The Book of De
Rhyme and Reason by Jim Clatfelter
38.
You needn't long for power
The seer doesn't do a thing
Goodness must be doing
When the way of life is lost
The seer sees periphery | Laozi begins the Book of De by showing us what happens when we seek our identity outside our center of pure awareness. If I believe myself to be a human being, I am one among many. I have lost my wholeness. I am limited. I have put aside the vastness of pure awareness. Others are lost too, and they become my rivals. In such a world, order is kept by forced compliance. First come codes of behavior. The codes tell us what is good and what is proper. And the codes lay out the punishment for those who don't comply. Some rebel. Some go along. All live a diminished existence. Spontaneity is lost. Laozi tells me that I need not go along with this order. Nor do I need to challenge it. I simply see how the world is really given. I see human beings out there. I see my own reflection in the mirror out there. All of this is on the periphery. At my core I see only unlimited openness. Here is my real identity. I am the heart of existence. All is presented in me and as me. |
39.
Stay with clear awareness
Look away from clarity
The seer knows humility
The seer doesn't show at all | Find your identity at the core. Stay with clear awareness. All existence comes alive. Don't take this on faith. See for yourself. See the world in a different light, the light of wholeness and origin. Ignore this clarity and all is false. Everything is divided into individual, self-contained things. No one is content. A thing can't contain itself. Only empty space can contain things. You are the empty clarity that contains this space and the ten thousand things. Being like space, you do not show or show off. You are anonymous. You are faceless. You are humble enough to disappear completely so that all others are able to show their faces and their sparkle. You enable this! As clarity you enable the world. |
40.
All is born of emptiness |
All things are born and live and die in your clear and empty awareness, in your sight. Only awareness remains forever open and unchanged. You are origin and eternity.
Reversal and return are great Dao themes. Reverse the arrow of attention and return it to its source. |
41.
When seers see their nothingness
Others only laugh it off
The brightest way seems darkest
Clarity can seem obscure
Awareness doesn't have a name |
All this talk of nothingness! It all seems so backwards and contrary to common sense. How few take it seriously! This brightest and most obvious of all spots in the universe is just not seen. This empty center of awareness is not noticed. Even if it is noticed when it is pointed out, most people fail to see its worth. They seldom attend to attention itself. Others don't even give it a chance. They laugh at it without hesitation. Laozi playfully tells us that their laughter proves its truth. The very idea that this openness may be the ultimate seems so empty to some. They do not look to see that this emptiness is source of all that exists. It is the unchanging origin of existence. It looks dark, but it is the source of all bright things. You have it all. Just look. Watch all things emerge from and in your naked awareness. See the always changing complexity taking place in your changeless central simplicity. See that this nothing has potential. It's not a mere nothing. It's filled with its own creation! |
42.
Dao enfolds a oneness
With yin upon my shoulders
When the two appear as one
No one wants to be considered
Though emptiness resembles loss
And violence is not the way |
This verse begins: From one comes two, and this makes three, and thus ten thousand come to be. What do these numbers refer to? How should one interpret them? I base my interpretation on a line from the Great Commentary on the Yijing and another from Richard Wilhelm's commentary to his 1910 translation of the Dao De Jing. One yin, one yang: this is Dao. (Great Commentary on the Yijing) By the coming forth of the One the Two is created; by the two joining the One the Three comes about. (Richard Wilhelm, p 73) These are the three terms: Dao, yin and yang. One is Dao, the single presence. Two are yin and yang, the complementary aspects of Dao. Three is the sum, the whole. Laozi goes on to locate yin and yang in our direct experience.
Just what is the Dao? Here's another way to say and see it.
Look in and see the yin. The three terms Dao, yin and yang are not metaphysical terms. They are not mere words or names. They are concrete, physical, and visible. You can literally point to them with a finger. To look in at the yin, point your finger to your own faceless awareness. To look out at the yang, point your finger to the world of appearances directly in front of you. See that nothing separates this yin and yang. They are two views of your presence, you life in the moment, two views of Dao. Can you see both ways and harmonize and balance the two views? It's the Way to wholeness.
