Lao Tzu for Everyone
Students, Scholars
& Seekers
Peter Gilboy, Ph.D.
Tao
the Way
Line 4 闐之以无名之樸
夫將不辱
Line 5 不辱以情
天地將自正
LESSON 37
Self-Transformation
Lao Tzu’s lessons are not declarations to us, but his offerings, so that we might consider them and perhaps investigate them on our own. This lesson is about the transformative effect of being in accord with the Way.
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The Way is ever
without a name.
If our rulers
would only hold to the Way,
then all things would
transform of themselves.
Having transformed
of themselves,
if desires stirred anew in them
I will fill them with the
simplicity of the Nameless.
Yes, fill them with the
simplicity of the Nameless
and there
will be no shame.
When there is no more shame
and they become tranquil,
the whole world
becomes rectified of itself.
. . . . . .