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Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 14 Look for it but you won't see it; It's said to be imperceptible. Listen for it but you won't hear it; It's said to be indistinguishable. Reach for it but you won't be able to obtain it; It's said to be slippery. In these three ways it can't be investigated. Therefore, blend with everything and allow them to act as one. Seeing them as one shows us that: What's superior isn't clearly obvious, and what's inferior isn't clouded in doubt. Searching and looking everywhere! You see that it can't be categorized. You have to go back to depending on the fact that it has no substance. It's correctly described as having an appearance without a shape. Being devoid of content it appears to be like what's called formless. Look forward to following it and you don't realize that you're already behind it. Attempt to graciously welcome it as your mentor and you don't realize that it's always been leading you. You're holding onto Dao this very moment. By taking control of this very moment you have it. By understanding what's occurred throughout history you can begin to correctly describe the progression of Dao. Commentary 8 ~ Where is Dao? Life may seem to be directionless and empty at times. There's a feeling that we're not grasping something very important as each day evolves into the next. People have created religion, God, nationalism, familial ties, personal relationships, and a bevy of other things in order to give themselves some semblance of meaning to life. They cling on to their beliefs or another person as though something could act like a life raft amid a turbulent sea. -Look for it but you won't see it; -It's said to be imperceptible. -Listen for it but you won't hear it; -It's said to be indistinguishable. -Reach for it but you won't be able to obtain it; -It's said to be slippery. -In these three ways it can't be investigated. If you choose to look for substance in Dao, as though it was something you could actually see, hear, touch or cling to - that won't happen. -Therefore, blend with everything and allow them to act as one. -Seeing them as one shows us that: -What's superior isn't clearly obvious, and what's inferior isn't clouded in doubt. When things are blended and merged together, there's no need to look for distinctions. Suddenly what was thought to be superior loses its ability to outshine anything else, and what was thought to be inferior isn't as doubtful and questionable as was once thought. -Searching and looking everywhere -You see that it can't be categorized. -You have to go back to depending on the fact that it has no substance. You might look for Dao everywhere, but you just can't find one thing you can point to and say: "That's Dao!" It just doesn't fit into any category we might want to place it in. The only thing you can depend on is that Dao has no substance. But it must be something, right? After all, Laozi wrote a whole book about it. So, here's what we know: -It is correctly described as having an appearance without shape. Although Dao can take on some sort of appearance, it doesn't have a shape that we'd recognize. -Being devoid of content it appears to be like what's called formless. There's nothing inside of it, so it doesn't have an outer form. -Look forward to following it and you don't realize that you're already behind it. If you think you might be able to follow it as though it could give meaning to your life, you suddenly realize that you've always been following it. -Attempt to graciously welcome it as your mentor and you don't realize that its always been leading you. You don't have to go looking for it because it's already inside of you. -You're holding onto Dao this very moment. -By taking control of this very moment you have it. -By understanding what's occurred throughout history you can begin to correctly describe the progression of Dao. All you have to do is cherish this very moment as a precious jewel that will never come again. Look back on your own life, notice the changes that you've gone through and all the things that brought you to the place where you are now - that's how Dao works through you and through everything. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| From the DIO Forum \| BY: Bao Pu \| By: Joshua \| Who was Laozi \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|