The enlightened possess understanding

So profound they can not be understood.

Because they cannot be understood

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,

Decays, but will not renew.

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 flow of nature,

An eternal decay and renewal.

Accepting this brings enlightenment,

Ignoring this brings misery.

Who accepts nature's flow 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 the Way;

Being one with the Way he becomes immortal:

Though his body will decay, the Way will not.

The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;

The next best are loved and praised;

The next are feared;

The next despised:

They have no faith in their people,

And their people become unfaithful to them.

When the best rulers achieve their purpose

Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.

18. Hypocrisy

When the Way is forgotten

Duty and justice appear;

Then knowledge and wisdom are born

Along with hypocrisy.

When harmonious relationships dissolve

Then respect and devotion arise;

When a nation falls to chaos

Then loyalty and patriotism are born.

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 self and embrace your original nature;

Bind your self-interest and control your ambition;

Forget your habits and simplify your affairs.

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

But I am fed at nature's breast.

Harmony is only in following the Way.

The Way is without form or quality,

But expresses all forms and qualities;

The Way is hidden and implicate,

But expresses all of nature;

The Way is unchanging,

But expresses all motion.

Beneath sensation and memory

The Way is the source of all the world.

How can I understand the source of the world?

By accepting.

Accept and you become whole,

Bend and you straighten,

Empty and you fill,

Decay and you renew,

Want and you acquire,

Fulfill and you become confused.

The sage accepts the world

As the world accepts the Way;

He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,

Does not justify himself, so is recognized,

Does not boast, so is credited,

Does not pride himself, so endures,

Does not contend, so none contend against him.

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

Once whole, the world is as your home.

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 accepts harmony, becomes harmonious.

Who accepts loss, becomes lost.

For who accepts harmony, the Way harmonizes with him,

And who accepts loss, the Way cannot find.

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;

Harmony avoids them.

There is a mystery,

Beneath abstraction,

Silent, depthless,

Alone, unchanging,

Ubiquitous and liquid,

The mother of nature.

It has no name, but I call it "the Way";

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

Being limitless, it flows away forever;

Flowing away forever, it returns to my self:

The Way is limitless,

So nature is limitless,

So the world is limitless,

And so I am limitless.

For I am abstracted from the world,

The world from nature,

Nature from the Way,

And the Way from what is beneath abstraction.