The Path that can be told is not the eternal Path. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The unnameable is the eternal. Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your mind be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their state.

Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity.

If you do not recognize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow.

When you recognize where you come from, you become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandparent, dignified as a ruler.

Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can manage whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready.

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water.

Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid.

Everyone knows this to be true, but few can put it into practice.