Colors are beautiful but can blind the eye Sounds are beautiful but can deafen the ear Flavors are delicious but can deaden the tongue...

A wheel is useful for it has a hole in its center Clay is useful for it is soft and can be molded A cup is useful for it is hollow within...

Embrace the Tao and you are embraced Breathe gently and you are like a newborn With clarity of thinking you become clear When you are...

Filling a cup to the brim may overflow it Sharpen a sword to fineness and it snaps Amass great wealth and it is easily stolen Building up...

Water is of the highest excellence For it benefits all and does not resist nor create rancor It flows in places others scorn It is the...

The Universe is old, long and unfolding And why is this so? Because it does not subsist for itself alone Thus the sensible elects to let...

Experience is a spark dashing down a fuse It is the present, it was the past, it will be the future The Tao darts along with it Unbroken...

Life does not favor one over the other It treats all things dispassionately The sensible does not favor one over the other All are...

The Tao is no Thing, thus everything is possible It contains nothing, thus everything is contained It cannot be cut, grasped, caged nor...

When no person is valued over another: jealousy and envy are scarce When objects are not sought and cherished, theft is hard to find Not...