The Book of Dao

Rhyme and Reason by Jim Clatfelter

Disclaimer: The Daodejingle is a series of verses based on the Dao De Jing. It is not a translation of the Chinese text. It is an interpretation of the meaning of the text as an early example of clear seeing. I have commented on each verse to explain my interpretation.

1. Naming Dao is not the way For words are destitute In giving definition To the present absolute That way are the outcomes This way is the essence Seeing now the two are one A whole and single presence Within one sees the wonder Of emptiness and bliss Where wonder names totality And nothing is amiss The space within is always here Just moderate desire To see the place of emptiness And possibility entire	Laozi begins the Book of Dao by telling us that the Dao, the absolute, cannot be defined with words. He says we must look for it. He will repeat this theme throughout. This looking or seeing is total seeing - looking out at the world of appearance and looking in at its origin in the spacious emptiness at the very center of our being. This emptiness is truly empty and truly great because it contains all possibility, all potential, and all that appears. It's the source awareness itself as such. What a promise! He even tells us where to look. Look within for origin. Look without for creation. Look and see both ways simultaneously. Origin and creation are one! This verse describes the grand design of life and defines the Dao. Look within to see the essence — bare awareness, pure potential. Look without to see the outcomes — the world of dynamic appearances. Look within and without at once. There is no division between the two. See both ways at once and you are wholly present. This is Dao, life, presence. This is what we are, our real identity. Yet most of us remain cases of mistaken identity. Laozi will have more to say on this matter in the verses that follow.
2. Beautiful and ugly Are not in opposition Life and death and yes and no Are not in contradiction Can you see the vacant place Where good and bad, sad and merry Disappear forever Where nothing is contrary? Stay within the emptiness Until you rise you cannot fall Accepting all that comes your way You are forever all in all	"See things for what they are, exactly as given in your Emptiness—in this Openness, which manifestly has no preferences, no resentments, no checklist of good and bad things, no categories of beautiful and ugly, acceptable and unacceptable. And see what comes from paying attention to the way you already are."   Douglas Harding Good and bad, happy and sad, beautiful and ugly, all opposites and all contraries, all are appearances or conditions in awareness, in me. They all exist in my vacant center. I accept all conditions. I have no choice. I am made for acceptance. I am made open. I am all in all. I am all awareness that contains all objects, all events, all that is given, all that is presented by awareness. Staying with awareness, emptiness, I am safe, no matter what is happening in the world. I do not overlook this, the source and container of all, this my true identity.
3. If you love accumulation Gain and increase every day Thieves and robbers lie in wait To take it all away Be so empty-headed It seems you've lost it all You will know you're on the way Though others say you stall	Do you want all the treasures of the world? Will they bring you happiness and joy? Are the rich happy? No matter how much you have, there's always more. You don't have the unlimited. But, rich or poor, you can be the unlimited! You can see it. Be empty headed. You can see boundless, unlimited awareness at the center of your being, in the place where you were told you had a head! This verse talks about two kinds of simplicity. The first is material simplicity, often called simple living. Much of what we desire is based on what others have and what merchants want us to buy. How much do we really need? Very little, in Laozi's view. Few of us would not profit by paring down our possessions and desires. A Daoist Recluse says that daoists "...believe the secret of happiness lies in learning to have few wants. A simple dwelling, a few sets of garments to suit the changing seasons, plain food tasty enough to tempt the appetite -- these are all that is needed for tranquil living. If people were content to have no more, there would be so much to share with others that poverty would be rare." from John Blofeld / p56 / Beyond the Gods / 1974 The second kind of simplicity is our own natural inner simplicity, our capacity or arareness. How do we find this simplicity? Laozi's way is wei wu wei, doing nothing-doing. How is that done? It's as easy as finding the place where nothing is ever done, nothing is ever going on. Make no mistake, it's a real place, a visible place you can point to with your finger. Laozi is offering us wei wu wei as a single practice, by which everything is set in order. Isn't that just what Seeing does? It sets everything in order, everything being the sum of everything and nothing.
