The Great Integrity: Tao Te Ching

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, the...

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. Dif...

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

The Great Integrity is an endless abyss, yet, it is the inexhaustibly fertile source of the universe. It blunts all sharpness, unties the en...

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

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 el...

The Great Integrity, having had no birth, expresses its immortality without pronouncements. The wise are heard through their silence, always...

The highest good is like water, nourishing life effortlessly, flowing without prejudice to the lowliest places. It springs from all who nour...

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 wil...

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

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...

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 ...

Accolades can usher in great trouble for your body. Censure can herald misery. Why can favor and disfavor both be harmful? Because both acco...

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...

In ancient times the people knew the Great Integrity with subtlety and profundity. Because they are so unfathomable to us, we can describe t...

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

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...

When the Great Integrity was abandoned, humanity and justice appeared. When knowledge and teachers appeared, hypocrisy was thier inevitable ...

Banish the intellectual! Discard knowledge! We will all benefit a hundredfold! Eliminate all institutions of charity and justice! We ...

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

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 ...

No-thing remains itself. Each prepares the path to its opposite. To be ready for wholeness, first be fragmented. To be ready for rightness, ...

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 s...

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 ...

What preceded life? The earth. What preceded the earth? The universe. What preceded the universe? The soundless and shapeless, origin of ori...

Inner strength is the master of the frivolities. Tranquility is the master of all the agitated emotions. Those who succumb to frivolities ha...

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

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 Gr...

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 ...

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

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

Although the Great Integrity is infinite, and therefore undefined, it is silent in its Primal Simplicity. Nothing is its superior. When huma...

If you understand others, you are astute. If you understand yourself, you are insightful. If you master others, you are uncommonly forceful....

The Great Integrity is unboundable like a flood. It cannot be manipulated this or that way. It is the very wellspring of life, always outpou...

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

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

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

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

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 we...

The movement of the Great Integrity is infinite, yet its character is passive. Being defies every form of life, yet all originate in, and re...

When most people hear about the Great Integrity, they waiver between belief and disbelief. When wise people hear about the Great Integrity, ...

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

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

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...

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

When the Great Integrity permeated our lives, freely galloping horses fertilized the fields. When the Great Integrity was lost, war horses b...

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 w...

To obtain a diploma requires the storage of trivia. To obtain the Great Integrity requires their abandonment. The more we are released from ...

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 als...

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 liv...