A road, a path, the way by which people travel, the way of nature and finally the Way of ultimate reality. Virtue, character, influence, moral force. The Way is always still, at rest, And yet does everything that's done. If then the king and nobles could Retain its potency for good, The creatures all would be transformed. But if, the change once made in them, They still inclined to do their work, I should restrain them then By means of that unique Original simplicity Found in the Virgin Block, Which brings disinterest, With stillness in its train, And so, an ordered world.
Low virtue is a busyness Pretending to accomplishment.
So once full-grown, a man will take The meat and not the husk, The fruit and not the flower. Rejecting one, he takes the other. Truly a cart is more than the sum of its parts. Better to rumble like rocks Than to tinkle like jade. On hearing of the Way, the best of men Will earnestly explore its length.