To define:

Terms may be used

But are none of them absolute.

In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words,

Words came out of the womb of matter;

And whether a man dispassionately

Sees to the core of life

Or passionately

Sees the surface,

The core and the surface

Are essentially the same,

Words making them seem different

Only to express appearance.

If name be needed, wonder names them both:

From wonder into wonder

Existence opens.
 
 
 
 

2

People through finding something beautiful

Think something else unbeautiful.

Through finding one man fit

Judge another unfit.

Life and death, though stemming from each other, seem to conflict as stages of change,

Difficult and easy as phases of achievement,

Long and short as measures of contrast,

High and low as degrees of relation;

But, since the varying tones gives music to a voice

And what is is the was of what shall be,

The sanest man

Sets up no deed,

Lays down no law,

Takes everything that happens as it comes,

As something to animate, not to appropriate,

To earn, not to own,

To accept naturally without self-importance:

If you never assume importance

You never lose it.
 
 

3

It is better not to make merit a matter of reward

Lest people conspire and contend,

Not to pile up rich belongings

Lest they rob,

Not to excite by display

Lest they covet,

A sound leader's aim

Is to open people's hearts,

Fill their stomachs,

Calm their wills,

Brace their bones

And so clarify their thoughts and cleanse their needs

That no cunning meddler could touch them:

Without being forced, without strain or constraint,

Good government comes of itself.