Headless Seeing: Haiku Commentaries on the Dao De Jing

1. Absence and Presence

Empty awareness Contains all names and forms—yet Remains forever

2. Mutual Arising

Observer, observed Dance together in this space Where no head appears

3. Keep It Simple

Drop all achievements Rest in what you've always been— Simple, open sky

4. The Original

Before the first thought This headless capacity Births every moment

5. Straw Dogs

No favorites here— The space where you thought you were Embraces all things

6. The Valley Spirit

Look for your own face Find instead the deathless void That mothers all forms

7. Not Selfish

Put yourself nowhere Discover you are everywhere The first shall be last

8. Water

Flow like awareness Taking the shape of each thought Without resistance

9. Stop in Time

Don't grasp for your head The trying itself obscures What's already here

10. Does Not Impose

Lead from emptiness This space imposes nothing Yet gives birth to all

11. The Wheel

Thirty thoughts revolve Around the hub of no-thing— Absence makes it turn

12. Favor the Inner

Turn attention home To the colorless space that Sees all outer hues

13. Favor and Disgrace

Both praise and blame arise In the selfless awareness That you truly are

14. No Face to Follow

Look for the looker Find nothing looking back at Everything that is

15. As Yielding as Ice

Ancient sages knew The art of melting into What they always were

16. Return to the Root

All thoughts come and go In this steady emptiness— Return to the source

17. The Best Leaders

Lead from no-one-here Let others discover their Own natural way

18. The Great Pretense

When Dao is forgotten We pretend to have a self That needs improvement

19. Abandon Certainty

Drop all that you know Rest in simple not-knowing— The wisdom of space

20. Simple and Dull

While others are bright I remain empty-headed Fed by the faceless

21. Profoundly Real

Vague and elusive Yet more real than any thing That appears within

22. Yield and Be Whole

Bend like empty space That takes the shape of all forms Without resistance

23. Speak Little

Let nature teach you When to rest in silence and When words are needed

24. Standing on Tiptoe

Don't reach for your head You're already what you seek— Just stop and notice

25. Four Kinds of Greatness

Before heaven-earth This nameless awareness was Already complete

26. Haste Gives Up Command

Stay centered here, where No travel is required to Reach your destination

27. Leaving No Tracks

Walk without a walker Speak without a speaker here— Help all, exclude none

28. The Uncarved Block

Hold both light and dark In this uncarved awareness That contains all things

29. Let Go and Let Be

Don't improve the world It already appears in Perfect emptiness

30. Weapons Rebound

Force creates its own Opposition—rest instead In weaponless space

31. Treat Victory As A Funeral

Even when you win Remember all arises In deathless stillness

32. An Example To All

This nameless presence Cannot be captured in words Yet teaches by being

33. Die Without Perishing

Know the knower here That never was born and so Can never perish

34. Great Dao Is Ordinary

Nothing special here Just ordinary awareness Flowing everywhere

35. The Great Image

See the great image— Your own invisible face Looking out at all

36. Fish in Deep Water

Stay in the deep place Where you truly are—don't swim Up to shallow thoughts

37. Nothing Doing

Dao does nothing yet Everything gets done in this Effortless space

38. The Virtue of Dao

High virtue doesn't Know it's virtuous—it just Is what it always was

39. Oneness

All things gain their life From the same bright emptiness You are looking from

40. Reverse the Arrow of Attention

Turn attention home To its source in nothingness— The way of return

41. Fools Laugh at Dao

When fools laugh at Dao They prove its value—for truth Hides in plain sight

42. One Yin, One Yang: This is Dao

One gives birth to two In the space of awareness Where all opposites dance

43. Doing Beyond Deeds

The softest of all— This space—penetrates the hardest Without any effort

44. Knowing What's Enough

Which is closer, your Life or your name? Rest in what You are, not what you're called

45. False Appearances

Great fullness appears Empty—for it is the space In which all appears

46. Enough Is Enough

When you know you are This inexhaustible source You always have enough

47. Without Opening a Window

No need to travel The whole universe appears In this space you are

48. One Loses Daily

Pursuing wisdom Adds more content to the head Pursuing Dao empties it

49. As Children See

Take on the heart of All people—for there's only One heart looking out

50. One in Ten

That one who walks through Life unharmed has found the place Where no "one" exists

51. Nourished by Dao's Virtue

Give life, make no claim Guide without rules—this is how Awareness operates

52. The Mother Of Life

Honor the mother— This empty womb of knowing From which all is born

53. Thievery

The great way is plain But we prefer the winding Paths of the separate self

54. Notice This-Here-Now

See through your own life See through all lives—for there's Only one life looking

55. The Newborn Child

Hold virtue's wholeness Like a child who doesn't yet Believe in its boundaries

56. Let Go Certainty

Those who know don't speak For what they know cannot be Caught in words or thoughts

57. Let Go Undue Desire

I engage in no Action—yet everything gets Done by what I am

58. Don't Divide

When rule isn't fair Notice who's doing the ruling— Is there someone there?

59. Humility Yields

Deep roots in the place Before birth—this is the mother That lasts forever

60. A Small Fish

Rule with gentle care Like cooking a small fish in The vast space you are

61. The Virtue Of Yielding

The female conquers By remaining low—like space That contains all forms

62. Offer Dao

Don't send precious gifts Offer instead this treasure— What you truly are

63. Act Early

Handle the great while It's still small—see problems in The space before they form

64. A Thousand Miles

A thousand-mile journey Starts where? Right here in the space That never moves

65. The Grand Accord

Keep the people simple By helping them recognize Their original nature

66. Stay Below

Rivers command heights By staying low—be the space That upholds all things

67. Three Treasures

Compassion, frugal Living, humility—gifts Of the egoless

68. Not Contending

Skilled fighters don't fight They rest in the place where no Opponent exists

69. Victory to Those Who Grieve

The victor is one Who grieves—for they see all sides As movements in space

70. Jade In The Heart

Though few understand These words have their source in the Jade hidden in your heart

71. Knowing Is Sickness

To know you don't know Is health—to think that you know Is the mind's disease

72. Do Not Burden Others

Don't oppress people By insisting they should see What you think you see

73. Its Net is Vast

Dao's net has loose mesh Yet nothing slips through—for all Appears in its space

74. The Executioner

Who would take the place Of the master carpenter? You'll surely cut your hand

75. Oppressive Rulers

People go hungry When leaders forget they are Not separate from people

76. Soft and Supple

Born soft and supple Stay flexible like the space That never hardens

77. Dao Gives

Like an archer's bow Dao lifts the low, lowers high— Balances all things

78. The Strength Of Weakness

Nothing as soft as Water—or the awareness In which all appears

79. Dao Favors Its Own

Take the debtor's part For you are both debtor and Creditor in this space

80. Simple Living

Let people be simple Content in the richness of What they already are

81. Seers Share Their Vision

The more seers give The more they have—for they give From inexhaustible space