16

Keeping emptiness as their limit and stillness as their center ten thousand things rise we watch them return creatures without number return to their roots returning to their roots they are still being still they revive reviving they endure knowing how to endure is wisdom not knowing is to suffer in vain knowing how to endure is to yield to yield is to be impartial to be impartial is to be the ruler the ruler is Heaven Heaven is the Way and the Way is long life a life without trouble

SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Emptiness is the Way of Heaven. Stillness is the Way of Earth. There is nothing that is not endowed with these. And everything rises by means of them.”

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “What is meant here by emptiness is not utter emptiness but the absence of fullness. And what is meant by stillness is not complete stillness but everything unconsciously returning to its roots.”

HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “Heaven has its fulcrum, people have their ancestors, and plants have their roots. And where are these roots? They are where things begin but have not yet begun, namely, the Dark Gate. If you want to cultivate the Great Way but don’t know where this entrance is, your efforts will be in vain.”

SU CH’E says, “We all rise from our nature and return to our nature, just as flowers and leaves rise from their roots and return to their roots, or just as waves rise from a river and return to the river. If you don’t return to your nature, even if you still your actions and your thoughts, you won’t be still. Heaven and Earth, mountains and rivers might be great, but none of them endures. Only what returns to its nature becomes still and enduring, while what does not return to its nature is at the mercy of others and cannot escape.”

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “Those who embrace all things and are impartial and selfless become great examples to others, who thus turn to them as their rulers.”

TE-CH’ING says, “To know what truly endures is to know that Heaven and Earth share the same root, that the ten thousand things share one body, and that there is no difference between self and others. Those who cultivate this within themselves become sages, while those who practice this in the world become rulers. Rulers become rulers by following the Way of Heaven. And Heaven becomes Heaven by following the Tao. And the Tao becomes the Tao by lasting forever.”

HO-SHANG KUNG says, “To know the unchanging course of the Way is to be free of passion and desire and to yield. To yield is to be free of self-interest. To be free of self-interest is to rule the world. To rule the world is to merge your virtue with that of Heaven. And to merge your virtue with that of Heaven is to be one with the Way. If you can do this, you will last as long as Heaven and Earth and live without trouble.”

LI JUNG says, “Sages enjoy life without limits.”

Our knowledge is the knowledge of twigs. Lao-tzu’s knowledge is the knowledge of roots. In line two, the Kuotien, Wangpi, and Fuyi texts all have tu (substantial/true). But tu (substantial/true) was also used (especially with the “clothing” radical) as a variant of tu (the central seam at the back of a garment), which is what we find in Mawangtui B and which I have followed here. Mawangtui A has piao (show), but this was also used as another variant of tu (main seam). The Chinese character for “ruler” in lines fourteen and fifteen shows one vertically centered line connecting three horizontal lines: Heaven, Humankind, and Earth. The ruler was also called the Son of Heaven. Only the first six lines are present in the Kuotien texts.