Translation by Sifu John A. Fey
1 the ancient child asks how should you walk
2 I should walk as if each step is touched by nature
and does not disturb the tao way of living
3 the ancient child asks how should you talk
4 I should speak with a quiet honesty that issues from my core like an inverted bell
and not disturb the peace of others
5 the ancient child asks how should you see
6 I should observe the count of life with my intuition that honors my memory by setting it free and not rely on the rational order of things,
objects, and quantities
7 the ancient child asks
how should you enter doorways to infinity
8 I should regard every threshold as an entrance to
a domain
that protects my sense of wonder
and guarantees a stranger's rest in a friendly land
9 the ancient child asks
how should you join with life
10 l should bind myself to life with invisible knots that cannot be untied by any man and I should be forever bound and forever free
the ancient child asks
should you disregard or reject people
12 no
I should bless everyone that l meet and give them a gift even if only an earth-searching smile
13 the ancient child asks
should you disregard or reject beneficial goods
14 no
for everything is useful as a reflection of the tao
source of life and if I am not blinded by utility
then I will instantly know how best to employ these
goods
15 the ancient child asks if you follow this course who will you be able to help
16 everyone
17 the ancient child asks if you follow this course who will you be able to teach
18 everyone
19 they will provide me with the tools and substance needed to help and teach them
20 the ancient child asks
if they already have the tools and substance why can't they help themselves
21 because like the emperors and empresses of mankind
they have looked and ceased to see
22 having become enamored of looking and not seeing they require a clever person to pierce and steal the confusion and show them the lustrous gossamer road back to their essential nature
Chapter Twenty-seven continues the discussion from the previous chapter and outlines in greater detail what it means to lead a Taoist life. It is important to note that the Cultivator must first establish and maintain a connection to the Tao Source and then, secondly, awaken the seed of realization through meditation.
Thus prepared, the Cultivator attempts to shape his behavior according to the guidelines that follow.
During the direct transmission of the Tao Te Ching, the Master calls upon the student to answer direct questions about how to conduct oneself in accordance with Taoist precepts. The power of a verbal call and response interrupted only by the composition and recording of spontaneous verse with brush and ink ushers in a series of expansions in consciousness. This cascade of allerations in consciousness mystically reveal advanced cultivation techniques to the student.
1-2 BODY: Walk/walking: all physical movement.
Nature: Mother Nature, the natural word, out of doors
3-4 BODY: Talk/talking: all speech and intention to speak. Core: the lower dantien. Inverted bell: Focused direction, speaking directly to a person.
5-6 BODY: Honoring memory: absolving oneself of the need to deliberately remember anything, trusting that you will rediscover or remember any information as it becomes necessary, committing something to memory by choosing not to memorize it. Rational Order: the usual, the accepted, that which is expected.
7-8 BODY: Threshold: gates, entrances, changes in terrain, new places. Sense of Wonder: to see through a child's eyes, to see everything as if it's the very first time. Stranger's Rest: treat everywhere you go, even tamiliar surroundings, as someplace totally new waiting for you to discover it.
9-10 BODY: Bind myself: to see oneself intimately connected to, literally, everyone and everything.
11-12 BODY: Bless ... gift: wishing peace and comfort, yours is the hand that consecrates.
13-14 BODY and MIND: Utility: a reasoned usefulness or profitability to some end, preconceiving a fitness to accomplish some goal. Taoists believe that
a thing can exist merely for the sake of its own existence. It need not be "useful" to have worth.
15-19 BODY: When you live according to these precepts, everyone becomes your student and your teacher. Every person that you encounter becomes the most important person in the world.
20-21 BODY and MIND: As an accident of genetics, culture, and conditioning, humanity believes itself to be made up of ordinary people seeking congress with the Tao Source. Taoists believe that they are creative expressions of the Tao Source seeking the profundity of being ordinary people. Looked and ceased to see: a bodymind clouded by illusion cannot have a complete experience of life.
22 BODY: A "clever person" is a Taoist Cultivator.
"Essential nature" is your original self as an expression of the Tao Source.