Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. title: Tao Four author: tim4or5 universe: paying attention part: 27.4 summary: What if the Tao Te Ching were a sex manual? keywords: MF, FF, cons notice: This story contains sexually explicit material. copyright: 2018 all rights reserved. Tao Four 38 Discard virtue and have virtue, never act and leave nothing undone. Hold virtue and lose virtue, act and things are left undone. Charity acts but without motive. Gossip acts with motive. Authority acts with force. When Tao is lost there is virtue, then charity, then gossip, then authority. Authority is the end of honor and truth, the start of disorder. Fate is not Tao. Discard both and take the other. *Virtue also means potency or power and is some sort of mystical energy. 39 The One makes the air clear, the earth settled, the gods strong, the valley full. It gives the many creatures life and leaders their place. We all depend on it. The low supports the high and needs no praise. Will you need the jingle of jade ornaments after you hear the sound of stones growing? *I am always hard for you. 40 Turning back is how Tao moves, weakness is what it uses. The many creatures are born from something, something from nothing. *You are always wet for me. 41 When hearing of Tao, the best student practices it, the average student sees it and does not see it, the worst student laughs. If he did not laugh, it would not be Tao. Bright seems dark, forward seems backward, even seems rough. Great virtue seems hollow, plain virtue seems hidden. The great square has no corners, the great image has no shape. Tao conceals itself as nameless. Tao alone excels in providing. *The reason the Tao Te Ching keeps saying cling to the female is because it is also a sex manual. Most translations and commentaries hide this fact, which is not hard since the language is deliberately ambiguous. It does say wasting your semen shortens your life, but also that using it correctly and respectfully extends it. 42 Tao begets one. One begets two, two beget three, who beget the many creatures, who carry Yin on their backs and hold Yang in their arms. We are made of these two. Leaders call themselves alone and worthless. Gain by losing, lose by gaining. The strong die young. *There are two more kinds of mystic energy. Yin is dark, female and passive. Yang is bright, male and active. Everything is made of these and they balance each other. The true yang used by alchemists seems different. 43 A stoppable force overcomes an immovable object, the changing enters the unyielding. Help without acting, teach without words. Few in the world understand. *My hand glides down your ribs toward your waiting reservoir. 44 Which matters more, name or body? Which is worth more, body or goods? Which is more trouble, gain or loss? Buy cheap and pay dear. Know contentment and suffer no disgrace. Know when to stop and meet no danger. Last long and beget well. *There were two kinds of soul, a bodily soul that went into the earth and a spiritual soul that went into the sky. Everyone had both. Which seems like a better system than having one soul and worrying about the direction. 45 The perfect seems bent yet works, the full seems empty yet lasts. Great truth seems senseless, great skill seems random, great speech seems unclear. Move when cold, in heat stay still. A cool and clear leader brings order. *Tao means path or discipline or practice, and also means speak or word or road. It has to do with going or sending. 46 With Tao, fleet horses plow the fields. Without Tao, war horses breed near the border. The worst dangers are desires and discontent. Know what is enough. *Taoism and respect for animals and plants come from hunting and gathering cultures. Rules and control come from farming cultures. 47 Without travel I can know the world, without looking outside I can see Tao. The more I think the less I know. Thus the Sage knows without leaving, finds without looking, completes without acting. *I feel your weight shift in my arms as your foot comes off the floor, your leg slide up to grant me access. My fingers reach deep inside and brush the opening of your womb. You smile. 48 Learning does more, Tao does less, until it does nothing and everything. Let the world be. *There are three other kinds of mystic energy. Vitality was semen and is the life force that everyone is born with and can acquire. When you use it up you die. Energy was blood but is now usually breath and circulates through the body. It is the chi used in the martial arts and manipulated by massage. Its blockage causes illness. Spirit was breath and is the soul that survives death. Tao Five 49 The Sage has no heart, she sees the needs of others. I treat the good well, I treat the bad well and gain goodness. I believe the honest, I believe the dishonest and gain honesty. The Sage distracts the world and treats people like children. *We do what we can to help each other. 