English
16
"Maintain utmost emptiness. Maintain profound tranquillity. All things together arise, By this I see their return. Things flourish, and each returns to its root. To return to the root is to attain tranquillity. This is called returning to one's basic nature. Returning to one's basic nature is called constancy (ch'ang2). To understand constancy is called enlightening (ming2). Not understanding constancy is blindly doing unfortunate things. Understanding constancy, one gains a capacity for forbearance. With forbearance, one can be impartial(kung1). If one is impartial, one can be kingly. If one is kingly. then one can communicate with heaven. To communicate with heaven is to be in accord with Tao. To be in accord with Tao is to be everlasting, Even though one's body ceases to be, one is not destroyed."
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Author
Lao TzuBook
Tao Te Ching
Version: 11