Limestone Fabrication

This is your true, unchanging, eternal identity.   67. On seeing inner nothingness You see it's great beyond compare Though many find it curious That you would even care I have three treasures that I keep The first is friendliness The second is to stay behind The third is wanting less For if you're friendly and you care You can dare to do what's needed And if you always stay behind The lead will surely be conceded And if you're satisfied with less You have everything to give Keep these treasures in your heart Then you will truly live  Here are Lao Tzu's famous Three Treasures. These treasures are values that arise naturally from abiding in your inner nothingness. They certainly aren't the values that most people cherish.  

The first treasure is love, compassion, or friendliness. Being nothing, you are open. You embrace all creation by your very nature.  The second treasure is humility, staying behind. Seeing that you are nothing, you allow all others to go ahead. You do not struggle for superiority.  The third treasure is frugality, wanting less, wanting only the void of awareness. Wanting nothing above all else, you can be generous and giving. You do not need to contend.  68. Violence is not the way The greatest warriors know That treachery and anger Will not defeat the foe You only win if you don't strive And gain if you do not oppose This is the certain victory Simplicity bestows  Lao Tzu is concerned with the values that arise naturally from abiding in inner nothingness. He is also concerned about the values that arise from ignoring this inner void. He warns us that we cannot push ourselves on the world. Victory does not mean opposing and overcoming others. True victory is receiving others into your own simplicity, into the clarity at the center of our being.  69. In conflict just be cautious And always on your guard Rather than advance an inch Instead retreat a yard In this way you go along And make your gain without advancing You deal with the rival As your position is enhancing Remember that it's possible Your rival just may yield So don't advance on such a foe Let differences be healed  Notice that, as Tao, you are the source and substance of the world out there. You are in no way separate from the myriad things and events of the world. You contain these things and events. They are really not out there at all. They occur within you. You can't ignore them. So you must deal with them. Lao Tzu tells us to go easy and gently. Be cautious. Don't push and force your way. Allow time for problems to resolve. Wholeness comes in its own time. And the more you see the wholeness of being, the more quickly it comes to all experience. Seeing wholeness is seeing the clarity that contains all existence. Look within for the Tao.   What is the Tao? Who am I? I am pure presence, and I am all that is present in that presence. I am pure awareness, and I am all that exists in that awareness.

I am nothing and everything. It's all me. Everything is me and exists in my light. Everyone is me. There are no others. I am the one alone. I am the Seer.  I am the Seer, and I am the Seen. And these are not two. I am the vacuity at center, and I am all that occupies this vacuity. And these are not two. Only This is. Only I am. Nothing exists apart from me, and I am not divided into parts. All exists in me and as me. And This is the Tao of the gone-head.   70. Embarrassingly obvious And always near at hand It is this nothingness you see But never understand Though truth within is ageless Very few will ever see My face is what I give to you The jewel within is me  Lao Tzu's teaching is based on the ageless Tao within each of us, the gone-head. Though this truth is glaringly obvious, few can see it. Few even bother to look, to attend to attention, to be aware of awareness. We imagine a head where there is only awareness. We imagine a face where there is only absence. We imagine a limited thing where there is only the jewel of absolute eternity.   Douglas Harding says that headlessness is embarrassingly obvious. I have freely used Douglas's expressions when they coincide with Lao Tzu's meanings. In this verse Lao Tzu is saying that his words are very easy to follow. His words are pointing to the Tao, the jewel, the absolutely obvious absence within.   71. You cannot understand the truth Claim to know and show you're ill Just see that you are missing That truth is bare and nil Unknowing is the final cure When knowledge takes its heavy toll Pure presence is totality And absence makes you whole  Tao is not a thing or an object to be known or understood. Tao is naked awareness. Let go of knowing. Unknowing is the cure of the disease of understanding. The Tao, the truth, is not to be understood but to be seen, and to be seen as an absence at that. It is our real identity.

