headless tao

8/3/2019 Headless Tao

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Book of Tao

1.Words and names are not the wayThey can't define the absoluteIt's better that you look withinHold your tongue and just be mute

Look within and look out tooYou will not find a separationOut there you see appearanceWithin you see origination

Look within with wonderAt emptiness and blissFor wonder names totalityWhere nothing is amiss

The space within is always thereIf you can moderate desireA place of utter emptinessAnd possibility entire

Lao Tzu begins the Book of Tao by telling us that the Tao, the absolute, cannotbedefined with words. He says we must look for it. He will repeat this themethroughout. This looking or seeing is total seeing - looking out at the world of

appearance and looking in at its origin in the spacious emptiness at the very center ofour being. This emptiness is truly empty and truly great because it contains allpossibility, all potential, and all that appears. It's the source of all that exists - andaware of itself as such. What a promise! He even tells us where to look. Look withinfor origin. Look without for creation. Look and see both ways simultaneously. Originand creation are one!

Lao Tzu makes another promise. This emptiness that is totality is also bliss andwonder. Bliss is our true identity!


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2.Where beautiful and uglyDo not stand in oppositionWhere life and death or yes and noDo not make a contradiction

Can you see the vacant placeWhere good and bad and sad and merryDisappear forevermore?Where nothing ever is contrary

So stay within the emptinessUnless you rise you never fallAccepting that which comes your wayYou are forever all in all

Good and bad, happy and sad, beautiful and ugly, all opposites and all contraries, allare appearances or conditions in awareness, in me. They all exist in my vacant center.I accept all conditions. I have no choice. I am made for acceptance. I am made open. Iam all in all. I am all awareness that contains all objects, all events, all that is given,all that is presented by awareness.

Staying with awareness, emptiness, I am safe, no matter what is happening in the

world. I do not overlook this, the source and container of all, this my true identity.

3.If you love accumulationGain and increase every dayThieves and robbers will be waitingJust to take it all away

Best to be so empty-headedThat it seems you've lost it allYou will know you're on the wayThough others say you're at a stall

Do you want all the treasures of the world? Will they bring you happiness and joy?Are the rich happy? No matter how much you have, there's always more. You don'thave the unlimited. But, rich or poor, you can be the unlimited! You can see it.Be

empty headed. You can see boundless, unlimited awareness at the center of yourbeing, in the place where you were told you had a head!


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4.This nothingness is like a wellAlways giving, never takingAnd all claims to originNeither wanting or forsaking

You know it's ever presentYou find it where you have no faceIt is a wondrous blessingOriginal amazing grace

The Tao gives but asks no credit, does not lord it over creation. Unlimited, creativeawareness exists at the center of your being, where you have no face. Look in amirror. There's your face. But what is looking at the face in the mirror? Is itnot pure

awareness, the Tao itself, the core and origin of your existence, of all existence? Thiscreative nothingness is your true identity.

5.This emptiness is truly voidAnd infinitely capaciousIt holds whatever comes its wayEternally tenacious

Can you take whatever comes?Though judgment calls it bad and good

Seeing is acceptanceAnd nothing to be understood

Tao, awareness is truly empty and void, open and capacious. It has to be. Its nature isto contain the world. It welcomes all and rejects nothing.

Seeing accepts all things, all things agreeable and disagreeable. Don't try tounderstand this acceptance. Just see that it is so. See that you are open to everything.


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6.Complete and full awarenessIs like an open valleyOf endless generationThat doesn't reach finale

It is a simple presenceIt's a nothing you can seeYou'll find it right at centerWherever you may be

You are Tao. You are total awareness. You are the valley of the world. You contain thenever ending succession of life, all that comes and goes. You are the valley-likeopenness, the still openness at the center of existence. Can you see this openne

ss? Seeit as a void, an absence. Be it as a presence, a presence that generates and holds andnourishes all that appears from moment to moment.

7.This presence is unlimitedBecause it wasn't ever bornAnd it will not be perishingWill never give you cause to mourn

It truly wants for nothing

It has no wishes of its ownIt is the one and onlyEternally alone

It holds itself in vacancyWith no desire to advanceRemaining in simplicityIt merely witnesses the dance

The seer will remain behindAnd never yearns for leaving homeJust living in the here and nowPrefers to stay unknown

Tao, awareness, nothingness has no limits, no boundaries in space, no boundariesin

time. It has no beginning, no end. It has no divisions, no distinctions, no parts. It isforever one and forever alone. It cannot be divided between you and me. I am allof it.

You are all of it. I am the one. You are the one. We are not separate, not two.

Can you stay with your true identity? Can you see it every day, each moment of everyday? See it whenever it occurs to you to look. That's all you need to do. Become


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accustomed to seeing everyday. See your inner simplicity, and witness the danceoflife. Look both ways! Look in at the simple awareness and out at the spontaneousrise

and fall of events. You will see no separation. These are one, not separate, nottwo.

You are whole and total!


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8.The seer flows like waterLying low along the wayNourishing whatever comesTo be held on display

The seer keeps to simple waysAnd therefore is contentWhen joy or sorrow manifestsTo give complete assent

If you can clearly be yourselfAnd never rise to interfereEveryone will cherish youAnd always hold you dear

Water symbolizes the Tao in many ways. Here Lao Tzu refers to its nourishingqualities. All life depends on water. It has supreme power over all living things, yet itmakes no claim on what it creates. It does not seek preeminence. Water seeks thelowest places, and, in so doing, nourishes all it comes across. Can you see thatyou do

the same? It is your nature to give life to all things. You give by giving awareness,consciousness to all things. It is your very nature to give. Can you see yourself givinglife to all around you? Can you be this simple and clear presence?

9.Don't fill a bowlTill it's more than fullOr sharpen a bladeTill it must go dull

Don't pile up treasureThat comes at great costApproval and richesAre easily lost

Can you only doWhat's really neededThen stop and withdrawWhen your task is completed?

Enough is enough! Do you want to spend your life protecting your fame andpossessions? Lao Tzu's natural way is to do only what is called for by the presentmoment.

Do you want to give your life away to the pursuit of wealth? Do those who have morereally have more? Or do they have less? They have to devote time and life to get


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tingand protecting. Do they have time to let go, to see the truth? Living simply meansenough is enough. Be satisfied with having just enough, doing just enough. If youtake just enough, everything else is left!


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10.Can you see as a child seesAnd keep the simple vision?See the inner onenessWith absolute precision

Hold all things in your embraceThe entire world is in your careLet things be just as they areExtend acceptance everywhere

Let go all need to comprehendThe truth is here where all beholdTheir infinite capacityTo welcome and enfold

Children do not imagine a head on their shoulders. They see that they are empty,room

for the colorful world. They are space for their friends. They are nothing butawareness.

Can you see as a child sees? Can you see that in the place you learned you had ahead

and a face, you really have a void? You really are a void. But what a void! It embracesthe world. It welcomes everything. Of course, to others, you have a head, a face. Butothers are not in a position to see what you see, to see that you are empty to c

ontainall things. Can you see it? Can you look? Will you look?

The Tao Te Ching was written in ancient China over 2500 years ago. Legend has itthat its author, Lao Tzu, left China when he was very old. A gatekeeper at a mountainpass sensed that Lao Tzu had more than ordinary knowledge. He persuaded him torecord his vision and philosophy before leaving.

Lao Tzu stayed two days and wrote the Books of Tao and Te - much of it in verse.The

message is addressed to the One in all of us, the only One, the Seer. May his classic of5000 words inspire you the way it has millions of others since those far off days, theway it has inspired me.


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11.The empty hub at centerAllows a wheel to rollThe vacancy within definesThe function of a bowl

The openness within a houseProvides location to resideThe open space that is my heartIs where ten thousand things abide

A wheel can roll because of the empty hub. A bowl can be filled because it is hollow.A house can be occupied because the rooms are spacious. The manifest world existsbecause of the emptiness at your center, in your heart. You are space, room, cap

acityfor the ten thousand things. You are room for all things, events, thoughts, feelings. Allthings have a home in you.

12.Too much sound can make you deafToo many colors leave you blindCan you let desire die downAnd not leave emptiness behind?

Wanting things can drive you mad

And acquisition makes you poorSee that you are everythingAnd leave off wanting more

Too much indulgence can make you deaf to the silence, blind to the void. Livingsolely for excitement means overlooking the quiet root of existence. Living foracquisition leads you to embrace and value aggression, makes you a slave to gettingand keeping. Can you slow down enough to see that you already are everything?Value living from the truth and enjoying the world as it's given.


