Verse 1 Transcending

The Tao that can be told
is not the universal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the universal name.

In the infancy of the universe,
there were no names.
Naming fragments the mysteries of life
into ten thousand things and their manifestations.

Yet mysteries and manifestations
spring from the same source:
The Great Integrity
which is the mystery within manifestation,
the manifestation within mystery,
the naming of the unnamed,
and the un-naming of the named.

When these interpenetrations
are in full attendance,
we will pass the gates of naming notions
in our journey toward transcendence.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 2 Relativity

We know beauty because there is ugly.
We know good because there is evil.
Being and not being,
having and not having,
create each other.

Difficult and easy,
long and short,
high and low,
define each other,
just as before and after follow each other.

The dialectic of sound gives voice to music,
always transforming "is" from "was"
as the ancestors of "to be".

The wise
teach without telling,
allow without commanding,
have without possessing,
care without claiming.

In this way we harvest eternal importance
because we never announce it.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 3 Tempering

Overpraising the gifted leads to contentiousness.
Overvaluing the precious invites stealing.
Craving the desirable loses contentment.

The natural person
desires without craving
and acts without excess.

By not doing,
everything is done.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 4 The Great Integrity

The Great Integrity is an endless abyss,
yet, it is the inexhaustibly fertile
source of the universe.

It blunts all sharpness,
unties the entangled,
and merges with the dust!

Hidden but ever present-
this parent of the gods-
whose child may it be?

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 5 Yin and Yang

Yin and yang aren't sentimental.
They exist without moralizing.
They act regardless of our wishes
within the ebb and flow
of every pregnant moment.

The space between yin and yang
is like a bellows -
empty, yet infinitely full.
The more it yields,
the more it fills.

Countless words
count less
than the silent balance
between yin and yang.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 6 Life is Spirit

The spirit of life
never dies.

It is the infinite gateway
to mysteries within mysteries.

It is the seed of yin,
the spark of yang.

Always elusive,
endlessly available.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 7 Modesty

The Great Integrity, having had no birth,
expresses its immortality
without pronouncements.

The wise are heard
through their silence,
always self-full through selflessness.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 8 The Highest Good

The highest good is like water,
nourishing life effortlessly,
flowing without prejudice
to the lowliest places.

It springs from all
who nourish their community
with benevolent heart as deep as an abyss,
who are capable of lies and injustices,
who are rooted in the earth,
and whose natural rhythms of action
play midwife to the highest good
of each pregnant moment.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 9 Overfulfillment

Keep filling your bowl,
and it will spill over.

Keep sharpening your knife,
and it will blunt.

Keep hoarding gold in your house,
and you will be robbed.

Keep seeking approval,
and you will be chained.

The Great Integrity leads to actualization,
never overfulfillment.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 10 Limitations

When embracing the unity
of mind, body, emotions and spiritual being,
can we transcend our fragmentations
without leaving a trace?

When Qi Gong sculpts sinew suppleness,
can our flesh become soft as a new born babe?

Can we cleanse the inner vision,
leaving mind and spiritual purity?

Can our affairs of the heart,
and our affairs of state
be so unconditional
that we grant unqualified permissibility?

Can the gate to Yin be opened
without inviting Yang?

Can our reasonging mind be purged of coersion,
allowing our heart its unfettered joy?

Can we act like every other species,
seeking no reward,
taking no pride,
guiding without enslaving?

Such is our vision of the Great Integrity
on whose path we have at last planted both feet,
ready to move, step by step,
until we arrive at the unfettered gate.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 11 The Importance of What Is Not

We join thirty spokes
to the hub of a wheel,
yet it's the center hole
that drives the chariot.

We shape clay
to birth a vessel,
yet it's the hollow within
that makes it useful.

We chisel doors and windows
to construct a room,
yet it's the inner space
that makes it livable.

Thus do we
create what is
to use what is not.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 12 Choices

Colors can make us blind!
Music can make us deaf!
Flavors can destroy our taste!
Possessions can close our options!
Racing can drive us mad
and its rewards obstruct our peace!

Thus, the wise
fill the inner gut
rather than the eyes,
always sacrificing the superficial
for the essential.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 13 Identity

Accolades can usher in
great trouble for your body.
Censure can herald misery.