4. Nothingness is like a well That gives and doesn't take Lays no claim to origin Forever wide awake It's always now and present It's where you have no face An everpresent blessing An everlasting grace	The Dao gives but asks no credit, does not lord it over creation. Unlimited, creative awareness exists at the center of your being, where you have no face. Look in a mirror. There's your face. But what is looking at the face in the mirror? Is it not pure awareness, the Dao itself, the core and origin of your existence, of all existence? This creative nothingness is your true identity. This verse shows what seeing (or being aware of the Dao) does. It blunts the sharp by bring back to awareness the place where there are no sharp divisions. It unties the tangles and knots of life by centering us in the place where there is no-thing to get tangled. It tells us how seeing works to soften the glares of the world and soften the dust of all disagreement. It is about the primary complements again. We are made whole when we have both sides in our awareness, when we see them as one presence. We aren't totally caught up in the world of affairs. We aren't centered in the world. Instead, we have a center that softens and settles the world.
5. Nature is impartial And infinitely capacious Holding all that comes to pass Eternally tenacious Can you take whatever comes? Forgetting bad and good Seeing is acceptance It isn't understood	Dao is truly empty and void, open and capacious. It has to be. Its nature is to contain the world. It welcomes all and rejects nothing. Seeing accepts all things, all things agreeable and disagreeable. It plays no favorites. Don't try to understand this acceptance. Just see that it is so. See that you are open to everything and simultaneousy everything you are open to. The Daodejingle is based on this kind of seeing. Most translations of the Dao De Jing use the word Sage or Master to refer to one whose life is centered in the Dao. I have used the word Seer instead, meaning one who Sees this natural, open, accepting capacity at the center of one's life.
6. Complete and full awareness Is like an open valley Of endless generation That reaches no finale A plain and simple presence A nothing you can see And always right at center Wherever you may be	You are Dao. You are total awareness. You are the valley of the world. You contain the never ending succession of life, all that comes and goes. You are the valley-like openness, the still openness at the center of existence. Can you see this openness? See it as a void, an absence. Be it as a presence, a presence that generates and holds and nourishes all that appears from moment to moment. Where is this center, this nothing you can see? It is nearer than near. It's just where otheres see your face and where you imagine you have a face in your own experience. It's the nothing you see when you attempt to look for your own face and see your faceless embrace of the world instead.
7. Presence has no limit It wasn't ever born Nor will it ever perish Or give you cause to mourn It truly wants for nothing No wishes of its own Single, one and only Eternally alone It holds itself in vacancy Without desire to advance Living in simplicity As witness of the dance The seer likes to stay behind Is everywhere at home While living in the here and now Prefers to stay unknown	Dao, awareness, nothingness has no limits, no boundaries in space, no boundaries in time. It has no beginning, no end. It has no divisions, no distinctions, no parts. It is forever one and forever alone. It cannot be divided between you and me. I am all of it. You are all of it. I am the one. You are the one. We are not separate, not two. Can you stay with your true identity? Can you see it every day, each moment of every day? See it whenever it occurs to you to look. That's all you need to do. Become accustomed to seeing everyday. See your inner simplicity, and witness the dance of life. Look both ways! Look in at the simple awareness and out at the spontaneous rise and fall of events. You will see no separation. These are one, not separate, not two. You are whole and total! Some would have me think that I'm A speck of space, a tick of time. Contrariwise, I must aver I'm this in which they both occur.
8. The seer flows like water Lies low along the way Nourishes what comes along Whatever's on display The seer keeps to simple ways And therefore is content When joy and sorrow manifest To give complete assent Can you always be yourself And never interfere? Everyone will cherish you And see your way is clear	Water symbolizes the Dao in many ways. Here Laozi refers to its nourishing qualities. All life depends on water. It has supreme power over all living things, yet it makes no claim on what it creates. It does not seek preeminence. Water seeks the lowest places, and, in so doing, nourishes all it comes across. Can you see that you do the same? It is your nature to give life to all things. You give by giving awareness, consciousness to all things. It is your very nature to give. Can you see yourself giving life to all around you? Can you be this simple and clear presence? Water goes where it must, sometimes gently and sometimes with frightful power. Isn't this true of us too. We go where we must. We act spontaneously even when it seems we are uncertain and don't know what to do. We are designed to be uncertain at times. Water has no self. It doesn't know it's obeying the rule of gravity. It just lives its own nature. We go where we must too. We follow our own way. We don't have to understand it. We can't understand it. It's too complicated. But we are it—spontaneously and automatically and by definition. Like water, we go where we go, and we are never right or wrong. Water has only one way to go, and it doesn't 'know' that way until it goes there. We don't know the way to go either—until we find ourselves already there. All we can do is "see—and see what happens."