Just what is the Dao?
Orphaned, abandoned,
And so I teach that |
43.
Overcome by yielding
Thus it is that I can see |
Is it possible to overcome limitations by yielding? Yield your limited identity as a someone. See that you are nothing now. You are an absence. Accept your unlimited ability as capacity to receive the world. Yield all contention and opposition. You are not a somebody up against others. Others live in you. So few people see and appreciate their unlimited capacity to host the world. |
44.
Which of these means more to you
Everything that you possess
Know that your are always safe |
Is happiness based on gain and getting? Whatever you gain is temporary and limited. Gain and fame are traps. They can be lost and must be protected. You are not your possessions. Which means more to you, what you have or what you are? As capacity, you possess all that comes into your awareness. You are free, open and safe, in the place of lasting bliss. You are the never changing total potential to which the ever changing ten thousand things are presented You are the open awareness that accepts and possesses whatever comes into view. You are the emptiness that contains everything. |
45.
Though wholeness seems imperfect
Straightness can seem twisted
Can you see that emptiness | So-called common sense has it wrong. Things are not as they appear. Above all, I am not as I appear - to you, to your camera, or to my mirror. How do I appear from here? to myself? to my own uncommon sense? If I appear at all, I appear to myself right here as emptiness, as an absence. This absence is the Dao, the absent head. To see that all this is so, all you need to do is look - and keep looking. You are the absence that contains all that exists, the sameness that contains all differences. You are unlimited capacity for all limited things. |
46.
When the Dao is cherished
No tragedy exceeds desire | Cherish the Dao, the absolute. How do we cherish it? Laozi tells us again and again that all we need to do is look. Look where the head is gone. Look any time it comes to mind. If we see our emptiness, our amplitude, we see that we have everything in our embrace. Spread your arms, and see that you embrace and include the world. Amplitude is plentitude! And excessive desire is calamity. |
47.
No need to go outside a door
Going out you go astray | Look within to see the source and container of all things. Can you see that this is your true identity? If you see this, you see all there is to see. You see pure awareness, perfect simplicity. You are home. You can look within anytime. You always find the Dao here at the still and quiet center of your being. And the Dao is worthy of your trust. It brings all things to you. It brings what you need each moment. |
48.
In going after learning
Day by day do less and less
Allow all things to run their course | Can you learn to rely on the Dao? Nothing else will serve you so well, for nothing else is so true. Nothing else is absolute, ultimate and final. Can you begin to let go of the identity you have built up over so many years? The efforts of your personal self to order your life have not brought satisfaction. The more you see your empty and creative core, the more your preoccupation with personal concerns drops away - on its own. Your true identity is pure awareness, centered in the place where others see your head, where you see only absence. Claim your true and unchanging nature. All you need to do is look within! |
49.
The seer doesn't own a thought
The seer doesn't rush to judge
The seer trusts things as they are
The seer turns your view around | When your view is total and singular, you are seeing as a child sees. You are seeing an undivided world, a world in which the seer and the seen are one. It is all you and all yours. Even those you call others are you! Seen in this light, the light of origin, all is seen in all its vividness, as if for the first time.
The seer treats all people with acceptance according to the open and welcoming nature of awareness. This may be startling to some, especially to those who react according to a moral code of proper behavior. The seer sees that these codes are artificial systems of thought imposed from the outside. The seer prefers the natural values of simple and spontaneous acceptance. What advantage does this provide? When you treat people with acceptance and trust, you are trusted and welcome everywhere. Give trust, and trust is given in return.
|
50.
Between the time of being born
Three others are so casual
Just be like the one who sees
This one doesn't have a fear | This vast awareness is everyone's true identity, but not everyone will appreciate it. Some will go along with tradition and the mores of their time, including the common view that they are a thing much like the image they see in the mirror. They will ignore awareness. Others will deny and despise existence. They will rebel against the ways of their neighbors and peers. They too ignore awareness. Still others will live only for the day, and they will reap the passing of days. They do not see eternity in their midst. But one remains, perhaps only one in ten, who sees what is given. This one is the seer. The seer sees the world arising moment by moment from the aware emptiness that is seen where the head is gone. This is theDao. This is awareness. And the seer knows that this Dao is invulnerable. All things are vulnerable. This alone is not a thing. This alone is nothing. |
51.
