Fragments of Ageless Wisdom
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THE Sage occupies himself with inaction, and conveys instruction without words.
Is it not by neglecting self-interest that one will be able to achieve it?
Purge yourself of your profound intelligence, and you can still be free from blemish. Cherish the people and order the kingdom, and you can still do without meddlesome action.
Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually become clear of itself. Who is there that can secure a state of absolute repose? But let time go on, and the state of repose will gradually arise.
Be sparing of speech, and things will come right of themselves.
A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!
Attain complete vacuity, and sedulously preserve a state of repose. ...
The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice. Hence I know the advantage of inaction.
Conveying lessons without words, reaping profit without action - there are few in the world who can attain to this!
Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat. Purity and stillness are the correct principles for mankind.
Without going out of doors one may know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one may see the Way of Heaven. The further one travels, the less one may know. Thus it is that without moving you shall know; without looking you shall see, without doing you shall achieve.
Tao-te-Ching
(Treatise of the Way and of Virtue)
Is it not by neglecting self-interest that one will be able to achieve it?
Purge yourself of your profound intelligence, and you can still be free from blemish. Cherish the people and order the kingdom, and you can still do without meddlesome action.
Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually become clear of itself. Who is there that can secure a state of absolute repose? But let time go on, and the state of repose will gradually arise.
Be sparing of speech, and things will come right of themselves.
A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!
Attain complete vacuity, and sedulously preserve a state of repose. ...
The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice. Hence I know the advantage of inaction.
Conveying lessons without words, reaping profit without action - there are few in the world who can attain to this!
Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat. Purity and stillness are the correct principles for mankind.
Without going out of doors one may know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one may see the Way of Heaven. The further one travels, the less one may know. Thus it is that without moving you shall know; without looking you shall see, without doing you shall achieve.
Tao-te-Ching
(Treatise of the Way and of Virtue)
