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#2725 - Friday, February 9, 2007 - Editor: Jerry Katz
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This is Part Two of Two, of Petros's version of the Tao Te Ching, from http://www.ewakening.net/
39
in harmony with the way
sky is lucid
earth is rich
water is pure
evolution rolls on
when fools interfere
sky darkens
earth is sterile
water poisons
evolution goes awry
masters know the way
and adjust accordingly
38
doing nothing
masters leave nothing undone
rushing about
the do-gooders ruin all
when the way is lost
there is the right
when the right is lost
there is the good
when the good is lost
there is organization
the sign of degeneration
masters think of depths,
not surfaces
masters think of the root
not the branches
no will of their own
masters submit to the way
and delusion is swallowed up
37
doing nothing
through the way all is done
when the way is taught
worlds are transformed
desires quenched at root,
the way manifests everywhere
36
the breath must expand
before it can diminish
to rectify a thing
it must first be spotted
to win the way
requires loss of self and
delusion
this is subtle perception
soft truth
overwhelms hard ego
the work is mystery
its results are manifest
35
one centered in this way
blows around like the wind
perceiving unity
in midst of chaos
this way is dull
flavorless to the mind
looking one does not see it
listening one fails to hear it
yet in the midst
one finds it pervades all
34
the way flows pervasively
all things flow out of it
uncreated by it
flowing into endless worlds
the way is unattached to any
flowing into all things
the way is not noticed
all things flowing back to it
the way alone remains
unconscious of its singularity
33
knowing others is psychology
knowing the self is wisdom
mastering others is politics
mastering the self is magic
realizing present sufficiency
is true wealth
realizing the center of this
way
is true accuracy
realizing death flows into the
way
is the only immortality
32
like a black hole
all things revolve around it
and no thing can escape
the singularity of the way
contains within all things
named and unnamed
knowing names and forms
are not to last
masters avoid delusion
31
swords cut both ways
this the masters know
and bear them lightly
abandoning fear
the masters' greatest weapon
is the way
facing enemies
the master bears no grudge
neither rejoicing in victory
nor mourning in defeat
entering battle
like his own funeral
the master knows the outcome
30
to govern by the way
is not to force things
or conquer by arms
for this brings opposite
response
masters do what is needful
then retire to solitude
they comprehend that all
things
by nature evolve chaotically
and do not attempt to mold
or shape things to a plot
knowing oneself
one doesn't try to sway
or seek approval
realizing one's self-nature
the world realizes it too
29
the universe is what it is
to meddle is likely to distort
there is a best time for
advancing
and a best time for retreat
a best time for energy
and a consequent time for rest
a time for flowing outward
and a time to flow into the
way
28
study the active force
yet abide within the
receptive,
and receive all energy within
if one receives energy
one will abide in this way
study the outward flow of
things
yet abide within the hidden
hub
if one abides within the cave
one will realize this way
without limitation
study the personal
yet abide in the impersonal
seeing all things as they are
seeing truth as it is
will awaken the bright way
within
and reveal one's self to one
the world is made from void
like pots from clay
the masters study the pots
but know the way of the clay
27
wise pilgrims have no set
routes
and are not obsessed with
arrival
wise artists have no firm
designs
and let inner guidance show
the way
wise scholars have no biases
allowing what they find
to form their ideas
masters are open to all
without rejecting in advance
wasting nothing
they use what's at hand
and thus make manifest
the light of the way
26
unmoving void is source
of all that moves
masters travel everywhere
without leaving their home
unmoved by inner restlessness
they abide on the axis
of the worlds
25
the way unifies inner and
outer
not depending on spacetime
but the source thereof
the way is infinite
the many worlds are infinite
nature is infinite
sentient beings are infinite
sentient beings follow nature
nature follows world laws
and world laws follow the way
24
to stretch beyond one's power
is to risk unbalance
to rush madly
headlong into strife
is to fall behind the way
to boast is not to know
all such stretching, rushing,
boasting
is far from the way
and the masters reject it all
23
the masters follow the forces
of natural law
high winds diminish quickly
rain is dispersed by the sun
and their words end with
eloquent silence
being not separated from the
way,
masters experience all that is
needful
22
yield and be whole
flex and be integrated
empty and be complete
to have nothing
is to have nothing to lose
to have much
is to have much to lose
masters embrace the
all-embracing
realizing themselves,