9. Don't fill a bowl To more than full Or hone a blade Until it's dull Don't pile up treasures That come at great cost Approval and riches Are easily lost Simply limit doing To what is really needed And put an end to action When all has been completed	Enough is enough! Do you want to spend your life protecting your fame and possessions? Laozi's natural way is to do only what is called for by the present moment. Do you want to give your life away to the pursuit of wealth? Do those who have more really have more? Or do they have less? They have to devote time and life to getting and protecting. Do they have time to let go, to see the truth? Living simply means enough is enough. Be satisfied with having just enough, doing just enough. If you take just enough, everything else is left!
10. Can you see as a child sees And keep the simple vision? See the inner oneness With absolute precision? Holding all in your embrace The world is in your care Let things be just as they are And give acceptance everywhere Let go the need to comprehend The place where all behold Their infinite capacity To welcome and enfold	Children do not imagine a head on their shoulders. They see that they are empty, room for the colorful world. They are space for their friends. They are nothing but awareness. Can you see as a child sees? Can you see that in the place you learned you had a head and a face, you really have a void? You really are a void. But what a void! It embraces the world. It welcomes everything. Of course, to others, you have a head, a face. But others are not in a position to see what you see, to see that you are empty to contain all things. Can you see it? Can you look? Will you look?
11. The empty hub at center Allows a wheel to roll The vacancy within defines The function of a bowl The openness within a house Provides the places to reside The open space that is the heart Is where ten thousand things abide	A wheel can roll because of the empty hub. A bowl can be filled because it is hollow. A house can be occupied because the rooms are spacious. The manifest world exists because of the emptiness at your center, in your heart. You are space, room, capacity for the ten thousand things. You are room for all things, events, thoughts, feelings. All things have a home in you.
12. Too much sound can make you deaf And many colors leave you blind When you let desire die down You live the emptiness you find Wanting things can drive you mad Acquisition makes you poor Seeing you are everything You leave off wanting more	Too much indulgence can make you deaf to the silence, blind to the void. Living solely for excitement means overlooking the quiet root of existence. Living for acquisition leads you to embrace and value aggression, makes you a slave to getting and keeping. Can you slow down enough to see that you already are everything? Value living from the truth and enjoying the world as it's given. "If we now turn to a more practical consideration of Lao Zi's metaphysics, we notice that the following sentences occur three times: 'The Man of Calling puts away the other and adheres to to this' (sections 12, 38, 72). In time, every principle that has been derived from external experience will be disproved and become obsolete. For as mankind progresses man's knowledge of the world changes; and, in the end, the known world is the only existing 'world'. On the other hand, whatever is known from a central experience will remain irrefutable, provided that it has been seen purely and truly."   Richard Wilhelm Here again we have the two-in-one design. In this case our presence is divided into this and that. These demonstrative pronouns are perhaps the most direct terms possible. This refers to the emptiness right here at our center. That refers to the world of appearances out there.
13. Fame and shame are equal And so are gain and loss It isn't very difficult To get this point across Having fame you know that you Are terrified to lose it Making gain you always fear That others will abuse it Can you see that you're not like Your image or reflection? Just see you are totality By looking in your own direction The one who is not limited Accepts whatever comes or goes And cares for everything around On opening and close	"When you're a lover of what is, it's obvious that the world is your own face in the mirror." Byron Katie (commenting on this verse) After 'fewness of desires,' the second part of Laozi's prescription for getting hold of the Uncarved Block is the rejection of public opinion, or of "other-directedness" as some call it today. "Favour and disgrace drive men out of their minds." "...they will never permit violence to be done to their inner natures and their inner natures will never cause them to do violence in return." Holmes Welch (from TAOISM, The Parting of the Way) There is no security in fame or in gain. These are just parts of the ever changing functioning or manifestation of objects and events, qualities and opinions. Fame and gain don't last. They don't even last a lifetime, which is only a flash in eternity. And if you should acquire wealth and fame, you will be the subject of the envy of others. You will have to defend them, fight to keep them. What a way to live! Laozi prefers another way, the way of doing nothing, nothing but seeing your true nature. You are not like your image in the mirror. You are pure awareness. You originate and accept all creation, including the image in your mirror. You are made to accept and receive and care for all things. Seeing this is bound to make a difference in your life.
