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Introduction

This verse was challenging. Here are four reasons why. 

1. It uses repetitive analogous metaphors to make its point.
2. There are multiple instances of technical terms related to Daoist spiritual alchemical processes. 
3. Chinese source texts each have these very similar lines in slightly different orders. 
4. It forced me to translate the idea of De (德) directly.

At the very beginning of the project, I expressed De (德) like this: 

“De connects to the actualized characteristics humans express when aligned with Dao. Those virtues include wisdom, courage, loyalty, trustworthiness, benevolence, morality, respect, and non-violence.” 

At the time, I settled on Virtue and the Virtuous Way to capture this idea. First, it was a nod to tradition—De is frequently translated as Virtue. I felt that worked because those words can express “conducting oneself appropriately, with high quality, and success in producing the desired result.” However, Virtue also carries a fixed moralistic component that doesn’t work in the Daoist context. Virtue’s moral implications are true in Chinese thought when Confucian ideals are read into Daoism, and even more misleading from a Christian understanding of Virtue. 

This verse totally called me out on that. I’ve settled, for now, on “integrity.” Integrity refers to a state of being whole or undivided; in this case, it relates to our individuality so that we may merge with and function as a living agent of the Way. 

Translation

Know one’s creativity,
  preserve one’s receptivity,
    become Creation’s channel. 
Serving as Creation’s channel,
  Enduring Integrity is non-separation,
    a return to unity.

Know one’s light,
  preserve one’s darkness,
    become Creation’s example.
Serving as Creation’s example,
  Enduring Integrity is flawless,
    a return to totality.

Know one’s honor,
  preserve one’s shame,
    become Creation’s basin.
Serving as Creation’s basin,
  Enduring Integrity is abundant,
    a return to simplicity.

Simplicity, free and unfettered, is a tool
  Weavers of the Way cultivate this tool,
    in service to Creation.

Isn’t the greatest command,
  harmonious coexistence?

Commentary

This verse emphasizes integrity in three areas to make its point. 

• Creativity & Receptivity
• Light & Dark
• Honor & Shame

Synthesizing the polarities above allows us to become:

• A channel – a unified force flowing through the mountains of life.
• An example – a non-judgmental role model for Weaving the Way.
• A basin – an unbiased recipient of life force and reservoir of the same. 

 These three qualities represent essential characteristics of the Dao.

• Unity
• Totality
• Simplicity 

When present in our internal state, this allows harmonious coexistence to be a natural byproduct of our lives. 

You can stop reading here if you like – chewing on all that will likely be useful. If you’d like to go on, I’ll offer more details from my contemplations. 

Know one’s creativity,
  preserve one’s receptivity,
    become Creation’s channel. 
Serving as Creation’s channel,
  Enduring Integrity is non-separation,
    a return to unity.

The original stanza uses sexual references to describe internal alchemical processes. Since literal translations of such things fall flat, I followed the modern convention of adjusting the language to speak to the metaphor’s intention. 

However, it can still be helpful to spend time with the process of procreation as a clue to the process. In this case, you may want to know that creativity is represented by “male” in the original text and receptivity by “female.” These two are the “channel of heaven” and “result in the baby,” which is a further metaphor for alchemical lead (lead like the metal), signifying “return to unity.” We actually met the baby in this metaphor in Verse 10: Can it Be?

These two qualities (creativity and receptivity) are always active in our lives. We tend to alternate between considering ourselves the “actor” or the “acted upon” instead of recognizing the truth. The truth is that we are both the “actor” and the “acted upon” all the time in every aspect of our experience. Becoming Creation’s channel invites us to open ourselves up to the oneness of these forces. Bringing them together into a single, blissful conjunction results in the new birth of the next moment. This new union of all the causes and conditions of our lives is our “baby.” A baby is undivided in its conception, originally genderless and one with its mother, but becomes “separate” again at its birth. It divides into “actor” and “acted upon,” and the divine process begins again. 

The ramifications of this thought experiment are staggering. The rabbit holes we can explore are limitless. Enjoy! 

Know one’s light,
  preserve one’s darkness,
    become Creation’s example.
Serving as Creation’s example,
  Enduring Integrity is flawless,
    a return to totality.

Light and dark, white and Black, the pure and the Corrupted, the sublime and the Mundane, good and Evil—take it all in because we are all of it! 

We must know the purity within ourselves, our higher aspirations, and the reflection of the divine within. I imagine most people reading this have a calling to this aspect of their person. Knowing our light is just the first step in the process. 

We must not reject or abandon the darkness that drove us to seek the light in the first place. The journey of weaving the way calls us to fulfill the distinctly human quality of being both heavenly and earthly. Through such self-knowledge, we naturally become tolerant, compassionate, non-judgmental, and complete. Fulfilling this calling is how to become an example, no longer basing our actions solely on the faults and flaws that create separation. We can also see completeness in others, the light in their dark and the darkness in their light. Knowing ourselves so wholly that we may reflect others in their completeness is a powerful force to bring into the world.

I’m always fascinated by the similarities that pop up. This verse reminds me of the theological concept of hypostatic union, which states that Christ is fully God and fully man. This theme, or a very similar one, runs through every esoteric practice tradition that I have encountered. Integrating shadow states and self-transcendence are crucial components of human development theory and psychology.

As with the verse above, fully exploring this aspect of human development is well beyond this brief commentary. Enjoy!

Know one’s honor,
  preserve one’s shame,
    become Creation’s basin.
Serving as Creation’s basin,
  Enduring Integrity is abundant,
    a return to simplicity. 

This stanza evokes Verse 13: Get Tired of Shame. Honor and Shame are the adornments of our individuality. They make us unique through our excellence and the things we’d rather not admit about ourselves. When we become a basin, unbiased about honor and shame, we can stay centered on what we care about. This simplicity of just being who we are without getting caught in the trappings allows us to experience the abundance of life’s totality. 

I’d like to take a minute to explore the idea of Simplicity. The dictionary definition is the state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded. This definition makes simplicity a good word for the concept but a little misleading, too. What Simplicity is actually talking about here is that the “this” is itself; it is not made up of other things. Water from a thousand different sources flows into the basin, but none of it retains an identity with where it came from. The water in the basin just is the water in the basin. 

To be Simple in Weaving the Way is to be precisely what is. Undivided and uncomplicated through completeness. 

These three stanzas come together in the final point:

Simplicity, free and unfettered, is a tool
  Weavers of the Way cultivate this tool,
    in service to Creation.

Isn’t the greatest command,
  harmonious coexistence?

Weaving the Way is a call to demand that we integrate all that is life in service to the totality of life.