Best To Worst
17 When the Master governs, the peopleare hardly aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. …
Pivot Point
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…
Always Under Construction
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. …
Being It
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….
What We Use
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…
Can I
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…
Stepping Back
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. …is the way (tao) that tian works. Tao…
Water
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…
Show Me The Way
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…
Used, Never Used Up
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. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell Plans for the…