14. When you look, it isn't there Listen and you cannot hear it It seems to be beyond your reach Because you are so near it This single source of everything Appears an empty image Though it can't be understood You see its naked visage Follow it to nothingness Find it where you have no face From nowhere to infinity This vacant image leaves no trace From never to eternity This naked face is what you are An empty, vacant, open door Forevermore ajar	Dao is awareness, which appears as void or emptiness. Can you see the emptiness in the place where others see your face? This is the emptiness or void that is your no-face or no-head. It is wide open for the world, for the ten thousand things of creation. Your only task is to see this emptiness whenever it occurs to you to look. See your empty face, the void in its infinity and eternity each moment. You will also see the ten thousand things that occur in time and space. Your own body is one of these ten thousand things that are manifested in you, in your awareness, in the Dao. See the truth of who you are. To yourself, you are not the body topped off with a head. That is your image to other people.
15. Those of old who knew the way To origin and space within Saw the place where wholeness And totality begin Alert as one on a frozen stream Or one who watches for the foe Deferential as a guest And generous as melting snow Simple as a block of wood Expansive as a vale Transparent like the water Whose clarity will never fail Can you keep yourself so still That muddy water clears? And wait until right action Arises and appears?	Simple societies have existed until very recent times. People in these societies valued the simple joys of everyday living. They lived easily in friendliness and peace. No one posed a threat to anyone else. The people were alert and plain, polite and generous. They had no need to hurry and rush through life. You can do the same today. Become a seer. Just be aware of your true identity as the Dao, pure awareness, and the Dao will take care of everything else. Here Laozi refers to water again, to another quality of water, to its clarity. Water clears when it is still. If you stay with your still and clear center you will find the outside turmoil clearing too. Stay with the unchanging truth of your being. It is bound to benefit everyone.
16. See that you are emptiness Always quiet and at peace In the place where all began The space where all will cease So arise and have your day And then go back to source Returning to serenity With no regret and no remorse When you see the source within You only give assent You see you're everlasting And just omnificent	You are omnificent, all-creating. You create everything because you create your own point of view. All that you see depends on you. Without you, none of it would exist in the manner in which it appears in you. All appears in your emptiness, in your awareness. This is not to say that you know how you do it. Creation happens in you, as you, on its own, spontaneously. Return to the Dao, to your serene and peaceful center, and watch the myriad things of the world come and go. You are the host.
17. It's best if you are barely known The lesser state is being praised Far worse is being hated Stay empty and amazed Only do what must be done And see you are alone When you finish all will say We did this on our own	Laozi is referring to leaders of states and, by extension, to all of us. The most effective leaders act by not acting for recognition. The best course is to stay centered and allow events to go their natural way. Do what is needed for the situation and then stop. Allow others to take the credit. What does personal recognition add to totality? Just recognize your open and accepting nature.
18. Goodness and compliance come When people lose the way Spontaneity declines And pretense rules the day	Goodness and obedience appear when we lose the way. Rebellion comes too. We adopt living to please others and to avoid their disapproval. And do we ever regret it!
19. Banish learned discourse And all will be content Eliminate propriety And gain astonishment Stay away from swindle And all are bound to gain You really have it all you know There is no basis to complain Can you see your empty core? It's never gone or hidden Just let go of neediness And see it come unbidden	Do you know what is proper for other people? Can you let go of your need to interfere? Allow life to come to you on its own terms. Interfering in the lives of others with your so-called authoritative opinions and directions causes more misery in the world than anything else. And in giving misery, you eventually get it back. We all want approval. We want to merit approval. We are so needy we give our lives away in an attempt to be seen in a good light by everyone. Is this possible? Is it worth the effort?
20. You needn't give a yes or no Distinctions matter little Keep your vision open At center noncommittal See that it's ridiculous To seek success and fear to fail To ever want what others want To think you must prevail Other people look so bright I am dark and void and null Others seemingly are sharp I alone am dull Others are so purposeful Only I don't understand Aimless, drifting, weak and dumb Uninteresting and bland I see I'm different from the rest I only go by what is shown And I take my sustenance Solely from the great unknown	Where is your center? Where do you place your attention? If you are seeing clearly, your attention is on totality, all that is given in the present moment. You are not driven to appear successful in the eyes of others. You are not driven at all. You are aware that support and sustenance comes to you on its own from the Dao, the great unknown but clearly seen core of your being. Laozi says he is dull, even void. He is seeing the limitless emptiness of the Dao, the absent head. Remember Dao means go-head. His head is gone. What remains is the glorious emptiness and the ten thousand things, thoughts, events and feelings that fill it with brimming brightness. Of course he looks different from the rest. He is the source and container of all that appears. He is not a thing among things. He is the original. And of course this vision is sustaining. Not such a dull fellow after all! The dullness he sees is the amazing central void that makes brightness possible. He is total presence.
