Verse 47 - Living by Being

[Eva Libre]

47th Verse

 

Without going out the door,

know the world.

Without looking out the window,

you may see the ways of heaven.

The farther one goes,

the less one knows.

 

Therefore the sage does not venture forth

 and yet knows,

does not look

and yet names,

 does not strive

and yet attains completion.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

Without going out the door

         I can know the world.

Without looking out the window

         I can see the ways of heaven.

 

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Find or make a picture of a heart, and spend time today contemplating it as a reminder of the Tao effortlessly at work within your chest cavity.  At some point during the day, allow yourself to be guided by the Tao to do something creative that comes from within, such as painting, writing a poem, taking a walk in the park, beginning a personal project, or anything at all.  Just let yourself be guided without having to venture forth in any way.  Then bring this magic of the Tao more frequently into all aspects of your life.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Begin the process of trusting your heart.

 

Listening to your heartbeat, you can clearly recognize the Tao practicing the paradox of doing nothing and at the same time leaving nothing undone.  Your deepest feelings are reflections of your “heart space” talking to you.  You don’t have to do anything to activate this internal profundity; simply let your heart speak to you.  Begin noticing and appreciating its continual silent thumping – and whatever provides the energy for the beat to go on, let its presence in your chest be a constant reminder of the Tao at work.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Trust in your “sense of knowing”,

which is always with you.

 

An internal knowing is there independent of your venturing forth – it’s there even when your eyes are closed and you’re sitting still.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you should become a couch potato.  Rather, you must allow yourself to be guided by the same Source that twirls the planets around the sun, and trust that it will direct you perfectly without your having to interfere.  Experience your innate creativity while being an observer, watching in amazement as everything falls perfectly into place.  Just as moving water never stagnates, you will be moved by a natural force that seeks being complete within you and without your needing to step in.  You can get in touch with this knowing through the practice of meditation.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

47

WHAT MATTERS

 

All you need to know

is within you.

 

Your child's spirit teaches

you how to guide her.

 

Be present.  What is happening

right now ?  Be still and

comprehend with your inner

senses.  Talk to the inner child,

setting aside theories.

 

If you child was taken from

you tomorrow, would this

matter today ?

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Without going outside

          one can know the whole world

Without looking out the window

          one can see the ways of Heaven

The farther one goes

          the less one knows

 

Thus the Sage does not go, yet he knows

           He does not look, yet he sees

           He does not do, yet all is done

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

Without going outside his door, one understands

          all that takes place under the sky;

Without looking out from his window, one sees

          the Tao of Heaven.

The farther that one goes out from himself,

          the less he knows.

 

Therefore the sages got their knowledge

          without traveling;

Gave their right name to things without seeing them;

And accomplished their ends without any purpose

          of doing so.

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Self-Reliance", "The Over-Soul"

 

The soul is no traveler;

The wise man stays at home.

He does not go abroad with the hope of finding

          somewhat greater than he knows.

The soul that is plain and true

          dwells in the hour that now is,

          in the earnest experience of the common day,

And the mere trifle becomes porous to thought,

          and bibulous to the sea of light.

[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

 

47 (10)

 

     Without going out-of-doors,

               one may know all under heaven;

      Without peering through windows,

               one may know the Way of heaven.

 

       The farther one goes,

       The less one knows.

 

For this reason,

        The sage knows without journeying,

               understands without looking,

               accomplishes without acting.

[Eva Libre]

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

 

Without opening your door,

you can open your heart to the world.

Without looking out your window,

you can see the essence of the Tao.

 

The more you know,

the less you understand.

 

The Master arrives without leaving,

sees the light without looking,

achieves without doing a thing.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

The Master arrives without leaving,

sees the light without looking,

achieves without doing a thing.

 

On my bedside table is a lamp I don't turn on, and an alarm clock I don't use.  I'm on book tour, and this is reality's way, night after night, of supplying my needs beyond what I need.