Why can favor and disfavor
both be harmful?

Because both accolades and censure,
when filtered through self as ego,
always place us in jeopardy.

But when the universe becomes your self,
when you love the world as yourself,
all reality becomes your haven,
reinventing you as your own heaven.

Only then, will you transcend tense
to fully be here now.
Only then, no harm
will the universe proffer
nor you to her,
for you will be
not you but she
and both-the universal Great Integrity.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 14 Beyond Reason

That which we look at
but cannot see is the invisible.

That which we listen to
but cannot hear is the inaudible.

That which we reach for
but cannot grasp is the intangible.

Beyond reason, these three merge,
contradicting experience.

Their rising side isn't bright.
Their setting side isn't dark.

Sense-less, unnamable, they return
to the realms of nothingness.

Form without form,
image without image,
indefinable, ineluctable, elusive.

Confronting them, you see no beginning.
Following them, you see no end.

Yet, riding the plowless plow
can seed the timeless Tao,
harvesting the secret
transcendence of the Now.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 15 Linking With Ancient Times

In ancient times
the people knew the Great Integrity
with subtlety and profundity.

Because they are so unfathomable to us,
we can describe the ancients
only with great effort.

They were-
cautious as those crossing an icy stream,
wary as those surrounded by dangers,
dignified as guests,
yielding as melting ice,
innocent as virgin wood,
open and broad as valleys,
merging freely as muddy water.

But today, who can reamin patient
while the mud so gradually clears?
Who can remain still
while the moment for action
so slowly emerges?

Who?
We observers of the Great Integrity,
who in our times,
like those ancients,
never seeking fulfillment,
are never unfulfilled.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 16 Tranquility

Allow the heart to empty itself of all turmoil!
Retrieve the utter tranquility of mind
from which you issued.

Although all forms are dynamic,
and we all grow and transform,
each of us is compelled to return to our root.
Our root is quietude.

To fully return to our root is to be enlightened.
Never to experience tranquility is to act blindly,
a sure path to disaster.

To know tranquility is to embrace all.
To embrace all is to be just.
Justice is the foundation for wholeness.
Wholeness is the Great Integrity.
The Great Integrity is the infinite fulfilling itself.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 17 Leaders

There are four types of leaders:
The best leader is indistinguishable
from the will of those who select her.
The next best leader enjoys the love
and praise of the people.
The poor leader rules through coersion and fear.
And the worst leader is a tyrant despised
by the multitudes who are the victims of his power.

What a world of difference among these leaders!
In the last two types, what is done
is without sincerity or trust-only coersion.
In the second type, there is a harmony
between the leader and the people.
In the first type, whatever is done happens
so naturally that no one presumes to take the credit!

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 18 The Paradoxes of Abandoning the Great Integrity

When the Great Integrity was abandoned,
humanity and justice appeared.

When knowledge and teachers appeared,
hypocrisy was thier inevitable accompaniment.

When family relationships lost thier harmony,
filial piety and parental affection were suddenly birthed.

When a nation succumbs to chaos and corruption,
patriotic politicians are always at hand announcing themselves.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 19 The Paradoxes of Returning to the Great Integrity

Banish the intellectual!
Discard knowledge!
We will all benefit a hundredfold!

Eliminate all institutions of charity and justice!
We can then return
to our natural love for each other.

Let everyone be released
from our addictions to shrewdness and profit!
Then, thievery will disappear!

These three negate the Great Integrity.
But to negate these negations is insufficient.
Three affirmations are also necessary.

The first is to embrace simplicity and integrity.
The second is to consume only the needs of our body and soul.
The third is to allow our love and concern for others to define our essentiality.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 20 The Sadness of Superficialities and of the Unfulfilled Great Integrity

It is sometimes deeply depressing to be a rebel,
knowing that we can never share most people's way of life, nor can they share ours.

Schooling stuffs the brains of our children with trivia.
The more the trivia, the more their anxieties.
They indoctrinate the children to believe that the consequences are grave
when they fail to distinguish "good" from "evil", and agreement from disagreement.
What gross nonsense!

To escape the rubbish of all this so-called knowledge,
in the winter people run to the great feasts of lamb, pork and ox,
and they climb high in the mountains to view the first signs of spring.

