Lie Zi - 1.3 - The Principle of Inaction | Daoist Wisdom on Universe, Life, and Spirituality

Liyue Tzu said, Heaven and Earth do not have perfect efficiency. Sages do not have perfect ability. Myriad beings do not have perfect vitality. Therefore, Heaven's job is to create and protect. Earth's job is to form and support, and Sage's job is to teach and enlighten. Everyone's job is what they're suited for. Thus, Heaven has its weakness, while Earth has its strength. Some things are inaccessible to Sages, while some things are accessible to anyone. Why? Because that which creates and protects cannot form and support. That which forms and supports cannot teach and enlighten. Those who teach and enlighten cannot deviate from the appropriate. Matters cannot exceed positions of intended purposes. So, the course of Heaven and Earth is either yin or yang. The teaching of Sages is either humanity or justice. The proper state of things is either soft or hard. These all conform to the appropriate and cannot depart from their positions. So there is life, and there is that which produces life. There is form, and there is that which creates form. There is sound, and there is that which causes sound. There is color, and there is that which causes color. There is taste, and there is that which causes taste. The created can die, but the creator never ends. The created form has substance, but the form creator has none. Sound is audible, but what creates sound is not emitted. Color is visible, but what colors color is not manifest. Flavors can be tasted, but what gives flavor to flavor cannot be tasted. All these phenomena are functions of the principle of inaction. It can be yin or yang, soft or hard, short or long, round or square, vital or morbid, hot or cold, floating or sinking, high or low, appearing or disappearing, dark or light, sweet or bitter, foul or fragrant. It has no knowledge and no ability, yet there is nothing it does not know, nothing it cannot do. This section extends the previous one with more attributes of the uncreated, and the duality within it. It explains that all matters have been created for specific purposes that may not be exceeded. While the created world is full of manifested phenomena and duality, the creator behind it remains in inaction and unity. It creates life, form, sound, color, and taste, yet it itself is timeless, formless, selfless, and invisible.