Tao Te Ching – Verse 16
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
(translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
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Attain the ultimate emptiness
Hold on to the truest tranquility
The myriad things are all active
I therefore watch their return
Everything flourishes; each returns to its root
Returning to the root is called tranquility
Tranquility is called returning to one’s nature
Returning to one’s nature is called constancy
Knowing constancy is called clarity
Not knowing constancy, one recklessly causes trouble
Knowing constancy is acceptance
Acceptance is impartiality
Impartiality is sovereign
Sovereign is Heaven
Heaven is Tao
Tao is eternal
The self is no more, without danger
(translation by Derek Lin, 2006)
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If you must seek, seek Nothingness.
Silence in all controls all.
The green grow from roots.
This is how life is explained.
In finding the root, there is the beginning of treasure.
The root is Silent.
Its fate is to grow.
Beyond the green is Nothingness.
We understand Nothingness only in that it appears as Zero.
In embracing this paradox, Fate becomes freedom.
Freedom is the Zero of Immortality.
Immortality naturally loves the great and small;
The moving and unmoving.
Prejudice is as unfathomable as Zero,
But unlike Zero it is illusion.
The Bliss of Zero can be called Heaven.
Small minds, confused, filling heaven with sleepless nights’ daydreams.
These are not real.
The bodies change, but the Lights within shine immortally.
(translation by Jeremy M. Miller, 2013)
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from I Ching Online