Everything arises
Things arise from nothingness
Existence doesn't make a claim | Are you a thing? Or are you nothing, not a thing, no thing? You can settle this question for yourself just by looking. Look within, at your central emptiness, at your missing head. Only you can do this looking. No one else is in a position to see it where you see it. Others see your head. You see nothing. But from this nothing emerges all existence. It's not merely nothing. It's the mysterious source of existence, and it's filled with its own creation. Please look to see that this is true for you. It's never otherwise for the seer. The beauty and bounty of existence comes from this most humble and most potent of all places, the great within. Everything arises from nothing - on its own. What does that leave for us to do? Nothing! Do nothing. If you see that creation is arising moment by moment out of your central emptiness, that is all there is to it. That is the doing, which is really a non-doing. What to do? Trust that being aware of the Dao, seeing the gone-head, will occur more and more often. You can neither force it nor prevent it. If you see it, it's easy. It comes on its own. Just trust that it will always do so. If you are impressed with the magnificence and glory of this vision, it will continue to come. If you see that you are seeing the timeless, the eternal, it will continue to come, because you have seen it for all time! If you see that you are bare awareness, you will see that you are not the doer. You are the awareness that allows all doings to occur. |
52.
All things emerge from nullity
Stay in touch with origin
Do not be in haste to speak
See the subtle and the clear | Laozi wants us to see the subtle and clear core of being right here where the head is gone. It's the place of total peace. And it's the place of origin of all ten thousand things. Watch these things emerge and subside in the Dao, in your clear awareness. We can see this any time we care to look. Laozi tells us why we should care. See that as awareness you are totality. You are the clear origin and only owner of dynamic existence. You are both. As the unchanging, undying source of all things, you are at peace and out of danger. As the possessor of creation, you are at peace even amidst turmoil if you see that you are the source of the turmoil. Stay in touch with origin! It's never out of sight. It's the light that shines on the world, the light of pure awareness. |
53.
The way is wide and easy
The few are rich and wealthy
The rulers spend on weapons
The rich have all abundance | What does it mean to get sidetracked? Pursue the interests of the false self to get ahead - to get a head. Why not prefer the wide and easy way of seeing how existence is truly given? to see the gone-head? the simple truth? Laozi calls it thievery when the few capture the bulk of a country's worth. This is no basis for a decent life. Even those in power would be better off if they didn't have to defend their position and their possessions. This kind of power does not last. It has always led to rebellion and to the overthrow of those who hold the power. True power lies in seeing your true nature as unlimited potential to originate and sustain the world. This is real wealth and abundance, and it's yours by nature. Claim it by seeing it! Wu wei, doing nothing, is spontaneous action. Everything occurs on its own - in emptiness. When Laozi says to do nothing, he wants us to see our emptiness, to see that there is no one here to do anything. Even thoughts occur on their own, one following another. These thoughts can lead to a special kind of thought called a decision. Decisions too occur on their own, spontaneously. So what should you do? Do nothing. You are not any kind of thing that could do anything. You are no-thing. See that you are simply nothing, the nothing that beholds all activity. And see that all activity takes place in you. |
54.
Hold fast to this awareness
It cannot be uprooted
Allow its presence in your life
And if you care to share it
You ask me how I know it's true | Bare awareness is your root. It is the source and nourishment and support of your world, the absolute at the center of existence. It has never been otherwise. This awareness is not new. It is eternal. It is what you have always been, unchanged since the day you were born and before. It is also unchanged since olden days. Some people have seen it in all the ages of humanity. This view has been recorded since the invention of writing. The joy in sharing it is overwhelming. And the power of sharing this vision is boundless. Though it is thoroughly plain, it is the source of all delight. Sharing it with others can only spread the blessings. And sharing makes it easier to keep up the seeing yourself. Why is Laozi so sure of this? He can see it! He sees the Dao, the gone-head, the naked awareness. Nothing else is so plainly obvious. He looks where his face is absent and sees only openness to take in all delights. It is also unchanged since olden days. Some people have seen it in all the ages of humanity. This view has been recorded since the invention of writing. The joy in sharing it is overwhelming. And the power of sharing this vision is boundless. Though it is thoroughly plain, it is the source of all delight. Sharing it with others can only spread the blessings. And sharing makes it easier to keep up the seeing yourself. Why is Laozi so sure of this? He can see it! He sees the Dao, the gone-head, the naked awareness. Nothing else is so plainly obvious. He looks where his face is absent and sees only openness to take in all delights. |
55.
