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Verse Fifty Six One who knows says nothing The one who speaks knows nothing. Debate accomplishes nothing. Make things safe that need to be made safe. Clear up the mess. Give things that need it a lick of paint Take out the trash And clean up the dust. This does the same thing that anyone’s mysterious plan could promise. But you cannot do these things for those you love Or for strangers You cannot do them for profit yourself Or to harm others. You could not do it for any money, at any expenditure. You could not get it for cheap, either. The world is worth more than that.

Verse Fifty Five Become wrapped up in your activities Like a new born child. Poisonous insects will not sting you; The fierce beast will not stalk them. The stooping hawk will not take you as a prize. An infant's bones are weak, their muscles are soft, but their grip is strong. They are filled with the essence of life. They can scream as loud as they can, for as long as they want, and not grow hoarse. They will live a long time And not become decrepit with age. This is the result of following the Trail Marker, Not doing things the natural way Has consequences.

Verse Fifty Four Good builders do not tear down their buildings. The good ones maintain the structures. Their children and grandchildren continue the work with great dedication. Look after the maintenance of your body; this is the right thing to do. Look after the maintenance of your home so it can be lived in into the future. Look after the maintenance of your village so that it endures. Look after the maintenance of the state so the good will be abundant. Look after the maintenance of the whole world and the benefit will be universal. Look at yourself in relation to yourself. Look at your home in relationship to itself. The same for your village and state; view all things under the sky in relationship to themselves and their own wellbeing. How do I know the universe is like this? This method.

I remember my Father teaching me to catch a spiral pass, shouting "Soft Hands" as I ran across the field. Masculine can be very yin.

Years ago I read Mantak Chia's description in several books and practiced "Imaginary " orbit every once in a while, as one would. After starting a regular Zhan Zhuang practice - an extension of a pre existing seated practice I continue as a seperate thing, last year, I started reading Damo Mitchell's "A Comprehensive GuideTo Daoist Nei Gong" . I also read a book by Scott Meredith, his "5G Tai Chi", and that got things moving. The observed movement had me getting Mantak Chia's books out to look at the diagrams, I've also been reading "everything I can get my hands on" as I get my hands on it. I have also been prowling these forums (first among other googleables) for tips and pointers, of course.

It was called "Whispering down the lane" in my old neighborhood.

Verse Fifty Three I will show you the path; I will show you what I learned following the trail. I will even share my street smarts. Here’s the part that scares me; I show people the trail marker and they make up shortcuts. They love their shortcuts, their easy ways. This leaves the fields full of weeds and the warehouses empty; People wearing fashionable, up to the minute outfits And showy weapons on fancy weapons belts. Disgusting amounts of food go to waste And people brag about how much money they have. This is making out like a bandit, not following the path.

Verse Fifty Two All existence begins with your Mother; You come into the world and your experience begins, she teaches you and forms your earliest ideas before she gets down to teaching you language. A mother knows what’s good for her child; keep your care for those in your care like this. This includes your attitude toward yourself; detached from your body, love and care for it. Now exhale. Expel your breath. Don’t work to get the breath you require. Open the exchange. It helps itself. In the end, it is not saved. Put yourself in a still quiet place And form no words, no thoughts - just take The next breath. Focus your attention. Use it’s light Illuminate what comes next - taking that next breath. This lessens the problems That come with having a body. Practice this recipe For compassionate self care a lot.

Verse Fifty One Everything is born out of the pathway And then it finds that certain things nourish it Nurture it And decides that these things are virtue. But everything else is not part of this same moral frame of reference; Using these kinds of moral rules becomes expensive. Grown ups do not command the pathway into existence. The pathway is right there. You learn it from experience, if you pay attention and if you live long enough. Become this experience. Support it and add to it. Things like morality - they are ideas, without a fixed existence. But they have a kind of life of their own - ideas, good and bad, can last for a long time, but this does not make them reliable. Do what is here in front of you to do without moralizing. Get over this fear of life and of death.

Yes, it is. I've been working on this for a bit over a year now, using internet translation engines, an English/Chinese dictionary and various other resources - other translations and commentaries being last resort - to come up with my own understanding of the language of Lao Tzu - at least in the contemporary, "Recieved" Chinese. (I also did research the origins of the more prevalent symbols from the original oracle bone script, but can hardly say I've read the whole thing in this form). Some of my interpretations are unusual - my identification of Li Er's Mother In Law in verse 20 is not standard, but I feel in general my tone is similar to many modern translations.

Verse Fifty Birth is the first step Towards death. 3 people out of ten are born to love life. 3 out of ten people are born to dislike life. And another three out of ten people are born without strong feelings one way or the other. A grown up wonders why. People are born thick with the smell of life. It’s good from many peoples point of view to cover up the smell. But if you roll around in the stink of it all, You can roam the land like an animal. You can go to war without armor. The animal can move and avoid attack; the tiger cannot place it’s claw. The soldier has no place to put his blade. The grown up asks why? There is no death.

For all intents, just assume I was agreeing with Gerard. Or look at this; if civilization gets what's coming to it, people will still survive.

