Saints and Their Thoughts: Obsolete for the Modern World?
Phil Smith 2/2/02

Chapter 11

Thirty spokes are united in one nave to make a wheel,
But it is on the hole of the nave that the use of the carriage depends.
Clay is mixed to mold a utensil,
But it is on its empty space that the use of utensils depends.
Doors and windows are cut out to form a room,
But it is on the vacancy within, that the use of the room depends.
Therefore, the advantage existence brings to people rests exclusively upon the decisive role of nonexistence.

Chapter 12

Iridescent colours cause blindness.
Beautiful music causes deafness.
Delicious food causes loss of taste.
Racing and hunting cause madness.
Rare goods tempt people to rob and steal.
Therefore the sage only wants to feed the people rather than to dazzle them.
That's why he goes for the former and turns down the latter.

Chapter 13

(People) love vanity so much as to be easily alarmed,
And they consider the great trouble (vanity) as precious as their lives.
What does it mean "to love vanity so much as to be easily alarmed"?
Vanity is inferior in itself.
(And yet people) are pleasantly surprised when they receive it,
And also frightened when they lose it.
This is what it means "to love vanity so much as to be easily alarmed."
What does it mean "to consider the great trouble as precious as their lives"?
The reason why I have the great trouble (vanity) is that I have a body.
If I have no body,
What trouble could I have?
Therefore only those who value themselves above the world can undertake its important task.
Only those who love themselves above the world can be entrusted with its important task.

Chapter 10

Can you keep the unity of the soul and the body without separating them?
Can you concentrate the vital energy, keep the breath and achieve gentleness like an infant without any desires?
Can you cleanse and purify your profound insight without any flecks?
Can you love the people and govern the state without personal knowledge?
Can you recoil to take the feminine position in the course of Nature's opposition and change?
Can you perceive all and comprehend all without taking any action?
To let all things grow and increase,
To beget all things, but not to take possession of them,
To advance them, but not to take credit for doing so,
To be leader but not master of them.
--This is the most profound De (Te, or Virtue)

Chapter 14

You look at it and it is not seen,
It is called the Formless.
You listen to it and it is not heard,
It is called the Soundless.
You grasp it and it is not to be held,
It is called the Intangible.
These three cannot be further inquired into.
It is the One in reality.
Its upper side is not bright,
Its underside is not dark,
Infinite and boundless, it is hardly namable,
It returns to a state with no shape or image.
This is called the shapeless shape, the bodiless image,
It is called the Vague and Elusive.
While meeting it, you cannot see its head,
While following it, you fail to see its back.
To hold on to the Tao of old in order to harness the things at present,
To be able to know the primeval beginning,
--This is called the law of Tao.