One who reaches emptiness
The newborn has no power
Screaming, crying all the day
To see this inner nature | Children and seers are similar in not imagining themselves to be an object, a human object with a head and a face. Infants and very young children have no concepts about their identity. They simply see what is. They have no thoughts on the subject. But they soon learn what others say they are. They see a face in the mirror. That's who they are now. Over the years they watch that face growing older. They know they will someday die. They have the knowledge that kills. The seer returns to the pure, simple and total vision of the child, seeing the unchanging and undying vacancy at center, the nullity that is full of the world. Yet there is a difference. Unlike the child, the seer is awake to the Dao, aware of the all-creative nullity that exists in place of the face, instead of the head. What is De? De is often translated as Power, and what a power! It's the infinite potential of Dao, of This, of the awareness at your center. De is the unlimited possibility of the Dao to become the ten thousand things. Dao is infinite emptiness with unlimited potential. And you can see it! You can see this infinite and creative emptiness, the Dao that holds the kaleidoscopic world. |
56.
Those who know don't like to say
Untie tangles, dim the glare
You can't hold on or let it go | Those who know don't like to say. They know that it can't be captured in words. They know that others are likely to take the words themselves for the truth. The truth is not in words. The truth is in seeing, in seeing the oneness at your center, the oneness you have in common with all beings. Don't become entangled and identified with the ten thousand things. You are not a thing like your reflection in the mirror. You are not an image. You are the original! How can you fail to be amazed? How can you continue to ask for more? You'll see more than what's on show! You'll see the void or absence at your center. It's a void that is plain to all the senses. You'll hear it as the silence that contains all sound. Using any of your senses, it is total plainness and purity. This void is pure and unadorned awareness, simple and absolute presence. |
57.
Take the lead with fairness
The more you try to take the lead
The more you deal with others
The more you hoard your treasures
Doing nothing all is done
Letting go of all desire | Do nothing and see all is done. Allow spontaneity. Laozi is showing us two ways of doing. The first way is the more familiar. It's the way of opposition and imposition, of trying to impose our will on the world. It's the way of calculated action. Of course we must all plan and be assertive to some extent. We must do what is needed for living. But if we imagine this assertiveness to be the only mode of action, then we don't know when to stop. We do not know its limits. We push too far, and the world pushes back. Laozi prefers a second way of doing. He calls it wu wei, doing nothing. The Dao does nothing, and all is done. Everything happens on its own, with no help from you or me. Hold still a minute and look. Has anything stopped just because you are doing nothing? Does action continue? Of course it does. Trust that all is as it should be, and do what you will. Doing nothing is identical to seeing everything. See that your inner being cannot act. See the setup. Here, where the head is gone, is Dao, which is empty and void. Emptiness cannot act, but it can contain action. All action is out there in the world, happening on its own. And the world out there is happening in you! |
58.
Let your lead be gentle
Though happiness may reign today
Though the seer's sight is sharp | Who knows what tomorrow holds? No one is certain. Allow events to unfold as they will. Don't interfere in the affairs of others. Lead gently. Knowing that calculated action may backfire, are you prepared to take the blame? The seer leads by doing nothing. Do nothing. See everything! Do nothing that is calculated. See totality. See the absence that is the source and substance of all that exists. Watch actions arise spontaneously. Even what seem like conscious decisions arise on their own. Be at your ease, and all will be at ease in your presence. |
59.
