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Tao Te Ching (Ch.23): Express yourself completely
Photo: Young girl from China by Hedda Morrison, 1930-1945.
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Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
yourself to the Tao,
you are when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
(Tao Te Ching, C.23)
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Source & Recommended reading:
'Tao Te Ching'
By Lao Tsu (Author), Gia-Fu Feng (Translator), Jane English (Translator)
Purchase Book:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Description:
The most accessible and authoritative modern English translation of the ancient Chinese classic. Offers the essence of each word and makes Lao Tsu's teaching immediate and alive.
Scholars say that the original Tao Te Ching is a poem. Like a poem, this version of the Tao Te Ching is not meant to be read in one breath from front to back, but is to be at intervals internalized and contemplated. Jane English's haunting black-and-white photos that undulate in and out on every page act as glycerin elixirs, helping the words slide into our souls for patient digestion. The photographs--of a glistening spider web, cloud-enveloped mountain tops, reflections on water, leaves in the sunlight--are as serenely lyrical as the ancient text, itself.
"No one has done better in conveying Lao Tsu's simple and laconic style of writing, so as to produce an English version almost as suggestive of the many meanings intended."
(Alan Watts)
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