21. Seeming utter emptiness Quite impossible to trace Yet it contains all images Within its wide embrace Appearing total darkness Yet you see that it is right To stay with its obscurity The only origin of light This ever present openness At center and within Can be seen just anytime So look and look again	Your true center is always available. You can see the emptiness that contains all things whenever you remember to look, and the more you look, the more you remember to look. Be as persistent as you can. Let's be persistent. Let's look again right now. As an aid to directing your attention, point your finger to your face, to your gone-head. Others will tell you that your are pointing to your face. Do you see it differently? Of course you do. You see the truth from the position only you yourself occupy. You see absolute emptiness filled with all the images of the eternal here and now.
22. Overcome by giving up And see that you are nil Look into your emptiness And see you have your fill Be satisfied with little Content with what you need If you're always wanting more You'll be consumed by greed Abide in this simplicity That's ever on display See all else is shining bright In marvelous array If you never boast or brag All will hold you high If you never argue You will prevail thereby See that you're complete and whole That all has come to you Overcome by giving up But keep your inner view	The Dao is your original state. The farther you drift from it, the less content you are, the more you want in compensation for what you lost. Laozi tells us that greed can consume us and that we really need very little to be satisfied. He also tells us that this is true because we already have the most marvelous gift of all. We have the bare awareness that holds all things. Only this naked simplicity truly satisfies. We need so little to be happy, to have all that can be had. Can you stay with this vision of totality, of already having everything? If you can, you will not need to boast or brag or promote yourself in any way. You can't be promoted beyond totality. Others will quietly appreciate your presence, you who are in competition with no one. You are complete and whole. You have no need to prove yourself worthy, to gain back any missing parts or lost love. You have the whole bright world before you. You are not in need of anything that does not already belong to you.
23. Say your piece and then be still Like nature in a storm That rains and blows and ceases And sees the sun reborn Open to the inward view At one with all existence There's nothing standing in the way Or putting up resistance If you're at home with nothingness And trust what comes about You'll find that all is in its place And never raise a doubt	Have your say. Do what you must. But don't insist. You are not in competition with anyone. You are made to receive and contain the world, not to confront or face it down. You have no face to block or resist anything from your awareness, from your presence. Your nature is pure and open presence. You are made to welcome and accept all creation. Can you trust and welcome? Laozi promises that if you do, you find all is as it should be. All is in its place. The ten thousand things that come and go out there are contained in your open awareness here.
24. Who stands on tiptoe topples Who runs ahead soon loses speed Who goes on show is hidden Who pushes far gives up the lead Just keep to what is given The present here and now Don't overreach and don't oppose Invite, admire, and allow	All ten thousand things have limits. Laozi honors those limits. He gives us the principle of sudden reversal. If you try to push beyond your limits, you invite disaster. Be content to go as far as you can. Don't try to stand out. Do so and become a target. Just stay aware of what is given. What is given is totality. There are no limits to wholeness. There are no targets in totality.
25. Before the first beginning An emptiness is here Alone forever and at peace This side of what appears Eternally unchanging And lacking any limit The void of all potential The present ultimate It enters all appearance And then returns to source It's ever at your center Your only true recourse For here begin the heavens The earth and humankind Following this greatest way You cannot be confined	Here Laozi gives us an outline of his view of existence. What appears to us as a void or an absence or emptiness is truly a mystery. It's the ultimate, the absolute. It's the source of existence in its infinite potential. It's also a presence, pure and unchanging awareness, the always-so. This presence contains all that comes and goes in the here and now moment. It is your true, unchanging and eternal identity. It is beyond time because it contains time. Can you see this Dao first in all things? You are the Dao, the one awareness, the only awareness. This awareness is very close at hand. It's at your very center, and it's always available. It's who you really are, and it's always at peace and beyond all upset.
