Chapter 16

Original Text

致虛極，守靜篤。萬物並作，吾以觀其復。夫物芸芸，各歸其根。歸根曰靜，靜曰覆命。覆命曰常，知常曰明。不知常，妄作兇。知常容，容乃公，公乃王，王乃天，天乃道，道乃久，歿身不殆。

Translation

Attain the utmost emptiness; hold fast to perfect stillness. The myriad beings arise together -- I observe their return.

All things flourish and teem, yet each returns to its root. Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to the mandate.

Returning to the mandate is called the constant; knowing the constant is called clarity. Not knowing the constant, one acts recklessly and courts disaster.

Knowing the constant, one embraces all; embracing all, one becomes impartial; impartial, one becomes sovereign; sovereign, one accords with Heaven; according with Heaven, one accords with Dao; according with Dao, one endures -- the body may perish, yet one is never imperiled.

Word Notes

• 篤 — "sincerity": Utmost sincerity; wholehearted commitment.
• 復 — "return": To go back, to return to the origin.
• 芸芸 — "profuse": Abundant, teeming in great number.
• 殆 — "peril": Danger, jeopardy.

Chapter Explanation

"Attain the utmost emptiness" means bringing emptiness to its extreme. "Hold fast to perfect stillness" means guarding stillness with utmost sincerity. Although the myriad beings arise together, I do not follow along with their arising — I observe their cyclical return. When the myriad beings arise, their leaves grow and flowers bloom in great profusion, yet in the end each returns to its root. Having returned to the root, this is called stillness. Stillness is called returning to the life-giving mandate. Returning to the life-giving mandate is called the constant. Knowing the constant is called clarity. Not knowing the constant, one acts recklessly and courts disaster. Knowing the constant, one does not follow the transformations of things but embraces all. To embrace all is to be impartial and without self-interest. To be impartial and without self-interest is to be fit to serve as sovereign of all under Heaven. The sovereign accords with Heaven. Heaven accords with Dao. Dao endures forever. Even after the body perishes, one is never imperiled — one exists for all eternity.

Discourse

This chapter teaches that the great Dao takes emptiness as its constant state and existence as its change. Stillness is its constant state; movement is its change. What exists and moves must eventually return to non-existence and non-movement. Therefore, by holding fast to the constant Dao, even though the myriad affairs and beings of all under Heaven swirl in turmoil and confusion, I simply contain existence within emptiness and meet movement with stillness. I do not see their existence; I do not see their movement. I see only the unchanging constant Dao of all antiquity. Since I do not see their change, I am not swept along with things into change. I persist through all ages. Even though the body may perish, I still endure. Otherwise, if one follows along with the turmoil and confusion of things, one plunges into the whirlpool of fortune — how could one not be imperiled?