13.
Favour and disfavour have been called equal worries
Success and failure have been called equal ailments.
How can favour and disfavour be called equal worries?
Because winning favour burdens a man
with the fear of losing it.
How can success and failure be called equal ailments?
Because a man thinks of the personal body as self.
When he no longer thinks of the personal body as self
neither failure nor success can ail him.
One who knows his lot to be the lot of all other men
is a safe man to guide them,
One who recognizes all men as members of his own body
is a sound man to guard them.
14.
What we look for beyond seeing
and call the unseen,
Listen for beyond hearing
and call the unheard,
Grasp for beyond reaching
and call the withheld,
Merge beyond understanding
in a oneness
Its rising brings no light;
Its sinking, no darkness
Endless the series of things without name
on the way back to where there is nothing.
This is called the formless form
The image that is without substance
This is called elusive.
Go towards it, and you can see no front;
Go after it, and you can see no rear
Hold to the Way of today
to manage the actualities of today,
thereby understanding the primeval beginning.
This is called "the thread of the way."
15.
The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious,
profound, responsive.
The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable
Because it is unfathomable
all we can do is describe their appearance
Careful as someone crossing an iced-over stream
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory
Cautious and courteous as a guest
Yielding like ice melting
Simple as an uncarved block of wood
Open and receptive as a valley
Inscrutable like muddy water
Who can wait quietly while the mud settles?
Who can remain still until the moment of action?
Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfillment
Not seeking fulfillment,
they feel no wear, they feel no tear
they need no mending, no repair.
16.
Empty your mind of all thoughts
Maintain the deepest stillness
The ten thousand things rise and fall
They grow and flourish
and then return to the source
Accepting this return to the source
has been called quietism
The way of nature is unchanging
Knowing constancy is insight
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster
Knowing constancy, the mind is open
With an open mind you will be openhearted
Being openhearted you will act royally
Being royal you will attain the divine
Being divine you will be at one with the Tao
Being at one with the Tao is eternal
And though the body dies
the Tao will never pass away
