Book of Tao 1.

Words and names are not the way They can't define the absolute It's better that you look within Hold your tongue and just be mute Look within and look out too You will not find a separation Out there you see appearance Within you see origination Look within with wonder At emptiness and bliss For wonder names totality Where nothing is amiss The space within is always there If you can moderate desire A place of utter emptiness 2. Where beautiful and ugly Do not stand in opposition Where life and death or yes and no Do not make a contradiction Can you see the vacant place Where good and bad and sad and merry Disappear forevermore? Where nothing ever is contrary So stay within the emptiness Unless you rise you never fall Accepting that which comes your way 3. If you love accumulation Gain and increase every day Thieves and robbers will be waiting Just to take it all away Best to be so empty-headed That it seems you've lost it all You will know you're on the way 4. This nothingness is like a well Always giving, never taking And all claims to origin

Neither wanting or forsaking You know it's ever present You find it where you have no face It is a wondrous blessing 5. This emptiness is truly void And infinitely capacious It holds whatever comes its way Eternally tenacious Can you take whatever comes? Though judgment calls it bad and good Seeing is acceptance 6. Complete and full awareness Is like an open valley Of endless generation That doesn't reach finale It is a simple presence It's a nothing you can see You'll find it right at center 7. This presence is unlimited Because it wasn't ever born And it will not be perishing Will never give you cause to mourn It truly wants for nothing It has no wishes of its own It is the one and only Eternally alone It holds itself in vacancy With no desire to advance Remaining in simplicity It merely witnesses the dance The seer will remain behind And never yearns for leaving home Just living in the here and now 8. The seer flows like water Lying low along the way Nourishing whatever comes To be held on display The seer keeps to simple ways

And therefore is content When joy or sorrow manifests To give complete assent If you can clearly be yourself And never rise to interfere Everyone will cherish you 9. Don't fill a bowl Till it's more than full Or sharpen a blade Till it must go dull Don't pile up treasure That comes at great cost Approval and riches Are easily lost Can you only do What's really needed Then stop and withdraw When your task is completed? Enough is enough! 10. Can you see as a child sees And keep the simple vision? See the inner oneness With absolute precision Hold all things in your embrace The entire world is in your care Let things be just as they are Extend acceptance everywhere Let go all need to comprehend The truth is here where all behold Their infinite capacity 11. The empty hub at center Allows a wheel to roll The vacancy within defines The function of a bowl The openness within a house Provides location to reside The open space that is my heart

12. Too much sound can make you deaf Too many colors leave you blind Can you let desire die down And not leave emptiness behind? Wanting things can drive you mad And acquisition makes you poor See that you are everything And leave off wanting more 13. Fame and shame are equal And so are gain and loss It isn't very difficult To get this point across Having fame you know that you Are terrified to lose it Making gain you always fear That others will abuse it Can you see that you're not like Your image or reflection? Just see you are totality By looking in your own direction The one who is not limited Accepts whatever comes or goes And cares for everything around 14. When you look, it isn't there Listen and you cannot hear it It seems to be beyond your reach Because you are so near it This single source of everything Appears to be an empty image Though it cannot be understood You can see its naked visage Follow it to nothingness Approach it where you have no face From nowhere to infinity This vacant image leaves no trace From never to eternity This naked face is what you are An empty, vacant, open door

15. See that you are emptiness Always quiet and at peace You're in the place where all begins The space where all things cease All things arise and have their day And then go back to the single source Returning to serenity With no regret and no remorse When you see the source within You only give assent You see you're everlasting