Verse 4 - Living Infinitely

[Eva Libre]

4th Verse

The Tao is empty
but inexhaustible,
bottomless,
the ancestor of it all.

Within it, the sharp edges become smooth;
the twisted knots loosen;
the sun is softened by a cloud;
the dust settles into place.

It is hidden but always present.
I do not know who gave birth to it.
It seems to be the common ancestor of all, the father of things.

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

The all providing Tao is empty,
yet inexhaustible.


Do The Tao Now

Pick a situation today (any situation will work), and instead of verbally responding, be silent and listen to your thoughts.  For example, in a social gathering or business meeting, choose to seek the emptiness found in silence in order to be aware of your infinite self.  Invite it to let you know when or whether to respond.  If you find your worldly ego interpreting or judging, then just observe that without criticizing or changing it.  You'll begin to find more and more situations where it feels peaceful and joyful to be without response … just to be in the infinity that's hidden but always present.

You might want to duplicate this advice of my teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj and post it conspicuously so that you can read it daily:

Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.

And while you're living, stay as close to love as you can.

Source – Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Consider all things that seem to be a problem

from the perspective of the eternal Tao.

 

Believing that there's a shortage of prosperity is a signal to think in terms of the inexhaustible Source: the Tao.  Just like everything else on our planet, money is available in limitless quantities.  Know this and connect to the bottomless supply.  Do it first in your thoughts by affirming: Everything I need now is here.  Prosperity thoughts are energetic instructions to access your infinite self, so actions will follow them.

 

Take this same approach - staying in harmony with the Tao - to all of your problems, for there's an all-compassing supply of well-being to partner with.  So rather than giving energy to illness and perceived misfortunes, stay with the Tao.  Stay with what can never be used up.  Stay with that which is the father of all things, the creative Source of all.  It will work with and for you, as you have it in your thoughts, then in your feelings, and finally in your actions.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Be an infinite observer.

 

When acknowledged as a sign of change, worry is transitory - it's simply part of the world of the changing.  If you view your life from the vantage point of an infinite observer, concerns, anxieties, and struggles blend into the eternal mix.  From this ageless perspective, picture how important the things you feel depressed about now will be in a hundred, a thousand, a million, or an uncountable number of years.  Remember that you, like the infinite Tao from which you originated, are part of an eternal reality.

 

Rearrange your thoughts to practice thinking in alignment with the Tao.  With the assistance of the eternal Tao, all of the sharp edges of life smooth out, the knots loosen, and the dust settles.  Try it !

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

The Tao is like the emptiness of a vessel;

And in our employment of it we must

      guard against all fullness.

How deep and unfathomable it is,

      as if it were the Honored Ancestor of all things !

 

We should blunt our sharp points,

And unravel the complication of things;

We should temper our brightness,

And bring ourselves into agreement

      with the obscurity of others.

How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would

      ever so continue.

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "The American Scholar" (address), "Senses and Soul"

 

There is never a beginning,

There is never an end

     to the inexplicable continuity of this web.

System on system, shooting like rays,

     upward, downward,

     without center, without circumference.

 

In the mass and in the particle,

Nature hastens to render account of herself.

Under every cause, another cause;

Truth soars too high and dives too deep

     for the most resolute inquirer.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

4

PERSPECTIVE

 

Remember, you and your child

are travelers through infinite time.

How you interact is important

enough to change lifetimes of

karma; yet it is an insignificant

drop in the ocean of relationship

through which you bot move.

 

Keep in mind the endless nature

of being, and your journey will

gain perspective.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Tao is empty

     yet it fills every vessel with endless supply

Tao is hidden

     yet it shines in every corner of the universe

 

With it, the sharp edges become smooth

     the twisted knots loosen

     the sun is softened by a cloud

     the dust settles into place

 

So deep, so pure, so still

     It has been this way forever

You may ask, "Whose child is it ?" -

     but I cannot say

This child was here before the Great Ancestor

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

A New Translation by Victor H Mair
based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

4
(48)

 

The Way is empty,

          yet never refills with us;

Bottomless it is,

          like the forefather of the myriad creatures.

It files away sharp points,

     unravels tangles,

     diffuses light,

     mingles with the dust.

Submerged it lies,

          seeming barely to subsist.

I know not whose child it is,

          only that it resembles the predecessor of God.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The vessel of the Dao is empty, so use it but do not try to refill it. (1)  It is such an abyss, oh, that it appears to be the progenitor of the myriad things.  It blunts the sharp, cuts away the tangled, merges with the brilliant, and becomes one with the very dust. (2)  Its depth is so deep, oh, that is seems somehow to exist.  I do not know whose child it could be, for it appears to have been born before the Lord.

