Translation by Sifu John A. Fey
1 keep your life simple and interesting
2 striving for great talent and skill striving for great and perfect tools is not the true way
3 have just enough talent have just enough skill
have just the right amount of tools for work have just the right amount of weapons for protection
4 the ancient child asks how much is the right amount
5 know one hundred songs
so you can play a single simple melody from the heart to a heart
6 treat complex things as simple things arranged in a pattern that
once you are at peace can be easily deciphered
7 remember your ancient roots read your history relish your food
revel in your habits and customs rest in your home
return to the tried and true
8 place great value in the natural order of life and death
9do not wander far from home
10 play and have fun in your life and your backyard will become a world
that will take you a lifetime to explore
11 what could be better
Most translations of the Tao Te Ching tend to overemphasize the military and political implications of Chapters Eighty and Eighty-one. After all, the Classic itself was written during a period of Chinese history called the Warring States Period. The culture of the time heavily emphasized martial virtue, as well as artistic and cultural pursuits of a more benevolent nature. A precise balance of the cultural and militaristic was thought vital to maintaining a thriving society. Therein lies the Taoist model for ideal living; a dynamic balance must be maintained so that one is not at war with oneself. The final two chapters describe how you should live in order to achieve and maintain this state of balance.
1 BODY: Simple: uncluttered, unconfused, direct, with clarity of purpose. Interesting: engaging, lively, challenging, with verve and joy.
2 BODY: "Striving" in this case, is born out of the mistaken notion that you simply are not good enough, smart enough, or talented enough to get the most out of your life. Taoist Cultivators believe that all the tools, secrets, and skills necessary for completely experiencing life to the fullest are locked away inside each and every cell of their bodymind. Cultivation is specifically designed to access those tools, secrets, and skills.
3 MIND: By way of example, having too much talent and skill in music can destroy your abiliy to, simpiy, enjoy the tune. You can have so many tools that you become mired in choosing the best one to complete a
task. You may have many weapons to protect yourself but, because of their great number, find yourself unable to employ any of them effectively. You can be so good at something that you lose your connection to your roots.
4-5 MIND and BODY: Ordinary living requires that you grow, learn, and mature. Authentic living takes place when a Cultivator, skilled in the workings of the Tao Source and Way of Life, expresses his unadorned natural self with childlike wonder and abandon.
6 BODY and MIND: Another way of saying this might be, "Complicated things are, in reality, groups of uncomplicated things that are formidably stacked one atop another. Look at seemingly complicated things in this way and they won't intimidate you."
7 MIND: You may become so successful at cultivating the Tao that you will lose your connection to your roots and your sense of self. Do not completely discard the trappings of the ordinary world and become austere.
Everything and everyone that you've encountered in your life is an important part of you. If you turn your back on them, you are turning your back on yourself.
8 MIND: Death is as natural as life. It is an important part of the ground of being and experience. You should revere and honor both.
9 MIND: Stay close to your original self, keep to your routine, and do not take the ordinary for granted.
10 BODY: Live your life with the wonder and abandon of a child who plays for the sake of playing.
If you are radically amazed by whatever you do or encounter along the way, the universe will open up and reveal her secrets.
11 BODY: Spiritual learning, growth, and evolution are impossible without divine play within the Tao Source. Divine play is the Taoist Cultivator's way of life.