1. Green tea is wonderful. There are many words that can describe its aroma, its flavor. I can tell you of the temperature of the tea as I sip it from its cup. The smells that fill my nose just as my tongue tastes the first drips. I can explain to you the benefits of the tea. But, you still have not experienced the tea. You only have a rude concept of what it might be. Unless you sip from the cup yourself, you are not experiencing the real. And this is true with the Dao.

2. Walk through a garden. Do you see beautiful flowers? If they are beautiful to the eye and nose, then you must also label what is ugly. Describe a neighbor as a good person and another person becomes bad. Loud and quiet. Soft and hard. Before and after. The existence of each creates the other. Teach without word. Study and then forget. Let the tide ebb and flow.

3. Put a value on items in the village and people will want to steal them. Put a value on leaders and people will want to overthrow them. Prize a songbird and he will become caged. Lose this concept. Empty your mind of such notions. Desires and wants lead you away from the Dao. Wu-wei brings you closer.

4. Each day I enjoy tea. I talk of it often. I have a wooden container I use each morning to draw water from the well. I bring the water into my home and heat it over a fire. I choose a tea to steep and then enjoy it while watching the sunrise. Each morning I take what I need from the well. Each morning it provides. It has always been there. Perhaps it always will.

5. Nature does not make one species evil or another pleasant. Nor does she judge the species of their actions. A bird of prey can pounce a harmless mouse. A doe can sip from the river. Each is the same. It does not matter.

6. As told by the ages, everything is of the Dao. Everything is not the Dao. We are all born with it. We are all born without it. If you will use it, then use it.

7. What has no beginning can have no end. What has no self-desire is available for all. Separate yourself from possessions and desires and you will be one. Not wanting, you will have everything you need.

8. Behind me are tall mountain peaks. Behind you is a valley river. The water makes its way from the sky to the peaks. The peaks to the river. Along its journey, a doe will sip from it. A tree will sink its roots into it. A murderer will wash the blood from his hands in it. The water does not care. This is like the Dao. Keep to the simple in thought, in work, in pleasure, in living. When you are content like the river, you will have admiration. But that does not matter.

9. As I have said before, a teacup can hold a set amount of water. You can pour in all you like, but it will eventually spill over and much will be lost. At a certain level you can be satisfied. The water in the cup is all you need. That which is still in the pot is desires like fame and fortune. Chase it and your cup will spill.

10. The sun and moon will rise each day. We do not meddle. Have a nice home, but do not possess it. Give to those in need, but do not wait for a thank you. Show your family happiness without forcing them to your defined path of happiness. This is the ultimate virtue.

11. Wei is what we do. Wu-wei is how we live. We put a roof over our heads to protect us from the elements. But it is the space inside where our family grows. I have a wooden vessel to carry water from my well to my house. But it is the inside that contains the elixir. It is what we don't see that makes us full.

12. Is a sunset beautiful to a blind man? Is a songbird harmonious to a deaf? Thoughts of this will weaken your mind. Be like a tree bending to the wind. Observe the world, but do not desire it.

13. You are in everything. Everything is in you. Create hope and fear and you throw away the Dao. Create happiness and sorrow and you will collapse. Keep your feet on the ground. Love everything as you love yourself. Then everything is within your reach.

14. Focus your eyes on the Dao. There is nothing to see. Tune your ear to its music. There is nothing to hear. Hold the Dao in your hands and it slips through your fingers. Be one with it and fill with true wisdom.

15. Like our ancient masters, do not seek, do not expect. Stir up the lakebed and watch it settle. Pour water into your teacup, but do not overfill. Enjoy a flower the same in a battlefield just as on a rivers edge. Be like nature and do not judge good from bad. Accept an honorable guest the same as a criminal.

16. From whence everything came, it returns. And it is to one source that everything is. The wonder of the Dao exists in the wisest sage and in the newborn baby. Those that do not see this fill their life with ever-seeking sadness. Those that can see it awake with a smile to greet the day and a smile to great the end.

