Tao Te Ching | The Essential Translation

And it is literally without time, it is timeless, as is all Chinese classical poetry. Literary Chinese knows no tense. “Every sentence in The Tao and the Power refers as much to the past as to the present.”

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountains.

I smile and make no reply.

My heart is free of care.

The peach-tree blooms,

The waters Flow

Into the unknown.

I dwell in a Realm

That is not of Men.

The sun declines

From its zenith,

The moon waxes

Only to wane,

Flowers bloom

Only to fade,

The greatest joy

Turns to sorrow.

MAGISTER LIU

Soft and Gentle

Prevail.

Water wends its way

Gently

Round every obstacle,

Avoids Heights,

Sinks to Depths,

Bends with curves,

Fills and pours,

Fits into Square and Circle,

Into Small and Great,

Into springs and rivers,

Smoothing the Surface of things,

Accepting all manner of Filth,

Containing gold,

Extinguishing fire,

Bringing Life

To plants and trees,

S

The mountain is fine

At evening of the day,

Birds fly Home together.

Within these things

There is a hint of Truth,

But if I try to tell it,

I cannot find the Words.

In Death I rest and am at peace;

In life I toiled and strove.

Is the hardness of the winter stream

Better than the melting of spring?

All pride that the body knew,

Was it not lighter than Dust?

Death has hidden me

In the Eternal Tao,

Where neither leopard nor tiger can harm me,

Lance prick me nor sword wound me . . .

Of the Primal Spirit

The inexhaustible Depth of the Tao bubbles up from nowhere like a Spring.

It is always Empty, yet contains all within itself. It is Deep and Still. It dwells amongst the Myriad Things but is never subject to them. It is discovered through Self-Cultivation.

Smooth the Harsh Edges

Of Breath-Energy,

Loosen the Tangles

Of Worldly Emotion,

Glow with a Soft

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