26. The void at center doesn't change Its steadiness is absolute Holding all that's on the move In bare awareness at the root Can you go about all day Remaining in your true abode No matter how enticing are The splendors of the road? Don't think that you can run around And act a perfect fool Just see that you are at the eye Of nature's whirlpool	Can you stay centered in the Dao, the absolute? The Dao is your central emptiness. It is naked awareness. It appears to you as a void, and it appears in the place where your head is visible to others but not to you. What is visible to you? Everything! You contain all things. You, as the Dao, are the root, the origin, the source of this awareness. This is your true abode. Who would abandon this totality for the limited excitements offered by the world? You are the center of this world, its origin and destiny.
27. Can you walk and leave no tracks? Make no errors when you talk? Count without a tally? Secure a door without a lock? Can you abandon no one? And no one leave behind? In you there are no limits Forever unconfined What happens happens on its own Good and bad the same In origin identical Ignoring praise and blame	Here Laozi talks about a special kind of action that does not show off or attract attention, action that leaves no tracks or traces. He calls it wu wei or doing nothing. See that at center, there is no doer - only emptiness. All action is free and easy and spontaneous. How foolish it is to assign credit or blame! Wu wei is the natural way to act for those who see that their true essence is open acceptance of all that occurs. Good and bad are relative terms. What is good for one is bad for another. Awareness accepts whatever the present moment brings. Awareness accepts all and opposes nothing.
28. Know the strong but keep the weak The world is born in you And see just what a child sees A vast and comprehensive view Know the light but keep the dark And watch all things emerge In you they have their residence Where space and time converge Know the high but keep the low Humility will honor you Attend to your vacuity That's all there is to do Like an uncarved block of wood Don't squander your potential Or overlook your vacant core There's nothing so essential	What is Keeping the Weak? Water is weak, but given time and persistence it will wear down the hardest rock. Your true and open essence is weaker than water, weaker even than air. You are pure awareness, as transparent as a calm mountain lake, yet you have the capacity to reflect and take in all that presents itself to you. You remain constant and immutable while all else has its being in you. Be as persistent as water in seeing this transparency. Keep the weak, the vacuous and transparent. Keep your true nature. What is Keeping the Low? Stay with Dao, and all things come to you as rivers flow into the sea. Receive and contain all creation. You are the one who holds totality. You are not one of the Ten Thousand Things. Lie low and see that this is true. Invite the world!
29. Do you want to change the world? You never will succeed The given cannot be improved The seers are agreed At times you find you're out in front At times you fall behind Sometimes you're all commotion But afterwards you must unwind When all around is turmoil Just stay with the serene And at the quiet center Of the ever changing scene Can you see the given Where all is on its own? And shines in pure awareness Eternally at home?	Things are just as they are. They arise out of nowhere. What good does it do to reject some events and accept others? It harms no one but yourself. You are not made to reject anything. You are made open and aware. You take in the world. Existence changes constantly. You can't pin it down. Why not trust it? Let the ten thousand things come and go. You need do nothing. Stay with your true identity, pure presence. The scene changes. You remain empty. All that is given is inevitable. Why wish for change? Change will come on its own. You are the Dao, the unchanging. Do nothing. Remain content. The turmoil and confusion cannot reach you. You are the immutable Dao, the everlasting simplicity.
30. There is an ancient way to lead That just allows and doesn't force For what goes out will come around And violence will lead to wars The one who sees completes a task And stops when it is done Seeing all is on its own And not controlled by anyone The seer sees that all is well And doesn't strive to please But gives acceptance everywhere Puts all around at ease	The Dao can change the world. The attitude of the Dao is acceptance. The attitude of so many people and institutions is force. This attitude says that we know what is right and what is wrong. We know how others should think. They should think as we do. We know how they should behave. They should behave as we do. We should take whatever actions are necessary to force compliance. The Daoist attitude is different. Allow others to go their own way. Let go of the need to control. The Dao is in charge and is worthy of its charge. What freedom you give to all you meet with this kind of acceptance!
31. Weapons lead to violence Which everyone despises Avoid them altogether Allow no compromises If use of weapons has to be When enemies have left no choice Use them but reluctantly In victory do not rejoice Ascendancy brings sorrow And triumph holds no pleasure But severs you from wholeness Diminishes your treasure Victory precedes a dirge Since death is always sad And putting other people down Ought never make you glad	Once again we meet the principle of reversal. This time it's the cycle of aggression. People naturally resist force. Ascendancy brings sorrow because it make you an object, a person, a limited thing. It may make you the greatest thing, even the top thing. But being any kind of a thing covers up your true and unlimited nature as absolute awareness. This is the greatest loss of all. In addition to this loss of wholeness, you have set yourself up as a thing up against other things, as a person in the world. You have put yourself in competition for the world's limited resources. Others are bound to oppose you. They want what you have for themselves. Have you been victorious? Can you hold on to this victory?
