Why did the ancients praise the Way? Did they not say it was because you find what you seek and are saved from your wrongdoings?

The cords of passion and desire weave a binding net around you. Worldly confrontation makes you stiff and inflexible. The trap of duality is tenacious. Bound, rigid, and trapped, you cannot experience liberation.

He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful.

High and low rest on each other.

The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn't glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as a stone.

When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.

The highest virtue seems as low as a valley.