50 With two paths, three in ten choose life, three choose death, while three choose fear. One guards his semen and meets no enemies or beasts. Since he has no death, they have nowhere to strike or claw. *I will put my cum inside of you. 51 Tao gives life, virtue rears, things shape, events mature. Thus the many creatures respect Tao and honor virtue. Tao feeds and shelters. It gives without owning and guides without force. This is dark virtue. *We wait for the proper time and place. 52 The world began. Know the mother, know the child, return to the mother, meet no danger. Fill the hole, journey within, and preserve your life. Unstop the hole, waste semen, and you can not be saved. Finding smallness is clarity, holding weakness is strength. Know your brightness, return to clarity, meet no danger. This is the constant. *My penis belongs inside your vagina. This nourishes the body and mind. Placing it elsewhere serves no purpose. 53 If I have any sense I will follow Tao and fear the side paths others prefer. My partner wears silks and jewels, consumes food and wine. The nights are barren, her belly empty. This is not Tao. *Come my love, let us reclaim what is ours. 54 Root firmly and do not pull out, hold tight and do not let go, last long and come hard. Find Tao in your self, partner, village, city and world. See each as itself. Virtue will be real, enough, lasting. Why is that? This. *I feel your excitement build as we move together. You start to gasp. Your body spasms from the pleasure of my touch, and I fill you with my cum. 55 Our newborn has virtue. Animals and insects respect him. His bones and sinews are supple and his grip strong. His penis already gets hard and he can cry all day. This is stillness, the constant, clarity. Guard semen, limit energy. The strong die young. *He wriggles and smiles when you stroke him, and responds to your gentle kiss. He will make his wife happy. 56 Some know, I do not. Fill the hole, journey within. Blunt the sharp, free the tangle, dim the bright, lay the dust. This is dark confusion. Never near or far, large or small, high or low, the world depends on it. *I watch the sway of your breasts as you come to me. 57 Lead with honesty, fight with tricks, gain the world by leaving it alone. Why is that? This. More restrictions mean more poverty, more weapons mean more fear, more changes mean less changes, more laws mean more criminals. Do nothing, be still, have no desires, and people become simple like the unformed. *My fingers slide down through your hair to the curve of your buttock. 58 Left alone people are simple, interfere and they become restless. Failure brings success, success brings failure. To what end? Straight becomes bent, spirits become evil. We go too far. The Sage blunts her sharpness, dims her brightness. *I fear nothing as the scent of your sex fills the room and we move together. 59 Lead others without force, follow Tao and gain virtue, lose your self and gain the world. Root deeply and last long. *The sound of your breath inspires me. Tao Six 60 Leading a large group is like boiling a small fish. When leaders follow Tao, spirits do not use their powers to seduce people. The Sage also does no harm, and virtue returns. *You say you want me inside you. 61 Goods flow to the city at the mouth of the river. The male flows into the female lying below. The large and the small unite when each submits to the other. *My face inches above yours, I stare down at you. The green in your eyes always surprises me. 62 Tao provides for the many creatures. It gives to the good and does not abandon the bad. Beautiful words and deeds win promotion. Offer Tao, not gifts. The world depends on it. *You open your legs and welcome me. 63 Take no action, do not interfere, value the plain. The Sage does not wait until the easy becomes difficult. She treats things with care. *I enter into your softness and warmth. 64 Deal with problems before they exist. A tree grows from a sprout, a terrace rises from shovelfuls, a journey starts with a step. The Sage does nothing and does no harm. People ruin things on the verge of success. Be as careful at the end as at the start. The Sage does not hold on to things or ideas. She returns to people what they have lost and aids the many natural creatures, but she does not dare act. *I really like Pam's breasts. They're bigger than mine and soft and delicious. She gets really excited when I push up her big white tee shirt and suck and squeeze them. I don't know if she can come from just this, because if I don't help her, she gets impatient and does it herself. 