Verse 51 Natural Birthing

All in the universe derive from the Primal Integrity.
The interaction of yin and yang shapes and nourishes them,
and evolution ever transforms them
in their endless ecological dance.

Therefore, in its own way,
every entity celebrates its Primal Mother.
Not out of any mandate.
Not our of any obligation.
But solely as the expression of its own integrity.

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

Verse 52 Returning to Our Origins

Everything has a common origin
that we might call the Mother of the Universe.

Once in pre-conscious times, we were all a part of this Mother,
just as we-all her children-were part of each other.

This is when we were all umbilically still attached
to the Great Integrity.

Some thousands of years ago, our species alone
issued a declaration of independance from our Mother.
Now it is time to reunite with her.

Thereafter, we will never any more suffer the 10,000 miseries
that only we human beings have acquired.

Block all the loopholes! Shut all the doors to the old temptations!
And we will never again feel deprived.

If we crawl through the loopholes, if we race through the gate
back to the 10,000 addictions, we will never be fulfilled.

How shall we know the Great Integrity?
When our insights proliferate even in the smallest matters.
When our strength is boundless even while ever yielding.

We can keep our outsights when returning to our insights.
In this way, we will reharmonize with our Mother,
celebrating the Great Integrity on a higher level.

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

Verse 53 Not Yet On the Way

Those who have the smallest grain of wisdom
would want to walk the simple path of the Great Integrity.
Their only fear would be to go astray.

Indeed, there is a good reason to fear
when most of the world is piled into two wagons
racing toward each other on a single lane road.

In one over-crowded wagon is the vast majority
who live in weedy fields
with empty granaries.

In the other wagon are those
whose garments are opulently embroidered.
They gorge themselves
on rich foods far beyond their appetites,
and guzzle their inebriating drinks far beyond their thurst.

They accumulate wealth
even beyond their avaricious cravings
while armed to the teeth against their starving neighbors.

Surely such thevish degradation
couldn't be the way to the Great Integration.

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

Verse 54 The Whole Is In Each Part

Whatever is planted deeply is not easily uprooted.
Whatever is embraced sincerely does not crave escape.
Ever since we lost our intuition as our main guide in life,
these virtues have had to be consciously cultivated to survive.

Cultivate them in yourself and they will be genuine.
Cultivate them in your family and they will surely flourish.
Cultivate them in your community and they will be long lasting.
Cultivate them in your country and they will be widely porpogated.
Cultivated them in the world and they will certainly become universal.

In this way you will know others by what you do yourself.
You will know families by what you contribute as a family.
You will know the world by what you do as a planetary citizen.

How do we know this?
Because we know that each part is the whole,
and the whole is in each part.

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

Verse 55 The Promises of the Great Integrity

When we live in complete integrity,
we will be innocent like newborn babies.
Wasps and scorpions will not sting us,
Wild beasts will not maul us.
Birds of prey will not seize us.

Our bones will be pliable, our sinews soft.
Yet our grip will be firm.
Even before we have known conjugality,
our sexuality will be easily aroused
because we will be so virile.

We'll sing all day long without becoming hoarse
because we'll be in full harmony.
To be in harmony
is to live in the Great Integrity.
To live in the Great Integrity is the ultimate wisdom.

However, to interfere with nature is to seek control.
To seek control is to create dis-stress.
To create dis-stress produces exhaustion.
All these negations of the Great Integrity
also negate life and its longevity.

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

Verse 56 How to Prepare for the Great Integrity

Those who know don't lecture.
Those who lecture don't know.

To prepare the way for the Great Integrity -
Close the rationalizing routes!
Shut the gloomy gates!
Blunt the sharp edges!
Release those who are tethered!
Soften the blinding lights!
Unite the world!

We cannot achieve the Great Integrity
through intimacy or emotional detachment,
nor through posturing or humility.

Since the Great Integrity makes no judgements or demands,
how will we know when it has arrived?
When it permeates us with its universal "is-ness".

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

Verse 57 Simplicity Blossoms When Coercion Dies

Govern a state with predictable actions.
Fight a war with surprise attacks.
But the univere becomes ours
only by eliminating coercive acts.
By not doing, nothing lacks.

How do we know these lessons?
By tuning into our Essence.

The more taboos and prohibitions there are,
the poorer the people become.
The more deadly weapons there are,
the more our fears turn us numb.