thus forgetting themselves
and opening to all that is
21
highest magic is to follow
this way
for it attains the utmost
without effort
its essence is dark mystery
formless nameless imageless
thus all form name image
in all the many worlds
owes its existence to it
20
masters may appear to be
perplexed
and even to themselves
seem dull or dark
thus fools mistake them
as being useless or impaired
but like the clouds they drift
and seek neither here nor
there
abandoning analysis, ending
striving,
the wisdom of the way is
theirs
and thus they may come to be
envied
but realize they are transient
as well
19
attain one's full potential in
the way
not in the many ways of
worldly thought
attain the center of the wheel
relinquish profit, loss and
empty strife
and feel the touch of
unmediated life
18
when amnesia interrupts the
perfect way
functional behavior needs to
be reinforced
and society pretends to
hold the good
a typical cycle can be seen at
work
that the real way is only
regained
after extensive periods of
loss
17
masters act without unneeded
speech,
that devotees may think
they attained all on their own
efforts
the masters know that devotees
have a ways to go to gain the
way
16
one must go through being
to find nonbeing
when things break their
natural cycles
and seem to embody chaotic
wildness
the master remains in calm
abiding
and thus sends out a mighty
force
to pull all back to that same
way
15
masters are evidently wise
alert to every movement in the
road
but having no limiting desire
their actions seem inscrutable
to men
often seeming wistful or
distracted
others think them uncertain
but stilling muddy waters by
inaction
over time will make them clear
14
the way unmanifest is void
without form or light or sound
or name or place or quality
seeking it will show no source
only surrender and be
that
and then this way is manifest
13
the ordinary fear failure loss
and death
the master fails to see such
things
living veritable simplicity
itself
the ordinary make themselves
the center
the master has no center or
periphery
unmoved alone in the way
without end
12
excess of light blinds
excess of sound deafens
excess of taste deadens
true devotees shun surfeit
11
spokes make a wheel
the hub makes it turn
clay makes a bowl
the hollow makes it hold
doorless a room is a box
windowless a house is dark
thus the empty is most needful
10
inside and outside are one
thoughts and things are one
arising from the same void
source
masters know no separation
thus don't confuse one with
two
devotees wipe the mirror of
their minds
that they may reflect what
really is
responding to the moment
masters know no delay in
action
and attain the deathless way
9
the cup is treacherous if
overfilled
the blade is weakened if over
sharpened
possessions are more transient
when more prevalent
masters seek neither praise
nor blame
but speak and act then go
8
like water the master flows
downhill
into meditation without
tendencies
falling to the stable center
place
speaking and thinking only as
needful
not motivated by personal ends
the master is acknowledged to
be right and fair
7
to be in this way
is to forget the personal self
knowing truth as neither real
nor not real
the master no longer seeks the
self
knowing it is self that does
the seeking
relinquishing analysis,
surrendering examination,
the master has attained by
becoming
cutting off separation
unification is realized
as always already so
6
immobile with infinite energy
is the mind in meditation
both movement and immobility
understood as two in one
no more seeking with senses
or probing with useless
intellect
the nondual state is
recognized
as the changeless core of is
5
nature acts without mind
nor regard to any things
like its source the deathless
way
and the masters who abide
therein
acting freely and impersonally
regardless, careless
with energy unending and
unbound
4
the endless source of all
things
is the way beyond all ways,
undiminished source of things
itself without a source beyond
itself
never failing to provide a
steady flow
but only limited by those
already full
3
maintaining modesty the
devotee
wisely avoids attention
possessing vast inner stores
but remaining silent as a monk
the devotee avoids comparisons
satisfied with walking in the
way
the devotee eschews
superfluities
untrained in clever
manipulation
and stressful psychic
rationalization
the devotee preserves great
energy
and rectifies the worlds by
pulling toward this way
2
we know nothing in itself
but only by difference
thus the many worlds exist
to show each other in
comparison
the master walks only in the
way
and knows all things as only
relative
and transient manifestations
of that way
knowing this perfect wisdom
the master knows delusion from
the real
and becomes mindless, actless
and immortal
1
that which has a name is not
the source
but the way is not different
from all names
name and form are only known
by comparing with what they
are not
the deathless source is never
known
but everything is only known
due to it
~ ~ ~
Petros's version of the Tao Te Ching, from http://www.ewakening.net/