1.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mysteries and manifestations arise from the same source, this source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.
2.
When people see same things as beautiful other things become ugly. When people see some things as good other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore, the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come. Things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but does not expect. When her work is done she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.
3.
If you over-esteem great men, people become powerless. If you over value possessions, people begin to steal. The Master leads by emptying peoples minds and filling their cores by weakening their ambitions and toughening
their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire and creates confusion in those who think that they know. Practice not doing and everything will fall into place.
4.
The Tao is like a well, used but never used up. It is like the eternal wind filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.
5.
The Tao doesn't take sides, it gives birth to both good an evil. The Master doesn't take sides. She welcomes both saints and sinners. The Tao is like a bellows is empty but infinitely capable. The more you use it the more it produces. The more you talk of it the less you understand. Hold onto the center.
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