To serve and care for others
If you keep returning | How can you best serve others? By being sure of yourself, of your own root. Stay centered in the here and now, in your own presence, your own awareness. When you are sure of your own unlimited identity, share it with others. It's our common identity after all. Awareness is not a thing that has qualities or parts that could be divided. It is identical for all of us. It is your nature to share it! |
60. It's best to lead a large domain As you would cook a little fish Don't poke and prod or you are bound To spoil the country and the dish
Just stay open and aware
At center you harm no one | How do you cook a small fish? By leaving it alone. Put it on the fire, and let it cook itself. We are back again to Laozi's perennial theme, don't interfere. Lead a country the same way. Provide for the basic needs, then let it run itself. Don't exploit others for your own benefit. All will go smoothly on its own, with no harm to others and no harm to you. Laozi is also speaking about your true essence as awareness. No one is able to harm you, because, as awareness, you are an absence. The Dao, the absent head, is invulnerable. It is pure bliss. Many of the verses in the Book of De are addressed to the leader of a country. We can learn from these because we all must assume the role of a leader at times. Laozi tells us not to lead by opposing and prohibiting. If it harms no one then give the people what they want. The Daoist story of Three in the Morning tells of a keeper of monkeys who had to reduce their ration of nuts because of a shortage that year. He told the monkeys they would have three nuts in the morning and four nuts in the evening. The monkeys raised such a fuss about the situation that the keeper had to reconsider. He came back to the monkeys with a new plan. They would have four nuts in the morning and three nuts in the evening. Now the monkeys were satisfied. The keeper had allowed them to have what they wanted. And it had cost him nothing. If we really stop to listen to what people want, we will no doubt find that most of their wants amount to no more than four in the morning. An effective leader listens to others and does not insist on three in the morning! |
61.
A great domain is like the sea
A small domain can lie low too
If you lie low you too arise | Here Laozi speaks of the power of humility and lying low. This is not the humility of putting yourself down, exclaiming your unworthiness. This is the true humility of seeing that you already occupy the lowest place in the universe. As rivers flow to the sea, all objects flows directly to your awareness. You can see this is so! Look up at the sky (or the ceiling). Now look out at the horizon or the hills (or the wall). Bow down further, and see your feet. If you continue to lower your gaze, you see your legs, your waist, your chest, and finally your absence, your gone-head. This is the Dao, accommodation for all things. |
62.
I'm at the center and the source
These benefits belong to all
Words and deeds of excellence
When new leaders are installed
Why should one esteem the void? | Nature gives to everyone alike, but humans are not satisfied with this. They want to divide and name, grade and rank, own and possess. Who is first? Who is best? Where do I fit in? Laozi tells me I don't fit in at all. On the contrary, everything fits in me! How fortunate I am if I can see this. And I can see it if I look inward, in the direction of the gone-head. Here is the primal oneness that I am, that we all are, undivided and without a name. And its nature is bliss, the bliss of wholeness. What greater gift could I share with anyone? When I see my real nature as the capacity or space that contains everything and everyone, I see that I reject nothing and no one. I accept both good and bad into my awareness. I have no choice. It is my nature to accept what is given in awareness. To reject anything would make me less than whole. But that is not even possible. When I look, when I am seeing, I know that I am pure presence and filled to the brim with the ten thousand things! |
63.
Begin with the easy
Begin with the simple
Problems tackled when they're small
Can you center every day | Begin with the easy. Begin with the simple. Begin now! All you need to do is see the asymmetry of the setup or design of existence. See both this and that, the emptiness here and the fullness there. This is total seeing. And it's total being. You are all that you see. You are the void that produces and accommodates the plenum. You are both. All abundance lies in the lack at the center of your being, the lack of a head. This is the Dao, the gone-head. This absence of a head is the presence of all else. What is a deed of diminution? It's any letting go of your identity as an object. You are not a person. You are accommodation for the personal. You are awareness and all that it contains. Why settle for the merely personal? See that you are the gone-person as well as the gone-head. Asymmetry is a word that Douglas Harding used to describe how we relate to one another. We are not in symmetrical relationship. We are not face to face with one another. We are face to no-face. We are face to space, face to emptiness, face to Dao. We can look and see that this is true. Let's get up close and look at the face of a friend. If you prefer, look at the face in your mirror. How many faces do you see? I can't speak for you, but I see only one face ---- that of my friend or my reflection. If I see only one face, what do I see where my own face is missing? I see not a thing, only absence, void, emptiness, the Dao! Of course I can never be face to face with anyone. The setup is not symmetrical. Here at the center I am not a face. I am bare capacity to contain all faces and all other things out there on the periphery. This is my identity. I am the container, and I am the contents as well. These two aspects of my nature are not opposites. They are one. The absence at the center is truly all. It creates, embraces, and holds the forever changing content at the periphery. Awareness is not divided. This absence is also pure presence or awareness. It is my gone-face. My face is what I present to you - for better or for worse. |
64.
