Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.
From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark;
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.
The Tao is always present and always available...
If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things. (22)
Worlds and particles, bodies and beings, time and space:
All are transient expressions of the Tao. (33)
The Tao gives birth to One.
One gives birth to yin and yang.
Yin and yang give birth to all things...
The complete whole is the complete whole.
So also is any part the complete whole...
But forget about understanding and harmonizing and making all things one.
The universe is already a harmonious oneness; just realize it. (46)
Gently eliminating all obstacles to his own understanding, he constantly maintains his unconditional sincerity. His humility, perseverence, and adaptability evoke the response of the universe and fill him with divine light. (18)
Understand this if nothing else: spiritual freedom and oneness with the Tao are not randomly bestowed gifts, but the rewards of conscious self-transformation and self-evolution. (70)
Without going anywhere
You can know the whole world
Without even opening your window
You can know the ways of heaven
You see: the farther away you go
The less you know
If you can empty yourself of everything
You will have lasting peace
Things arise, but I contemplate their return
Things flourish and grow
And then return to their source
To return to the Source is to know perfect peace
I call this a return to Life
Knowing this Constant, you can embrace all things
Embracing all things, you can treat them fairly
Treating them fairly, you are noble
Being nble, you are like the Cosmos
If you are like the Cosmos, you are like the Tao
If you are like the Toa, you will have eternal life
And you needn't be afraid of dying
From the beginning of time till the present
It's name has remained
In it one can see all of Creation
How do I know where all of Creation comes from?
I know theTao!
To pursue learning is to grow a little more every day
To pursue the Tao is to desire a little less every day
Desire less and less
Until you arrive at 'not-doing'
When you practise 'not-doing', nothing is left undone
If you want to have the whole world, have nothing
If you are always busy doing something
You cannot enjoy the world
The great Tao flows everywhere
To the left and to the right
All things rely on it for their life
And it does not refuse them
When it's work is done, it does not demand recognition
It clothes and nourishes all things
And hoes not demand allegiance
Since it makes no demands for itself
It can seem to be of small regard
Yet as all things return to it of their1own accord
Without being commanded, it can truly be regarded Great
It is only because it does not claim to be Great
That it is able to acheive such Greatness
Those who know, do not speak
Those who speak, do not know
So shut your mouth
Guard your senses
Blunt your sharpness
Untangle your affairs
Soften your glare
Be one with all the dust
This is the mystery of union
You cannot approach iUt
Yet you cannot escape It
You cannot benefit from It
Yet you cannot harm It
You cannot bestow any honor on It
Yet you cannot rob it of It's dignity
That is why the whole unverse reveres It
Whoever holds firmly to folowing the Tao
Will draw all the World to herself
She may go anywhere and not be afraid
Finding only safety, balance and peace
Music and good food lure passers-by
But words about the Tao
Seem bland and flavourless to them
Look, and it cannot be seen
Listen, and it cannot be heard
Use it, and it cannot be exhausted
The Tao that can be described in words is not the true Tao
The Name that can be named is not the true Name
From non-existence were called Heaven and Earth
From existence all things were born
In being wthout desires, you experience the wonder
But by having desires, you experience the journey
Yet both spring from the same source
And differ mostly in name
This Source is called 'Mystery'
Mystery upon Mystery
The womb giving birth to all of being
Everything in the universe comes out of Nothing.
Nothing - the nameless in the beginning.....
Follow the nothingless of the Tao, and you can be like it,
Not needing anything, seeing the wonder and the root of everything.
Thirty spokes joing together at one hub
But it is the hole in the center that makes it operable
Clay is molded into a pot
But it is the emptiness inside that makes it useful
Doors and windows are cut to make a room
It is the empty spaces we use
Therefore, existence is what we have
But non-existence is what we use
The named was born from the un-named ... all being flows from non-being ... the describable world emanates from an indescribable source. (38)
If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things. (39)
Though (the Tao) is uncreated itself, it creates all things. Because it has no substance, it can enter into where there is no space. Exercising by returning to itself, winning victories by remaining gentle and yielding, it is softer than anything, and therefore overcomes everything hard. (68)
To name Tao is to name no-thing.
Tao is not the name of (something created).
"Cause" and "chance" have no bearing on the Tao.
Tao is a name that indicates without defining.
Tao is beyond words and beyond things.
It is not expressed either in word or in silence.
Where there is no longer word or silence
Tao is apprehended. (25:11)
The Tao is supreme goodness. It has no form and is limitless. It is formless because there is no visible trace of its existence. The Tao is that energy that has existed from the beginning when there was neither structure nor differentiation. It is the source of life in heaven and on earth. It creates and nourishes all things. (p. 4)
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