16

Lie perfectly still upon your rug.

You will find that this really ties the room together.

Breathing in and out—

Oh, what a wonderful feeling.

This is your concern, dude.

Life is a dream sequence:

You float high above, then fall down to earth,

Again and again.

Awakening, the rug is pulled out from under you.

Prior to attaining this insight,

Threads bind you,

Balls burden you,

And you get a rash so bad you can’t sit down.

Fuggedaboudit!
Cracking the case, you learn to dig the world.

Digging the world, your mind becomes limber.

Limbering your mind, you just take it easy.

Just taking it easy, you become very dude.

Well, you know, the dude abides.

We take comfort in this.

Tao Te Ching: 16

Maintain a perfect stillness,

And you will witness everything arising from this quietude.

Rising and falling,

Like your breath,

Everything without fail returns to the void.

When you are able to see that everything returns to the void,

You will have gained insight into the human condition.

Prior to attaining this insight,

You are under the constant risk of compulsive behavior,

And compulsive behavior can ruin your life.

When you attain this insight into the nature of things,

You will learn to embrace the entire world.

By embracing the entire world you will become profoundly unbiased.

By being profoundly unbiased you will become deeply selfless.

By being deeply selfless you will enter naturally into the stream of Tao.

And Tao takes care of its own.