Know your meaning
In silence, in attuneness, in rightness
All your deeds are built up
As though they were for the purpose of a follower
But all the way through, you're surprised
At how free your inner being
Is
other readings further drafts from the same generation
deeper strata where the meaning thins
the original
1. The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three;
Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity
(out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the
Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised
by the Breath of Vacancy.
2. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as
carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which
kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are
increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being
increased.
3. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong
do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my
teaching.