We are so different! Having no desire for trivialities,
nor for their compensations, we are like infants not yet knowing how to laugh!
Ever wandering, and having no home to which we may return.

While most people are obsessed with superficialities, we feel empty.
While most people feel they know so much, we feel simple-minded.
While most people believe they live happily in the best of all possible worlds,
we are despaired to witness this world!
It is so painful to know that we will always be outsiders,
endlessly moving like the ocean, aimlessly blowing like the wind.

While we fear what others fear, we don't treasure what others treasure.
Our treasure is the Great Integrity.
However, until it is shared, it will not be the Universal Integrity,
for we are part of them, and they are part of us.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 21 The Great Integrity is a Paradox

The Great Integrity is a paradox.
It is inherent in the universe,
yet its form is so illusive.
It is the Vital Essence of every entity,
yet nothing announces its essential character.

The Great Integrity was apparent
before time, space and matter appeared to seperate.
How can we re-mind and re-infuse ourselves
with this very touchstone of all essentialities and connections?

Be re-fusing time, space and matter
with the spiritualization of our materiality,
and with the materilization of our spirituality.

Then, when our dualities and numeralities
become blurred and forgotten,
the Great Integrity will re-merge in forms
of such incredible depths and dimensions of enlightenment,
precisely because our temporary fragmentary consciousness
created a multi-millennial amnesia.

"The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation"
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 22 Celebrate Paradox!

No-thing remains itself.
Each prepares the path to its opposite.

To be ready for wholeness, first be fragmented.
To be ready for rightness, first be wronged.
To be ready for fullness, first be empty.
To be ready for renewal, first be worn out.
To be ready for success, first fail.
To be ready for doubt, first be certain.

Because the wise observe the world
through the Great Integrity,
they know they are not knowledgeable.
Because they do not perceive
only through their perceptions,
they do not judge this right and that wrong.
Because they do not delight in boasting,
they are appreciated.
Because they do not announce their superiority,
they are acclaimed.
Because they never compete,
no one can compete with them.

Verily, fragmentation prepares the path to wholeness,
the mother of all origins and realizations.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 23 Sincerity

Speak few words, but say them with quietude and sincerity,
and they will be long lasting,
for a raging wind cannot blow all morning,
nor a sudden rainstorm last throughout the day.

Why is this so?
Because it is the nature of the sky and the earth to be frugal.
Even human beings cannot alter this nature
without suffering the consequences.

When we sincerely follow the ethical path,
we become one with it.
When we become one with the ethical path, it embraces us.

When we completely lose our way, we become one with loss.
When we become one with loss, loss embraces us.

When we sincerely follow the Great Integrity,
we become one with it.
When we are one with the Great Integrity, it embraces us.

But when nothing is done sincerely,
no-thing and no one embraces us.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 24 Avoiding Voids

Standing on tiptoe will only make you tipsy,
Walking with long strides will not allow a long walk.
Shining the light on yourself will never enlighten you.
Being self-righteous precludes you from being right.
Boasting about yourself will never boost your eminence.
Prading yourself parodies leadership.

Tao consciousness avoids
the cultivation of all these ego bloated voids.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 25 Naming the Nameless

What preceded life? The earth.
What preceded the earth? The universe.
What preceded the universe?
The soundless and shapeless, origin of origins,
ever transforming and having no beginning nor end.

This Mother of the universe is boundless, and nameless.
But if we wanted to share with you anything
about this remarkable non-executing executor,
we must invent a name for it.

We call it the Tao because Tao means great.
Incredibly great because it occupies infinite space,
being fully present in the whole universe, and in every infinitesimal particle.

Because this Great Integrity created the universe,
and the universe created the earth,
and the earth created us, we are all incredibly great.

Life derives from the nature of the earth.
The earth derives from the nature of the universe.
The universe derives from the nature of the Great Integrity.
And the Great Integrity is the omnipresent, omnigenous omniform,
the universal material and the spiritual substance,
and the holoversal interlinkage and coition of existence.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 26 Seductions

Inner strength is the master
of the frivolities.
Tranquility is the master
of all the agitated emotions.

