No treasures give good men so rich a grace;Whatever it is -- and I use the word it cautiously -- it serves and nourishes everything. Regardless of how we comport ourselves in this life, there is air to breathe. You could be a saint or the most despicable person in the history of our species and the sun will shine on you, nonetheless.
Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
It is the treasure of the good man, and the refuge of the bad.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
The treasure of the kind person
The protection of the unkind person
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
Good people respect the value of Tao.
The wicked and foolish don't,
but Tao provides for them anyway.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
If you wanted to, there is no way possible to escape the source of all. There is nowhere to go that the Grand Mystery can be left behind.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
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