playing in the park at springtime,
But I am tranquil and wandering,
Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
Alone, with no true home.
The people have enough and to spare,
Where I have nothing,
And my heart is foolish,
Muddled and cloudy.
The people are bright and certain,
Where I am dim and confused;
The people are clever and wise,
Where I am dull and ignorant;
Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
Attached to nothing.
The people are busy with purpose,
Where I am impractical and rough;
I do not share the peoples' cares
But I am fed at nature's breast.
21. Accept
Harmony is in accepting.
Flow is without form or quality,
But expresses all forms and qualities;
Flow is hidden and implicate,
But expresses all of nature;
Flow is unchanging,
But expresses all motion.
Beneath sensation and memory
Flow is the source of all the world.
How can I know the source of the world?
By accepting.
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