When craftiness spreads far,
the more bizarre what is done,
The stricter the laws there are,
the less the robbers run.

Therefore, the wise know
to make no one a foe.
The less coercing we do,
The more tranquillities grow.

When harmony reigns,
and we rule ourselves with felicity,
everyone gains,
and we'll all live in simplicity.

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

Verse 58 Alternatives

When a government is more benign,
the people are more productive.
When a government is more tyrannical,
the people are more rebellious.

But whatever the government,
if disaster is the bitter fruit of others' good fortune,
how long can such injustice be tolerated?
How long we have endured the hypocrisies!

Those pretending to be righteous act deceitfully.
Those pretending to be religious revert to evil.
We have been deluded!
And each day it becomes worse!

Be firm and armed, but do no harm!
Be sharp as a knife, but do not cut!
Be ready to transform, but do not provoke!
Illuminate the darkenss of ignorance, but do not blind!

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

Verse 59 The Importance of Moderation

To serve humanity,
there is nothing more important
than to moderate.

To be moderate
is to return to the female yin principle.

To return to the yin
is to become nurturing.

To be nurturing
is to acquire enormous capacity.

To have enormous capacity
is to be ready for the Great Integrity

To be ready for the Great Integrity
is to be ready to serve humanity.

In this way we will become firmly planted
in the Great Integrity,
the pathway to a clear vision and a long life.

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

Verse 60 Our Future

Govern a country like you would fry a small fish -
with care, respect and with the least interference.

When the world is governed according to the Great Integrity,
evil will lose it power.

Not only will evil lose its power,
it will no longer even exist.

When evil ceases to exist,
neither will good exist.

Without good and evil,
we simply will live totally in our human natures.

No one will compromise anyone else
because we will all be inextricable parts of the Great Integrity.

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

Verse 61 A Plea for Mutual Humility

In our era,
when the Great Integrity has been lost,
seperate states have arisen.
Some become very large.
Others remain very small.

When the larger ones
try to conquer the small,
at first the smaller ones are defeated
even though yang aggression
meets yang resistance.
But death stalks the people
on both sides of war.

Is it not better for great countries
to be like vast low lying lands
into which all streams passively go?

And the smaller countries,
like the innocent streams,
can be welcomed
at the end of thier passage
by wide open arms,
calmly receiving their flow?

Would not this mutual humility
save countless lives now,
while serving as a rehearsal
for the coming of the Tao?

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

Verse 62 Rehearsals for the Great Integrity

The Great Integrity is the sanctuary
of all human beings.

For those who are honest and caring,
it is a guide and a treasure.

For those who are dishonest and deceitful,
it is also a treasure
because a good word can rationalize a selfish act,
and because a good act, now and then,
can serve as a mask for living extravagantly
from the misery of others.

Since the Great Integrity is so universally acknowledged,
don't cast away those who use it opportunistically.
Rather cast away the opportunites to live selfishly
so that the Great Integrity
can more fully permeate all our lives.

We might begin
with the inauguration ceremonies of our leaders.
Instead of showering them with precious gifts,
instead of the public swearing of meaningless oaths,
why not share a meditation on the Great Integrity
as a prelude to its comprehensive embrace?

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

Verse 63 The Secrets of Getting Things Done

Act without acting on.
Work without working at.

Enter bountifulness when it is still insufficiency.
Answer with kindness whn faced with hostility.

Begin a difficult task in its easy stage
because large problems grow from small ones.

Begin a large task in its formative state
because complex issues originate from simple ones.

But beware of those who promise quick and easy solutions!
Accept problems as challenges.

In this way, the sage accomplishes great tasks
without ever having to struggle with them.

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

Verse 64 Timing

It is easy to hold
what is stable.
It is easy to mold
what is not yet formed.

It is easy to shatter
what is still fragile.
It is easy to scatter
what is yet light and small.

Therefore, act now rather than wait.
Get things done before it's too late.

A huge tree that you can't get your arms around
grows from a tiny seedling birth.
A tower of nine stories high
rises from a small heap of earth.

A thousand mile journey begins with one step.
This is an ancient tale.
Those who procrastinate,
and those who take premature actions fail.

Those who interfere in processes disrupt them.
Those who hold tightly to possessions lose everything.
Wise people succeed because they never force an outcome.
They never suffer a loss because they are not attached to anything.

