Yao, the Remedies, are miscellaneous treatments.
Guanyinzi said: Do not make light of small matters: a small crack can sink a boat. Do not make light of small things: a small insect can poison the body. Do not make light of petty people: petty people can ruin a state. Only one who can attend to small matters can accomplish great matters; only one who can accumulate small things can make great things; only one who can be good to petty people can win over great people. Heaven has nothing it can make certain of people, and people have no power to make certain of affairs. Only when one leaves affairs behind and parts from people is the self in the self, and only then is what is right truly right. It has never been that elaborateness or simplicity is right in itself, that caution or forbearance is right in itself, or that diligence or idleness is right in itself.
He said: One whose wisdom is utmost knows that wisdom truly cannot encompass things, and so he is foolish. One whose eloquence is utmost knows that eloquence truly cannot explain things, and so he is slow of speech. One whose courage is utmost knows that courage truly cannot overcome things, and so he is timid.
He said: Of heaven, earth, and the myriad things, not one thing is my thing. Things are not me, yet I cannot but respond to things; the self is not me, yet I cannot but nourish the self. Though I respond to things, there have never been things; though I nourish the self, there has never been a self. Do not say, “First put things outside, then put the self outside”; do not say, “First put the body outside, then put the mind outside.” The Tao is only one; it cannot be advanced to in stages.
He said: One who scrutinizes the tip of a hair does not see the greatness of heaven and earth; one who listens closely for faint sounds does not hear the crash of thunder. One who sees the great does not see the small, and one who sees the near does not see the far; one who hears the great does not hear the small, and one who hears the near does not hear the far. The sage sees nothing, and so there is nothing he does not see; he hears nothing, and so there is nothing he does not hear.
He said: What the eyes see is beyond counting, yet some love gold and some love jade; this is taking one color as the whole of the eye. What the ears hear is beyond counting, yet some love bells and some love drums; this is taking one sound as the whole of the ear. Only the sage neither longs for them, nor rejects them, nor dwells in them.
He said: One who is good at the present can practice the ancient; one who is good at the branches can establish the root.
He said: One more cunning than a thief can catch the thief; one braver than a tiger can catch the tiger. Only one who can overcome himself can perfect himself; only one who can overcome things can benefit things; only one who can forget the Tao can have the Tao.
He said: What is hard, things are sure to destroy—the rigid snaps. When a knife is sharp, things are sure to blunt it—the keen is dulled. The majestic phoenix is thought divine because it is rarely seen, and so the sage takes depth as his root. The running musk deer escapes capture by casting away its musk, and so the sage takes restraint as his rule.
He said: A bottle has two holes; fill it with water, turn it upside down, and close one hole, and the water will not flow out—for what does not rise does not descend. A well may be a thousand ren deep, yet when one draws from it the water comes up—for what does not descend does not rise. Therefore the sage does not put himself ahead of things.
He said: When a person makes a mistake, though he himself suffers the harm after the mistake is made, in time he learns to deliberate quietly before any mistake is made. Only by not relying on his own intelligence but joining it with the intelligence of others, only by having no self and embracing the selves of the whole world, and practicing this all his life, can he avoid mistakes.
He said: The customs of past and present are not the same; the customs of east, west, south, and north are not the same either; and what counts as good for one family or one person differs yet again. How could I hold to one thing and set rules in advance for later ages? Only by following the times and sharing the customs, attending to the first signs before matters arise, casting off anger and blocking desire, keeping things simple and forgiving others, and weighing what is light and heavy, acting in accord with what is so of itself, does one unite with the unfathomable spirit and accord with the Tao that has no fixed direction.
He said: There are friendships of the Tao, friendships of virtue, and friendships of affairs. A friendship of the Tao is like that of father and son; it lies beyond right and wrong, worthiness and folly, and so it lasts. In a friendship of virtue there is right and wrong, worthiness and folly, and so it sometimes joins and sometimes parts. A friendship of affairs, once joined, soon parts.
He said: Do not, being clumsy and crude, call it the plainness of the Tao; you should delight in being quick and nimble. Do not, being dull and benighted, call it the obscurity of the Tao; you should delight in being light and clear. Do not, being arrogant and dismissive, call it the loftiness of the Tao; you should delight in harmony and fellowship. Do not, being vague and diffuse, call it the breadth of the Tao; you should delight in what is essential and urgent. Do not, being gloomy and sad, call it the stillness of the Tao; you should delight in cheerfulness. The words of the ancients, when learned, bring many ills, and these must be remedied.
He said: Do not condemn the world in order to affirm yourself; do not belittle others in order to exalt yourself; do not make carelessness and neglect your Tao; do not make slander and abuse your virtue; do not make baseness and vulgarity your talent.
He said: What baffles the wisdom of the world lies not in wisdom but in folly; what exhausts the eloquence of the world lies not in eloquence but in slowness of speech; what subdues the courage of the world lies not in courage but in timidity.
He said: Heaven cannot make lotuses bloom in winter or chrysanthemums in spring, and so the sage does not go against the times. Earth cannot make oranges grow at Luo or raccoon dogs live beyond the Wen, and so the sage does not go against custom. The sage cannot make hands walk or feet grasp, and so the sage does not go against his own strengths. The sage cannot make fish fly or birds run, and so the sage does not go against the strengths of others. Being like this, he can move or stop, be hidden or bright; only because he cannot be confined is he the Tao.
He said: One who speaks little is not resented by others; one who does little is not faulted by others; one who shows little wisdom is not burdened by others; one who shows little ability is not put to work by others.
He said: Hold to it with sincerity, practice it with simplicity, treat others with forgiveness, and respond with silence, and my Tao will never be exhausted.
He said: Plan it through affairs, decide it by principle, carry it out through people, and complete it by heaven. In affairs, learn from the present; in principle, learn from the ancients. In affairs, be the same as others; in the Tao, be alone in yourself.
He said: Gold and jade are hard to part with; earth and stone are easy to give up. When a student of the Tao meets subtle words and wondrous conduct, he must take care not to grasp them. They may be practiced but must not be grasped. If one grasps them, it becomes a disease of the heart and belly that no medicine can cure.
He said: People who do not understand what is urgent and busy themselves with many tasks, other tasks, or strange tasks will meet poverty, hardship, calamity, and misfortune. They do not know that the Tao is everywhere, and that one must not abandon this to go after that.
He said: It is the principle of the world that abandoning kin for strangers, abandoning the root for the branches, abandoning the worthy for the foolish, and abandoning the near for the far can work only for a while; in the long run harm arises.
He said: Those who discussed the Tao in the past called it congealed stillness, or profound depth, or limpid clarity, or empty sameness, or dark obscurity. Take care not to be frightened and draw back on meeting these words. The ultimate principle of the world is in the end neither words nor thought. Only if one knows that what is neither words nor thought lies beyond even those subtle words and wondrous thoughts will one accord with my teaching.