Oriente

Arthur Waley
Stretch a bow to the very full, And you will wish you had stopped in time; Temper a sword-edge to its very sharpest, And you will find it soon grows dull. When bronze and jade fill your hall. It can no longer be guarded. Wealth and place breed insolence. That brings ruin in its train. When your work is done, then withdraw! Such is Heaven’s Way.
Léon Wieger
A. Tenir un vase plein, sans que rien découle, est impossible ; mieux eût valu ne pas le remplir. Conserver (…)

Arthur Waley
The highest good is like that of water. The goodness of is that it benefits the ten thousand creatures; Yet itself does not scramble, But is content with the places that all men disdain. It is this makes water so near to the Way. And if men think the ground the best place for building a house upon, If among thoughts they value those that are profound, If in friendship they value gentleness, In words, truth; in government, good order; In deeds, effectiveness; in actions, (…)

Arthur Waley
Heaven is eternal, the Earth everlasting. How come they to be so? It is because they do not foster their own lives; That is why they live so long. Therefore the Sage Puts himself in the background; but is always to the fore. Remains outside; but is always there. Is it not just because he does not strive for any personal end That all his personal ends are fulfilled?
Léon Wieger
A. Si le ciel et la terre durent toujours, c’est qu’ils ne vivent pas pour eux‑mêmes. (…)

Arthur Waley
The Valley Spirit never dies. It is named the Mysterious Female. And the doorway of the Mysterious Female Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang. It is there within us all the while; Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry.
Léon Wieger
A. La puissance expansive transcendante qui réside dans l’espace médian, la vertu du Principe, ne meurt pas. Elle est toujours la même, et agit de même, sans diminution ni cessation.
B. Elle est la mère mystérieuse (…)

Arthur Waley
Heaven and Earth are ruthless; To them the Ten Thousand things are but as straw dogs . The Sage too is ruthless; To him the people are but as straw dogs. Yet Heaven and Earth and all that lies between Is like a bellows In that it is empty, but gives a supply that never fails. Work it, and more comes out. Whereas the force of words is soon spent. Far better is it to keep what is in the heart.
Léon Wieger
A. Le ciel et la terre ne sont pas bons, pour les êtres qu’ils (…)

Arthur Waley
The Way is like an empty vessel That yet may be drawn from Without ever needing to be filled. It is bottomless; the very progenitor of all things in the world. In it all sharpness is blunted, All tangles untied, All glare tempered, All dust soothed. It is like a deep pool that never dries. Was it too the child of something else? We cannot tell. But as a substanceless image it existed before the Ancestor.
Wieger
A. Le Principe foisonne et produit, mais sans se (…)

Arthur Waley
If we stop looking for “persons of superior morality” (hsien) to put in power, There will be no more jealousies among the people. If we cease to set store by products that are hard to get, There will be no more thieves. If the people never see such things as excite desire, Their hearts will remain placid and undisturbed. Therefore the Sage rules By emptying their hearts And filling their hearts? Weakening their intelligence And toughening their sinews Ever striving to make (…)

Waley
It is because every one under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty, That the idea of ugliness exists. And equally if every one recognized virtue as virtue, this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness. For truly, Being and Not-being grow out of one another; Difficult and easy complete one another. Long and short test one another; High and low determine one another. Pitch and mode give harmony to one another. Front and back give sequence to one another. Therefore the Sage (…)

En effet, il nous est impossible de vivre, de sentir ou d’agir sans prononcer le mot « je ». Chacun dit ‘je pense, je désire, je suis...’. Ce que le terme de « je » dénote est donc une existence évidente par elle-même. Mais nous sommes-nous jamais demandé ce que ce mot renferme ? Le conseil invariable de Râmana Maharshi est que chacun doit se demander : ‘Qui est-ce « je » ?’ et arriver ainsi à découvrir par lui-même le « Je » réel. Chacun dit ‘je vais, je viens’ etc. C’est une expérience de (…)

Waley
The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way; The names that can be named are not unvarying names. It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang; The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind. Truly, “Only he that rids himself forever of desire can see the Secret Essences”; He that has never rid himself of desire can see only the Outcomes. These two things issued from the same mould, but nevertheless are different in name. This (…)