Liber XXI

1

I

Lao Kun the Master said: Tao is devoid of form — Yet Heaven and Earth are brought to birth, and nurtured by its norm.

Tao hath no Will to work; Yet by its way of heaven The Moon and Sun rejoice to run Among the starry seven.

Tao hath no name; its word Is growth, and sustenance To all; I aim to give it name: Tao (heaven prosper chance!)

Tao hath twin phase with Teh: The silent and the stressed. Of motion, those; of these, repose Sublimely manifest.

Heaven moves, pure silence he; Earth rests beneath the strain; Shuttle and loom, as word and womb, Their mystery sustain.

Pure motion maketh rest As silence maketh stress. If man were still, then heaven should thrill With earth to nothingness.

Self loveth silence, yea, But mind distracteth it. Mind loveth rest; but passion's pest Allures the trembling wit.

If man restrain desire, His mind will cease to roll, And mind's release allow pure peace Of silence to the soul.

The senses will not soil; The thought will not upstress; Nor poisons (greed, wrath, dullness) breed Their triform deadliness.

Men earn not ease of Tao For their desire's disease; Because their mind is not refined Of thought by killing these.

If one should slay desires, His mind and body seem No longer his, but phantasies Danced in a wanton's dream.

Slay mind, slay body, slay The external: matter goes. Then space remains; renew thy pains! Up! Front the final foes!

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