When Wild-and-Surly heard about this, he concluded that the Yellow Emperor knew what he was talking about.
Heaven and Earth have great beauty but no words.
The four seasons follow their regular path but do not debate it.
All forms of life have their own distinct natures but do not discuss them.
The sage looks at the beauties of Heaven and Earth and comprehends the principle behind all life.
So the perfect man does without doing
and the great sage initiates nothing,
for, as we say, they have glimpsed Heaven and Earth.
Now even the Tao, spirit-like and with perfect clarity, in common with all other forms of life, undergoes the transformations of life. All life forms are already dead or living; they are square or round, and they do not comprehend their beginning.
Yet life goes on, just as it has done from time immemorial.
Even the vastness of distances between the six areas of the world is encompassed by the Tao.
Indeed, even the smallest hair relies upon the Tao for its very being.
Every living thing below Heaven,
those arising and those declining,
are guided by this. Yin and yang.
The four seasons are kept moving by it,
each within its own sphere.
Seeming lost in darkness, it still exists;
Glorious and free, it has no body: it is spirit.
All forms of life are guided by it,
though they do not know it.
This is what is called the root and origin.
It is this which we discern in Heaven.
Yeh Chueh asked Pi I about the Tao, and Pi I said, ‘Attend to your body, concentrate upon the One, and the perfect harmony of Heaven will be yours.
‘Rein in your understanding, unify your stance and the spirit will dwell within you.
‘Virtue will be your beauty and the Tao will be your dwelling place.
‘You will seem like a simple new-born calf and you won’t try to understand the reason why!’
Before he could finish what he was saying, Yeh Chueh fell fast asleep. Pi I was very pleased indeed and wandered off singing this song:
‘Body like a rotten tree stump,
Heart like cold dead ashes,
His understanding is true and real,
Not inclined to pursue questions.
Obscure, obscure, deeply dark,
Heartless, no advice forthcoming,
What sort of person is this!’
Shun asked Cheng, ‘Is it possible to obtain the Tao and have it as mine?’
He said, ‘As you aren’t in control of your own body, how could you hope to obtain and hold the Tao?’
Shun said, ‘If I don’t control my own body, then who does?’
He said, ‘Your shape is given you by Heaven and Earth. Life is not yours to have, it is the combining harmony of Heaven and Earth. Your innate nature and destiny are not yours to have, they are constructs given you by Heaven and Earth. Grandsons and sons are not yours to have: they are the sloughed-off skins bequeathed to you from Heaven and Earth. You should walk, therefore, as if you don’t know where you are going; remain where you are without knowing why; eat without knowing what you’re tasting. All this arises from the yang breath of Heaven and Earth. How can it then be possible for you to obtain and hold anything?’
Confucius said to Lao Tzu, ‘Now, today, you seem relaxed, so I would like to ask about the perfect Tao.’
Lao Tzu said, ‘You should cleanse and purify your heart through fasting and austerities, wash your spirit to make it clean and repress your knowledge. The Tao is profound and almost impossible to describe! I will attempt to offer some understanding of it:
‘The brightly shining is born from the deeply dark;
that which is orderly is born from the formless;
the spiritual is born from the Tao;
the roots of the body are born from the seminal essence;
all forms of life give each other shape through birth.
Those with nine apertures are born from the womb,
while those with eight are born from eggs.
Of its coming there is no trace,
no sign of its departure,
neither entering the gate nor dwelling anywhere,
open to all the four directions.
Those who travel with the Tao will be strong in body,
sincere and profound in their thought,
clear of sight and hearing,
using their hearts without tiring,
responding to all without prejudice.
As a result of this, Heaven is high and Earth wide,
the sun and moon move and everything flourishes.
This is the Tao!
‘Even the broadest knowledge does not comprehend it.
Reason does not mean wisdom, so the sage casts these aside.
There is something which is complete, no matter what you add;
is not diminished, no matter what you take away.
This is what the sage holds to.
It is as the ocean, deeply deep,
as the mountains, high and proud,
its end is its beginning,
it carries all forms of life and never fails.
The Tao of the nobleman is just external garb!
That which sustains all forms of life and never falters,
this is the true Tao!
‘Here is a man of China, balanced between yin and yang, dwelling between Heaven and Earth. For a while he is a man and then he returns to the origin. Viewed from the perspective of the origin, when life begins for him, he is just a collection of breath. When he dies, whether he is young or very old, these different destinies make little difference, his life-span is so short. What does it mean then to ask which is good and bad between Yao and Shun? The fruits of the trees and the trailing plants have their distinctive patterns. Even human relationships, for all their troubles, have an order and a structure. The sage does not oppose them when he meets them: since he exceeds them by far, he has no need to hold on to them. He responds to them harmoniously: this is his Virtue. He greets them in friendship: this is his Tao. This is how Emperors and kings have arisen.
‘Human life between Heaven and Earth is like a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall, quickly past.
It pours forth, it overwhelms,
yet there is nothing
