Sacred Texts Taoism Index
1st ed.
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To have an empty and transparent mind and to be unassertive is according to nature. A whirlwind never outlasts the morning, nor a violent rain the day. What causes the whirlwind and a violent rain? Is it not because of special condition of heaven and earth? If even nature can not keep up its disturbances for very long, how can a man expect to long assert himself?
Therefore, he who is devoting his life to the attainment of TAO, should be sincerely humble in mind and unassertive in his activities. If he is with those who are following TAO, he should show sympathy by following TAO himself. If he is with those who are practising teh, he should practise teh, also. If he is with those who have suffered loss, he should show sympathy with them in their loss.
For he who shows sympathy with those who are following TAO will thereby attain his own Taohood; he who shows sympathy with those who are practising teh, will rejoice in the acquirement of more teh himself, he who shows sympathy with those in loss will know better how to bear his own loss.
If one lacks faith in himself, it is because he lacks faith in TAO.