Translation by Sifu John A. Fey
1 the ancient child asks
can you control the universe by overtly grasping it can you shape and bend it to your will with
outward force
can you assert yourself over nature and truly
control it
2 no
the uncreated can be grasped only by not
grasping it
the uncreated can be willed only by an inward force the uncreated can be controlled only by releasing
control completely
3 yes
control by surrendering
bend and shape through an inward willing passively assert through active non-assertion
4 to make it is to spoil it to hold it is to lose it
5 the ancient child asks
should you interfere with the world
6 no
to interfere with the world puts it just ouside your
reach
you cannot succeed
the unfolding world is a heavenly vessel which
cannot be made because it already exists beyond desire and conception and always has
7 attempting to create it scars it sometimes beyond recognition
8 to make it is to spoil it to hold it is to lose it
9 do not interfere dance with it instead
10 some things go forward other things recede
some things lead
other things follow
some things blow hot
other things blow cold
some are strong
others are weak
some things are separate other things come together some things stand other things fall
Fewer than seventy Chinese characters are used to transmit the knowledge in Chapter Twenty-nine. The Master reveals them in random groups to the student, who must intuitively assemble them in correct order.
Along the way, the student must demonstrate calligraphically and verbally that he understands the concept of Non-assertion of the Uncreated.
1-2 HEART: This chapter is sometimes called the Treatise on the Non-Assertion of the Uncreated. It outlines the manner in which the Cultivator and the Tao Source become full partners in the manifestation and shaping of the phenomenal world. Taoists believe that this partnership is humanity's birthright. The
"uncreated" in stanza two refers to the field of all possibility; the very substance of creation that sits at the heart of everything that exists.
3-4 HEART: The Master who speaks for Laotzu during the transmission delivers this statement.
5-8 HEART: Noninterference with the order and function of the natural world is a fundamental Taoist precept. That having been said, Taoists also feel that they can make suggestions to the phenomenal universe via the Tao Source. The secrets to allowing these suggestions to change and shape the world as we experience it are contained in these stanzas.
9 HEART and MIND: Noninterference is the Taoist way. Dancing implies cooperation between dance partners where each reads the motion and nuance of the other. In this context, it also implies that the partners must surrender a part of their own individuality to the dance itself.
10 MIND: The demonstration of opposites is a common Taoist method of using extremes to explain not only the flux and flow of the universe but also the point of dynamic equilibrium between the two.
Aligning oneself with this equilibrium is a primary goal of cultivation.