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Changes
The Changes is a book
From which one may not hold aloof
Its tao is forever changing -
Alteration, movement without rest,
Flowing through the six empty places;
Rising and sinking without fixed law,
Firm and yielding transform each other.
They cannot be confined within a rule;
It is only change that is at work here.
Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao.
Names can be named, but not the Eternal Name.
As the origin of heaven-and-earth, it is nameless:
As "the Mother" of all things, it is nameable.
So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner aspects.
As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.
These two flow from the same source,
though differently named;
And both are called mysteries.
The Mystery of mysteries is the Door of all essence.
To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of the sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health. -ch. 71, Tao Teh Ching, trans. John C. H. Wu, Shambhala, Boston & London, c.1990
Without going out of your door, You can know the ways of the world. Without peeping through your window, you can see the Way of Heaven. The farther you go, The less you know. Thus, the Sage knows without travelling, Sees without looking, And achieves without Ado.
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