Many succeed in gathering a few assets.
But when the stakes begin to sail, and
greed crashes through all cautionary boundaries,
failures unmercifully prevail.

Wise people don't accumulate possessions,
or teach anyone to amass things.
They devote themselves to the natural rhythms
that the Great Integrity brings.

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

Verse 65 The Loss of Innocence

In ancient times,
before there were those who governed,
and those who governed over,
the sage blended with others,
and all was done through the Primal Simplicity.
People lived in innocence.

When the Great Fragmentation
replaced the Great Integrity,
cleverness defeated wisdom.
Even some enlightened sages
became victims of the rulers
commanding the highest intrigue.

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

Verse 66 Wisdom Always Comes From Below

Why do all the hundreds of great rivers
flow naturally to the sea?
Because the sea is always lower than the rivers.

When are thousands of people attracted to a sage?
When she positions herslef below them,
always listening, tirelessly responding to their needs.

Never commanding.
Never coercing.
Never manipulating.

Such a sage is forever adored.
Since she treats everyone with love and respect,
everyone loves and respects her.

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

Verse 67 The Three Treasures

When people hear about the Great Integrity, they say it is useless folly.
Because it is not like anything in the world we know, they also find it inconceivable.

On the contrary!
The Great Integrity has given us three treasures to cherish:
The first is love.
The second is moderation.
The third is humility.

If you love, you will be fearless.
If you are moderate, you might always sense abundance in life.
If you live in humility, you will be widely trusted.

But you will not have the capacity to love if you are fearful.
Even worse, if you are fearless and without love, you will always be courting disaster.

If you live in insufficiency, you have no opportunity to be moderate.
If you live in overabundance, you not only live immoderately,
but are always courting disaster.

If no one trusts you, then compensatory ego will preclude humility.
If everyone trusts you, and you lack humility, you will always court disaster.

The three treasures are practical guides to the Great Integrity.
The greatest foolishness is to live without them.

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

Verse 68 The Ethics of War

The best soldier fights
without vengeance,
without anger
and without hate.

He puts himslef humbly
below his comrades,
thereby eliciting
the highest loyalty from them.

This is the power
of non-belligerence
and cooperation.
It is the ancient path to the Great Integrity.

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

Verse 69 In War the Defender Will Be Victorious

There is a saying
among those wise in military affairs:
"We do not act as host taking the initiative,
but would rather be the guest
assuming the defensive posture.
Rather than advancing one inch,
we would rather retreat one foot."

This is called
advancing without moving,
rolling up one's sleeves without baring one's arms,
fighting without weapons,
capturing the enemy without attacking.

There is no greater disaster
than boasting of one's invincibility.
Such boasts lead to the loss of the Three Treasures.
Therefore, when two opposing sides
meet in battle,
the one without an enemy
will by victorious.

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

Verse 70 So Easy to Understand and Practice!

The Great Integrity is so easy to understand,
and so easy to practice.
Yet it is not understood.
Nor is it practiced.

It is not understood
because people's heads are filled
with 10,000 trivia and rationalizations,
leaving no space for anything else.

It is not practiced because people are kept busy, though bored,
with the 10,000 corruptions and miseries
that leave no time for the Three Treasures.

The Great Integrity is so ancient,
as old as the universe itself!
How can we expect people to remember it
after so many millennia of repression?

That is why
sages dress in rags
while they wear the Three Treasures
deep inside their hearts.

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

Verse 71 Healing the Mind

Academia confuses knowledge with knowing.
Most everyone applauds the memorization of the 10,000 trivia.
Beware! These schooled addictions are not just myths -
They are a form of mental illness.

Any fragment of the mind,
divorced from the heart, spirit, human community,
and from the primal reality of the universe,
is an abomination of the Great Integrity.

Let us prepare for the Great Integrity
by cleansing oursleves of all these cobwebs
of cluttered fragments that paralyze the mind.
In this way we will function as our own holisitic physicians.

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

Verse 72 Comparing Coercive Power and the Empowerment of the Great Integrity

When people no longer fear the power of government,
a far greater empowerment appears -
the Great Integrity -
which never needs to enforce itself.

Then, we will never again be driven from our homes
or be compelled to labor for the benefit of others.
We will all work naturally to fulfill ourselves,
and to meet our community needs.

