DAO DE JING Part One - Dao 'The Path' 3
26.
To be light on your feet, you need a steady mind.
If your body is active, your mind should be relaxed.
A Master can travel long distances and still see everything she owns.
She may be surrounded by beauty but she isn’t caught up in it.
Why run around thoughtlessly? If you act lightly, you lose your bearings.
If you act recklessly, you lose your self-control.
27.
With enough practice, you could come and go without a trace,
speak without stumbling over words, do complicated math problems in your head.
You could build a door with no lock that nobody could open.
You could tie something down with no knots,
without even a rope, and nobody could pry it loose.
Masters have time to help everybody, and ignore nobody.
They use their resources wisely, wasting nothing.
Some people call this “following the light.”
Good people teach others because they have the potential to be good too.
Brains count for nothing if you fail to respect your teachers
or to honor the potential in others.
That’s one of the most important lessons of Dao
28.
If you are strong, but remain sensitive, power will flow through you.
With that power, you’ll always be right with Dao: It’s like a whole new life.
If you are idealistic, but stay rooted in reality,
you are an example to others.
Set that example, and you’ll always be right with Dao:
There is no limit to what you can do.
If you are honorable, but remain humble, you will see things as they are.
If you see things as they are, you’ll always be right with Dao:
Your life will become simple, yet full of potential.
Let Dao show you how to get right with Dao,
so your slightest gesture can change the world.
Dao’s in touch with the way things are
29.
Want to take over the world? Think again.
The world’s a holy place. You can’t just fuck around with it.
Those who try to change it destroy it. Those who try to possess it lose it.
With Dao, you push forward, or maybe you stay behind.
Sometimes you push yourself, other times you rest.
Sometimes you’re strong, sometimes you’re weak.
Sometimes you’re up,and sometimes you’re down.
A Master lives simply,
avoiding extravagance and excess.
30.
Listen up:
If you want to be a leader who’s in touch with Dao,
never use violence to achieve your goals.
Every act of violence backfires.
An army on the move leaves a trail of tears,
and a military victory always lies in ruins.
The Masters do what needs doing and that’s all they do.
Do what you have to do without arrogance or pride.
Get the job done and don’t brag about it afterwards.
Do what you have to do, not for your own benefit, but because it needs to be done.
And don’t do it the way you think it should be done, do it the way it needs to be done.
The mighty will always lose their power and any connection they ever had to Dao.
They will not last long;
if you’re not right with Tao, you might as well be dead.
31.
Weapons are terrible things.
If you want to get right with Dao, reject weapons.
The Master, knowing all things came from Dao,
recognises what he has in common with his enemies
and always tries to avoid conflict.
But when there is no other choice, he uses force reluctantly.
He does so with great restraint, and never celebrates a victory;
to do so would be to rejoice in killing.
A person who would rejoice in killing has completely lost touch with Dao.
When you win a war, you preside over a funeral.
Pay your respects to the dead.
32.
Dao is an eternal mystery, so small you can never take hold of it.
If a leader gets right with Dao, people will follow him on instinct.
All will be right with the world.
People will do the right thing without being told.
Everything that comes from Dao needs a name.
But once everything has its name, you should make no other distinction between things.
This prevents you from becoming trapped by them.
Everything in the universe is full of Dao and leads to Dao,
just like the water in rivers that flows into oceans.
33.
Knowing things makes you smart, but knowing yourself makes you wise.
To rule others, you must be powerful, but to rule yourself, you must be strong.
If you have only what you need, you have true wealth.
If you never give up, you will find a way.
If you stay true to yourself, you will never be lost.
If you stay alive your whole life, you’ve really lived.
34.
Dao flows in all directions. It’s in everything, but nothing can contain it.
Everything needs Dao, so Dao provides, and never expects anything in return.
Everything comes from Dao, but Dao doesn’t call attention to itself.
It wants for nothing. Think nothing of it.
Everything leads to Dao, but Dao doesn’t call attention to itself.
Pretty impressive, huh? It doesn’t strive for success. That’s why it succeeds
35.
When you get right with Dao, everybody wants to be your friend.
When they’re around you, they can relax and enjoy themselves.
People can be easily distracted by music or good food.
When we try to talk about Dao, it seems boring by comparison.
It doesn’t look like much. It doesn’t sound like much.
But no matter how much you use, there’s still plenty left.
36.
To make something smaller, you need to appreciate its size.
To make something weaker, you must recognize its strength.
To get rid of something, you need to hold it tight.
To take something, you must give it up entirely.
To put it another way: Sensitivity and weakness overcome unfeeling strength.
37.
Dao never does anything but nothing is left undone.
If our leaders could get in touch with Dao,
the world would take care of itself.
Even if they wanted to impose their own ideas,
they’d be drawn back to Dao’s nameless simplicity.
When our lives are that simple, we want for nothing.
We can relax, and the world becomes a better place.