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13.Fame and shame are equalAnd so are gain and lossIt isn't very difficultTo get this point across

Having fame you know that youAre terrified to lose itMaking gain you always fearThat others will abuse it

Can you see that you're not likeYour image or reflection?Just see you are totalityBy looking in your own direction

The one who is not limitedAccepts whatever comes or goesAnd cares for everything aroundOn opening and close

There is no security in fame or in gain. These are just parts of the ever changingfunctioning or manifestation of objects and events, qualities and opinions. Fameand

gain don't last. They don't even last a lifetime, which is only a flash in eternity. And if

you should acquire wealth and fame, you will be the subject of the envy of others.You will have to defend them, fight to keep them. What a way to live!

Lao Tzu prefers another way, the way of doing nothing, nothing but seeing your truenature. You are not like your image in the mirror. You are pure awareness. Youoriginate and accept all creation, including the image in your mirror. You are made toaccept and receive and care for all things. Seeing this is bound to make a difference inyour life.

My interpretation of the Tao Te Ching is based on thevision of headlessness discovered and tirelessly sharedby Douglas E Harding. Don't miss the chance to read hisclassic work On Having No Head. You can also findextensive information about his vision on The HeadlessWay website. There you will find many experiments inseeing. Douglas would certainly say that theexperiments are the heart of the matter. He would agreewith Lao Tzu that words alone are not enough. Seeing is

required.


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14.When you look, it isn't thereListen and you cannot hear itIt seems to be beyond your reachBecause you are so near it

This single source of everythingAppears to be an empty imageThough it cannot be understoodYou can see its naked visage

Follow it to nothingnessApproach it where you have no faceFrom nowhere to infinityThis vacant image leaves no trace

From never to eternityThis naked face is what you areAn empty, vacant, open doorForevermore ajar

Tao is awareness, which appears as void or emptiness. Can you see the emptinessinthe place where others see your face? This is the emptiness or void that is yourno-

face or no-head. It is wide open for the world, for the ten thousand things of creation.

Your only task is to see this emptiness whenever it occurs to you to look. See yourempty face, the void in its infinity and eternity each moment. You will also seethe ten

thousand things that occur in time and space.

Your own body is one of these ten thousand things that are manifested in you, inyour

awareness, in the Tao. See the truth of who you are. To yourself, you are not the bodytopped off with a head. That is your image to other people.


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15.Those of old who knew the wayTo origin and source withinHave seen the place where wholenessAnd infinity begin

Alert as one on a frozen streamOr one who watches for the foeDeferential as a guestAnd generous as melting snow

Plain as an uncarved block of woodExpansive as a valeTransparent just like waterWhose clarity will never fail

Can you keep yourself so stillThat muddy water clears?And wait until right actionSpontaneously appears?

Simple societies have existed until very recent times. People in these societiesvalued

the simple joys of everyday living. They lived easily in friendliness and peace.No one

posed a threat to anyone else.

The people were alert and plain, polite and generous. They had no need to hurryandrush through life. You can do the same today. Become a seer. Just be aware of yourtrue identity as the Tao, pure awareness, and the Tao will take care of everything else.

Here Lao Tzu refers to water again, to another quality of water, to its clarity.Water

clears when it is still. If you stay with your still and clear center you will find theoutside turmoil clearing too. Stay with the unchanging truth of your being. It is boundto benefit everyone.

The image at the left is the Chinese ideograph for Tao. It is composed of two graphs,one meaning go, one meaning head. It is usually translated as Way. This combinationof meanings is found in English as well. Consider these expressions: headway, headoff, go away, head out. Douglas Harding points out that the ideograph looks likea

head and a chopper. The head is about to be removed! The Tao is the gone-head! Your

head must go. See the emptiness or blankness that exists in the place where youimagined a head. Nothing exists here but bare awareness. The Tao is this simplenaked


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awareness.


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16.See that you are emptinessAlways quiet and at peaceYou're in the place where all beginsThe space where all things cease

All things arise and have their dayAnd then go back to the single sourceReturning to serenityWith no regret and no remorse

When you see the source withinYou only give assentYou see you're everlastingAnd eternally omnificent

You are omnificent, all-creating. You create everything because you create yourownpoint of view. All that you see depends on you. Without you, none of it would exist inthe manner in which it appears in you. All appears in your emptiness, in yourawareness.

This is not to say that you know how you do it. Creation happens in you, as you,on

its own, spontaneously.

Return to the Tao, to your serene and peaceful center, and watch the myriad thin

gs ofthe world come and go. You are the host.

17.It's best if you are barely knownThe lesser state is being praisedWorse is being hatedJust stay empty and amazed

Only do what must be doneAnd see you are the one aloneWhen you finish all will sayWe did this on our own

Lao Tzu is referring to leaders of states and, by extension, to all of us. The mosteffective leaders act by not acting for recognition. The best course is to staycenteredand allow events to go their natural way. Do what is needed for the situation and thenstop. Allow others to take the credit. What does personal recognition add to totality?Just recognize your open and accepting nature.


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18.Goodness and complianceCame when people lost the waySpontaneity declinedHypocrisy was here to stay

Goodness and obedience appear when we lose the way. Rebellion comes too. Weadopt living to please others and to avoid their disapproval. And do we ever regret it!

19.Banish learned discourseAnd everyone will be contentEliminate proprietyIncrease astonishment

Stay away from fraud and swindleEveryone is bound to gainYou really have it all you knowThere is no basis to complain

Can you see your empty core?It isn't missing, gone or hiddenJust let go of needinessAnd it will come unbidden

Do you know what is proper for other people? Can you let go of your need to

interfere? Allow life to come to you on its own terms. Interfering in the livesof otherswith your so-called authoritative opinions and directions causes more misery intheworld than anything else. And in giving misery, you eventually get it back.

We all want approval. We want to merit approval. We are so needy we give our livesaway in an attempt to be seen in a good light by everyone. Is this possible? Isit worththe effort?

Can you see your empty core? This is the whole of what you need to do. Relax andlet

go. Stay empty and amazed. Only when you are empty and open can you be filled.See that you are always empty!

Isn't it encouraging to know that this is all there is to it? You can let go ofall attemptsto control or influence. Allow the world to come to you. See that you are made toreceive and accept whatever is happening.


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20.You need not give a yes or noSuch distinctions matter littleKeep your vision openAnd be at center noncommittal

See that it's ridiculousTo seek success and fear to failTo ever want what others wantTo think you always must prevail

Other people look so brightI am dark and void and nullOthers are so very sharpWhile I alone am dull

Others are so purposefulOnly I don't understandAimless, drifting, weak and dumbUninteresting and bland

I see I'm different from the restFor I take in what's plainly shownAnd I take my sustenanceOnly from the great unknown

Where is your center? Where do you place your attention? If you are seeing clearly,your attention is on totality, all that is given in the present moment. You arenot drivento appear successful in the eyes of others. You are not driven at all. You are aware thatsupport and sustenance comes to you on its own from the Tao, the great unknown butclearly seen core of your being.

Lao Tzu says he is dull, even void. He is seeing the limitless emptiness of theTao, theabsent head. Remember Tao means go-head. His head is gone. What remains is theglorious emptiness and the ten thousand things, thoughts, events and feelings that fillit with brimming brightness. Of course he looks different from the rest. He is thesource and container of all that appears. He is not a thing among things. He istheoriginal. And of course this vision is sustaining. Not such a dull fellow afterall! Thedullness he sees is the amazing central void that makes brightness possible. Heis totalpresence.


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21.Seeming utter emptinessQuite impossible to traceYet it contains all imagesWithin its wide embrace

Appearing total darknessYet you see that it is rightTo stay with its obscurityThe only origin of light

This ever present opennessAt center and withinCan be seen just anytimeSo look and look again

Your true center is always available. You can see the emptiness that contains all thingswhenever you remember to look, and the more you look, the more you remember tolook. Be as persistent as you can. Let's be persistent. Let's look again right now. As anaid to directing your attention, point your finger to your face, to your gone-head.Others will tell you that your are pointing to your face. Do you see it differently? Ofcourse you do. You see the truth from the position only you yourself occupy. Yousee

absolute emptiness filled with all the images of the eternal here and now.

Most interpreters of Lao Tzu speak of the Master or Sage. I use the word Seer instead,because Lao Tzu insists we see the Tao, that it's visible as an absence and almostpalpable as a presence. And isn't that good news? We can all see. We are all seers! Wedo it all the time. There's nothing to it. Lao Tzu simply tells us where to look, andthat's where the head is missing. In place of a head we find the world. Look andsee a

head? Never. Look and see emptiness here and a universe there! There is no needtobecome a Sage or a Master. Become a Seer! Become what you already are! Allow it!There's nothing to do but allow!

