Kuo Hsiang, 2

51. Yu and Wen had to govern their empires in time of crisis. Emperor Shun bowed and yielded his throne to Yu, whereas Wen stood his ground and fought. The situations were different. But either course might accord with the Tao.

52. Stop trying to imitate what the sages have done. That's past, and though it might have been appropriate at the time, that time is over. The present is alive. Don't use what's dead as a guide to what's alive.

53. The lumberjack does not cut down the tree; he merely wields the axe; it is the axe that cuts. The king does not rule; he employs ministers. The lumberjack uses the axe and the king the minister. Each thing does what it is suited to do, and human nature gains scope without being forced. The king must be a king and his ministers must be ministers. Therefore attend to your own responsibility and the things around you will reach serenity. This is called wu wei because the action is spontaneous and gives play to the nature of things. The ruler is tranquil and the minister is active. But in each case they allow their nature to emerge easily and therefore perfectly. Don't act; just be.

54. Don't imitate anyone, even if they're admirable. When things lose their individuality, they descend into chaos. The thing you should fear most is the loss of your individuality. Disregard advancement. Live by your own truth. Preserve what is genuine within yourself.

55. Events of the past have disappeared, and even if they have been recorded or remembered, they are over and inaccessible to us. The past is not present, but the present is soon past. Therefore abandon the pursuit of knowledge and allow yourself to change with time.

56. The ceremonies of the past were designed to meet the needs of the past. When these needs no longer exist but the ceremony continues, it becomes a pernicious influence, and degenerates into mere affectation. It becomes a lie.

57. Humaneness and virtue are principles inherent in our nature. Nevertheless, our nature is transformed with time and we are changed. If you take what is offered and then let it go, you will find the still, silent center of reality. But if you try to freeze time and hold on to what you have, you become prejudiced and hypocritical.

58. Yao ruled, but he left things to his officials and did not interfere. He did not use people. He was in accord with his people and allowed things to run their course. Thus he was a ruler indeed and not a slave.

59. What does not exist cannot produce things that exist. How, then, is existence possible? Things spontaneously produce themselves. That's really all there is to metaphysics. The self cannot produce things, and it cannot be produced. Things are not created intentionally. The self exists for itself, in itself, simply in virtue of being what it is. That means there are no overall explanations, because the principle of existence and action in each thing is inherent in that thing and emerges spontaneously. The word "t'ien" (nature or heaven) means the spontaneity or play of things, not the blue sky, though the sky too might be a place to play.

60. Everything is related to everything else. There are things outside of each self, and each self acts for itself, and thus opposes the rest, as east is opposed to west. But on the other hand the relation of self and other might be conceived of as being like the relation of lips and teeth. If you don't have lips, your teeth get cold. They are opposed to each other. But they are indispensable to one another. Each thing is what it is because of what it is not.

61. Look. Not only is it impossible for not-being to become being, it is impossible for being to become not-being. So from where and how do things and for that matter the absence of things arise? What came first? If we say yin and yang came first, how did they come? From where? Maybe nature came first. But nature is only another name for beings. Suppose I say the Tao came first. But the Tao is only another name for not-being, so how can it arise? There must be another thing or not-thing and so on infinitely. When you get down to it, we cannot say anything except that things just are, that they arise spontaneously and spontaneously disappear.

62. Everything is alike in that it is part of nature, but nothing knows itself or commands itself consciously. Everything changes all the time; the world is always in process. But nothing commands things to change. They change themselves and one another spontaneously, by the simple emergence of their own nature, of the nature in them. Leave things alone and things will be perfectly realized without your help. Things seem to be directed by an intelligence, but in fact each simply does what it does. Let that happen; it will happen in any case.

63. Look. You can trace the causes of things infinitely, or else you come to a first cause. But is there a first cause - a creator - or is there not? Obviously if there is not than he can't create anything. And if there is, he himself is spontaneously self-created. Either way, all things emerge spontaneously. Stuff just keeps happening. Everything emerges in an uncontrolled improvisation, whether there is a creator or not. Nothing, therefore, is commanded by anything else. That's the truth.

64. When you get right down to it, there is no genuine distinction between right and wrong. Every one listens to his own opinion: he thinks what he thinks is right is right, and, if anyone disagrees, that they're wrong. Now first of all, if the distinction were evident, we'd agree more often, as we agree that the sky is blue. The distinction between right and wrong actually arises from partiality. Find a point of view on which the universe is a finger and all things are one horse. Then just let judgment go and live in peace. All things enact what they are. All things enjoy themselves. There is no distinction between right and wrong.

