Chapter 5
The Tao doesn't take sides,
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides,
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
. . .
Chapter 81
True words aren't elequent;
elequent words aren't true.
Wise men don't need to prove their point;
men who need to prove their aren't wise.
The Master has no possessions.
The more he does for others,
the happier he is.
The more he gives to others,
the wealthier he is.
The Tao nourishes by not forcing.
By not dominating, the Master leads.
Audio of the Meeting
- July 10, 2016: Part Two, Click Here>>
Poem by Kabir
The bearers came to take me away to my new husband's house, and I felt a joy all through my body.
Instead the bearers have carried me into a deep forest.
No one I know is there.
Please, you walkers and bearers, don't keep walking.
Let me go back even for a moment to my relatives and my dear friends,
so I can say goodbye to them!
Kabir says: My dear students, forget your getting and spending.
It's all over with good bargains and bad ones.
Where you are going, there are no markets and nothing to buy or sell.
Commentary
The Tao doesn't take sides / it gives birth to both good and evil. Literally, "Heaven and earth are impartial; they treat all things like straw dogs," as the Master "treats all people like straw dogs." Straw dogs were ritual objects, venerated before the ceremony but afterward abandoned and trampled underfoot. The point here is not that the Tao is cruel to things, not that the Master is ruthless with people, but that they are impartial. The Master sees all beings arising from the same source, working out their karma (usually with great suffering), and returning to source. And since people are in constant flux, she understands that at any moment they are capable of the most astonishing spiritual transformations. Why should we pin them motionless with judgment of "good" or "bad"?
The Master has no possessions: These no-possessions may include a house, a car, a computer, a roomful of books, and an electric toothbrush.
The more he does for others, / the happier he is: Because he is doing for himself.
The more he gives to others, / the wealthier he is: The less he holds on to, the more he can give himself to others. When he can give himself completely, his wealth is infinite.
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