It bears repeating! Lao Tzu repeats the same themes throughout the Tao Te Ching.He

knows that we have been brought up to ignore the Tao, the gone-head. We imagineahead on our shoulders so we can be like everyone else. But we are not like anyoneelse. We are unique. We are the headless One, the absolute center of existence.So Lao

Tzu repeatedly reminds us that we must look in order to see how the world is setup,

how it is presented with emptiness here and fullness there. If we look repeatedl


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y andsee the arrangement, there comes a day when the seeing is natural, and the headisgone forever.


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22.Overcome by giving upSee that you are really nilLook into your emptinessIf you want to have your fill

Be satisfied with littleJust content with what you needIf you are always wanting moreYou surely are consumed by greed

Abide in your simplicityThough you are not on displaySee all things are shining brightIn marvelous array

If you do not boast or bragEveryone will hold you highIf you do not argueYou will prevail thereby

Only see you are completeAnd all things have come to youOvercome by giving upAll except your inner view

The Tao is your original state. The farther you drift from it, the less contentyou are,the more you want in compensation for what you lost. Lao Tzu tells us that greedcan

consume us and that we really need very little to be satisfied. He also tells usthat this

is true because we already have the most marvelous gift of all. We have the bareawareness that holds all things. Only this naked simplicity truly satisfies. Weneed solittle to be happy, to have all that can be had.

Can you stay with this vision of totality, of already having everything? If youcan, youwill not need to boast or brag or promote yourself in any way. You can't be promotedbeyond totality. Others will quietly appreciate your presence, you who are incompetition with no one. You are complete and whole. You have no need to proveyourself worthy, to gain back any missing parts or lost love. You have the wholebright world before you. You are not in need of anything that does not already belongto you.


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23.Say your piece and then be stillLike nature in a stormThat rains and blows and ceasesAnd sees the sun reborn

Open to the inward viewYou are at one with all existenceThere's nothing blocking up the wayOr putting up resistance

If you're at home with nothingnessAnd simply trust what comes aboutYou'll find that all is in its placeWithout a question or a doubt

Have your say. Do what you must. But don't insist. You are not in competition withanyone. You are made to receive and contain the world, not to confront or face itdown. You have no face to block or resist anything from your awareness, from yourpresence.

Your nature is pure and open presence. You are made to welcome and accept allcreation. Can you trust and welcome? Lao Tzu promises that if you do, you find all isas it should be. All is in its place. The ten thousand things that come and go o

ut thereare contained in your open awareness here.

24.Who stands on tiptoe topplesWho runs ahead soon looses speedWho goes on show is hiddenWho pushes far gives up the lead

Don't depart from what is givenThe ever present here and nowDon't overreach and don't opposeInvite, admire and allow

All ten thousand things have limits. Lao Tzu honors those limits. He gives us theprinciple of sudden reversal. If you try to push beyond your limits, you invitedisaster.Be content to go as far as you can. Don't try to stand out. Do so and become a target.Just stay aware of what is given. What is given is totality. There are no limitsto

wholeness. There are no targets in totality.


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25.Before creation did occurThis blessed emptiness was hereAlone forever and at peaceThe source of all that does appear

Eternally unchangingForever lacking limitThis void is all potentialThe everlasting ultimate

It flows through all existenceAnd then returns to sourceIt's ever at your centerYour only true recourse

For here begins the universeThe earth and humankindFollowing this greatest wayYou can never be defined

Here Lao Tzu gives us an outline of his view of existence. What appears to us asa

void or an absence or emptiness is truly a mystery. It's the ultimate, the absolute. It'sthe source of existence in its infinite potential.

It's also a presence, pure and unchanging awareness, the always-so. This presencecontains all that comes and goes in the here and now moment. It is your true,unchanging and eternal identity. It is beyond time because it contains time.

Can you see this Tao first in all things? You are the Tao, the one awareness, the onlyawareness. This awareness is very close at hand. It's at your very center, and it'salways available. It's who you really are, and it's always at peace and beyond allupset.


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26.The naked center doesn't changeIts quietude is absoluteYet from it spring all things that moveThis bare awareness is the root

Can you go about all dayAnd never leave your true abodeNo matter how enticing areThe splendors of the road?

Don't think that you can run aroundAnd act a perfect foolJust see that you are at the eyeOf nature's whirlpool

Can you stay centered in the Tao, the absolute? The Tao is your central emptiness. It isnaked awareness. It appears to you as a void, and it appears in the place whereyourhead is visible to others but not to you. What is visible to you? Everything! Youcontain all things. You, as the Tao, are the root, the origin, the source of thisawareness. This is your true abode.

Who would abandon this totality for the limited excitements offered by the world?

You are the center of this world, its origin and destiny.

27.Can you walk and leave no tracks?Make no errors when you talk?Count without a tally?Secure a door without a lock?

You can abandon no oneThere's nothing you can leave behindIn you there are no limitsYou are forever unconfined

What happens is spontaneousGood and bad are just the sameIn origin identicalBeyond both praise and blame

Here Lao Tzu talks about a special kind of action that does not show off or attractattention, action that leaves no tracks or traces. He calls it wu wei or doing nothing.

See that at center, there is no doer - only emptiness. All action is free and easy andspontaneous. How foolish it is to assign credit or blame! Wu wei is the natural


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way toact for those who see that their true essence is open acceptance of all that occurs.Good and bad are relative terms. What is good for one is bad for another. Awarenessaccepts whatever the present moment brings. Awareness accepts all and opposesnothing.


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28.Know the strong but keep the weakThe whole wide world is born in youYou'll see just what a child seesA vast and comprehensive view

Know the light but keep the darkAnd watch ten thousand things emergeIn you they have their residenceWhere space and time converge

Know the high but keep the lowHumility will honor youAttend to your vacuityThere's nothing else to do

Be like an uncarved block of woodDon't squander your potentialOr overlook your vacant coreNothing else is so essential

What is Keeping the Weak? Water is weak, but given time and persistence it willweardown the hardest rock. Your true and open essence is weaker than water, weaker eventhan air. You are pure awareness, as transparent as a calm mountain lake, yet you have

the capacity to reflect and take in all that presents itself to you. You remainconstantand immutable while all else has its being in you. Be as persistent as water inseeingthis transparency. Keep the weak, the vacuous and transparent. Keep your true nature.

What is Keeping the Low? Stay with Tao, and all things come to you as rivers flowinto the sea. Receive and contain all creation. You are the one who holds totality. Youare not one of the Ten Thousand Things. Lie low and see that this is true. Invite theworld!

What is the Uncarved Block of Wood? This is Lao Tzu's symbol for simplicity andpossibility. Before a piece of wood is carved into an object, it is potentiallyanything.The Tao, the pure awareness right here where we all are, is the ultimate simplicity thatspontaneously manifests as the always changing world, as the ten thousand things.These ten thousand things are never the same. They change like the clouds. Theyaretemporal and temporary. But the Tao, bare awareness, is eternal, out of time. Th

e Taocontains time as it contains space. They are only measurements and dimensions of


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change.


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29.Do you want to change the world?You cannot possibly succeedThe given cannot be improvedOn this the seers are agreed

At times you find you're out in frontAt other times you fall behindSometimes you're all commotionBut afterwards you must unwind

When all around is turmoilJust stay with the sereneYou are the quiet centerOf the ever changing scene

Can you see things as they areAnd let them be all on their own?Remain in pure awarenessYou never need to stray from home

Things are just as they are. They arise out of nowhere. What good does it do torejectsome events and accept others? It harms no one but yourself. You are not made toreject anything. You are made open and aware. You take in the world.

Existence changes constantly. You can't pin it down. Why not trust it? Let the tenthousand things come and go. You need do nothing. Stay with your true identity,purepresence. The scene changes. You remain empty.

All that is given is inevitable. Why wish for change? Change will come on its own.You are the Tao, the unchanging. Do nothing. Remain content. The turmoil andconfusion cannot reach you. You are the immutable Tao, the everlasting simplicity.


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30.There is an ancient way to leadThat just allows and does not forceFor what goes out will come aroundAnd violence will lead to wars

The one who sees completes a taskAnd stops when it is doneSeeing all is on its ownAnd not controlled by anyone

The seer sees that all is wellAnd does not need to pleaseJust gives acceptance everywherePuts everyone at ease

The Tao can change the world. The attitude of the Tao is acceptance. The attitude ofso many people and institutions is force. This attitude says that we know what is rightand what is wrong. We know how others should think. They should think as we do.We know how they should behave. They should behave as we do. We should takewhatever actions are necessary to force compliance. The Taoist attitude is different.Allow others to go their own way. Let go of the need to control. The Tao is in chargeand is worthy of its charge. What freedom you give to all you meet with this kind of

acceptance!


