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THE CLASSIC OF PURITY

The Supreme TAO is formless, yet It produces and nurtures all things.

The Supreme TAO has no desires, yet by Its power the Sun and Moon revolve in their orbits.

The Supreme TAO is nameless, yet It supports all things eternally.

I do not know its name but for title call It "TAO".

TAO manifests both the pure and the turbid, both as movement and stillness.

The Universe is Pure, our World is turbid.

The Universe moves, our World is still.

The light is pure, the dark is turbid.

The masculine is active, the feminine is passive.

Manifesting in Its Radical Essence, TAO flows even to the last of things, bringing forward The Universe and our World and all that belongs to them.

The pure is the cause of the turbid, and movement is the cause of stillness.

When people attain the power to transcend that which changes, abiding in purity and stillness, The Universe and our World are united in them.

The Inner Spirit of people loves purity, but the mind of people is often rebellious. The mind of people loves stillness, but the desires of people draw them into activity. When a person is constantly able to govern their desires, their mind becomes spontaneously still. When the mind is unclouded, the Inner Spirit is seen to be pure. Then, with certainty the desires will cease to come forward and the poisons will be eliminated and dissolved.

The reason people do not possess the ability to achieve this is because their minds are not clear and their desires are unrestrained.

Those who have the power to transcend their desires, looking within and contemplating mind, realizes that in mind, mind is not; looking without contemplating form, they realize that in form, form is not; looking at things still more remote and contemplating matter, they realize that in matter, matter is not.

When they have clearly thought about these three they perceive only a void, and when they contemplate the void, they realize that the void is also void and has become nothingness. The void having vanished into nothingness, they realize that the nothingness of nothing is also nothing, and when the nethermost nothingness is reached, there is truly to be found a deep and unchanging stillness.

In this profound stillness how can desires come forward? When desires can no longer come forward, there is essential and unchanging stillness.

Truth is essentially unchanging.

All things in The Universe and in our world are in essence unchanging.

The unfolding of a person's mind leads them to this unchanging truth.

In unchanging Stillness, unchanging Purity and Rest are found.

Those who attain Purity and Stillness enter into the Immutable TAO.

Having entered the Immutable TAO they are named Possessor of TAO.

Although they are named Possessor of TAO they know they do not possess it.

Only when they can transmute all living things can they be truly named Possessor of TAO.

Those who are able to understand this can lead others to Sacred TAO.