Sublime

The influence of Ch’u’s culture on Lao-tzu is impossible to determine, but it does help us better understand the Taoteching, knowing that it was written by a man who was no stranger to shamanistic conceptions of the sacred world.

sages thus seek what no one else seeks they don’t prize hard-to-get goods they study what no one else studies they turn to what others pass by to help all things remain natural they dare not act

WU CH’ENG says, “All of these things are useful. But without an empty place for an axle, a cart can’t move. Without a hollow place in the middle, a pot can’t hold things. Without spaces for doors and windows, a room can’t admit people or light. But these three examples are only metaphors. What keeps our body alive is the existence of breath within

WANG PI says, “From the infinitesimal all things develop. From nothing all things are born. When we are free of desire, we can see the infinitesimal where things begin. When we are subject to desire, we can see where things end.

Tao “covers the ten thousand things like a garment but does not claim to be master over them” (Ch. XXXIV). Lao-tzu describes it as “Nothing,”4 by which he means, says Wilhelm, only its “contrast with the world of reality.” Lao-tzu describes its nature as follows: We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; But it is on the space where there

Thus, attaining the Tao really means receiving the guidance to help you make the best possible choice.

15

sages accumulate nothing but the more they do for others the greater their existence the more they give to others the greater their abundance