The reason why the river and the sea are able to
be king of the hundred valleys is that they excel in taking the lower
position. Hence they are able to be king
of the hundred valleys.
Therefore, desiring to rule over the people
One must in one’s words humble oneself before
them
And desiring to lead the people
One must in one’s person follow behind them.
Therefore, the sage takes his place over the
people yet is no burden,
Takes his place ahead of the people yet causes
no obstruction.
That is why the empire supports him joyfully and
never tires of doing so.
It is because he does not contend that no one in
the empire is in a position to contend with him.
No matter where one travels in the circuits of
power—whether of politics, spirit or art—the closer one comes to the center,
the more there is an emptying.
Christianity calls it kenosis, Buddhism śūnyatā, Dao the way—or the full
empty. Christianity’s symbol is the
cross, Buddhism’s the wheel, Dao’s water.
Christianity opposes, Buddhism eliminates, Dao returns. Reductionisms? Sure.
But also circumscriptions, images of shadows, shapes without substance.
While the sage is comfortable banging a pot
alone in a hut in a forest, she is also comfortable ruling an empire or caring
for a child. Which she does is according
to her nature, that she’s more likely to be banging pots than leading an empire
may be due to their being many more pots than empires, and pots being more
receptive.
As one empties, what is one emptying? One?
How does one empty? By walking the path of emptying …
As is common, people want things detached from
their thingness; they want love and power without their empty heart. Without its heart, one cannot look on the
resurrected Lazarus, as Caesar does in Andreyev’s story, and retain power. Power mirrors death in life; the verb is the
emptying.
In the emptying, the saint unites with the
sinner, the king the bum, the artist the lens; emptying births the deep indistinguishability
of night, from which itself is born all human things we live within, in which
is enfolded the silent snaps of energy, forever opening and shutting, full of
opposing, eliminating, returning, the ripe and empty way.
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