Chapter 5
FIVE
Heaven and earth are not fallible and unjust like humans: they are always impartial. They have no favorites in giving kindness to the world: they give life to humans with the same impartiality they give life to dogs and plants. The perfect sage is also impartial: he has no prejudices that would lead him to like this one and dislike that one; he treats all men as being of equal value. Moreover, there is nothing
between heaven and earth but vast space. Heaven and earth resemble a bellows and a musical pipe: they are empty but inexhaustible; the more one plays on them the more they give out. The babbler is constantly being confounded but the dumb sage, constantly exercising concentration of mind, is competent to meet every chance and circumstance.