In the Great Integrity,
we will all love ourselves and all others,
not as compensations for ego deprivations and defilements,
but as natural expressions of our humanity.

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

Verse 73 Courage, Patience and Paradoxes

The world we live in
requires great courage and patience.

Those with great courage, but little patience,
tend to kill or be killed.

Those with great courage as well as great patience
will tend to survive.

But the Great Integrity never judges you
for whatever path you happen to take.

The Great Integrity never strives
but always fulfills itself,

Never is commanded
but always responds.

Never is summoned
but always appears.

Never is impatient
but all is done on time.

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

Verse 74 Ruling By Fear

People do not fear death
when they are forced to live in hopeless misery,
Thereby the executioners are no threat
to fearless rebels who dare to make trouble.
They might even execute the executioners.

When people do fear death,
they do not defy the executioners at first.
But how long can the killings go on
before those who fear death
also become fearless?
Then, they too might execute the executioners.

By that time, the only ones left
who might serve as the executioners
would be the people themselves.
However, it is said that those who hew wood
in place of skilled carpenters
are likely to cut their own hands.

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

Verse 75 Who Can Enjoy the Treasures of Life?

Why are the people so hungry?
Because their grain is devoured
by the rich in taxes.
That is why people are starving.

Why are people so rebellious?
Because the government deprives them
of their liberties and rights.
That's why people are rebellious.

Why do the people not fear death?
Because their lives
are made so miserable
that death seems no worse than life.

Thus, no one can enjoy the treasures of life -
neither the rich who squander their humanity,
nor the government which tyrannizes the people,
nor the people who have nothing to gain from life.

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

Verse 76 Let Yin Predominate Over Yang

When we are born,
we are soft and supple.
But when we've parished
there's no more tenderness
to be cherished.

When plants are young,
they are pliable and fragile.
When they die,
as they lose their green,
they wither and dry.

The sharp sword and knife
tryst always with death,
while love without strife
is an ever devoted
disciple of life.

An inflexible army
seals its own fate.
When a tree branch grows brittle,
it easily snaps,
whether long or little.

Wherever you go,
the rigid lie low.
While the weightless in the sky,
and all that is gentle,
fly boundlessly high.

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

Verse 77 Two Opposite Processes

The Way of the Great Integrity
is like stringing a bow,
pulling down the high,
lifting up the low -

Shortening the long,
lengthening the short
to take from the excessive
and give insufficiency support.

How opposite to our social norms
which increasingly impoverish the poor
to further enrich the rich
who do not need any more.

How can we gather the world's wealth
to create abundance for all in need?
Through rediscovering the Great Integrity,
by acting without praising the deed.

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

Verse 78 Appearance and Reality

Nothing in the world
is softer and weaker than water.
Yet there is nothing better
for subsiding all that is harder and stronger.

Everyone observes how weak overcomes strong,
how gentleness overcomes rigidity.
Yet, the principle is seldom put into conscious practice.

Though some may say it is useless
to accept responsibility
for the calamities and toxicities of the world,
taking such responsibility
might put us on the road to the Great Integrity.

Just remember that truth often masquerades as falsity,
and falsity is truth.

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

Verse 79 The Toxicity of Blame

Harboring a resentment
is sure to leave some resentment behind.
How can this be good?
It cannot.
Therefore, the wise accept all responsibility.

Although those who hold the power
keep blaming and bleeding the people,
the violated Gret Integrity blames no one.
Once achieving the Great Integrity,
we will all function with a pure heart.

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

Verse 80 Transforming Our Lives

Let us fashion small states with few inhabitants
who, without stress,
can produce more than they require,
who are happy with their lives
that they have no thought of migrating elsewhere -

Who inherit weapons and armor,
but no need to use them,
who return to honest forms of communication,
and the simple enjoyments
of an ecological way of life.

Although these states may be so close to each other
that they hear the barking of each other's dogs
and the crowing of each other's cocks,
living contentedly,
they will have no need to invade each other's space.

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

Verse 81 The Paradoxes of Life

Profound words are not clever.
Clever words are not profound.

Wise people are not quarrelsome.
Quarrelsome people are not wise.

Those who are intelligent are not idealogues.
Those who are idealogues are not intelligent.

The enlightened never hoard anything.
They share their possessions.

The more they give,
the greater their abundance.

The Great Integrity is the physician of the universe
who heals without harming and who acts without contention.

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