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31.Weapons lead to violenceWhich everyone despisesAvoid them altogetherAllow no compromises

If use of weapons has to beWhen enemies just leave no choiceUse them but reluctantlyIn victory do not rejoice

Ascendancy brings sorrowAnd triumph doesn't carry pleasureIt severs you from wholenessAnd robs you of your real treasure

Victory is like a funeralWhere loss of life must make you sadFor putting other people downNever ought to make you glad

Once again we meet the principle of reversal. This time it's the cycle of aggression.People naturally resist force.

Ascendancy brings sorrow because it make you an object, a person, a limited thing. It

may make you the greatest thing, even the top thing. But being any kind of a thingcovers up your true and unlimited nature as absolute awareness. This is the greatestloss of all.

In addition to this loss of wholeness, you have set yourself up as a thing up againstother things, as a person in the world. You have put yourself in competition forthe

world's limited resources. Others are bound to oppose you. They want what you havefor themselves. Have you been victorious? Can you hold on to this victory?


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34.The empty center's everywhereIt flows both left and rightIt brings to pass ten thousand thingsAnd yet it never leaves your sight

It welcomes everything aroundOn nothing does it make a claimIt's in the heart of each and allThis ultimate without a name

Some can see that it is greatAnd some will say that it's obscureIt is your real identitySimplicity that will endure

The Tao brings to pass all things. It welcomes all things. Events happen one way. Yetwe often play the game of what-if. What if I had done something differently? This isthe game of the impossible, the game of regret. All has happened as the Tao hasgivenit. See and remember that the Tao is your real identity. All has happened as you, inyour deepest heart, have desired. Even your rebellion against events was meant to be.All is always as it should be. All is as the Tao, as you, intended - even your regret!

What freedom and joy there is in watching yourself truly welcome all that comesyourway.


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35.Totality will be with youIf you can see the simple presenceAlthough there's danger all aroundYou give complete acceptance

Good music, food and companyAre welcome when you're travelingThe inner truth seems tastelessYet it produces everything

You look and you see nothingYou listen and hear silenceIts use is inexhaustibleIt's ever worthy of reliance

What a contrast between those who value the pleasures of the senses above everythingand those who value the Tao's simple presence, the source and origin of everything.This presence seems thin and tasteless compared to the pleasures of food and musicand congenial company. But those who persist in seeing this presence and sourcehavefound everlasting truth. It's the presence that appears as a void, an absence, asemptiness, as nothing. Danger cannot penetrate this absence. It is safe! Look and see

absence. Look and see refuge. Look and see the presence that manifests andwelcomes all that occurs. You are totality.

Our big mistake is seeing in part. Our fundamental error is overlooking thefundament, the ground of being. We don't see what's here, only what's there. Wemissthe obvious. When we aren't aware of the Tao, the gone-head, we imagine a head hereinstead. We live in imagination rather than in truth. If we get this wrong by imagininga head where we should be seeing an absence, all that follows is in error. Yet it is easyto see this absence and live its truth. We are fortunate indeed if this way appeals to us.


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36.You cannot be diminishedUnless you've been inflatedYou cannot be defeatedUnless you've been elated

You cannot be belittledUnless you've been esteemedUnless you're wholly missingYou cannot be redeemed

The soft and slow can overcomeThe rigid and the hard and fastJust see your inner emptinessFor nothing else is made to last

Here again Lao Tzu tells us that the only thing we need to do is see our inneremptiness, see the Tao, see the seer. Nothing endures like nothing! It is so soft it putsup no resistance. It embraces all. It is so slow it doesn't move. It allows allelse tomove. Yet it overcomes all things. It witnesses all things first appear and thendisappear. Are you inflated, elated and esteemed? If so, you are vulnerable. Give it up.Go missing. Be nothing. Now you are lasting and safe. How do you become nothing?Just look and see that you are truly nothing already. Look in that place where o

thersfind your face and you find the Tao.


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37.Only see you're doing nothingYet not a thing is left undoneFor all things happen on their ownIn you who are the all in one

If leaders could be centeredAll ten thousand things would thriveBy seeing what is naturalAll creation comes alive

Everyone would be contentWith living simply every dayDesires would be moderateAnd peace would be the only way

Once again, see! See that you are doing nothing. You are the empty center ofexistence. What could emptiness possibly do? All you can do is see and accept.Everything occurs spontaneously - in you! All you need do is be aware. And if leadersand influential people could be centered this way too, what marvels would occur.Harmony and contentment would prevail. Peace would reign. These people would notcontinue to interfere and meddle in the affairs of others. They would see no gain inthat. They would see that gain is not possible in a world where totality is given every

moment.

What is Lao Tzu's simple vision? It is total seeing, simultaneously seeing the inneremptiness and the outer fullness, the ten thousand things. Total seeing is seeing boththis and that, both near and far. And it is seeing that these are not separate,not two.They are one, and they are all.

Looking within we see This, which is pure presence or awareness that appears asabsence or void. This is the featureless absolute. Here is the origin and source. Hereand now is Tao, at the center of my being, the empty center of my awareness. Itisunlimited. It is infinite and eternal. Yet it is not of time, not in space. Rather itcontains time and space. It is featureless simplicity, the one we all are. It aloneendures and is always here. By its very nature as emptiness, this embraces that,here

includes there, now encompasses all time. This vacancy at our center is not merelyvacant. It is occupied! This emptiness is brimming. We are nothing and everything.

The seer and the seen are one.

Our simplicity is occupied by a world that appears to us out of itself. The appe


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arancesare all the things and events, thoughts and feelings that we experience moment bymoment. They are always moving and changing against the background of our innerstillness and sameness. They comprise the world we see when we look outward, awayfrom our vacant center. This world contains That world. That world occupies This

world, comes and goes spontaneously in our openness. What occurs in That world istemporal and temporary, perishable. This world in which they occur is more thaneternal. It is once and for all! It is the place of origin, the source and substance of allthat is seen. This inner aware absence is in no way separate from the world of objects


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out there. You see no division. In here is out there. Out there is in here. These worldsare really one, one in me, one in you, one in all who ever existed. This Tao, the gone-head, belongs to each. We are not separate either. We are all This! We are One!We are

Whole!

Book of Te

38.You needn't search for powerYou already have it allTo seek outside your empty coreIs looking for a fall

The seer doesn't do a thingBut sees that all is finishedFoolish people run aboutAnd leave totality diminished

Goodness must be doingAnd justice never is completePropriety can't satisfyObedience is forced defeat

When totality is lost

Goodness comes to take its placeFollowed by proprietyBewilderment and end of grace

The seer sees peripheryBut also sees the open coreAnd thus the seer sees the wholeAnd dwells therein forevermore

Lao Tzu begins the Book of Te by showing us what happens when we seek ouridentity outside our center of pure awareness. If I believe myself to be a humanbeing,

I am one among many. I have lost my wholeness. I am limited. I have put aside thevastness of pure awareness. Others are lost too, and they become my rivals. In such aworld, order is kept by forced compliance. First come codes of behavior. The codestell us what is good and what is proper. And the codes lay out the punishment forthose who don't comply. Some rebel. Some go along. All live a diminished existence.Spontaneity is lost.

Lao Tzu tells me that I need not go along with this order. Nor do I need to challenge


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it. I simply see how the world is really given. I see human beings out there. Isee myown reflection in the mirror out there. All of this is on the periphery. At my core I seeonly unlimited openness. Here is my real identity. I am the heart of existence.All ispresented in me and as me.


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39.If you stay with clear awarenessThe sky is open, pure and spaciousThe earth is firm and friendly tooActivity is efficacious

But depart from clarityThe purest sky is torn apartThe earth is so dividedFelicity must flee your heart

The seer knows humilityDoesn't argue or cajoleDoesn't discard anythingOr mutilate the whole

The seer doesn't show at allDoesn't sparkle like a jewelThe seer's vast immensityIs truly less than minuscule

Find your identity at the core. Stay with clear awareness. All existence comes alive.Don't take this on faith. See for yourself. See the world in a different light,the light ofwholeness and origin.

Ignore this clarity and all is false. Everything is divided into individual, self-containedthings. No one is content. A thing can't contain itself. Only empty space can containthings. You are the empty clarity that contains this space and the ten thousandthings.

Being like space, you do not show or show off. You are anonymous. You are faceless.You are humble enough to disappear completely so that all others are able to showtheir faces and their sparkle. You enable this! As clarity you enable the world.

40.All is born of emptinessManifests and has its dayThen yields and surrendersReturns and dies away

All things are born and live and die in your clear and empty awareness, in yoursight.Only awareness remains forever open and unchanged. You are origin and eternity.