17. A leader that lives among his people is respected. He shops in their stores and does not stand out. He shows respect to everyone he passes. He does not lecture law, but lives the example of it. He gives credit to the people of the community and takes none for himself. There is no telling the leader from the crowd. One that lives above them is despised.

18. As the Dao fades, law and justice take hold. The great truths are lost and knowledge will flow from a book rather than the heart. The ruling class will discern the loyal from the treacherous and war will loom on the horizon. Lead your sons with your heart, not with your fist.

19. If there were no books of wisdom, books of sacrament or books of law, would there be war? Take away law and there is peace and harmony. Take away money and value and thieves will vanish. Observe like an oak and the sun will rise in the morning.

20. Are good and evil different? Do I fear what the next man fears? Such wretchedness. Do not follow who is in front of you for he may fall off a cliff! Drift like a leaf blowing in the wind. Flow like water around an obstruction. Clear your mind and throw your desires away. Nourish yourself in the Dao.

21. You cannot grasp the Dao. Yet the sage is at one with it always. The sage does not hold firm to concepts, ideas, right or wrong. The Dao is vague and obscure. It is everything and nothing. There is no shape, no form. Yet form and shape are born from it. It is unchanging and has always been. Yet it is always evolving. All this can be seen within. But do not look.

22. The ancients used to say, "The one who yields becomes whole." In giving up everything, you gain everything. In emptying your mind, it becomes full. In becoming partial you become whole. Teach by acting, not by lecture. Be like the un-carved block. Do not contend or defend. Then people will see themselves in you. Do your work each day then rest.

23. Live your life with your heart. Meditate in this valley. When the wind brushes your face, be only with the wind. When the rain comes off the mountain, be only with the rain. You with your loved ones, be only with them. Accept, use and embody everything completely.

24. Balance on one leg and you will fall. Reach for the fruit that is ungraspable and you will starve. Do your work and then rest. Live in the Dao.

25. Lao Tzu said there are four great powers. The Dao, the Universe, the Earth and Man. Yet these four are all of one. He said, "Man follows the Earth. Earth follows the Universe. Universe follows the Dao. The Dao follows itself."

26. Wander the land when you can. Take in the scent of flowers but stay serenely within yourself. Keep touch with your source by following your core.

27. Wander the lands with no intent on getting somewhere. Accept anyone the knocks on your door. Give your sandals to someone that would steal them. The bad that do not value the good, and the good that do not love the bad are lost and confused. This is the essential wonder.

28. Be like this valley. Accepting sunlight. Accepting rain. Accepting sages and villains. Do this and the Dao will always be with you. Know darkness in this valley. Know the sunlight. The Dao is strong in you. Your tools are from a block of wood. Keep to the block.

29. The grasses are green in this valley. The clouds are white. The sky is blue and the water will always be wet. That is how they are and there is nothing you can do about it. So stop thinking.

30. Wake up. Do your work. Rest. Believe in yourself and leave it at that. The planets are in their orbits. The falcon will feed on the rodent. Accept this and the Dao will accept you.

31. Value peace above all. Opposing armies are filled with your children and your elders. Violence is to be detested.

32. Look into a microscope and the Dao is there. Look into the sky and it is filled with the Dao. Do not label what is in the lens. Do not label what is above. All waters will flow into the sea, so why think more on it?

33. Knowledge from a book is intelligence. Sipping the tea is wisdom. You already have all you need.

34. The Dao is like the river behind you. It creates life where it travels, but does not take credit. It nourishes the fish that swim in it, but doesn't possess them. Man and beast take refreshment and sustenance from it and it never ends. It is therefore great. But it doesn't think so.

35. When you look into a deep well, you see nothing. Put your ear to it and you hear nothing. Try to smell it and again there is nothing. It would seem a useless thing. Until you use it.

36. A river can penetrate the toughest rock. A glacier can create the tallest mountain. It is not the work that we admire, but the result.

37. The Dao has no agenda. So at the end of the day, everything is done. The man that lives in this lives in a peaceful and harmonious home.