User:Eequor/Emptiness

Zen
Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, "What is the True Way?"

Nansen answered, "Every way is the true Way."

Joshu asked, "Can I study it?"

Nansen answered, "The more you study, the further from the Way."

Joshu asked, "If I don't study it, how can I know it?"

Nansen answered, "The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen.  It does not belong to things known, nor to things unknown.  Do not seek it, study it, or name it.  To find yourself on it, open yourself as wide as the sky."

Joshu asked, "How did you learn this?"

Nansen answered, "I was told it by the constant Tao which inhabits all things."

Dao De Jing
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Chapter 2

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It is because everyone under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty, that the idea of ugliness exists.

And equally if everyone recognized virtue as virtue, this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness.

For truly, Being and Not-being grow out of one another;

Difficult and easy complete one another.

Long and short test one another;

High and low determine one another.

Pitch and mode give harmony to one another.

Front and back give sequence to one another.

Therefore the Sage relies on actionless activity,

Carries on wordless teaching,

But the myriad creatures are worked upon by her; she does not disown them.

She rears them, but does not lay claim to them,

Controls them, but does not lean upon them,

Achieves her aim, but does not call attention to what she does;

And for the very reason that she does not call attention to what she does

She is not ejected from fruition of what she has done.


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Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness.

All can know good as good only because there is evil.

Therefore having and not having arise together.

Difficult and easy complement each other.

Long and short contrast each other:

High and low rest upon each other;

Voice and sound harmonize each other;

Front and back follow one another.

Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking.

The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease,

Creating, yet not.

Working, yet not taking credit.

Work is done, then forgotten.

Therefore it lasts forever.


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Chapter 11

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We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.

We turn clay to make a vessel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.

We pierce doors and windows to make a house;

And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.

Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.


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Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;

It is the center hole that makes it useful.

Shape clay into a vessel;

It is the space within that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows for a room;

It is the holes which make it useful.

Therefore benefit comes from what is there;

Usefulness from what is not there.


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Chapter 22

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To remain whole, be twisted!

To become straight, let yourself be bent.

To become full, be hollow.

Be tattered, that you may be renewed.

Those that have little, may get more,

Those that have much, are but perplexed.

Therefore the Sage

Clasps the Primal Unity,

Testing by it everything under Heaven.

She does not show herself; therefore she is seen everywhere.

She does not define herself, therefore she is distinct.

She does not boast of what she will do, therefore she succeeds.

She is not proud of her work, and therefore it endures.

She does not contend,

And for that very reason no one under Heaven can contend with her.

So then we see that the ancient saying "To remain whole, be twisted!" was no idle word; for true wholeness can only be achieved by return.


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Yield and overcome;

Bend and be straight;

Empty and be full;

Wear out and be new;

Have little and gain;

Have much and be confused.

Therefore the wise embrace the one

And set an example to all.

Not putting on a display,

They shine forth.

Not justifying themselves,

They are distinguished.

Not boasting,

They receive recognition.

Not bragging,

They never falter.

They do not quarrel,

So no one quarrels with them.

Therefore the ancients say, "Yield and overcome."

Is that an empty saying?

Be really whole,

And all things will come to you.


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Chapter 27

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Perfect activity leaves no track behind it;

Perfect speech is like a jade-worker whose tool leaves no mark.

The perfect reckoner needs no counting slips;

The perfect door has neither bolt nor bar,

Yet cannot be opened.

The perfect knot needs neither rope nor twine,

Yet cannot be untied.

Therefore the Sage

Is all the time in the most perfect way helping others,

She certainly does not turn her back on them;

Is all the time in the most perfect way helping creatures,

She certainly does not turn her back on them.

This is called resorting to the Light.

Truly, "the perfect is the teacher of the imperfect;

But the imperfect is the stock-in-trade of the perfect".

She who does not respect her teacher,

She who does not take care of her stock-in-trade,

Much learning though she may possess, is far astray.

This is the essential secret.


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A good walker leaves no tracks;

A good speaker makes no slips;

A good reckoner needs no tally.

A good door needs no lock,

Yet no one can open it.

Good binding requires no knots,

Yet no one can loosen it.

Therefore the sage takes care of all

And abandons no one.

She takes care of all things

And abandons nothing.

This is called "following the light."

What is a good person?

A teacher of the bad.

What is a bad person?

A good person's charge.

If the teacher is not respected,

And the student not cared for,

Confusion will arise, however clever one is.

This is the crux of mystery.


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Chapter 41

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When the woman of highest capacities hears Tao

She does her best to put it into practice.

When the woman of middling capacity hears Tao

She is in two minds about it.

When the woman of low capacity hears Tao

She laughs loudly at it.

If she did not laugh, it would not be worth the name of Tao.

Therefore the proverb has it:

The way out into the light often looks dark,

The way that goes ahead often looks as if it went back.

The way that is least hilly often looks as if it went up and down,

The Power that is really loftiest looks like an abyss,

What is deepest blue looks blurred.

The Power that is most sufficing looks inadequate,

The Power that stands firmest looks flimsy.

What is in its natural, pure state looks faded;

The great square has no corners,

The great vessel is never completed,

The great note has no sound &mdash;

The Great Form is without shape.

For Tao is hidden and nameless.

Yet Tao alone supports all things and brings them to fulfillment.


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The wise student hears of the Tao and practices it diligently.

The average student hears of the Tao and gives it thought now and again.

The foolish student hears of the Tao and laughs aloud.

If there were no laughter, the Tao would not be what it is.

Hence it is said:

The bright path seems dim;

Going forward seems like retreat;

The easy way seems hard;

The highest Virtue seems empty;

Great purity seems sullied;

A wealth of Virtue seems inadequate;

The strength of Virtue seems frail;

Real Virtue seems unreal;

The perfect square has no corners;

Great talents ripen late;

The highest notes are hard to hear;

The greatest form has no shape;

The Tao is hidden and without name.

The Tao alone nourishes and brings everything to fulfillment.


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Chapter 43

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What is of all things most yielding

Can overwhelm that which is of all things most hard.

Being substanceless it can enter even where is no space;

That is how I know the value of action that is actionless.

But that there can be teaching without words,

Value in action that is actionless,

Few indeed can understand.


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The softest thing in the universe

Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe.

That without substance can enter where there is no room.

Hence I know the value of non-action.

Teaching without words and work without doing

Are understood by very few.


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Chapter 47

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Without leaving her door

She knows everything under Heaven.

Without looking out of her window

She knows all the ways of Heaven.

For the further one travels

The less one knows.

Therefore the Sage arrives without going,

Sees all without looking,

Does nothing, yet achieves everything.


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Without going outside, you may know the whole world.

Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.

The farther you go, the less you know.

Thus the sage knows without traveling;

She sees without looking;

She works without doing.


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Chapter 71

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To know when one does not know is best.

To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease.

Only she who recognizes this disease as a disease

Can cure herself of the disease.

The Sage's way of curing disease

Also consists in making people recognize their diseases as diseases and thus ceasing to be diseased.


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Knowing ignorance is strength.

Ignoring knowledge is sickness.

If one is sick of sickness, then one is not sick.

The sage is not sick because she is sick of sickness.

Therefore she is not sick.


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