Part 1

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 and anticipation blending

Into a continuous surface.

Beneath this surface,

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,

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

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;

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

6. Experience

Experience is a riverbed,

Its source hidden, forever rising;

Its entrance, the root of the world,

Flow courses within it:

7. Endurance

Nature endures because it does not contend.

The gentle fall behind, but find themselves ahead,

Ignore their ambition, but find themselves content.

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.

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 honour and you easily fall;

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,

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,

12. Substance

Too much colour 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;

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,

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,

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,

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:

Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.                        Back to index

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

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;

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

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?

22. Home

Accept and you become whole,

Bend and you straighten,

Empty and you fill,

Decay and you renew,

Want and you acquire,

Fulfil and you become confused.

The gentle accept the world

As the world accepts flow.

They do not display themselves, so are recognized,

Do not justify themselves, so are respected,

Do not boast, so are credited,

Do not pride, so endure,

Do not contend, so none contend against them.

The ancients said, "Accept and you become whole";

23. Words

Nature says only a few words:

High wind does not last long,

Nor does heavy rain.

If nature's words do not last

Why should those of man?

Who embraces flow becomes harmonious.

Who embraces loss becomes lost.

For who embraces flow is buoyed in flow,

24. Indulgence

Straighten yourself and you will not stand steady;

Display yourself and you will not be clearly seen;

Justify yourself and you will not be respected;

Promote yourself and you will not be believed;

Pride yourself and you will not endure.

These behaviours are wasteful, indulgent,

And so they attract disfavour;

25. Limitless

There is a mystery,

Beneath distinction,

Silent, depthless,

Alone, unchanging,

Ubiquitous and liquid,

The mother of nature.

It has no name, but I call it "flow";

It has no limit, but I call it "limitless".

Being limitless, it expands away forever;

Expanding away forever, it returns to myself:

Flow is limitless,

So nature is limitless,

So the world is limitless,

And so I am limitless.

For I am distinguished from the world,

The world from nature,

Nature from flow,

26. Calm

Gravity is the source of lightness,

Calm, the master of haste.

A traveller will journey all day, watching over his belongings;

Yet safe in his bed, he will lose them in sleep.

The captain of a great ship must not act lightly or hastily.

Acting lightly, he loses sight of the sea,

Acting hastily, he loses touch with the crew.

The great ship cannot be treated as a small boat.

The captain should not adorn it like a jade figurehead,

27. Detail

The perfect traveller leaves no trail to be followed;

The perfect speaker leaves no question to be answered;

The perfect accountant leaves no working to be completed;

The perfect container leaves no lock to be closed;

The perfect knot leaves no end to be revealed.

So the gentle nurture all men

And abandon no one.

They accept everything

And reject nothing.

They attend to the smallest detail.

So the strong must guide the weak,

For the weak are raw material to the strong.

If the guide is not respected,

Or the material not cared for,

Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.

This is the secret of perfection:

As when raw wood is carved, it becomes a tool,

So when a man is employed, he becomes an office;

28. Perfection

Using the male, being female,

Being the entrance of the world,

You embrace harmony

And become as a newborn.

Using strength, being weak,

Being the root of the world,