Today's Tao
Right words sound contradictory. (Ch.78)
Tao's mechanism of return creates contradiction.
Lao Tzu says here that, if the words do not sound contradictory, they are not right.
They are artificial and superficial.
Let's review Lao Tzu's maxims in this chapter, which sound contradictory.
1. Be as soft and weak as water in order to activate Dark Depth Female. (☞See Water summary 78-1)
2. When you are lost in Mayoi, you are as hard as ice; when you are one with Tao, you are as soft as water. (☞See Water's attack 78-2)
3. A hologram doesn't change. One hologram is the whole world in each moment.
Caution! Each independent being is not one independent hologram. It is part of one hologram along with the other beings, including your own self. It is like a frame in a movie. (☞See No change 78-3)
4. Everyone in the world is you. (☞See Everyone = You 78-6)
5. No matter what we are doing, we are doing nothing, which means "sending Love (=Tao's energy)". (☞See No one acts 78-7)
6. No state. No evil. Don't criticize. Don't judge. (☞See State filth 78-8)
7. No superstitions. No bad omens. They are just catalysts.
8. Lao Tzu thinks it is ridiculous to resist. No resistance.
See? Right words sound contradictory, don't they?
«Related Articles»
-Water summary 78-1
-Water's attack 78-2
-No change 78-3
-Be weak 78-4
-Be soft 78-5
-Everyone = You 78-6
-No one acts 78-7
-State filth 78-8
-Bad omens 78-9
-Contradiction 78-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 78
Lao Tzu answers your question!
☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (28) / - Dark Depth Female [genpi / xuan pin / hsuan pin] 玄牝 - 玄 [gen / xuan / hsuan] means Dark Depth. 牝 [pi (hin) / pin], Female. This is one of the most important words in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Mr Michael P. Garofalo has done an excellent research and comparison of the various translations. (http://www.egreenway.com/qigong/vstccs2.htm) Thanks to him, we can see easily how they translate 谷神不死, 是謂玄牝 in Chapter 6 / Valley God. / "The Valley Spirit never dies It is named the Mysterious Female." On the left, «Tao Te Ching (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)» translated by Arthur Waley
. With an introduction by Robert Wilkinson. / "The Tao is called the Great Mother empty yet inexhaustible," On the right, «Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)» translated by Stephen Mitchell
.
. / "The valley spirit never dies Call it the mystery the woman." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way» translated by 
.
» translated by Joji Atone. On the right, «
(Spiritual Masters: East and West)» edited by Joseph A. Fitzgerald with a foreword by Clark Strand and an introduction by Alfred Bloom. / -Shinran 親鸞 (1173 - 1263), a Japanese Buddhist monk, is the founder of Jodo Shinshu 浄土真宗 "True Pure Land School" and was a pupil of Honen. «
» was edited by Alfred Bloom. With a foreword by Ruben Havito.
. The last part of the translation above is quite unique. The translator relates this part of Tao Te Ching's text with Lu Chi陸機's poem «Tseng Feng Wen-p'i ch'ien Ch'ih-ch'iu ling», which is included in «
文選». (☞See Notes in «
») / On the right, 
's «Tao Te Ching».
. / "Grinding the sharp, loosening the tangled. Dimming the shine, leveling the dust." On the right, «Daodejing: The New, Highly Readable Translation of the Life-Changing Ancient Scripture Formerly Known as the Tao Te Ching» translated by 
.
. / "Blunt and sharp, resolved and confused, bright and dull, the whole of Creation." On the right, «Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Chinese Popular Classics)» translated by 
with a introduction by Martin Palmer.
. / "It blunts sharp edges, Unties all tangles; It sofens the glare And blends with the dust." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching» translated by 
.
. / "It blunts sharp edges, unravels their tangles, soften their blazing light, and blends one with their dust." On the right, «Tao Te Ching: An All-New Translation» translated by 
.
. It is introduced by Burton Watson. / "In it all sharpness is blunted, All tangles untied, All glare tempered, All dust smoothed." On the right, «Tao Te Ching (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)» translated by 
», the expression above is not found in Chapter 4. Stephen Mitchell is the translator. / "With it, the sharp edges become smooth the twisted knots loosen the sun is softened by a cloud the dust settles into place" On the right, «Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions)» translated by 
.