The absence of a head is the presence of pure awareness. Within this awareness is all that occurs moment by moment. Nothing is missing!  72. When the sense of wonder goes Disaster is not far behind Don't intrude in people's lives And they won't think you are unkind The seer sees both this and that But doesn't ask for praise Finding this immensity With just a simple inward gaze  Here is Lao Tzu's principle of reversal one more time. Disaster follows when you interfere in the lives of others. People resent meddling. Your intentions may be unassailable, but your reward is rebellion. You cannot impose your will. It would be far better to adopt the seer's stance. See that your own inner immensity is room for the will of totality, for what is actually happening each moment.  73. The way is very easy Its purposes prevail When all is done in silence Intention cannot fail Its net is vast and over all With meshes large and wide Yet it loses nothing Holds everything inside  What is the intention of the way, of the whole? Just what is happening right now! You are made to contain everything, not to pick and choose. Nothing can be lost or rejected or abandoned. Resistance is futile. You are pure open awareness, made for acceptance. What a relief to realize this. All that happens is meant to happen by the Tao, by totality, by you in reality. All is as it should be.  74. You truly are what isn't born You need not be afraid to die Just live your life and know that you Will never lose the inner eye You can't control what is to be In using tools you don't command Unlike the master carpenter You're bound to cut your hand  You are the one who was never born. You are the witness of what is born and eventually perishes. Remain the witness. Let things take care of things. Everything happens on its own, spontaneously. Does this mean you are not free to choose and decide? No, it means that even your own decisions occur spontaneously. You can't interfere in the world of things, because that world occurs within your being.  75. The people starve when taxes take The bulk of what they earn When leaders interfere too much They get rebellion in return The people do not fear to die If leaders rob them of their lives But taking no more than you need You see that everybody thrives  Very little is needed for a happy and abundant life. No-thing is needed for bliss. Allow others to have what they need. You don't need to accumulate things. You are totality, nothing and everything, nothing containing everything. You are the absence that is pure presence.

More is not possible. More things and more control over others means more trouble! Let go of excess. Accept totality.  76. We're soft and supple when we're born Hard and rigid when we die Living plants are pliable Deadwood is brittle and dry This way life befriends the weak But death draws near the strong The hard and stiff are bound to break The supple bends and goes along  Lao Tzu contrasts the softness and receptivity of our true nature as awareness with the hardness and severity of our false identity as a name, a person in a world of persons. As a person, we are hard and impenetrable. As awareness, we are open and clear, receptive and flexible. We accept whatever comes to us. We don't resist. Those who resist are broken. Those who accept are whole.  77. Nature's way of doing Is like the bending of a bow For pulling on a bow you see The low go high and the high go low Nature takes from those who have And gives to those who lack When nature takes from human beings They fight to get it back But if you see you have it all You're not afraid to give away Expecting nothing in return It all comes back with no delay  Here's a revealing statistic for the year 2000. Earth's population is 6,000,000,000. The 200 richest people in the world have more wealth that the poorest 2,000,000,000 combined. Has anything changed since Lao Tzu's day?  Everyone is entitled to life's necessities. Where is your wealth? Do you see that you have all that you need and more? You have the Tao, total awareness. Allowing nature to have its way, you don't claim more than you can use. You claim your real riches instead. You see that you are totality, and Tao takes care of the rest. All are equal in this regard.   Have you noticed that all of the definitions of the Tao and the Seer are identical? The Seer is the Tao. The Tao is the Seer. The Tao is the presence of awareness that is seen as the absence of a head. The Seer is the same!  You, as the Seer, are in no way separate from the world. You are all that is. And what a joy it is to see how all is given - here and now and forever. See the Tao. See the Seer. See the Truth.   78. Water is so very soft It overcomes because it yields By wearing down the hardest rock It shows what power weakness wields The weak can overcome the strong The soft can overcome the hard Everybody knows it's true So hold the low in high regard The seer sees serenity Where others see affliction The seer sees the inner truth Where others only see a fiction  Water flows as life should flow. It goes around all obstacles, and, doing so, wears them down by its persistence. Water does not oppose. Water merely goes the way of its own nature. It remains calm and serene. Can you do the same? All power lies in such a course. Your victory lies in not distorting your true and original nature.  And what is this nature? What is your inner truth? It is the serene and open presence at the center of your being. Can you see this? Can you see the creative emptiness where others see your face?  79. There's little good in making peace If resentment lingers You'll never see an end to blame If everyone is pointing fingers It's better to be pointing At the peaceful and creative place Where you see naught but emptiness And others say they see your face  Let's point a finger one more time at the empty face, the gone-head. Point here rather than there. Notice the arrangement. See how existence is presented in non-existence, how everything appears in nothing. Existence emerges from this no-thing at your center. All peace is here at center. All opposition is out there in the world of heads and faces. Where do you prefer to live?  80. If a land is small and the people few And the rulers recognize what's needed The simple ways of courtesy Are happily and gladly heeded For people need so little To live their lives aright Are food and home and clothing Not enough for pure delight?