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41.When seers see their nothingnessThey never let it out of sightBut others see it now and thenAnd miss out on its true delight

Still others only laugh it offAnd look at it with ridiculeIt wouldn't be the real truthIf it weren't laughed at by the fool

The brightest way seems darknessJust going on seems like retreatThe simple way seems difficultCapacity seems like defeat

Clarity can seem obscureAnd love seem not to careTotality seems not enoughAnd truth can seem to err

Awareness doesn't have a nameTo all appearances is nullYet it produces everythingAnd so this empty place is full

All this talk of nothingness! It all seems so backwards and contrary to common sense.How few take it seriously! This brightest and most obvious of all spots in the universeis just not seen. This empty center of awareness is not noticed. Even if it is noticedwhen it is pointed out, most people fail to see its worth. They seldom attend toattention itself. Others don't even give it a chance. They laugh at it without hesitation.Lao Tzu playfully tells us that their laughter proves its truth.

The very idea that this openness may be the ultimate seems so empty to some. Theydo not look to see that this emptiness is source of all that exists. It is the unchangingorigin of existence. It looks dark, but it is the source of all bright things. You have itall. Just look. Watch all things emerge from and in your naked awareness. See thealways changing complexity taking place in your changeless central simplicity. Seethat this nothing has potential. It's not a mere nothing. It's filled with its own creation!


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42.Awareness comes from nothingnessSo all can see it's plainly oneContains all oppositionTen thousand things are now begun

All these things embrace the voidAnd face the manifestAchieving thus true harmonyThey find existence truly blessed

No one wants to be consideredEmpty and aloneYet that's exactly what the seersSay they have been shown

And violence is not the waySo here I must adviseThat those who live by violencePrepare their own demise

Empty and alone! That is our true condition. That is the reason we all seek ouridentity elsewhere. We try to find our place in the world. So begins our fall fromwholeness. We do great violence to our true nature. To seek your identity in theworld

is to forget that the world is in you, in your awareness. You are the sole consc

iousness,empty but ready to receive the manifold world.

Empty and alone! Does that mean that others lack consciousness? No. The void,emptiness, nothingness has no attributes, no qualities. It can't be divided. Itresides atyour center, at my center. The void is one. Each is it in totality. All beings are identicalat center, identical as pure consciousness. Seers embrace this void and welcometheworld. Is it a wonder they find creation blessed?

What are the Ten Thousand Things? These are all the objects and events and thoughtsand feelings your awareness creates at every moment. They are always changing,always fresh. They are what's on display. They are your riches. Lao Tzu insiststhatyou always have it all and asks how you could possibly want more. Isn't everythingenough?


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43.Overcome by yieldingThe weak can overcome the strongFor only absence can provideThe place where everything belongs

And thus it is that I can seeThe worthiness of not contendingYet few will ever comprehendThe potency of bending

Is it possible to overcome limitations by yielding? Yield your limited identityas asomeone. See that you are nothing now. You are an absence. Accept your unlimitedability as capacity to receive the world. Yield all contention and opposition. Y

ou arenot a somebody up against others. Others live in you. So few people see andappreciate their unlimited capacity to host the world.

44.Which of these means more to youIntegrity or reputation?Are gain and loss not equallyResponsible for limitation?

Everything that you possessIs surely transitory

Just be pleased with emptinessAnd witness inner bliss and glory

You know that your are always safeIf only you can be contentedWith awareness as capacityAnd with all that is presented

Is happiness based on gain and getting? Whatever you gain is temporary and limited.Gain and fame are traps. They can be lost and must be protected. You are not yourpossessions. Which means more to you, what you have or what you are? As capacity,you possess all that comes into your awareness. You are free, open and safe, intheplace of lasting bliss. You are the never changing total potential to which theeverchanging ten thousand things are presented You are the open awareness that acceptsand possesses whatever comes into view. You are the emptiness that containseverything.


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45.Wholeness seems like imperfectionYet its usefulness is sureFullness seems quite emptyBut it is certain to endure

True straightness can seem twistedTrue wisdom does not seem to knowGreat eloquence seems haltingGreat darkness seems to be aglow

Can you see that emptinessContains all oppositions?Like hot and cold and fast and slow?All differences and all conditions?

So-called common sense has it wrong. Things are not as they appear. Above all, Iam

not as I appear - to you, to your camera, or to my mirror. How do I appear fromhere?to myself? to my own uncommon sense? If I appear at all, I appear to myself righthere as emptiness, as an absence. This absence is the Tao, the absent head.

To see that all this is so, all you need to do is look - and keep looking. You are theabsence that contains all that exists, the sameness that contains all differences. You are

unlimited capacity for all limited things.

46.When the absolute is cherishedHorses graze on the open greenWhen the absolute is lostOnly steeds of war are seen

No calamity exceeds desireAnd always wanting moreCan you not see you have enoughAnd live in plenitude galore?

Cherish the Tao, the absolute. How do we cherish it? Lao Tzu tells us again andagainthat all we need to do is look. Look where the head is gone. Look any time it comes tomind. If we see our emptiness, our amplitude, we see that we have everything inourembrace. Spread your arms, and see that you embrace and include the world.Amplitude is plentitude! And excessive desire is calamity.


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47.No need to go outside a doorTo see totalityOr look out of a windowFor seeing what will always be

Going out you go astrayAt home and center all is oneThe seer doesn't have to doTo see that everything is done

Look within to see the source and container of all things. Can you see that thisis your

true identity? If you see this, you see all there is to see. You see pure awareness,perfect simplicity. You are home. You can look within anytime. You always find t

heTao here at the still and quiet center of your being. And the Tao is worthy of yourtrust. It brings all things to you. It brings what you need each moment.

48.In going after learningSomething's added every dayFor resting in the ultimateEverything must drop away

Day by day do less and less

Until nothingness is seenAll occurs quite on its ownA doer need not intervene

Allow all things to run their courseIf you want to be proficientMake a fuss and botherAnd existence will be insufficient

Can you learn to rely on the Tao? Nothing else will serve you so well, for nothing elseis so true. Nothing else is absolute, ultimate and final. Can you begin to let go of theidentity you have built up over so many years? The efforts of your personal selfto

order your life have not brought satisfaction. The more you see your empty andcreative core, the more your preoccupation with personal concerns drops away - on itsown. Your true identity is pure awareness, centered in the place where others see yourhead, where you see only absence. Claim your true and unchanging nature. All youneed to do is look within!


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49.The seer doesn't own a thoughtFor thoughts do not reside withinThoughts concern ten thousand thingsAnd that's the way it's always been

The seer doesn't rush to judgeAnd treats all people wellConsiders no one bad or goodAttracts but never does repel

The seer trusts things as they areAnd takes all people at their wordGiving trust to everyoneKnows faithfulness will be returned

The seer turns your view aroundSo you can never be beguiledAnd gives you back all that you lostThe vision of a little child

When your view is total and singular, you are seeing as a child sees. You are seeing anundivided world, a world in which the seer and the seen are one. It is all you and allyours. Even those you call others are you! Seen in this light, the light of origin, all is

seen in all its vividness, as if for the first time.

The seer treats all people with acceptance according to the open and welcomingnature of awareness. This may be startling to some, especially to those who reactaccording to a moral code of proper behavior. The seer sees that these codes areartificial systems of thought imposed from the outside. The seer prefers the naturalvalues of simple and spontaneous acceptance. What advantage does this provide?When you treat people with acceptance and trust, you are trusted and welcomeeverywhere. Give trust, and trust is given in return.

Turn yor view toward the Tao. See the gone-head. See your eternal and infinitecapacity to receive all that occurs, all things and all events. This is the simple visionof the small child who still sees totality and still knows joy.


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50.Between the time when they are bornAnd the time that they will dieThree in ten will follow lifeThree others only will deny

Three others are so casualThey live as though they're passing throughBut one remains who clearly seesThere's not a single thing to do

Can you be like the one who seesThe world emerging on its own?What's needed for each momentArises from the great unknown

This one doesn't have a fearOf weaponry or wild beastThese enemies can't harm the oneWhose separate self is long deceased

This vast awareness is everyone's true identity, but not everyone will appreciate it.Some will go along with tradition and the mores of their time, including the commonview that they are a thing much like the image they see in the mirror. They willignore

awareness. Others will deny and despise existence. They will rebel against the waysof their neighbors and peers. They too ignore awareness. Still others will liveonly forthe day, and they will reap the passing of days. They do not see eternity in their midst.But one remains, perhaps only one in ten, who sees what is given. This one is the seer.The seer sees the world arising moment by moment from the aware emptiness that isseen where the head is gone. This is the Tao. This is awareness. And the seer knowsthat this Tao is invulnerable. All things are vulnerable. This alone is not a thing. Thisalone is nothing.


