Translation: Tao Te King – Chapter 5. Value of emptiness

Chapter 5. Value of emptiness

Picture of old bellows
Image of a bellows by fourthandfifteen. via flicr.com CC-BY 2.0 by uploader NemesisIII

Not heaven nor earth have special preference; they consider all humans and beings as holy sacrificial figures.¹

A wise one makes not differentiation; he considers all humans as beings made for holy purposes.

Heavenly space is like bellows; even if it doesn’t contain anything solid, it never collapses onto itself and the more is put into movement, the more it gives birth.

But an inflated human soon deflates.

There is nothing better than self-control.


  1. Mr. Ervast: “Actually dogs made of straws that were used in sacrificial rites in the dry season. To the Logos i.e. the aware creative God all manifested life, humans, gods, animals and “lifeless” beings exist only as thought-images born from his sacrifice.

Own translation from 1925 Finnish translation by Pekka Ervast (ISBN 951-8995-01-X) with kind permission of Ruusu-Ristin Kirjallisuusseura ry.

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