Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“The state of vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour.”
- Source
- Tao Teh King
- Date
- ancient
- English wording
- James Legge — Translator · from Classical Chinese
Meaning of “The state of vacancy should be brought to…”
Stillness is not presented as passivity without effort; it is something to be guarded deliberately while the changing processes of life continue around it.
Where does it come from?
Tao Teh King, chapter 16, James Legge translation; the following lines connect stillness with the recurring return of things to their root.
