Bit by Bit - Chapter 12, Part 4

Trey Smith

The Master said: The Way covers and bears up the ten thousand things - vast, vast is its greatness! The gentleman must pluck out his mind! To act through inaction is called Heaven. To speak through inaction is called Virtue. To love men and bring profit to things is called benevolence. To make the unlike alike is called magnitude. To move beyond barrier and distinction is called liberality. To possess the ten thousand unlikes is called wealth. To hold fast to Virtue is called enrootment. To mature in Virtue is called establishment. To follow the Way is called completion. To see that external things do not blunt the will is called perfection. When the gentleman clearly comprehends these ten things, then how huge will be the greatness of his mind setting forth, how endless his ramblings with the ten thousand things!

Such a man will leave the gold hidden in the mountains, the pearls hidden in the depths. He will see no profit in money and goods, no enticement in eminence and wealth, no joy in long life, no grief in early death, no honor in affluence, no shame in poverty. He will not snatch the profits of a whole generation and make them his private hoard; he will not lord it over the world and think that he dwells in glory. His glory is enlightenment, [for he knows that] the ten thousand things belong to one storehouse, that life and death share the same body.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

There are wise specimens -- sages -- among our species, but no one walks in absolute harmony with the Way. To do so would require the existence of no ego and, though some have succeeded in mitigating egoic desires to some extent, as humans we can't mitigate our egos entirely. It is something that we wrestle with and this grappling leads to morality, mores and conscience.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.