To keep the peace is easy
Be calm and conquer worries
A solitary step begins
All will happen as it will | "It takes a single step to start a journey of a thousand miles." This is one of the best known and most quoted aphorisms in the Dao De Jing. Laozi is telling us to take that step now! Now is the opportune time. Now is the only time. And now is out of time. It's eternal. So see totality now! See that all is in you. Even time is in you. See it now for all time. See it whenever it occurs to you to see. It's a new way of seeing, though what you see is that which has always been so. And this new way of seeing brings a new way of being, a new attitude. You no longer have a need to attempt to control the world. You can allow the world to function for itself, to happen on its own. You have no need to oppose or interfere. You do not add to the disunity and disruption that so often prevails. |
65.
Those of old who found the way
Those who think they know the truth
Shy away from cleverness | The absence at my core is hidden from others. They see my head instead of my absence. My head is their truth. My absence is my truth. They can see absence by looking within, just as I do. It's the same absence, the same clarity. Laozi tells us that the seers of old did not bring this absence to the fore. They did not make it an object, and therefore an object of contention. How then do I share this simplicity with others? By showing them where to look. They must look where their own heads are missing. The Dao, the gone-head, is the same for each of us. It's the same emptiness. It's the one awareness, the one emptiness. |
66.
The sea is large and mighty
If you would like to have your fill
When you lead you're placed above
When you see you are not built | A cup is hollow, therefore it can receive and hold your beverage. You must be hollow if you are to receive the manifest world as it is, without distortion or opposition. You are made hollow. You have no face with which to confront others. You have the others' faces. Your own face is gone, missing, hollow. It's the ultimate and everlasting negation that contains all that is presented to it. It's the negation that holds all things positive, the emptiness that is always full. When you take action and lead others, can you do so as the one who is equal to all others, not as one who is above others? You are not above others and taking what is not yours. You are below everyone and receiving the fullness of creation. You are the hollow and empty center of existence. You are the empty center of everything that appears. The center is right where you are now. To find the center, it helps to find the periphery first. So let's find it. Look straight ahead, and you see objects. Above these objects are more objects, and more still objects are below and to the left and right. These objects occupy the periphery. But where is the center? The only place you haven't looked is within. Look in your own direction! Nothing appears here. It is at the center of the field of appearances. This is a precise geometry. And it's a cornucopia. Out of the emptiness at the center pours the abundance of manifest objects. When you see in all directions, you are seeing the whole. And the whole includes the hole, the hollow, the nameless emptiness within - at the center. This is your true, unchanging, eternal identity. |
67.
I see the Dao within me
Three treasures always do I keep
For if you're friendly and you care
And if you're satisfied with naught | Here are Laozi's famous Three Treasures. These treasures are values that arise naturally from abiding in your inner nothingness. They certainly aren't the values that most people cherish. The first treasure is love, compassion, or friendliness. Being nothing, you are open. You embrace all creation by your very nature. The second treasure is humility, staying behind. Seeing that you are nothing, you allow all others to go ahead. You do not struggle for superiority. The third treasure is frugality, wanting less, wanting only the void of awareness. Wanting nothing above all else, you can be generous and giving. You do not need to contend. |
68.