Those who succumb to frivolities
have lost their inner strength.
Those who succumb to agitated emotions
have lost their tranquility.

The wise cultivated
inner strength and tranquility.
That is why they are not seduced
by addicitive temptations.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 27 Wisdom is Effortless Mutuality

The expert traveler leaves no footprints.
The expert speaker makes no mispronunciations.
The expert in calculation needs no calculator.

The expert in closing things needs no lock,
yet not one can open what has been closed.
The expert in binding uses no knots,
yet no one can pull apart what has been bound.

The expert in caring for things never wastes anything.
The expert at helping people never abandons anyone.

These are the paths to enlightenment.
Those who arrive at their destination
teach those who are still on the path,
while those still on the path
are sources of wisdom for the teachers.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 28 The Fusion of Opposites

To know the masculine and be true to the feminine
is to be the waterway of the world.

To be the waterway of the world is to flow with the Great Integrity,
always swirling back to the innocence of childhood.

To know yang and to be true to yin is
to echo the universe.

To echo the universe is to merge with the Great Integrity,
ever returning to the infinite.

To know praise and be true to the lowly
is to be a model for the planet.

To be a model for the planet is to express the Great Integrity
as the Primal Simplicity - like an uncarved block.

When the uncarved block goes to the craftsman,
it is transformed into something useful.

The wise craftsman cuts as little as necessary
because he follows the Great Integrity.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 29 We Are the World

Those who have most power and wealth
treat the planet as a thing to be possessed,
to be used and abused according to their own dictates.

To violate this integrity
is certain to call forth disaster
since each and every one of us
is an inherent part of this very organism.

All attempts to control and the world
can only lead to its decimation
and to our own demise
since we are an inseperable part
of what we are senslessly trying to coerce.

Any attempt to possess the world
can only lead to its loss
and to our own dissolution
since we are an intrinsic part
of what we are foolishly trying to possess.

The world's pulse is our pulse.
The world's rhythms are our rhythms.
To treat our planet with care, moderation and love
is to be in synchrony with ourselves
and to live in the Great Integrity.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 30 Defense and Aggression

Those on the path of the Great Integrity
never use military force to conquer others.
Every aggressive act harvests its own counter-terrorism.

Wherever the military marches,
the killing fields lay waste to the land,
yielding years of famine and misery.

When attacked, those on the path of the Great Integrity
defend themselves benevolently,
never revenging.

Achieve success without arrogance,
without seeking glory,
and without violating others.

Aggression leaches our strength and humanity,
subverting the Great Integrity,
and inviting disaster.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 31 War

The finest weapons are the worst evils.
They are universally loathed.
Therefore, help guide your nation to the non-aggressive path.

The wise hold steady on the passive yin path.
Those who are aggressive prefer the active yang.

Weapons are instruments of coercion and devils of death.
Resort to them only in dire necessity.
Peace is our natural state of being.

If weapons must be wielded to defend ourselves,
and we are victorious, never rejoice.
Can there be joy over the slaughter of others?

On joyous occassions,
we attune with the yang side.
On the sad occassions, with the yin.

During battle, the soldiers are on the left yang side,
engaging in the combat.
The commanders are on the right yin side,
observing the action.

After the battle, the soldiers who have slain others,
move to the yin side of mourn,
while the commanders, now on the yang side,
are celebrating victory even though it is a funeral.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 32 Is It Not Time To Unify the Fragments?

Although the Great Integrity is infinite,
and therefore undefined,
it is silent in its Primal Simplicity.

Nothing is its superior.
When humanity embraces the Great Integrity,
all life on earth will be grateful.

All yin and yang will be harmonized
in the sweet daily dew, and peace will reign
on the planet without anyone commanding it.

When the Primal Simplicity atomized
into the 10,000 fragments, with their 10,000 names,
our planet became endangered.

Now - are there not enough fragments?
Is it not time to stop and return to the universal sea
from which all streams emereged?

To return to the Great Integrity
is to obliterate
the list of the 10,000 endangered species.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 33 Who Are You?

If you understand others, you are astute.
If you understand yourself, you are insightful.

If you master others, you are uncommonly forceful.
If you master yourself you have uncommon inner strength.

If you know when you have enough, you are wealthy.
If you carry your intentions to completion, you are resolute.