 

1.  Adhering strictly to the measures of one noble household cannot keep that household whole, and adhering strictly to the measures of one state cannot keep that state intact.  Even if one were to use up all his strength in lifting heavy burdens, it could not be of any use. (3)  Therefore, although one might know about government as it applies to the myriad folk, if he governs without regard to the Dao with its two modes [the yin and the yang], (4)he cannot serve to support them.

 

2.  Although Earth consists of physical forms with their earthbound souls, (5) if it did not take its models from Heaven, it could not keep its quietude intact.  Although Heaven consists of embryonic essences with their images, (6) if it did not take its models from the Dao, it could not preserve its purity. (7)  Used as an empty vessel, its [the Dao's] use is inexhaustible, but if one tries to fill it in order to make it into something full [shi], if any filling is brought to it, it just overflows.  Thus "the vessel of the Dao is empty, so use it but do not again try to refill it", for what makes it inexhaustible already fills it completely ! (8) 

 

3.  No matter how vast a physical form [xing], nothing could hamper its [the Dao's] power to embody [ti].  No matter how great an undertaking [shi], nothing could utilize its entire capacity [liang].  If the myriad things were to abandon it and seek a different master, where would such a master be found ?  Indeed, is it not true that "it is such an abyss, oh, that it appears to be the progenitor of the myriad things"?  It blunts the sharp but suffers no damage; it cuts away the tangled but is not worn out; it merges with the brilliant but does not soil its power to embody [ti]; it becomes one with the very dust but does not compromise [yu] its authenticity [zhen]. (9)  Indeed, is it not true that "its depth is so deep, oh, that it seems somehow to exist"?

 

4.  As Earth must keep its physical forms [xing], its virtue [de] cannot exceed what it upholds, and, as Heaven must remain content with its images [xiang], its virtue cannot exceed what it covers.  Thus neither Heaven nor Earth can equal it [the Dao].  Indeed, is it not true that "it appears to have been born before the Lord"?  "The Lord" [Di] means the Lord of Heaven [Tiandi].

 

Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary]

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

 

(1)  "Do not try to refill it" translates you buying, but the base text reads huo buying, "it might not [need] again be filled".  Wang's commentary indicates that he knew the text as it appears in Mawangdui B or Fu Yi's composite edition.  See Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 114.  See also Wagner, "The Wang Bi Recension of the Laozi", 50. Cf. section 45, second passage.

 

(2)  Cf. section 56, third through sixth passages, and Wang's commentary to section 77, second passage.

 

(3)  This alludes to one of the devices that the Chen family used to gain popular support and usurp power from the Jiang family in the ancient state of Qi: "Yanzi [Master Yan] said, 'This is Qi's last age.  I may know nothing, but Qi will belong to the Chen family.  The duke abandons the common folk, and they find a new home with the Chen family.  Qi for a long time has had four measures, dou, ou, fu, and zhong . . . Ten fu equal one zhong.  The Chen family doubles the size of the first three, so its zhong is very large.  They lend in family measures but take returns in the state's measures'" (Third year in the reign of Duke Zhao [538 bce] in Kong, Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhengyi [Correct meaning of Zuo's Commentary on theSpring and Autumn Annals], 42:9b-10a; cf. Legge, The Chinese Classics, 5:589).  By manipulating the size of measures, commodities from Chen lands were sold or loaned to the rest of Qi at large discounts, a surefire way to win sympathy and popular support, especially given that the Qi state was imposing heavy taxes and a harsh criminal code: "It was thus natural that the Ch'en [Chen] family gradually overcame the other noble families and finally took control of the entire state" (Hsu, Ancient China in Transition, 91).  All human measurements are arbitrary, artificial, and subject to manipulation and abuse.  No such measurements can apply to the Dao.

 

(4)  Cf. Xici zhuan (Commentary on the Appended Phrases), Part One, in the Yijing (Classic of changes), sections 5 and 11 of which read in part:

 

The reciprocal process of yin and yang is called the Dao . . . .

     Therefore, in change [yi] there is the great ultimate [taiji].

This is what generates the two modes [liangyi: the yin and yang].

The two basic modes generate the four basic images [sixiang: yang + yang,

yin + yang, yin + yin, yang + yin], and the four basic images generate the

eight trigrams [bagua] [by adding first one yang (unbroken line) to each, 

then one yin (broken line)].  The eight trigrams determine good fortune

and misfortune, and good fortune and misfortune generate the great enterprise [daye].

     Therefore, of things that serve as models for images,

none are greater than heaven and Earth.

