Translation by Sifu John A. Fey
1 courage
integrity
intellect
mind
respect
2 all these names
and honored upright human character are the strengths that flow from the tao way of life emerging from a mystic pass invisible
as an ever-elusive source
3 for the tao source of living has no shape or form that can be perceived in ordinary waking
consciousness
it is the invisible center of all shapes the marrow of all forms and hidden quintessence
4 the present and the past conspire to hide the name and secret from you
5 stomp your heels to reveal the conspiracy as points of fire rise in the blackness of ages past
6 the inner sense of this mystery gives you comfort and has always been felt by man but vital nourishment comes only when you chew
on the tao way of
life
7 externalized shapes beyond the apparent confines
as manifested
forms
behave as a paternal fool entertaining time itself
8 by touching the earth beneath your feet you solidify the moment and know the name
9 of quintessence unrevealed
1 HEART: These are Taoist ideals.
2 MIND: The Cultivator being stretched evenly between the heavens and the earth is the "mystic pass."
3 HEART: This is a statement of elemental Taoist authenticity: this is it!
4 MIND: Your experience of time as something that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as something that passes. This illusion can sever your connection to the Tao Source of Life.
5 HAND: These are Qigong instructions. The gentle and deliberate stomping of the feet clears the thought process.
6 HAND: Taoists ingest air-actually "chew it" —as a way of ingesting the qi of the universe. Taoists saw Cultivators as people who consumed the Tao as sustenance.
7 MIND: This is a Taoist injunction to avoid seeing the world as something that is outside yourself.
8-9 HEART: Fundamentally, Taoists must viscerally absorb the truth of their terrestrial connection no matter what their loftier ideals.