 

I'm so grateful to hotels.  They give me pillows, mattresses, sheets, everything I need for a good night's sleep.  Everything is always taken care of, beyond what I think I want.  There are windows.  There are tissues.  There's a notepad and a pen.  There's a Gideon Bible, so dear to so many, which stays in the drawer.  On my bedside table there's also a bottle of water for my morning tea.  I prefer bottled to tap water.  I buy it at a gas station or a grocery store or the little shop in the hotel.  I look at the brands of bottled water, curious to see which one my hand will choose, and loving that I never can know until it actually picks up the bottle.  I enjoy the trip from the cooler to the cash register.  The cashier is a man or a woman, young or old, white or dark or Asian.  We usually exchange a few words.  It isn't a little thing.  All my life I have been waiting to meet this person.  I feel a surge of gratitude for my preferences.  I love where they take me.  I love my morning tea.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay on Verse 47 -

 

I encourage you to change your belief that effort and striving are necessary tools for success.  In verse 47, Lao-tzu suggests that these are ways of being that keep you from experiencing the harmony and attaining the completion that's offered by the Tao.  Living by being instead of trying is a different viewpoint; as Lao-tzu states, you can see and accomplish more by not looking out the window.

 

How is this possible ?  Let's look at an example to clarify this conundrum.  I'd like you to place all of your attention on one of God's greatest creations.  I'm referring to your heart, that always-beating, mysterious chunk of arteries, vessels, muscle, and blood that you carry with you wherever you go.  It continually maintains its thump, thump, thump without your trying to make it beat, even while you sleep.  You don't make it thump away - even without your conscious attention, it works as perfectly as the ocean does.  Its continuous beat is even reminiscent of waves on the sea's surface.

 

Your heart is indeed a thing of wonder as it delivers life itself; it is essentially you.  That organ in your chest is a model for understanding and applying the lesson of living by being.  Your heart attains completion (your life) by not venturing forth, looking beyond its chest cavity, or striving.  As you sit here reading these words right now, it's keeping you alive just by being, and you don't even feel it.

 

I'd like you to think of your entire self as a heart that already knows exactly what to do by virtue of its very nature.  That is, you don't have to go anywhere to know the world because you already are the world.  The moment you attempt to control the beating of your own heart, you realize the futility of such an effort.  No amount of trying or striving will make any difference, for your heart operates by its natural connection to the Tao, which does nothing but leaves nothing undone.

 

Michael LaTorra points this out in his commentary on this verse in A Warrior Blends with Life:

 

As the wisest of sages have always realized, the root of essential

being is in the heart, especially in the heart-beat mechanism.

From here, the radiance of essential being spirals upward to

illuminate the head.  This mechanism lies beyond any technology.

You already inhabit it . . . And through deep feelings (rather than

superficial emotions) you can connect with it immediately. . . .

The ultimate act that enlightens involves no action at all.

 

So now you know that the paradoxical state Lao-tzu describes in this verse is not only possible, but it's actually taking place everywhere right now, in billions of human hearts.  The further reality is that this is true for the hearts of all creatures, as well as the life system of every tree, flower, bush, and even mineral on Earth.  And this is only one planet in a universe that contains so many heavenly bodies that counting them is so far beyond our ability that we can't even devise calculators to undertake such a task.

 

The 21st century is often called "the information age":  We live in a time when there's more data available on tiny computer chips than ever before in human history.  We can also easily see that our efforts do indeed bring us more facts and the like.  In fact, you may be one of the computer wizards whose greater efforts have made all of this possible.  What's at issue here is the relationship of information to knowledge and wisdom.

 

Let's take apart the very name of this era - information - to explain what I mean.  When you stay "in-form" (in your body and the material world), you're rewarded with information.  But move beyond form (transform to spirit) and you'll receive inspiration.  Thus, information is not always knowledge, and knowledge is not always wisdom.  Wisdom connects you to your heart in your waking moments; it is the Tao at work.  Lao-tzu is asking you to recognize the difference between striving for more facts and being in the world that is complete as it is.  As you live from this perspective of wisdom or connection to the Tao, the world looks so very different.

 

You are a single beat in the one heart that is humanity.  You don't have to look outside your window or venture forth - all you have to do is just be in the same way that you allow your heart to be.  This concept was difficult 2,500 years ago, and I realize that it may still be challenging to grasp, but you must !  In a world made for information without the grace of being the Tao, you are one of the heartbeats that keeps the Tao wisdom flowing freely . . . just by being.

 

[janice wilson]

we will find our hearts are full of wisdom