16 致虛極 守靜篤

老子道德經第十六章

致虛極　守靜篤
萬物並作　吾以觀復

夫物芸芸　各復歸其根
歸根曰靜　靜曰復命
復命曰常　知常曰明

不知常　妄作凶
知常容　容乃公
公乃全　全乃天　天乃道　道乃久
沒身不殆

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SIXTEEN

Empty yourself of everything,
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

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16

In the highest state of void,
I am still like the mountain.
That everything grows and flourishes,
I silently watch their cycles.

Oh, there are so many things in the universe,
They come and go and eventually return to what they are.
To return to self is to reach void,
or fate, or eternity, or infinite, or absolute, or nature.
Knowing nature is true wisdom.

He who knows the ultimate nature of the world
is accepting, is just, is preserved, is natural,
and he lives on with nature, in all eternity.