Violence is not the way
You win by never striving | Laozi is concerned with the values that arise naturally from abiding in inner nothingness. He is also concerned about the values that arise from ignoring this inner void. He warns us that we cannot push ourselves on the world. Victory does not mean opposing and overcoming others. True victory is receiving others into your own simplicity, into the clarity at the center of our being. |
69.
In conflict just be cautious
In such a way you go along
Remember that it's possible | Notice that, as Dao, you are the source and substance of the world out there. You are in no way separate from the myriad things and events of the world. You contain these things and events. They are really not out there at all. They occur within you. You can't ignore them. So you must deal with them. Laozi tells us to go easy and gently. Be cautious. Don't push and force your way. Allow time for problems to resolve. Wholeness comes in its own time. And the more you see the wholeness of being, the more quickly it comes to all experience. Seeing wholeness is seeing the clarity that contains all existence. Look within for the Dao. What is the Dao? Who am I? I am pure presence, and I am all that is present in that presence. I am pure awareness, and I am all that exists in that awareness. I am nothing and everything. It's all me. Everything is me and exists in my light. Everyone is me. There are no others. I am the one alone. I am the Seer. I am the Seer, and I am the Seen. And these are not two. I am the vacuity at center, and I am all that occupies this vacuity. And these are not two. Only This is. Only I am. Nothing exists apart from me, and I am not divided into parts. All exists in me and as me. And This is the Dao of the gone-head. |
70.
Embarrassingly obvious
The way within is ageless | Laozi's teaching is based on the ageless Dao within each of us, the gone-head. Though this truth is glaringly obvious, few can see it. Few even bother to look, to attend to attention, to be aware of awareness. We imagine a head where there is only awareness. We imagine a face where there is only absence. We imagine a limited thing where there is only the jewel of absolute eternity. Douglas Harding used to say that headlessness is embarrassingly obvious. I have freely used Douglas's expressions when they coincide with Laozi's meanings. In this verse Laozi is saying that his words are very easy to follow. His words are pointing to the Dao, the jewel, the absolutely obvious absence within. |
71.
You cannot understand the truth
Unknowing is the final cure | Dao is not a thing or an object to be known or understood. Dao is naked awareness. Let go of knowing. Unknowing is the cure of the disease of understanding. The Dao, the truth, is not to be understood but to be seen, and to be seen as an absence at that. It is our real identity. The absence of a head is the presence of pure awareness. Within this awareness is all that occurs moment by moment. Nothing is missing! |
72.
When the sense of wonder goes
The seer sees both this and that | Here is Laozi's principle of reversal one more time. Disaster follows when you interfere in the lives of others. People resent meddling. Your intentions may be unassailable, but your reward is rebellion. You cannot impose your will. It would be far better to adopt the seer's stance. See that your own inner immensity is room for the will of totality, for what is actually happening each moment. |
73.
The way is very easy
Its net is vast and over all | What is the intention of the way, of the whole? Just what is happening right now! You are made to contain everything, not to pick and choose. Nothing can be lost or rejected or abandoned. Resistance is futile. You are pure open awareness, made for acceptance. What a relief to realize this. All that happens is meant to happen by the Dao, by totality, by you in reality. All is as it should be. |
74.
You truly are what isn't born
You can't control what is to be | You are the one who was never born. You are the witness of what is born and eventually perishes. Remain the witness. Let things take care of things. Everything happens on its own, spontaneously. Does this mean you are not free to choose and decide? No, it means that even your own decisions occur spontaneously. You can't interfere in the world of things, because that world occurs within your being. |
75.
The people starve when taxes take
The people do not fear to die | Very little is needed for a happy and abundant life. No-thing is needed for bliss. Allow others to have what they need. You don't need to accumulate things. You are totality, nothing and everything, nothing containing everything. You are the absence that is pure presence. More is not possible. More things and more control over others means more trouble! Let go of excess. Accept totality. |
76.
Soft and supple when we're born
The way of life befriends the weak | Laozi contrasts the softness and receptivity of our true nature as awareness with the hardness and severity of our false identity as a name, a person in a world of persons. As a person, we are hard and impenetrable. As awareness, we are open and clear, receptive and flexible. We accept whatever comes to us. We don't resist. Those who resist are broken. Those who accept are whole. |
77.
