PART ONE

The World of Tradition

The skillful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries and were deep (also) so as to elude men’s knowledge … Shrinking, looked they like those who wade through a stream in winter; irresolute, like those who are afraid of all around them; … evanescent like ice that is melting away; unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into anything; vacant like a valley, and dull like muddy water… .

Who can make the muddy water clear? Who can secure the condition of rest? …

They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full of themselves. It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear to be new and-complete.

— Tao te Ching, 15

(from R. Van Over, Chinese Mystics)