If you find your roots and nourish them, you will know longevity.
If you live a long creative life, you will leave an eternal legacy.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 34 Humility and Greatness

The Great Integrity is unboundable like a flood.
It cannot be manipulated this or that way.
It is the very wellspring of life,
always outpouring, never commanding.

Although the source of every need,
it is never demanding.
It does its work silently
and unpretentiously.

All return to the Great Integrity
as our liberating universal home.
By never seeking greatness,
greatness permeates in deed.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 35 The Consummate Food and the Ultimate Music

When you merge with the universe,
the whole world is attracted to you,
discovering through you
its own security, peace and good health.

Passing guests may stop by-at first attracted
to your savory food and inspirational music.
But they might leave more deeply enriched
than they could have anticipated-

Because the silent song of Tao
is the ulimate music,
and the infinate delicacy of Tao
is the consummate nourishment.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 36 Too Much Invites Disaster

What becomes overexpanded becomes diminished.
What is too strong becomes weakend.
What is too high is cut down.
What is overpossessed becomes impoverished.

It is in the nature of process that in the final stages,
those who are overextended,
overharmed and overprivileged,
shall overcome.

Disaster stalks the fish
which swims up from its deep water home,
and the army which threatens to conquer
those beyond its own borders.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 37 The Primal Simplicity

The Great Integrity imposes no action,
yet it leaves nothing undone.
Were governemnts to embrace it,
everything would develop naturally.

If thereafter an old ego should reincarnate,
the already permeated Primal Simplicity
would neutralize it in its pervasive silence.

Returning to silence is returning to peace.
Returning to peace, the world reharmonizes itself.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 38 Distinguishing the Highest From the Lowest Morality

You can recognize the highest virtuousness
because it never places itself on display.
You can readily recognize the lowest virtuousness
because it is always announcing itself.

The highest virtue quietly serves universal needs.
The lowest virtue actively strives for personal success.
The highest morality serves common needs.
The lowest morality is self-serving.

True benevolence
acts without intention.
But when rituals go unheeded,
they are enforced with rolled-up sleeves.

Failing the Great Integrity, we resort to virtuousness.
Failing virtuousness, we resort to moralizing.
Failing moralizing, we resort to dogma,
the most superficial form of faith and loyalty,
and the nourishment for confusion.

Natural persons are attracted
to substance rather than form,
to the nutritious fruit rather than the enticing flower,
to that which dwells deeply within,
rather than to that which clings superficially to the surface.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 39 Then and Now

In ancient times, all entities had their own integrity and function.
The sky was clear and endless.
The earth was calm and firm.
The gods were charged with spiritual powers.
The wells were clean and full.
The 10,000 creatures were healthy and fecund.
Leaders were elected to plan the work and defense of the community.
How wonderously concordant!

If the sky were not endless, it could have fallen.
If the earth were not firm, it could have burst.
If the gods did not exercise their spiritual powers,
they would have been abandoned.
If the wells were not full, they could have dried up.
If the 10,000 creatures were not productive,
they could have become extinct.
If the leaders did not plan the work and defense of the community,
they would have been replaced.
In this way, each entity had its own essentiality,
each part complementing every other.

Nowadays, when the privileged among us identify themselves
with the orphan, the widower and the hungry one,
it may be an opportunistic appeal for the support of the lowly,
or a realization that loudly trumpeting self-glory negates itslef,
or a premonition that shining like jade, and resounding like stone chimes
attracts the desperate adventurers among those deprived of hope,
inviting disaster among those who create these deprivations.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 40 All Is Pardox

The movement of the Great Integrity is infinite,
yet its character is passive.
Being defies every form of life,
yet all originate in, and return to, non-being.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 41 Observing and Nourishing Paradox

When most people hear about the Great Integrity,
they waiver between belief and disbelief.
When wise people hear about the Great Integrity,
they diligently follow its path.
When ignorant people hear about it
they laugh out loud!
By this very laughter, we know its authenticity.

It is said -
enlightenment appears dark,
the progressive way appears retrograde,
the smooth way appears jagged,
the highest peak of revelation appears empty like a valley,
the cleanest appears to be soiled,
the greatest abundance appears insufficient,
the most enduring inner strength appears like weakenss,
and creativity appears imitative.