65. Moral principles do emerge from human nature, but human nature changes in response to its situation. If you accept the principles of the past provisionally or experimentally, you can stay flexible. But if you get rigid, you'll be broken.

66. The sage thinks of right and wrong as a circle. He just stays in the middle, and responds to the circle's infinity.

67. Wise people forget everything; they lose consciousness of the world and their own bodies. They wander freely everywhere. All things are their companions and they remain untroubled.

68. The sun and the moon illuminate things without preference or prejudice. If you're there, they shine on you. But of course there are things their light doesn't reach. But nothing is left out of the truth. If you try to pull people out of the underbrush and make them follow you, you've already abandoned the Tao. Just let everything enjoy its own truth, and find its own satisfaction. Just let things do what they do and be what they are. They'll be at peace and so will you.

69. Actually, it's easy to do nothing. What's hard is to do something without harming anything.

70. The sage is useless to others, but everything is useful to itself. So the sage leaves each thing its name and task, and mingles with them without drawing distinctions. He isn't harmed, and everything helps him. He's not smooth, just real.

71. People are always struggling. Therefore Yi [a famous archer] is everywhere. Everyone can be hit by the arrow except those who have left behind knowledge and the self. But whether you're hit or not is not up to you. You're always in some situation, but sometimes you think it's all under your own control. So if you're not hit, you think you're expecially skillful. And if you are hit, you think you must have done something wrong. But we don't choose to be alive. And the things within our lives - our hundred years of sitting, getting up, standing, walking, acting, resting, gaining, losing, feeling, wanting, knowing: all that we have, all that we don't, all that we do, everything we meet - ultimately we receive rather than choose them. They just are what they are. But people get all sentimental about this. That's a mistake.

72. When a man is born, insignificant though he is, he is already what he has to be. The whole universe as it exists is the condition of his own existence. Nothing could cease to exist without having an effect on him. If one thing were different, perhaps he would be annihilated.

73.
I arise and take form.
I am alive and find my work.
I grow old and decay.
I die and am at rest.
All these states are different.
But they are all the same
because they are all "I."
Through all these changes, the self persists.
So you can just let it be, let it go.

74. Our lives are not an accident, not chance. The universe is very large and contains many things. Yet, in it and among them, we are exactly what we are. In fact, this is true of everything: the sage, the warrior, the state: even the universe itself. What we are not, we cannot be. What we are, we cannot but be. What we do not do, we cannot do. What we do, we cannot but do. Just let everything be what it is. It will be anyway.

75. Change is a real force. It carries away hills and mountains. The old doesn't ever stop, but the new keeps on coming. Everything changes all the time. Everything we know secretly passes away. We touch someone's arm, then pass. What we ourselves were remains and is always leaving. There's no reason to hold on.

76. When water runs downhill, nothing can resist it. When small things get together with small things, and large things with large, the tendency can't be opposed. When a man is empty - receptive and without bias - everything gives him its wisdom. What does a true leader do? He trusts the wisdom of time; he flows downhill; he lets the world take care of itself.

77. If you are completely open and hide nothing, you can allow everything to take its course, become the same as everything and flow with all changes. Then there's no distinction between inner and outer, or between life and death. Even if the sage wants to find a place where she can be alone and separate from things, she can't. Existence is not a small or tortured thing.

78. It's not important whether people call you a sage, or whether you appear to have fulfilled your truth. When the question is how you look to other people, love and righteousness have degenerated into lies. Your music has deparated from nature's and is disharmony.

79. Some people aren't satisfied with themselves, and always atempt to transcend themselves. They can't succeed. A circle is not going to become square no matter how it tries, or a fish a bird. What they're trying to imitate might be good and beautiful. But the harder they try, the further their goal recedes. The more knowledge they gain, the more truth they lose.

80. You can't play all melodies at once, and the possibility of playing any given melody resides in the omission of the rest. Music is a system of absences that makes melody possible. So if you wanted to find all the melodies, you would have to stop playing. Maybe you should try that. When Chao Wen played the lute, he destroyed something by making something. When he didn't play the lute, he destroyed nothing by making nothing.