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51.Everything arisesFrom this total emptinessIs nourished and completedAnd finds creation blessed

All things arise from nothingnessAre cared for by existenceWhich freely gives what is requiredFor bountiful subsistence

Existence does not make a claimOn what it has createdIt nourishes and serves and leadsIs honored and appreciated

Are you a thing? Or are you nothing, not a thing, no thing? You can settle thisquestion for yourself just by looking. Look within, at your central emptiness, at yourmissing head. Only you can do this looking. No one else is in a position to seeitwhere you see it. Others see your head. You see nothing. But from this nothingemerges all existence. It's not merely nothing. It's the mysterious source of existence,and it's filled with its own creation. Please look to see that this is true foryou. It'snever otherwise for the seer. The beauty and bounty of existence comes from this

most humble and most potent of all places, the great within.

Everything arises from nothing - on its own. What does that leave for us to do?Nothing! Do nothing. If you see that creation is arising moment by moment out ofyour central emptiness, that is all there is to it. That is the doing, which isreally anon-doing. What to do? Trust that being aware of the Tao, seeing the gone-head,willoccur more and more often. You can neither force it nor prevent it. If you see it, it'seasy. It comes on its own. Just trust that it will always do so. If you are impressedwith the magnificence and glory of this vision, it will continue to come. If yousee that

you are seeing the timeless, the eternal, it will continue to come, because youhaveseen it for all time! If you see that you are bare awareness, you will see thatyou arenot the doer. You are the awareness that allows all doings to occur.


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52.All things emerge from nullityThe only derivationOf everything that manifestsThe source of all creation

Stay in touch with originThere's nothing that you need denySeeing your totalityYou will not fear to die

Do not be in haste to speakAnd always guard the sensesYou will find your heart at peaceAnd in the place where all commences

See the subtle and the clearIt is the empty source of lightThere is no danger in this placeThat is forever in plain sight

Lao Tzu wants us to see the subtle and clear core of being right here where thehead isgone. It's the place of total peace. And it's the place of origin of all ten thousandthings. Watch these things emerge and subside in the Tao, in your clear awareness. We

can see this any time we care to look. Lao Tzu tells us why we should care.

See that as awareness you are totality. You are the clear origin and only ownerofdynamic existence. You are both. As the unchanging, undying source of all things,you are at peace and out of danger. As the possessor of creation, you are at peace evenamidst turmoil if you see that you are the source of the turmoil. Stay in touchwithorigin! It's never out of sight. It's the light that shines on the world, the light of pureawareness.


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53.This way is wide and easyYet people love to strayThey love to take the sidetracksAnd wander from the way

When the few are rich and wealthyLiving way above their needsThe granaries are emptyAnd the fields are full of weeds

When rulers spend on weaponsAnd implements of warIt's a never ending circleOf ever wanting more

When the rich have all abundanceWhat remains must surely dwindleHaving more than you can useIs thievery and fraud and swindle

What does it mean to get sidetracked? Pursue the interests of the false self togetahead - to get a head. Why not prefer the wide and easy way of seeing how existenceis truly given? to see the gone-head? the simple truth?

Lao Tzu calls it thievery when the few capture the bulk of a country's worth. This isno basis for a decent life. Even those in power would be better off if they didn't haveto defend their position and their possessions. This kind of power does not last. It hasalways led to rebellion and to the overthrow of those who hold the power.

True power lies in seeing your true nature as unlimited potential to originate andsustain the world. This is real wealth and abundance, and it's yours by nature.Claim itby seeing it!

Wu wei, doing nothing, is spontaneous action. Everything occurs on its own - inemptiness. When Lao Tzu says to do nothing, he wants us to see our emptiness, tosee

that there is no one here to do anything. Even thoughts occur on their own, onefollowing another. These thoughts can lead to a special kind of thought called adecision. Decisions too occur on their own, spontaneously. So what should you do?Do nothing. You are not any kind of thing that could do anything. You are no-thing.See that you are simply nothing, the nothing that beholds all activity. And see

that allactivity takes place in you.


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54.Hold fast to this awarenessSeeing that it is your rootIt will not ever slip awayThis ever present absolute

It cannot be uprootedIt's always held in venerationDiscovered very close at handIn every generation

Allow its presence in your lifeAwareness real and profoundAllow it in the familyIts blessings will abound

And if you care to share itWith neighbor and with friendIts potency will multiplyWith benefits that never end

You ask me how I know it's trueIt isn't something I mistookWell nothing is more obviousThe only thing I do is look

Bare awareness is your root. It is the source and nourishment and support of yourworld, the absolute at the center of existence. It has never been otherwise. Thisawareness is not new. It is eternal. It is what you have always been, unchangedsincethe day you were born and before.

It is also unchanged since olden days. Some people have seen it in all the agesofhumanity. This view has been recorded since the invention of writing. The joy insharing it is overwhelming. And the power of sharing this vision is boundless. Thoughit is thoroughly plain, it is the source of all delight. Sharing it with otherscan onlyspread the blessings. And sharing makes it easier to keep up the seeing yourself.

Why is Lao Tzu so sure of this? He can see it! He sees the Tao, the gone-head, thenaked awareness. Nothing else is so plainly obvious. He looks where his face isabsent and sees only openness to take in all delights.

It is also unchanged since olden days. Some people have seen it in all the ages

ofhumanity. This view has been recorded since the invention of writing. The joy in


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sharing it is overwhelming. And the power of sharing this vision is boundless. Thoughit is thoroughly plain, it is the source of all delight. Sharing it with otherscan onlyspread the blessings. And sharing makes it easier to keep up the seeing yourself.

Why is Lao Tzu so sure of this? He can see it! He sees the Tao, the gone-head, thenaked awareness. Nothing else is so plainly obvious. He looks where his face isabsent and sees only openness to take in all delights.


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55.One who sees full emptinessIs like a child just bornWith muscles weak and bones so softYet with a grip that's strong

The newborn hasn't been fulfilledIts nature is pure vacancyNullity and nothingnessAnd potent spontaneity

It can scream and cry all dayAnd yet it never does get hoarseIt only does what naturallyEmerges from the inner source

To see this inner natureIs seeing in a way that's boldInto the only place there isThat cannot possibly grow old

Children and seers are similar in not imagining themselves to be an object, a humanobject with a head and a face. Infants and very young children have no conceptsabouttheir identity. They simply see what is. They have no thoughts on the subject. But they

soon learn what others say they are. They see a face in the mirror. That's who they arenow. Over the years they watch that face growing older. They know they willsomeday die. They have the knowledge that kills.

The seer returns to the pure, simple and total vision of the child, seeing theunchanging and undying vacancy at center, the nullity that is full of the world.Yet

there is a difference. Unlike the child, the seer is awake to the Tao, aware ofthe all-creative nullity that exists in place of the face, instead of the head.

What is Te? Te is most often translated as Power, and what a power! It's the infinitepotential of Tao, of This, of the awareness at your center. Te is the unlimitedpossibility of the Tao to become the ten thousand things. Tao is infinite emptinesswith unlimited potential. And you can see it! You can see this infinite and creativeemptiness, the Tao that holds the kaleidoscopic world.


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56.Those who know don't like to sayThose who say don't knowBe still and guard the sensesAnd see what doesn't show

Untie tangles, dim the glareDull the sharp and join the dustAbide in primal unityAnd then do what you must

You cannot hold it or let goIt can't be blamed or praisedIn all-embracing onenessBe astonished and amazed

Those who know don't like to say. They know that it can't be captured in words.Theyknow that others are likely to take the words themselves for the truth. The truth is notin words. The truth is in seeing, in seeing the oneness at your center, the oneness youhave in common with all beings.

Don't become entangled and identified with the ten thousand things. You are notathing like your reflection in the mirror. You are not an image. You are the original!

How can you fail to be amazed? How can you continue to ask for more?

You'll see more than what's on show! You'll see the void or absence at your center. It'sa void that is plain to all the senses. You'll hear it as the silence that contains all sound.Using any of your senses, it is total plainness and purity. This void is pure andunadorned awareness, simple and absolute presence.


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57.To truly lead with fairnessYou must put aside controlAbandon impositionMake spontaneity your goal

The more you try to run their livesWith rules and prohibitionThe poorer people's lives becomeThe more they live in opposition

The more you deal with othersWith cunning and with guileThe more that other people sayOur lives are not worthwhile

The more you hoard your treasuresThe more you're giving hope to thievesThe more you sharpen weaponsThe more the country grieves

Do nothing and see all is doneAnd everyone is trueDrop the rules and people oweProsperity to you

Just let go of all desireAnd people will returnTo natural and simple waysTo life without concern

Do nothing and see all is done. Allow spontaneity. Lao Tzu is showing us two ways ofdoing. The first way is the more familiar. It's the way of opposition and imposition, oftrying to impose our will on the world. It's the way of calculated action. Of course wemust all plan and be assertive to some extent. We must do what is needed for living.But if we imagine this assertiveness to be the only mode of action, then we don'tknow when to stop. We do not know its limits. We push too far, and the world pushesback.

