1
🌫️
The Nameless Way
The truth that can be spoken is not the whole truth. Mystery is the gateway to understanding — embrace not-knowing.
81 verses on the way of nature, power, and effortless action
The truth that can be spoken is not the whole truth. Mystery is the gateway to understanding — embrace not-knowing.
Beautiful creates ugly, difficult creates easy. The sage acts without forcing and teaches without speaking.
Reduce desires and ambitions. When people lack cunning, they return to simplicity and order emerges naturally.
Emptiness is not nothing — it is infinite potential. The usefulness of a bowl lies in its hollow center.
Nature makes no favorites. The sage treats all equally, holding nothing back and clinging to nothing.
The feminine, receptive principle endures. Yield and overcome — the soft outlasts the hard.
Heaven and earth last because they do not exist for themselves. Put yourself last and find yourself ahead.
Water benefits all things without competing. It settles in the lowest places others reject. This is the way.
Fill a cup to the brim and it spills. Sharpen a blade too much and it dulls. Retire when the work is done.
Can you love and guide without controlling? Create without claiming? Lead without dominating? This is hidden virtue.
Thirty spokes share one hub — the hole makes the wheel useful. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
Colors blind the eye, sounds deafen the ear. The sage is guided by what she feels, not by what she sees.
Accept disgrace as a surprise — you only fear loss because you believe in a self to lose. Let go of both.
Look and it cannot be seen. Listen and it cannot be heard. Grasp and it cannot be held. Return to nothingness.
They were careful as crossing ice, alert as warriors, courteous as guests. Murky like mud — but mud settles and becomes clear.
Empty yourself completely. Be still. All things rise and fall while you watch their return. Returning is peace.
When the best leader's work is done, the people say: 'We did it ourselves.' True power leaves no trace.
When harmony is forgotten, we invent morality. When morality fails, we invent laws. Each step further from truth.
Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom — people will be a hundred times happier. Embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness.
Others are bright; I alone am dim. Others are sharp; I alone am dull. I drift like the sea, blown by no destination.
The Tao is vague and elusive, yet within it is form, essence, truth. Trust what cannot be grasped by thought.
Bend and be straight. Empty and be full. Wear out and be renewed. The sage embraces the one and becomes whole.
A whirlwind does not last all morning. A thunderstorm does not last all day. If heaven cannot sustain fury, why would you?
Those who stand on tiptoe don't stand firm. Those who rush ahead don't go far. Self-display is not enlightenment.
Something formless existed before heaven and earth. Boundless, it could be the mother of all things. I call it Tao.
The heavy is the root of the light. The still is master of the restless. A lord who wanders loses his kingdom.
Good speaking has no flaws. Good counting needs no tally. The master is available to all and rejects none.
Know strength, but keep gentleness. Become a valley for the world. Return to infinite potential — uncarved simplicity.
Those who try to control the world always fail. The world is a sacred vessel — it cannot be improved upon. Interfere and ruin it.
Violence rebounds. Thorns grow where armies camp. Achieve your result, then stop. Accomplish but do not boast.
The sage uses them only when there is no choice. Victory is not beautiful — those who celebrate it delight in killing.
The Tao is forever undefined. Though small as an uncarved block, nothing in the world can master it.
Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.
All things depend on it for life, yet it claims nothing. It accomplishes its work, then takes no credit. Truly great.
All things come to those who hold to the Tao. It is mild and without flavor — but its usefulness has no end.
To shrink something, first expand it. To weaken something, first strengthen it. The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong.
If leaders abide by this, all things transform themselves. When desire arises, simplicity stills it. Then all is at peace.
The highest virtue doesn't claim to be virtuous. The lowest virtue clings to virtue. When ritual fails, they roll up their sleeves and force it.
Heaven became clear through oneness. Earth became stable through oneness. Spirits became powerful through oneness. All from the One.
Yielding is how the Tao works. All things are born of being. Being is born of non-being.
When the wise hear the Tao, they practice it diligently. When the foolish hear it, they laugh. If they didn't laugh, it wouldn't be the Tao.
One gives birth to two, two to three, three to all things. All things carry yin and embrace yang — harmony in the blending of breaths.
Water penetrates rock. The insubstantial enters where there is no gap. Teaching without words, working without action — few understand this.
