Look within you, watch where you fall.
See where all you are,
And the world will follow you.
You can be the most perfect vessel,
Oneness with all that is,
All things in the universe,
But you'll never control the way things arise,
Because you're the master of your own being.
The master keeps nothing to himself.
He wants everything but does not give up.
other readings further drafts from the same generation
deeper strata where the meaning thins
the original
1.
Who knows his manhood's strength,
Yet still his female feebleness maintains;
As to one channel flow the many drains,
All come to him, yea, all beneath the sky.
Thus he the constant excellence retains;
The simple child again, free from all stains.
Who knows how white attracts,
Yet always keeps himself within black's shade,
The pattern of humility displayed,
Displayed in view of all beneath the sky;
He in the unchanging excellence arrayed,
Endless return to man's first state has made.
Who knows how glory shines,
Yet loves disgrace, nor e'er for it is pale;
Behold his presence in a spacious vale,
To which men come from all beneath the sky.
The unchanging excellence completes its tale;
The simple infant man in him we hail.
2. The unwrought material, when divided and distributed, forms
vessels. The sage, when employed, becomes the Head of all the
Officers (of government); and in his greatest regulations he employs
no violent measures.