Perfect travels leave no tracks.
Perfect words leave no doubts.
Perfect accounts need no counting.
Perfect gates close without locks
and so cannot be opened.
Perfect knots bind without rope
and so cannot be loosened.
A sage is always perfect in rescuing people
and so abandons no one,
always perfect in rescuing things
and so abandons nothing.
This is called the bequest of enlightenment,
so one who possesses this perfection is a teacher of those who don’t,
and those who don’t possess it are the resource of one who does.
Without honoring the teacher
and loving the resource,
no amount of wisdom can prevent vast confusion.
This is called the essential mystery.