The Meeting of East and West...
The Chinese Master showed the brush, the ink and paper.  He said, "To paint the landscape is to write your thoughts," and used guo, chun and cha, followed by wash and dots.  He made lines thin and thick, used a bush wet and dry with ink light and dark.  He said, "I have in these ways for a thousand years shown the clouds beyond the terrace and written my thoughts of Tao." 

The Western Master showed the brush and knife, the paint and canvas. He said, "To paint the body is to make your flesh," and used lines and lights and darks, used color and mass.  He said, "These tools and paint are forever my flesh and blood.  They show my life under heaven, crying for God.  Passion is my purpose, transfiguration is my goal."

Lao Tze said, "Regard the world in passion, there is yes and no; regard the world in Tao, there is peace.  The sage knows each in its place; that is the Way and its Power."

A personal translation of the Tao Teh King,
adapted from memory of my 1949 adaptation of Paul Carus' 1910 transliteration of The Tao Teh King as The Canon of Reason and Virtue so that it could be presented to American art students in China as a lecture on Taoism and Buddhism as I have experienced them.

*****

Introduction
Foreseeing the decline of Zhou, Lao Tze (the Keeper of the Secret Archives of Zhou)  approached the gate to the West.  "Sire," the Gatekeeper said, "Knowing of your great wisdom, leave us some words to live by." And so the Tao Teh Qing was written.

1.  On the Name of the Nameless
Before the 10,000 things were,
Heaven and Earth were;
Before Heaven and Earth were,
The Origin was;
Before the Origin was... 
I do not know its name
and call it Tao.

2.  On Yes and No...
Regard the world in passion,
There is Yes and No.
Regard the world in Tao,
There is Peace.
The sage knows each in its place.
That is the Way and its Power.

3.  The Spirit of the Valley...
The spirit of the valley is undying.
Live without fear,
It will always provide.
That is the Way and its Power.

4.  The empty vessel..
The vessel needs the emptiness at its center;
The wall needs the window for its opening;
The wheel needs the hole for its axle.
For each thing, an emptiness at the center.
That is the Way and its Power.
(Private collection, NYC)

 5.  The perfectly sharp knife...
The perfectly sharp knife gets dull;
The perfectly bright day gets dark;
The perfectly dark night gets light.
Every perfection gets its opposite.
That is the Way and its Power.

6.  On High and Low...
Be high, be low.
Water seeks the lowest place. Be low.
That is the Way and its Power.

7.  Let there be a village...
Let there be a village
Where they hear the cocks crow
and the dogs bark in the village nearby
but will never go there.
Let there be a village
where they have carriages but do not use them,
have fine clothes but do not wear them.
Generation after generation
they have peace to the end of their days.
That is the Way and its Power.

8.  My departure into the West

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