52 - BACK TO THE BEGINNING

The beginning of everything
is the mother of everything.
Truly to know the mother
is to know her children,
and truly to know the children
is to turn back to the mother.
The body comes to its ending
but there is nothing to fear.

Close the openings,
shut the doors,
and to the end of life
nothing will trouble you.
Open the openings,
be busy with business,
and to the end of life
nothing can help you.

Insight sees the insignificant.
Strength knows how to yield.
Use the way’s light, return to its insight,
and so keep from going too far.
That’s how to practice what’s forever.

UKLG: This chapter on the themes of return and centering makes circles within itself and throughout the book returning to phrases from other poems, turning them round the center. A center which is everywhere, a circle whose circumference is infinite...