32. Awareness is unlimited Much like an uncarved block With infinite potential And nothing under lock If leaders could stay centered In presence pure and plain Their rule would be as nourishing As nature's gentle rain Everyone would be at peace And living in the whole The place where opposition Can never take a toll Knowing how to stop in time They set the people free For lives that flow like rivers From mountains to the sea	How easily we give up our original nature. We become fascinated by the outward display. We seek our security there, where it is not to be found. Laozi points to another place. He points inward, to our awareness. He points to the awareness of infinite potential and possibility. Seeing our original and open nature, we are centered on truth. As aware simplicity, we are truth. We absorb all opposites into the one openness we share with all beings. No peace and no support exceeds this. We are whole. We are totality, pure and plain.
33. It may be said that you are wise To see yourself as others do But you are wiser still to see From your own central point of view Then you see you have it all With riches now and here And in your view completely Whenever vision's clear Living in the present It's long you will endure And though you die you linger Where all remain secure	What does it mean to see yourself as others see you? Others see you from a distance. They see you as an object, as a human being, a thing in the world. But at no distance at all, you see yourself as pure openness, total clarity. From this vacant center, you see that you contain the ever changing world. You are rich and clear and wise. Would you trade this for being a limited, perishable human being?
34. The empty center's everywhere On both the left and right Holding all that comes to pass And never out of sight It welcomes all that comes to be On nothing makes a claim It's in the heart of each and all But lives without a name Some can see its greatness And though it seem obscure It is your true identity And surely will endure	The Dao brings to pass all things. It welcomes all things. Events happen one way. Yet we often play the game of what-if. What if I had done something differently? This is the game of the impossible, the game of regret. All has happened as the Dao has given it. See and remember that the Dao is your real identity. All has happened as you, in your deepest heart, have desired. Even your rebellion against events was meant to be. All is always as it should be. All is as the Dao, as you, intended - even your regret! What freedom and joy there is in watching yourself truly welcome all that comes your way.
35. When you see the void within You're whole and satisfied Though danger's all around you Your life's indemnified Though music, food and company Are welcome when you travel Without the simple inner truth Such pleasures soon unravel Look and see the nothing And listen for the silence Whose use is inexhaustible And worthy of reliance	What a contrast between those who value the pleasures of the senses above everything and those who value the Dao's simple presence, the source and origin of everything. This presence seems thin and tasteless compared to the pleasures of food and music and congenial company. But those who persist in seeing this presence and source have found everlasting truth. It's the presence that appears as a void, an absence, as emptiness, as nothing. Danger cannot penetrate this absence. It is safe! Look and see absence. Look and see refuge. Look and see the presence that manifests and welcomes all that occurs. You are totality.
36. You cannot be diminished Unless you've been inflated You cannot be defeated Unless you've been elated You cannot be belittled Unless you've been esteemed Unless you're wholly missing You cannot be redeemed The soft and slow can overcome The rigid, hard and fast Eternal inner voidness Is all that's made to last	Here again Laozi tells us that the only thing we need to do is see our inner emptiness, see the Dao, see the seer. Nothing endures like nothing! It is so soft it puts up no resistance. It embraces all. It is so slow it doesn't move. It allows all else to move. Yet it overcomes all things. It witnesses all things first appear and then disappear. Are you inflated, elated and esteemed? If so, you are vulnerable. Give it up. Go missing. Be nothing. Now you are lasting and safe. How do you become nothing? Just look and see that you are truly nothing already. Look in that place where others find your face and you find the Dao.
37. When you're doing nothing There's nothing's left undone What happens happens on its own In you, the all in one If leaders could be centered Ten thousand things would thrive By seeing what is given All nature comes alive Everyone would be content Just living every day Desires would be tempered And peace the only way	Once again, see! See that you are doing nothing. You are the empty center of existence. What could emptiness possibly do? All you can do is see and accept. Everything occurs spontaneously - in you! All you need do is be aware. And if leaders and influential people could be centered this way too, what marvels would occur. Harmony and contentment would prevail. Peace would reign. These people would not continue to interfere and meddle in the affairs of others. They would see no gain in that. They would see that gain is not possible in a world where totality is given every moment.

Daodejingle Home Page