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Tao Te Ching · 10 of 81

Chapter 10

When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without a flaw.

In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed without any (purpose of) action? In the opening and shutting of his gates of heaven, cannot he do so as a female bird? While his intelligence reaches in every direction, cannot he (appear to) be without knowledge?

(The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them. This is what is called ‘The mysterious Quality’ (of the Tao).

Asked of Guide

What does Lao Tzu mean by keeping the 'intelligent and animal souls' together?

Lao Tzu describes a state where reason and instinct are integrated so they “can be kept from separating.” This union is trained by attentive breath and inner cleansing until one regains a pliant, babylike presence and becomes “without a flaw.”

That integrated state lets a ruler act through non-coercive carrying — loving people and governing “without any (purpose of) action.” Compare Chuang Tzu’s wheel and empty nave: usefulness arises from an inner stillness that allows action to arise naturally rather than from force.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.

Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoism11. The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their emptThe Sayings of Lao Tzu · Taoismlike a bellows? It is empty, yet inexhaustible; when it is put in motion, more and more comes out. Heaven and Earth are long-lasting. The reason why Heaven and Earth can last long