(~ source Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 53 and 65-66;

see Zhouyi zhengyi [Correct meaning of the Changes of the Zhou],

7:11a and 7:28b-29a)

 

(5)  Cf. Liji zhushu (Record of rites, with commentary and subcommentary), 26:21b, which reads: "Ethereal spirits with their pneumas [hunqi] are drawn to Heaven, and physical forms with their earthbound souls (xingpo) are drawn to Earth."

 

(6)  "Embryonic essences and images" translates jingxiang, stars and images ("counterparts" or "simulacra" that star form either singly or in constellations).  See Schafer, Pacing the Void, 42-44 and 55-56.

 

(7)  It has been argued that "purity" (jing) is a textual error for "clarity" (qing); see Lou,Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 1:12 n. 7.  This seems a needless emendation, however, because purity is a well-attested attribute of Heaven, as in, for example, the following description of Qian, the power and action of Heaven, which appears in the Wenyan (Commentary on the words of the text) to Hexagram I, Qian (Pure Yang) in the Yijing (Classic of changes): "The powser inQian to provide origins is such that it can make all under Heaven fit by means of its own beautiful fitness.  One does not say how it confers fitness; it is just great !  How greatQian is !  It is strong, dynamic, central, correct, and it is absolutely pure [jing] in its unadulteratedness and unsulliedness" (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 130; see Zhouyi zhengyi [Correct meaning of the Changes of the Zhou], 1:17b-18a).

 

(8)  That is, even though infinite, the capacity of the empty vessel of the Dao is already "filled" with emptiness, so no room exists in it for anything else.  Cf.  Wang's commentary to section 45, second passage.

 

(9)  Cf. section 41, ninth passage; and Wang's commentary to section 70, last passage.

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

 

The Tao is like a well:

used but never used up.

It is like the eternal void:

filled with infinite possibilities.

 

It is hidden but always present.

I don't know who gave birth to it.

It is older than God.

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy 

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

It is like the eternal void:

filled with infinite possibilities.

 

We can call the Tao "reality".  We can also call it "mind".  Mind is a natural resource that never comes to an end.  When it no longer believes its thoughts, it has entered the dimension of the unlimited.  It's like a bottomless well: you can always draw from it, and it will always give you the water of life.  Because it is completely open and sees that nothing is true, it is filled with more possibilities than we can ever imagine.

 

Lao-tzu says, "I don't know who gave birth to it".  I do.  You give birth to it every time your own mind opens to what is beyond what you think you know.  And when your mind opens, what is beyond knowing, what is older than "God", streams in as a gift.  There is no end to that gift.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 4 -

The Tao is the source of all life, yet it is empty and limitless and cannot be constrained, quantified, or measured. This life-giving energy of creation provides a profound Source of joy that's accessible at all times. If you live from an infinite perspective, you'll relinquish the idea that your only identity is the physical body in which you progress from birth to death. In your totality, you're an infinite being disguised as a person existing in the world of "sharp edges" and "twisted knots" that this verse refers to. Coalescing within and around you at all times is the invisible life-giving force of the Tao. It is inexhaustible. It is bottomless. It cannot be depleted.

This 4th verse of the Tao invites you to consider rearranging your thoughts about who you are. It seems to be saying that cultivating an awareness of the infinite aspect of yourself is the way to tap into the limitless Source of creative energy that flows through you. For example, you may want to help less fortunate people improve their day-to-day existence, but you don't believe that you have the time or energy to do so because of who you are and what you presently do. As you relax your hold on the idea of yourself as the job you do or the life you're living and seek to acquaint yourself with the limitless creative energy that's a part of you, the time and energy you require will appear.

Imagining yourself helping others, guided by the infinite aspect of yourself, will generate behavior and actions that complement your vision through the "common ancestor" of the Tao. Ultimately, you'll cultivate an absolute knowing that whatever assistance you need is right here and right now - in front of, in back of, above, and below you. It is empty, yet very much present. It is, as Lao-tzu reminds you, "inexhaustible, bottomless, the ancestor of it all".

Awareness of the omnipresence of the Tao means that thoughts of shortages or lack aren't prevalent. Beliefs such as "There's no way this will happen", "It's not my destiny", or "With my luck, things could never work out", cease to be entertained. Instead, you begin to expect that what you imagine for yourself is not only on its way - it's already here ! This new self-portrait based on the cooperative presence of the invisible Tao elevates you to living an inspired life - that is, one of being "in spirit" or in unending touch with the Tao. When you live infinitely, the rewards are a sense of peaceful joy because you know that all is in order.