Chapter 10 · Embracing the One

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

Learn the Dao: a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known.

The chapter’s first line

When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace,

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This chapter in plain modern English — David Kooi’s rendering ↓

When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without a flaw. In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed without any (purpose of) action? In the opening and shutting of his gates of heaven, cannot he do so as a female bird? While his intelligence reaches in every direction, cannot he (appear to) be without knowledge? (The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them. This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality' (of the Tao).

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it presides over all and yet — missed does not control them

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Chapter 10, in a second rendering

Wipe the Mirror Clean

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

Can you keep body and mind together in one piece without splitting? Soften your breath until it's easy as a sleeping kid's? Wipe the mirror clean so you're seeing what's there, not what you want? Can you care for people and run things without reaching for the clever lever? Can you let the gate stay open - take the receiving role - instead of forcing? Can you see clearly without needing to look smart about it? Make things, feed them, and don't act like you own them. Do the work without lording it. That's the quiet kind of strength.

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