2 精誠 Jingcheng The sincerity of the essence

[Taoist Texts]

13 精誠:

老子曰：大道無為，無為即無有，無有者不居也，不居者即處無形，無形者不動，不動者無言也，無言者即靜而無聲無形，無聲無形者，視之不見，聽之不聞，是謂微妙，是謂至神，「綿綿若存」，「是謂天地根。」道無聲，故聖人強為之形，以一句為名天地之道。大以小為本，多以少為始，天子以天地為品，以萬物為資，功德至大，勢名至貴，二德之美與天地配，故不可不軌大道以為天下母。

 

Lao-zi said: the great Dao does not act, it not acting means it is immaterial, immateriality means no location, no location – no shape, no shape - no movement, no movement – no words, no words means Dao is silent, mute, shapeless; what is mute and shapeless, can not be seen by sight can not be heard by hearing. As such it is defined as ‘the subtle wonder’, ‘the utter spirit’, ‘continuously guarded’, ‘the root of Heaven and Earth’.

The Dao being mute, the sages tenuously assign it a shape, formulating it as ‘the Dao of Heaven and Earth’. Similarly as everything large starting from a small root, the numerous takes its beginning from the few – the Son of Heaven makes the Heaven and Earth into his utensils, makes all things into his capital. Thus his meritorious De becomes the greatest, his awesome title becomes the dearest, the best of two virtues, that of the king and his subjects* match like the Heaven and Earth. That is why he can not but follow the rut of the great Dao to become the mother of the Under Heaven.

 

*

明忠:

人君之稱，莫大於明；人臣之譽，莫美於忠。此二德者

《明忠》