Lao Tzu prefers a second way of doing. He calls it wu wei, doing nothing. The Taodoes nothing, and all is done. Everything happens on its own, with no help fromyouor me. Hold still a minute and look. Has anything stopped just because you are d

oingnothing? Does action continue? Of course it does. Trust that all is as it shouldbe, and


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do what you will.

Doing nothing is identical to seeing everything. See that your inner being cannot act.See the setup. Here, where the head is gone, is Tao, which is empty and void.Emptiness cannot act, but it can contain action. All action is out there in theworld,

happening on its own. And the world out there is happening in you!


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58.Let your lead be gentleAnd people will be satisfiedLet it be severe and harshAnd be rejected and defied

Happiness may reign todayBut who knows what tomorrow holds?Sadness too will have its timeAs all ten thousand things unfold

The seer's sight is sharp and pointedBut it does not cut or pierceThe seer sees and shows the truthThis gentle way is never fierce

Who knows what tomorrow holds? No one is certain. Allow events to unfold as theywill. Don't interfere in the affairs of others. Lead gently. Knowing that calculatedaction may backfire, are you prepared to take the blame?

The seer leads by doing nothing. Do nothing. See everything! Do nothing that iscalculated. See totality. See the absence that is the source and substance of all thatexists. Watch actions arise spontaneously. Even what seem like conscious decisionsarise on their own. Be at your ease, and all will be at ease in your presence.

59.To serve and care for othersWith restraint and moderationStay centered in the here and nowAnd free of limitation

If you keep returningTo this your central rootYou will possess foreverAwareness undilute

How can you best serve others? By being sure of yourself, of your own root. Staycentered in the here and now, in your own presence, your own awareness. When youare sure of your own unlimited identity, share it with others. It's our common identityafter all. Awareness is not a thing that has qualities or parts that could be divided. It isidentical for all of us. It is your nature to share it!


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60.It's best to lead a large domainAs you would cook a little fishDon't poke and prod or you are boundTo spoil the country and the dish

Just stay open and awareAnd evil cannot get a holdCannot find a home in youEven evil's not that bold

At center you harm no oneAnd no one's able to harm youThis kind of reciprocityCreates the world anew

How do you cook a small fish? By leaving it alone. Put it on the fire, and let it cookitself. We are back again to Lao Tzu's perennial theme, don't interfere. Lead acountrythe same way. Provide for the basic needs, then let it run itself. Don't exploitothers

for your own benefit. All will go smoothly on its own, with no harm to others and noharm to you.

Lao Tzu is also speaking about your true essence as awareness. No one is able to

harm you, because, as awareness, you are an absence. The Tao, the absent head, isinvulnerable. It is pure bliss.

Many of the chapters in the Book of Te are addressed to the leader of a country.We

can learn from these because we all must assume the role of a leader at times. Lao Tzutells us not to lead by opposing and prohibiting. If it harms no one then give thepeople what they want. The Taoist story of Three in the Morning tells of a keeper ofmonkeys who had to reduce their ration of nuts because of a shortage that year.Hetold the monkeys they would have three nuts in the morning and four nuts in theevening. The monkeys raised such a fuss about the situation that the keeper hadtoreconsider. He came back to the monkeys with a new plan. They would have four nutsin the morning and three nuts in the evening. Now the monkeys were satisfied. Thekeeper had allowed them to have what they wanted. And it had cost him nothing. Ifwe really stop to listen to what people want, we will no doubt find that most oftheir

wants amount to no more than four in the morning. An effective leader listens toothers and does not insist on three in the morning!


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61.A great domain is like the seaWhose power comes from lying lowAnd due to this humilityIts greatness has to grow

A small domain can lie low tooAcknowledging its low locationSurrender and humilityGive rise to exaltation

If you lie low you too ariseTo uppermost positionFor everyone's attracted toOne who doesn't fear submission

Here Lao Tzu speaks of the power of humility and lying low. This is not the humilityof putting yourself down, exclaiming your unworthiness. This is the true humility ofseeing that you already occupy the lowest place in the universe. As rivers flowto thesea, all objects flows directly to your awareness. You can see this is so! Lookup at thesky (or the ceiling). Now look out at the horizon or the hills (or the wall). Bow downfurther, and see your feet. If you continue to lower your gaze, you see your legs, your

waist, your chest, and finally your absence, your gone-head. This is the Tao,accommodation for all things.


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62.I'm at the center and the sourceOf all ten thousand thingsWhere I receive the benefitsThat pure awareness brings

These benefits belong to allTo good and bad the sameFor nature gives you what you needWith no regard for praise or blame

Words and deeds of excellenceMay bring you honor and acclaimBut nature values each alikeAnd is indifferent to fame

When new leaders are installedDon't send gifts or lofty praiseStay centered in the unityProvided by the inward gaze

Why should you esteem the void?It does away with imperfectionThose who seek are bound to findIt disappears on close inspection

Nature gives to everyone alike, but humans are not satisfied with this. They want todivide and name, grade and rank, own and possess. Who is first? Who is best? Wheredo I fit in?

Lao Tzu tells me I don't fit in at all. On the contrary, everything fits in me!Howfortunate I am if I can see this. And I can see it if I look inward, in the direction of thegone-head. Here is the primal oneness that I am, that we all are, undivided andwithout a name. And its nature is bliss, the bliss of wholeness. What greater gift couldI share with anyone?

When I see my real nature as the capacity or space that contains everything andeveryone, I see that I reject nothing and no one. I accept both good and bad into myawareness. I have no choice. It is my nature to accept what is given in awareness. Toreject anything would make me less than whole. But that is not even possible. When Ilook, when I am seeing, I know that I am pure presence and filled to the brim with theten thousand things!

The sea gets its power from lying low. So


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too does awareness. All the waters of theearth run to the sea, yet it never overflows.That is because the sea is also the source ofthe waters that rain down on the land. Sotoo is awareness the source of the myriadthings it contains. As the sea is the sourceand substance of the rain, so is awareness

the origin and the substance of all thatmanifests within it. There could not be agreater power than the ability to create this

enchanting world out of sheer nothingness. The Tao as the absent head is the power of


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infinite possibility.

63.Begin with the easyAnd do without doingThere isn't a thing

That you should be pursuing

Begin with the simpleThere's no need attackingYour greatness will lieIn all that you're lacking

Tackle problems when they're smallAnd still subject to solutionThe largest problem is resolved

By simple deeds of diminution

Can you center every dayAnd see all the seers seeEmpty here and brimming thereA marvelous asymmetry?

Begin with the easy. Begin with the simple. Begin now! All you need to do is seethe

asymmetry of the setup or design of existence. See both this and that, the emptiness

here and the fullness there. This is total seeing. And it's total being. You areall that

you see. You are the void that produces and accommodates the plenum. You are both.All abundance lies in the lack at the center of your being, the lack of a head.This isthe Tao, the gone-head. This absence of a head is the presence of all else.

What is a deed of diminution? It's any letting go of your identity as an object.You are

not a person. You are accommodation for the personal. You are awareness and allthatit contains. Why settle for the merely personal?

See that you are the gone-person as well as the gone-head.

Asymmetry is a word that Douglas Harding uses to describe how we relate to oneanother. We are not in symmetrical relationship. We are not face to face with oneanother. We are face to no-face. We are face to space, face to emptiness, face to Tao.We can look and see that this is true. Let's get up close and look at the face of a friend.If you prefer, look at the face in your mirror. How many faces do you see? I can't

speak for you, but I see only one face ---- that of my friend or my reflection.If I seeonly one face, what do I see where my own face is missing? I see not a thing, on


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lyabsence, void, emptiness, the Tao!

Of course I can never be face to face with anyone. The setup is not symmetrical.Here

at the center I am not a face. I am bare capacity to contain all faces and all other

things out there on the periphery. This is my identity. I am the container, andI am thecontents as well. These two aspects of my nature are not opposites. They are one. Theabsence at the center is truly all. It creates, embraces, and holds the foreverchangingcontent at the periphery. Awareness is not divided. This absence is also pure presenceor awareness. It is my gone-face. My face is what I present to you - for betteror forworse.


