Tao. The Poem. Verse 28 to 36.

28.

Know splendor—

abide in obscurity—

return to the natural.

When something uncut

is split, it is used.

But a sage is unhewn and divides nothing.

29.

One can’t improve

the world—

it’s perfect spirit.

One’s hot—then cold.

Strong—weak.

On—off.

So a sage avoids indulgence in extremes.

30.

As armies occupy,

thorns arise.

The adept are resolute,

but never favor force—

for things gone overgrown decay.

That isn’t the Way.

31.

Weapons are tools of misfortune—

the sage avoids them.

When many are killed—

clearly mourn them.

But even in a victory—

observe it with a funeral.

32.

Tao is ever nameless—

none command it.

Rain falls without an order.

Make rules—

names rise—

stop!

Tao in use is like a river flowing to the sea.

  

33.

To know others—

wise.

To know self—

enlightened.

To overcome others—

strong.

To overcome self—

all-powerful.

To not be lost in status—

enduring.

To die yet not die—

immortal.

34.

Tao

floods all directions.

All rely on it for being

yet it claims no name.

Thus a sage not acting for oneself

accomplishes greatness.

35.

Whoever follows the Great Image

enjoys peace.

Song and cake entice the passersby

to stop.

But the Way is tasteless—

never seen, heard, or exhausted.

36.

To weaken—first brace.

To take—give.

This is Dark Light.

Soft breaks hard.

Fish aren’t caught in depths.

A nation’s weapon is its peaceful villages.

Tao. The Poem. Verse 19 to 27.

19.

Abandon knowledge, morality, and profit—

people will thrive.

Yet one more item is crucial:

hold to the unhewn—

self erodes, desires fade.

 

20.

What’s the difference between good and bad?

People conform—they’re all so full!

I’m homeless and useless with the mind of a fool.

I nurture on the Mother.

21.

Tao alone is truth.

Formless—it holds an image.

Indistinct—it shelters fact.

Hidden—it embraces essence.

How do I know? It tells me.

22.

Yield—

and be whole.

As hollow—

so filled.

Thus the sage embraces unity.

Not self-absorbed—

self-evident.

Not empty talk—

the way to the whole.

23.

Speak sparingly as nature—

wind and rain doesn’t storm all day.

To follow Tao is to be Tao.

In gain be gain, in loss, loss.

In Tao trust.

24.

On tiptoes, one can’t stand.

Showing off, one doesn’t shine.

For one on the Way, it’s called

excess food and a tiring pace.

Never indulge.

25.

Before all—

there was something silent,

empty.

Name?

Call it Tao.

Humans follow earth

follows heaven

follows Tao.

Tao follows itself.

26.

Firm—root of light.

Still—lord of the wilderness.

Sages walk with resources near—

calm amid lookouts.

Lightly—lose footing.

Wildly—lose direction.

27.

Perfect action is not undone.

Students are enshrouded light.

Teachers employ that fact

or lack all resources—

simply confusion!

So a sage sees subtly

 

Tao. The Poem. Verse 13 to 18.

13.

Honor and shame

bind us to judgment—

suffering is bound

to our own pretense.

But seeing all as oneself—

one is free to be here for all.

14.

Not seen, heard, nor felt—

one.

Rising, not light.

Falling, not dark.

Formless form.

Hold the Ancient Way

to journey here and now.

   

15.

Ancients were so unfathomable,

we only picture their appearance—

to be so murky as to settle into clarity,

so still to stir to life.

16.

Empty and resonate

in silence—

see all rise and return

to the root.

Not knowing is all-suffering

but knowing the way loses all

to be always.

17.

Best is nearly never known.

Next best is loved.

Then, feared—

the worst is scorned.

But words never do—

it appears

to happen

spontaneously.

18.

When the Way is forsaken—

responsibilities rise.

As knowledge ripens—

duplicity appears.

Then all becomes chaos—

blind faith persists.

Tao. The Poem. Verse 10 to 12.

10.

Can you rest

in the seam of opposites?

See Spirit and Instinct

as One?

Give birth

without claiming,

raise

without ruling?

This deepest power. 

11.

Shape clay into a cup—

from emptiness forms function.

As it is in a dwelling.

In being arises increase,

but in non-being rests value.

12.

Overkill deadens the senses;

wild pursuits enrage the mind;

treasure loses the way.

So a sage

observes insight

and overlooks eyesight.

Tao. The Poem. Verse 7 to 9.

7.

The world abides—

for it doesn’t exist for itself.

So by yielding the body—

one is present.

And being free of self—

one is fulfilled.

8.

As truth,

like water,

one helps all

and vies with none,

lives low—

as Tao.

All holds the truth—

by not resisting,

one is free

from illusion.

9.

A cup filled to the brim will spill.

Acts done in excess produce the opposite.

When work is complete, the self retreats—

Nature’s Way.

Tao. The Poem. Verse 4 to 6.

4.

Tao is 

bottomless

emptiness—

seeming source

of all things. 

Harmonizing,

it perhaps exists. 

Yet its birth is unknown—

image older than God.

5.

The cosmos isn’t humane

nor is the sage—

all beings are sacrificial.

The universe will always make more.

Thus abide in the silent center.

6.

The valley spirit never dies—

call it the feminine

mystery.

Its gate is the root of the cosmos.

Ethereal—

but in use

inexhaustible. 

Tao. A long poem. Transforming a transcreation.

In the summer of 2009 I started transcreating the Tao Te Ching, reading different translations (Ellen M. Chen, David Hinton, Stephen Mitchell, Red Pine and several others), pondering each word of each verse as translated in a word-by-word grid created by Jonathan Star, and abridging each and every verse into a 140 character tweet. I ended up publishing it in book form: http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Tweet-transcreated-140-character/dp/1466248912/

I am now transforming the transcreations into short sections of a long poem as a new project, making minor revisions along the way, and no longer holding to the 140 character limit, although not necessarily adding or subtracting or revising either, except in the lineation added to the original. I am trying to stay true to the initial transcreation, which attempted to stay true to the original as viewed through translations—this is not a project revisiting those translations or that amazing grid, for that was an extensive project in and of itself.

The first three transformations are included in this post, with more to follow in future posts. I am considering it a long poem based directly on the Tao Te Ching—

the latest transformation

of an original transcreation

of several unique translations
of the nameless...

Tao

1.

No words

for Tao—

words are for things.

To know Tao

no desire—

desires are for things.

Both are sourced

in darkness—

doorway to no-thing.

2.

Knowing good

creates bad—

as ordinary opposites

relying on each other.

So the sage does

without doing—

claims nothing as

deeds are never lost.

3.

Don’t praise persons and things—

people will distort.

Lead by clarifying desire—

fulfilling essentials.

If nothing is doing—

all is done.