Stream
Intimacy
number eight
- The highest good is like water.
- Water give life to the ten thousand things and yet does not compete with them.
- It flows in places that the mass of people detest
- and therefore is it close to the Way
- In dwelling, the good thing is the land.
- In the mind, the good thing is depth.
- In giving, the good thing is being like Heaven.
- In speeking, the good thing is sincerity.
- In ruling, the good thing is order.
- In affairs, the good thing is ability.
- In action, the good thing is timeliness.
- It is only because it does not compete,
- that therefore it is without fault.
hubris
Number nine
Love
- To hold it upright and fill it to the brim,
- is not so good as stopping in time.
- When you pound it out and oversharpens the blade,
- the edge will soon blunt.
- When gold and jade fills your rooms,
- You will never be able to protect it.
- Arrogance and pride with wealth and titles,
- bring on their own disaster.
- Retire when the work is done,
- Such is the way of Heaven.
Love
number ten
- In nourishing the soul and embracing the One,
- Can you do it without letting them leave?
- In concentrating your breath and making it soft,
- Can you make it like that of a newborn babe?
- In cultivating and cleaning your profound vision,
- Can you do it so that you stay without stain?
- In loving the people and giving life to the country,
- Can you be without cleverness?
- In opening and closing the gates of Heaven,
- Can you play the role of woman?
- In understanding and being open to all within the four reaches,
- Can you do it without using knowledge?
- Give birth to them and nourish them,
- Give birth to them, but don't try to own them,
- Help them to grow, but don't rule them,
- This is called the Profound Virtue.
Wealth and worth
number eleven
- Thirty spokes unite in the wheel's hub;
- It is precisely where there is nothing,
- that makes the wheel so useful.
- We shape and fire clay into a vessel;
- It is precisely the space within that makes the clay pots so useful.
- It is precisely in these empty spaces that makes the room so useful.
- Therefore benefit comes from what is there;
- Usefulness comes from what is not there.