Nature's way of doing
Nature takes from those who have
But if you see you have it all | Here's a revealing statistic for the year 2000. Earth's population is 6,000,000,000. The 200 richest people in the world have more wealth that the poorest 2,000,000,000 combined. Has anything changed since Laozi's day? Everyone is entitled to life's necessities. Where is your wealth? Do you see that you have all that you need and more? You have the Dao, total awareness. Allowing nature to have its way, you don't claim more than you can use. You claim your real riches instead. You see that you are totality, and Dao takes care of the rest. All are equal in this regard. Have you noticed that all of the definitions of the Dao and the Seer are identical? The Seer is the Dao. The Dao is the Seer. The Dao is the presence of awareness that is seen as the absence of a head. The Seer is the same! You, as the Seer, are in no way separate from the world. You are all that is. And what a joy it is to see how all is given - here and now and forever. See the Dao. See the Seer. See the Truth. |
78.
Water's soft and supple
The weak can overcome the strong
The seer sees serenity | Water flows as life should flow. It goes around all obstacles, and, doing so, wears them down by its persistence. Water does not oppose. Water merely goes the way of its own nature. It remains calm and serene. Can you do the same? All power lies in such a course. Your victory lies in not distorting your true and original nature. And what is this nature? What is your inner truth? It is the serene and open presence at the center of your being. Can you see this? Can you see the creative emptiness where others see your face? |
79.
There's little good in making peace
It's better to be pointing | Let's point a finger one more time at the empty face, the gone-head. Point here rather than there. Notice the arrangement. See how existence is presented in non-existence, how everything appears in nothing. Existence emerges from this no-thing at your center. All peace is here at center. All opposition is out there in the world of heads and faces. Where do you prefer to live? |
80.
If a land is small and the people few
For people need so little
Though nearby lands are close enough | If you live in the simplicity at your center, you will not want to go anywhere. You will see that there is nowhere to go and no one here to go anywhere. You are the still center of existence. There is nothing at your center to move. Can you see that everything moves in you while you remain absolutely still? Simplicity also means contentment with little. Of course you need the basic necessities of life. But do you need great wealth or fame? If you are seeing that at your center, as awareness, you are totality, you will have no need to build a self. Nothing can be added to totality. You are whole and free to enjoy the delights of living! Can you see this freedom? At center you are free of everything. You are free of sounds, of movement, of colors and shapes, thoughts and feelings. And this freedom is not merely freedom from. It's also freedom for. As the Dao, you are empty and empty-headed, open and free. You are always free - for accepting, for embracing and for loving existence. Why not stay free? Don't try to make a name for yourself. Don't try to get a-head. Don't try to face the world. Just see that all existence is facing you! |
81.
Truth need not be eloquent
Those who see may not be learned
The seer doesn't have to hoard
Why not give it all away? | Laozi began his text by telling us that the Dao cannot be named. His final words recall that theme. See it. Don't just talk or write or think about it. It's not contained in words or names. See it! Let go of all that keeps you from seeing what really is. See your true identity, this aware nothing that you are, right here where your face is absent and your head is gone. See that all that you let go as identity comes back as content. Nothing is lost. To see that this is true, all you need to do is look. Look again now. No need to point this time. You know where to look by now. Can you see the Dao, the absence of a head that is at the same time the presence of the multifarious world? This is total seeing. Nothing is left out. Only the head, the name, the false self is missing. Totality remains! And that's the end of the story. There is nothing for you or me to do but continue seeing the truth about the world and its origin within each of us. I am grateful to Laozi for sharing his Dao with me. I am also grateful to all of those who have interpreted his writing in English. I have depended on their renderings of the text to attempt my own version. Above all, I am grateful to Douglas Harding for showing me what he calls two-way seeing. There is nothing like seeing the truth, nothing more rewarding. Again I will recommend that you read any of the books that Douglas has written. All of them contain experiments in seeing. Doing the experiments is a sure way to make total seeing your accustomed way of seeing the world. You have nothing to lose but your head! |