I'm trying not to get too involved with the conversations on here on topics that are easily found on the rest of social media - no judgement, and obviously I see it and notice it and shake my head before searching the archives for breathing stuff. I do see an opportunity here to show off and call attention to the ideas in the chapter from Lao Tzu I posted in my own translation today. Derek Lin sees it like this; The sages are not dogmatic. They seek to know other perspectives in order to refine their own. Having the virtue of goodness means being good to everyone, whether good or bad. It means your conduct is not conditional or dependent on external factors. Similarly, the virtue of belief or trust means when you have faith in people, you believe in them whether or not they have the same faith in themselves. Real sages get involved while false sages hide from the world. They know people look to them as examples, like children looking to parents, so they are especially careful to set the best example they can. From my perspective, Talk is easy; archery takes practice. I set the world to rights better with a steady hand and eye than I do with a reason for everything.

Verse Forty Nine The sort of person you should be trying to become Keeps an open mind and acts without intention. They consider the feelings and wellbeing of the rest of their community. If someone is good to me, I’m good to them. People who are not nice to me - I’m nice to them anyway. That’s how to do the right thing. I keep faith with the faithful; I also keep faith with the unfaithful. The best possible person still lives in the world with all the fears of fears; all the things that happen under the sky muddle the heart. People pay attention to what they see and hear. The kind of people we have the potential to become act from innocence, as young children would.

Verse Forty Eight In the pursuit of knowledge, Learning something new every day is beneficial. Following the pathway, Every day you give something up. Give up everything that you can lose; Then there is nothing to do. The world is moving under it’s own power; The only mastery is to go with What’s unfolding under the sky. You and I do not have the power to change The weather.

Verse Forty Seven See the world without leaving home You can know what’s under the sky. Don’t look through the curtains and You can still see the way. It goes a great distance, comes from a great distance, and knows very little. Be like the wise people; They don’t know. They don’t see names. Effortless becoming.

Verse Forty Six When everything under the sky Is following the pathway, There’s a little horse shit all over town. When events are not following the pathway, War horses are bred in the suburbs. The big crime is wanting things you don’t need. It’s a far worse disaster than Not having what you do need. No blame for anything but wanting. Know when enough is enough, often enough.

Verse Forty Five A big failure - a lack of success - Is something big that we can’t see the use for, so we see it as something shabby. But really, failure is a true teacher. A big surplus, pouring out. The things it can accomplish go on and on. Something big and straight - seems to bend. Great skill seems clumsy. Seems like a big argument. Impatient for victory over the cold; Movement banishes cold. Quiet and calm cools things down. Letting things happen is the correct path under the sky.

Verse Forty Four Which is dearer and more precious to you, Your reputation or your health? Your health or your wealth? Your possessions and commodities? Gain and loss - which is the illness? Being admired is expensive. Going after treasure and wealth Can make a person poor. Just taking care of the basics is no humiliation. Know the limits, rather than experiencing the dangers, And survive.

Verse Forty Three Under the sky is open space and open space is soft; Galloping speed races through. Nothing goes into nothing. I benefit from knowing nothing. An unspoken teaching; The benefit of doing nothing. The universe expects nothing.

Verse Forty Two The Pathway gives birth to One. One gives birth to two. Two grows into three. Three gives life to everything; All the ten thousand things, Even the dancing scorpions. The ten thousand things are negative space; They contain the positive. Blend them and movement becomes pattern. This is peace, equilibrium. (There are those who do evil; they get ahead by Lonely machinations, even becoming the lords of the land, although they cannot even care for a pet or a plant) Things that benefit; things that damage Things can do both. There are some lessons others have taught, and I agree. Those who rely on strength and brutality Come to a bad end.

Like streamers of stress running downward. From my arms, shoulders, scalp, neck, the back of my head, my face... In the wake of which, over time, there's been a feeling of tissue "shrinking" from the surface - and spaces opening up from within.

Scott Park Phillips books - "Possible Origins: a Cultural History of Chinese Martial Arts, Theater and Religion" and "Tai Chi, Baguazhang and The Golden Elixer: internal Martial Arts Before The Boxer Uprising" attempt to create a connection to lost continuity within these forms. A student of international dance as well as a martial artist, he brings a lot of life and energy to the topic. He expresses his ideas on Youtube as well; This one really vitalised my own practices. Injected some fun into the proceedings.

Verse Forty One The superior scholar-warrior Smells the pathway And does their work diligently. The fair to middling scholar-warrior Smelled the pathway And thought it would kill them to follow it. The littlest scholar-warrior laughed out loud at the whole idea. It wouldn’t be the right path, if nobody laughed at it. Some suggestions; When it seems like the pathway is concealed and difficult to follow - you’re on the right track. The correct path can be a difficult choice. All choices of what to do can seem polluted. Great power can seem indifferent, The loudest sound, a feeble cry of hope. The big things coming For good or ill Are imaginary until they get here. Just follow the pathway laid out before you And you’ll be headed in the right direction. You’ll get further.