65 Do not use Tao to enlighten the people. Clever people are difficult to lead. Let us not lead by cleverness but by not interfering. This is dark virtue. It is deep and reaches far, but when creatures turn back it turns back with them. It completes unity. *Watching Pam and me go at it always gets you hard again, but you wait until we're done before getting behind me and sliding back inside. After that you're usually spent, so I leave you alone and go to sleep. 66 Like a river or sea, take the low position. To lead, follow, do not obstruct. Do not contend and no one can contend with you. *You like it when Pam gets on top and bounces all over. I like to be under you, feeling our hips thrust together and your penis plunge into me. 67 The world says Tao is vast and strange. If its vastness were like something it would long ago have vanished. I hold three treasures, compassion, kindness and fellowship. Courage without compassion, expansion without kindness, and leading without fellowship, will end in failure. Compassion grants success and safety. Whom the world would protect, it gifts with compassion. *Why did you choose me? I am not special. 68 A partner who excels does not appear formidable. This is the virtue of not contending. *I do not fear you. I fear only myself. 69 Do not play the host but play the guest, do not advance an inch but retreat a foot. This is marching forward when there is no road, having your way when there is no way. It is the one whose heart is cool that prevails. *I do not understand your words, but I love who you are. 70 My words are easy to understand, yet no one does. My words have meaning. The few who know and practice them are necessary and sufficient. We hide in plain sight. *I do not ask anything of you. Tao Seven 71 Some know, I do not. By knowing difficulty I avoid it. *Kim married me so I could have health insurance. They all give me ten percent of their salary plus room and board. Tax free since it is part of our domestic arrangement. 72 When people lack respect there is disaster. Do not try to restrict or control them and people will not tire of you. The Sage knows her value but does not exalt herself. She leaves one and takes the other. *Some people know we live together, but we do not talk about the sleeping arrangements and have not told anyone Kim and I are married. No one has asked Pamela about having a black child. I will only admit to being a parent. 73 Those fearless in being bold meet death, those fearless in being timid stay alive. One leads to good, one to harm. The world hates what it hates. Why? Even the Sage finds it difficult. Tao prevails yet does not contend, responds yet does not speak, attracts yet does not seduce, lays plans yet remains open. Its net is cast wide. The mesh is not fine, yet nothing slips through. *Your skin is soft. 74 Do not use threats to frighten people. Trouble needs no assistance. Take the place of the master carver and you will cut your own hands. *Your arteries pulse. 75 The people are hungry, the leaders eat too much tax grain. The people are restless, the leaders interfere too much. The people treat death lightly, the leaders live too high. Respect and care for life. *Sometimes Pamela brings a friend home from work. Four people in one bed is a bit crowded, but no one seems to mind. Usually it is a girl. 76 A person is supple when active but hard when dead. Plants are pliant when growing but strong when dead. Life is weak, death is hard. A strong tree will be taken, hard tool will shatter. *I am not allowed to have outside girlfriends. Everyone admits this is not fair. 77 Tao, like a bent bow, presses down the high, lifts up the low, takes from the full, gives to the empty. People are different. They take from the poor and give to the rich. The Sage helps and claims no merit. *I get two weeks paid vacation. Last year Marge and Sandy took me to Hawaii. 78 Water is weak but can attack the strong. Be humble and worthy. Plain words seem strange. *Your muscles are strong. 79 When peace is made, tension remains. The Sage takes the left hand tally but exacts no payment. Tao is impartial, it sides with the good. *Your bones have structure. 80 Become empty. Let people who have weapons not use them. Let people be simple and content where they are. Although you hear your neighbors, let them be. *Sandy and Marg do not share boyfriends. This does not sound like it applies when only one of them stays over. 81 True words are not beautiful, persuasive words are not good. The Sage does not hoard. Giving what she has to others, she has yet more. Tao helps and does not contend. *I only have to take care of the kids during the day, but this does not mean I do not sometimes have to change Ginny or Pete at night. -- Translated by DC Lau, Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, Jonathan Star, Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, Witter Bynner, and Arthur Waley. Interpreted by TH Walden. This story is a sequel to story26, Masters and Axel.