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64.To keep the peace is easyBegin before a problem stirsHandle things before they happenAnd trouble before it occurs

Be calm and conquer worriesBefore they can proceedThe very largest tree beginsAs just a tiny seed

It takes a single step to startA journey of a thousand milesAnd just one brick to start to buildThe grandest domiciles

Let things happen as they willYou do not need to interfereSee that you do nothingThat causes discord to appear

"It takes a single step to start a journey of a thousand miles." This is one ofthe bestknown and most quoted aphorisms in the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu is telling us to takethat step now! Now is the opportune time. Now is the only time. And now is out of

time. It's eternal.

So see totality now! See that all is in you. Even time is in you. See it now forall time.

See it whenever it occurs to you to see. It's a new way of seeing, though what you seeis that which has always been so. And this new way of seeing brings a new way ofbeing, a new attitude. You no longer have a need to attempt to control the world. Youcan allow the world to function for itself, to happen on its own. You have no need tooppose or interfere. You do not add to the disunity and disruption that so oftenprevails.


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65.Those of old who found the wayCould see their inner coreThey saw that it was hiddenAnd didn't bring it to the fore

When people think they know the truthThey want all others to concurBut they are happy and contentWhen they remain unsure

Don't try to lead with clevernessPrefer instead simplicityIt's obvious that truth must lieIn nothingness and clarity

The absence at my core is hidden from others. They see my head instead of myabsence. My head is their truth. My absence is my truth. They can see absence bylooking within, just as I do. It's the same absence, the same clarity. Lao Tzu tells usthat the seers of old did not bring this absence to the fore. They did not makeit anobject, and therefore an object of contention. How then do I share this simplicity withothers? By showing them where to look. They must look where their own heads aremissing. The Tao, the gone-head, is the same for each of us. It's the same emptiness.

It's the one awareness, the one emptiness.


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66.The sea is large and mightyBecause it lies belowThe streams and rivers of the worldThus capturing their flow

If you want to have your fillThen you must see that you are hollowIf you want to lead the wayThen you must be prepared to follow

When you lead you are aboveBut no one feels put downAnd when you must be out in frontKnow that no one's losing ground

When you see that you're not builtFor facing up or confrontationNo one can contend with youWho are the ultimate negation

A cup is hollow, therefore it can receive and hold your beverage. You must be hollowif you are to receive the manifest world as it is, without distortion or opposition. Youare made hollow. You have no face with which to confront others. You have theothers' faces. Your own face is gone, missing, hollow. It's the ultimate and eve

rlastingnegation that contains all that is presented to it. It's the negation that holdsall things

positive, the emptiness that is always full.

When you take action and lead others, can you do so as the one who is equal to allothers, not as one who is above others? You are not above others and taking whatis

not yours. You are below everyone and receiving the fullness of creation. You are thehollow and empty center of existence.

You are the empty center of everything that appears. The center is right where you arenow. To find the center, it helps to find the periphery first. So let's find it.Look

straight ahead, and you see objects. Above these objects are more objects, and morestill objects are below and to the left and right. These objects occupy the periphery.But where is the center? The only place you haven't looked is within. Look in yourown direction! Nothing appears here. It is at the center of the field of appearances.

This is a precise geometry. And it's a cornucopia. Out of the emptiness at the centerpours the abundance of manifest objects. When you see in all directions, you are


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seeing the whole. And the whole includes the hole, the hollow, the namelessemptiness within - at the center. This is your true, unchanging, eternal identity.


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67.On seeing inner nothingnessYou see it's great beyond compareThough many find it curiousThat you would even care

I have three treasures that I keepThe first is friendlinessThe second is to stay behindThe third is wanting less

For if you're friendly and you careYou can dare to do what's neededAnd if you always stay behindThe lead will surely be conceded

And if you're satisfied with lessYou have everything to giveKeep these treasures in your heartThen you will truly live

Here are Lao Tzu's famous Three Treasures. These treasures are values that arisenaturally from abiding in your inner nothingness. They certainly aren't the values thatmost people cherish.

The first treasure is love, compassion, or friendliness. Being nothing, you areopen.You embrace all creation by your very nature.

The second treasure is humility, staying behind. Seeing that you are nothing, youallow all others to go ahead. You do not struggle for superiority.

The third treasure is frugality, wanting less, wanting only the void of awareness.Wanting nothing above all else, you can be generous and giving. You do not needtocontend.

68.Violence is not the wayThe greatest warriors knowThat treachery and angerWill not defeat the foe

You only win if you don't striveAnd gain if you do not opposeThis is the certain victorySimplicity bestows

Lao Tzu is concerned with the values that arise naturally from abiding in inner


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nothingness. He is also concerned about the values that arise from ignoring thisinner

void. He warns us that we cannot push ourselves on the world. Victory does not meanopposing and overcoming others. True victory is receiving others into your ownsimplicity, into the clarity at the center of our being.


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69.In conflict just be cautiousAnd always on your guardRather than advance an inchInstead retreat a yard

In this way you go alongAnd make your gain without advancingYou deal with the rivalAs your position is enhancing

Remember that it's possibleYour rival just may yieldSo don't advance on such a foeLet differences be healed

Notice that, as Tao, you are the source and substance of the world out there. You are inno way separate from the myriad things and events of the world. You contain thesethings and events. They are really not out there at all. They occur within you.Youcan't ignore them. So you must deal with them. Lao Tzu tells us to go easy and gently.Be cautious. Don't push and force your way. Allow time for problems to resolve.Wholeness comes in its own time. And the more you see the wholeness of being, themore quickly it comes to all experience. Seeing wholeness is seeing the clarity

thatcontains all existence. Look within for the Tao.

What is the Tao? Who am I? I am pure presence, and I am all that is present in thatpresence. I am pure awareness, and I am all that exists in that awareness. I amnothingand everything. It's all me. Everything is me and exists in my light. Everyone is me.There are no others. I am the one alone. I am the Seer.

I am the Seer, and I am the Seen. And these are not two. I am the vacuity at center,and I am all that occupies this vacuity. And these are not two. Only This is. Only I am.Nothing exists apart from me, and I am not divided into parts. All exists in meand asme. And This is the Tao of the gone-head.


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70.Embarrassingly obviousAnd always near at handIt is this nothingness you seeBut never understand

Though truth within is agelessVery few will ever seeMy face is what I give to youThe jewel within is me

Lao Tzu's teaching is based on the ageless Tao within each of us, the gone-head.Though this truth is glaringly obvious, few can see it. Few even bother to look,to

attend to attention, to be aware of awareness. We imagine a head where there is

onlyawareness. We imagine a face where there is only absence. We imagine a limitedthing where there is only the jewel of absolute eternity.

Douglas Harding says that headlessness is embarrassingly obvious. I have freelyusedDouglas's expressions when they coincide with Lao Tzu's meanings. In this verseLaoTzu is saying that his words are very easy to follow. His words are pointing totheTao, the jewel, the absolutely obvious absence within.

71.

You cannot understand the truthClaim to know and show you're illJust see that you are missingThat truth is bare and nil

Unknowing is the final cureWhen knowledge takes its heavy tollPure presence is totalityAnd absence makes you whole

Tao is not a thing or an object to be known or understood. Tao is naked awareness. Letgo of knowing. Unknowing is the cure of the disease of understanding. The Tao, thetruth, is not to be understood but to be seen, and to be seen as an absence at that. It isour real identity. The absence of a head is the presence of pure awareness. Within thisawareness is all that occurs moment by moment. Nothing is missing!


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72.When the sense of wonder goesDisaster is not far behindDon't intrude in people's livesAnd they won't think you are unkind

The seer sees both this and thatBut doesn't ask for praiseFinding this immensityWith just a simple inward gaze

Here is Lao Tzu's principle of reversal one more time. Disaster follows when youinterfere in the lives of others. People resent meddling. Your intentions may beunassailable, but your reward is rebellion. You cannot impose your will. It woul

d befar better to adopt the seer's stance. See that your own inner immensity is roomfor the

will of totality, for what is actually happening each moment.

73.The way is very easyIts purposes prevailWhen all is done in silenceIntention cannot fail

Its net is vast and over all

With meshes large and wideYet it loses nothingHolds everything inside

What is the intention of the way, of the whole? Just what is happening right now! Youare made to contain everything, not to pick and choose. Nothing can be lost orrejected or abandoned. Resistance is futile. You are pure open awareness, made foracceptance. What a relief to realize this. All that happens is meant to happen by theTao, by totality, by you in reality. All is as it should be.

74.You truly are what isn't bornYou need not be afraid to dieJust live your life and know that youWill never lose the inner eye

You can't control what is to beIn using tools you don't commandUnlike the master carpenterYou're bound to cut your hand

You are the one who was never born. You are the witness of wha

headless tao

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