The more you have, the more you have to lose. Know when you have enough and avoid disgrace. Know when to stop and stay safe.
Great fullness seems empty. Great skill seems clumsy. Great eloquence seems to stutter. Stillness overcomes restlessness.
When the Tao is present, horses fertilize fields. When absent, war-horses breed on frontiers. No crime is greater than desire.
Without going outside, know the whole world. Without looking out the window, see the way of heaven. The further you go, the less you know.
In pursuit of learning, every day something is gained. In pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped. Less and less until non-action.
The sage takes the mind of the people as her own. She is good to those who are good, and good to those who are not good — this is true goodness.
Three in ten follow life, three follow death, three die by clinging to life. Those who hold life loosely are not touched by death.
The Tao gives birth, virtue raises, matter shapes, environment completes. All things honor the Tao — not by command, but naturally.
The world has a beginning which is its mother. Know the mother, know the children. Return to the mother and be free from danger.
Yet people prefer side paths. When courts are splendid, fields are weedy and granaries empty. This is robbery, not the Tao.
Cultivate virtue in yourself — it becomes real. In your family — it grows. In your nation — it flourishes. In the world — it becomes universal.
Bones weak, muscles soft, yet grip is firm. Harmony is constant. Knowing constancy is enlightenment. Force exhausts — that is not the Tao.
Those who speak do not know. Block the passages, shut the doors, blunt the edges. Unite with all — this is primal union.
The more rules, the poorer the people. The more weapons, the more chaos. Take no action and people transform themselves.
Blessing is where disaster lurks. Who knows where one ends and the other begins? The sage is sharp but does not cut.
Don't overdo it. With restraint, nothing is impossible. Plant deep roots. This is the way of long life and lasting vision.
Like cooking a small fish — don't overhandle it. When the Tao guides the world, even ghosts lose their power to harm.
Like a river delta where all streams meet. The feminine conquers the masculine by stillness, by lying below. Great nations should be humble.
And the refuge of the bad. Beautiful words can buy honor, good deeds can gain respect — but even the bad are not abandoned.
Work without effort. Taste the tasteless. See the small, increase the few. Repay injury with kindness. Begin difficult things while easy.
A tree that fills a man's embrace grows from a seedling. A tower nine stories high begins with a heap of earth. Prevention is easier than cure.
They did not try to enlighten the people, but to keep them simple. Cleverness makes people hard to govern. Simplicity brings virtue.
Because they lie below them. To lead people, walk behind them. To be above, stay below. The sage leads without people feeling oppressed.
Compassion, frugality, and not daring to be first in the world. From compassion comes courage. From frugality, generosity. From humility, leadership.
The best fighter is never angry. The best employer serves their workers. This is the virtue of non-competing.
There is no greater misfortune than underestimating your opponent. To underestimate is to lose your treasure. When forces are equal, sorrow wins.
Yet no one understands them. My teachings have an ancient source. Because people do not know this, they do not know me.
To not know yet think you know is illness. Only when you are sick of being sick are you no longer sick.
A greater power appears. Do not confine their homes. Do not weary their lives. If you do not oppress, you will not be oppressed.
Yet it skillfully conquers. Does not speak, yet responds. Does not call, yet things come. Seems slow, yet plans are complete.
How can you threaten them with it? Fear of death comes from clinging to life. Let go, and what is there to fear?
People starve. When government is too intrusive, people rebel. When rulers prize life above all, death loses its meaning.
The dead are rigid and stiff. Plants alive are tender and flexible. Dead, they are brittle and dry. The stiff and unbending is the way of death.
What is high is pulled down, what is low is raised. It reduces excess and fills deficiency. The sage gives without needing recognition.
Yet nothing is better for attacking the hard and strong. Weakness overcomes strength. Softness overcomes hardness. Everyone knows this — few practice it.
Some resentment remains. How can this be made good? The sage keeps her half of the bargain, demands nothing of others. The Tao has no favorites.
Let there be weapons unused, boats unridden, roads untraveled. People enjoy their food, admire their clothes, feel secure in their homes. This is contentment.
Beautiful words are not true. The wise are not learned; the learned are not wise. The sage does not hoard — having given, she has more.