Great talents mature slowly.
Great sounds are silent.
Great forms look helpless.
Transcendent squareness has no corners.

The Great Integrity hides behind all forms,
stubbornly nourishing the paradoxes that can enlighten us.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 42 The Principles of Transformation

The Great Integrity expresses one.
One manifests as two.
Two is transformed into three.
And three generates all the myriad entities of the universe.

Every entity always returns to yin after engaging yang.
The fusion of these two opposites
births the Vital Energy that sustains the harmony of life.

But for most people, this harmony is decimated
by inheriting a condition
of relative misery, scarcity and victimization.

Politicians cleverly pretend that they too originate
from the toxic soil of this misery,
even while designing the very laws
that legitimate victimization.

But watch out - those who hoard oversufficiency
will be diminished!
And those who are diminished
will become bountiful!

These commonly known truths
that common people teach each other,
are also my truths.

As you sow, so shall you reap.
Such is the heart of my teaching
in a world forced to live heartlessly.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 43 The Value of Minimums

That which is most tender
can overcome that which is most rigid.
That which has least substance
can penetrate that which has least space.

Acting without deliberate action,
and teaching without uttering a word
are rarely practiced.
So few find their way to the Great Integrity!

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 44 Choices

Which do you value more -
your wealth or your wellness?
Which is more harmful -
to lead or to lose?

The greater is your attachemnt,
the more bereft is your release.
The more you hoard,
the less is left to enjoy.

Those on the path
to the Great Integrity
flow without forcing,
leaving no space for disasters.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 45 Illusions and Reality

Completeness can seem incomplete,
yet the completeness that we achieve can be remarkable.
Fullness can seem empty,
yet the fullness that we achieve can be very useful.

Truth can appear as a lie.
Staightness can appear as twisted.
Skillfulness can appear to be clumsy.
Eloquence can sound like foolishness.

But the dialectic of yin and yang is not illusory.
Activity can overcome cold.
Tranquility can overcome heat.
And peacefulness is the natural seed of a violent world.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 46 Enough Is Enough!

When the Great Integrity permeated our lives,
freely galloping horses fertilized the fields.

When the Great Integrity was lost,
war horses bred in the countryside.

There is no greater calamity
than acquisitiveness racing out of control.

Only those who know when enough is enough
can ever have enough.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 47 Going Beyond

We can understand the world as it is
without leaving our home.
We can understand the world as it might be
without peering dreamily out our window.

The further we go,
the less we know.

Wise people understand the 10,000 things
without going to each one.
They know them without having to look at each one,
and they transform all without acting on each one.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 48 All Is Done Without Doing

To obtain a diploma requires the storage of trivia.
To obtain the Great Integrity requires their abandonment.

The more we are released from vested fragments of knowledge,
the less we are compelled to take vested actions,
until all is done without doing.

When the ego interferes
in the rhythms of process,
there is so much doing!
But nothing is done.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 49 Wisdom

Wise people are not absorbed
in their own needs.
They take the needs of all people as their own.

They are good to the good,
But they are also good to those
who are still absorbed in their own needs.

Why?
Because goodness is in the very nature
of the Great Integrity.

Wise people trust
those who trust.
But they also trust those who do not trust.

Why?
Because trusting is in the very nature
of the Great Integrity.

Wise people merge with all others
rather than stand apart judgmentally.
In this way, all begin to open their ears and hearts,
more prepared to return to the innocence of childhood.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1

Verse 50 The Forces of Life and Death

Every one of us is born,
And everyone dies.

However, three of every ten
seem to be born to live,
three seem to be born to die,
and three live lifefully or deathfully
according to their chosen life styles.

But only one in ten
seems to survive all dangers.
When walking through the jungle,
she never fears the rhinoceros
because there seems to be no place in her to butt his horns.
She never fears the tiger
because there seems to be no place to sink his claws,
and she never fears weapons
because there seems to be no place their steel can penetrate.

This is the fulfilled person of the Great Integrity
who leaves no space in life for premature death.

“The Tao Te Ching, A New Translation”
By: Ralph Alan Dale
ISBN: 0-7607-4998-1