Sublime

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

76

SU CH’E says, “Those who possess the Tao prosper and yet seem poor. They become full and yet seem empty. What is not virile does not become old and does not die. The virile die. This is the way things are. Using an army to control the world represents the height of strength. But it only hastens old age and death.

And to these were added the honorific ching, meaning “ancient text.” And so Lao-tzu’s book was called the Tao-te-ching, the Book of Tao and Te.

The transmission of the Tao provides no material rewards, only a clear direction to the right path. If you follow the direction, you will be on your way to rediscover your true self, regain the natural wisdom you have forgotten, and return to the oneness of the Tao.

Those who know don’t talk those who talk don’t know seal the opening close the gate dull the edge untie the tangle soften the light and join the dust this is called the Dark Union

WU CH’ENG says, “The sage seeks without seeking and studies without studying. For the truth of all things lies not in acting but in doing what is natural. By not acting, the sage shares in the naturalness of all things.

A century earlier, or a couple of centuries later, no one knows which, Ho-shang Kung divided the same basic text into eighty-one verses. And a thousand years later, Wu Ch’eng tried a sixty-eight-verse division. But the system that has persisted through the centuries has been that of Ho-shang Kung.