Gamble everything for love, if you’re a true human being. If not, leave this gathering. Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty. You set out to find God, but then you keep stopping for long periods at mean-spirited roadhouses. Read more
Poetry
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily Life is But a Dream
In a boat down a fast-running creek, it feels like trees on the bank are rushing by. What seems to be changing around us is rather the speed of our craft leaving this world. Read more
The Big Bowl
The Tao is like an empty bowl, Which in being used can never be filled up, Fathomless, it seems to be the origin of all things. It blunts all sharp edges, It unties all tangles, It harmonizes all lights, It unites the world into one whole. Hidden in the deeps, […] Read more
Non-Ado
By not exalting the talented you will cause the people to cease from rivalry and contention. By not prizing goods hard to get, you will cause the people to cease from robbing and stealing. By not displaying what is desirable, you will cause the people’s hearts to remain undisturbed. Therefore, […] Read more
Wu Wei
When all the world recognizes beauty as beauty, this in itself is ugliness. When all the world recognizes good as good, this in itself is evil. Indeed, the hidden and the manifest give birth to each other. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short exhibit each other. High […] Read more
What’s in a Name?
Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao. Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name. As the origin of heaven-and-earth, it is nameless: As “the Mother” of all things, it is nameable. So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence: As always manifest, […] Read more
What Do sad people have in Common? It seems They have all built a shrine To the past And often go there And do a strange wail and Worship What is the beginning of Happiness? It is to stop being So religious Like That. Read more
Inside-Out
The clear water sparkles like crystal, you can see through it easily, right to the bottom. My mind is free from every thought, nothing in the myriad realms can move it. Since it cannot be wantonly roused, forever and forever it will stay unchanged. When you have learned to know […] Read more