The highest men of the ancient days traversed the virtue of benevolence as a path; They borrowed and dwelled in righteousness as a lodging for the night. They ambled in the empty space of Unruffled Repose, found nourishment in the Field Free of Longing and stood in the Garden Free of Possession. Unruffled…
In the last part of the performance, I played notes which did not have an enervating effect. I blended them with spontaneity. Hence the sounds came forth in dissonance, like a cluster of plants growing from one root, or like the music of the forest coming from no perceptible form. The sounds spread in…
Shicheng Qi came to see Lao-tsu and asked him, “I heard master, that you are a sage, so I came to see you, not minding the long journey. During the hundred days of the journey the soles of my feet became callous, but I did not stop to rest. Now I see that you…
Therefore it is said, ‘Those who know the happiness of heaven are like heaven in their actions during their life and at death undergo transformation like other things. In their stillness they embody yin and in their movement they flow outward as the yang. One who knows the happiness of heaven does not quarrel…
The sages are stillnot because they possessthe aptitude of being still.Nothing can disturb their mind—that is why they are still. When water is still,it reflects the eyebrows and the beard.It is a perfect level and the craftsman takes his rule from it.If still water has this clarity, how much greater is that of the…
Great music does not move the villagers, but if they hear “The Breaking of the Willow” or “Bright Flowers” they will be rollicking with laughter. Noble words do not stay in the minds of the multitude, and consummate words are not comprehended because common words proliferate. Two clay instruments will overpower the sound of…
A tree of a hundred years is cut and carved into a sacrificial wood vessel decorated with green and yellow. The rest is thrown into a ditch. If we compare the sacrificial vessel with what was thrown away, there is a difference between them in relation to beauty and ugliness. But they have a…
One who knows that he is ignorant is not entirely ignorant. One who knows that he is deluded is not entirely deluded. One who is severely deluded will not become free of delusion. One who is steeped in ignorance will not become discerning. If three men…
“I should like to hear of the rule of kind and virtuous men,” continued Yuan Feng. “The virtuous men are unmoved. They have no thought. They act without fear. Judgments of right and wrong or good and bad do not occupy them. All within the four seas delight in what they possess and are…
Confucius asked Lao-tsu,“Some men approach the taoas a regimentation to submit to.they say a thing is either admissible or inadmissible;it is so or not so.They are like disputers who claimthat they can distinguish clearlywhat is hard and what is white.Can such men be considered sages?” Lao-tsu replied,they are like the subordinates in a courtwho…
