the value of emptiness

dean potter

 

Thirty spokes

meet at a hollowed-out hub; 

the wheel won’t work without its hole. 

A vessel is moulded from solid clay; its inner

emptiness makes it useful. To make a room, you

have to cut doors and windows; without

openings, a place isn’t livable. 

To make use of what is here, 

you must make use of

what is not.

 

from The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 11

 

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discover the harmony in your own being

alfred eisenstaedt

 

Why scurry

about looking for the truth?

It vibrates in every thing and every

not-thing, right off the tip of your nose.

Can you be still and see it in the

mountain? the pine tree?

yourself?

 

Don’t imagine

that you’ll discover it by accumulating

more knowledge. Knowledge creates doubt,

and doubt makes you ravenous for more

knowledge. You can’t get full

eating this way. 

 

The wise person

dines on something more subtle:

He eats the understanding that the named

was born from the unnamed, that all being flows

from non-being, that the describable world emanates

from an indescribable source. He finds this subtle

truth inside his own self, and becomes

completely content. 

 

So 

who can be

still and watch the

chess game of the world?

The foolish are always making

impulsive moves, but the wise know

that victory and defeat are decided by

something more subtle. They see

that something perfect exists

before any move

is made.

 

This

subtle perfection

deteriorates when artificial

actions are taken, so be content not

to disturb the peace. Remain quiet.

Discover the harmony in

your own being.

Embrace it.

 

If you

can do this, you will

gain everything, and the world

will become healthy again.

If you can’t, you will be

lost in the shadows

forever.

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 38

 

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serving without expectation of reward

 

Tao gives

life to all beings.

Nature nourishes them.

Fellow creatures shape them.

Circumstances complete them.

Everything in existence respects tao and

honors nature — not by decree,

but spontaneously.

 

Tao gives life to all beings.

Nature watches over them, develops them,

shelters them, nurses them, grows them, ripens

them, completes them, buries them,

and returns them.

 

Giving birth,

nourishing life, shaping things

without possessing them, serving without

expectation of reward, leading without dominating:

These are the profound virtues of nature,

and of nature’s best beings.

 

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 51

 

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agitated effort is not necessary

oneness

 

If you go

searching for the Great Creator,

you will come back empty-handed.

The source of the universe is ultimately

unknowable, a great invisible river

flowing forever through a vast

and fertile valley. Silent and

uncreated, it creates

all things.

 

All things

are brought forth from  the

 subtle realm into the manifest world

by the mystical intercourse of yin and yang.

The dynamic river yang pushes forward,

the still valley yin is receptive, and

through their integration things

come into existence. This is

known as the Great

Tai Chi.

 

Tai chi

is the integral truth

of the universe. Everything is

a tai chi: your body, the cosmic body,

form, appearance, wisdom, energy, the unions

of people, the dispersal of time and places.

Each brings itself into existence through

the integration of yin and yang,

maintains itself, and disperses

itself without the direction

of any creator.

 

Your creation,

your self-transformation, the

accumulation of energy and wisdom,

the decline and cessation of your body:

all these take place by themselves

within the subtle operation

of the universe.

 

Therefore

agitated effort is

not necessary. Just be

aware of the Great

Tai Chi.

 

Hua hu Ching, Chapter 39

 

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the mother of the universe

eddie o’bryan

 

Something mysterious

and perfect existed before even heaven

and earth were born. Silent, immeasurable,

standing alone and unchanging, moving

without end or exhaustion, it is the

mother of the known and

unknown universe.

 

I don’t know

its name, so I call it by an

alias: tao. Forced to describe

it, I only say, “It is

great.”

 

That which is great continues.

That which continues goes far.

That which goes far returns.

 

Therefore tao is great,

Heaven is great, earth is great,

a person of tao is great. These

are the four greatnesses

in the universe.

 

A person of tao follows earth.

Earth follows Heaven.

Heaven follows tao.

Tao follows its

own nature.

 

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu

Chapter 25

 

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