Tai Shang Lao Jun Shuo Chang Qing Jing Jing (太上老君說常清靜經)

老君曰：大道無形，生育天地；大道無情，運行日月；大道無名，長養萬物；吾不知其名，強名曰道。夫道者：有清有濁，有動有靜；天清地濁，天動地靜；男清女濁，男動女靜。降本流末，而生萬物。清者濁之源，動者靜之基。人能常清靜，天地悉皆歸。

Laozi said: The Great Dao has no form, yet it gives birth to heaven and earth; the Great Dao has no partiality, yet it sets the sun and moon in motion; the Great Dao has no name, yet it nurtures all things. I do not know what to call it, so I can only reluctantly name it "Dao" (Laozi uses this word to point to the origin and manner of operation of all things, which in itself cannot be described). Within this Dao there is clear and turbid, movement and stillness: heaven is clear and earth is turbid, heaven moves and earth is still; man is clear and woman is turbid, man moves and woman is still. Descending from the root to the branches, all things come into being. The clear is the source of the turbid, and movement is the foundation of stillness. If a person can always keep to clarity and stillness, heaven, earth and all things will return entirely to him.

夫人神好清，而心擾之；人心好靜，而慾牽之。常能遣其慾而心自靜，澄其心而神自清。自然六慾不生，三毒消滅。所以不能者，為心未澄，慾未遣也。能遣之者，內觀於心，心無其心；外觀於形，形無其形；遠觀於物，物無其物。三者既悟，唯見於空。觀空亦空，空無所空；所空既無，無無亦無；無無既無，湛然常寂；寂無所寂，慾豈能生？慾既不生，即是真靜。真常應物，真常得性；常應常靜，常清靜矣。如此清靜，漸入真道；既入真道，名謂得道，雖名得道，實無所得；為化眾生，名謂得道；能悟之者，可傳聖道。

A person's spirit by nature loves clarity, but the mind disturbs it; a person's mind by nature loves quiet, but desire pulls it away. If one can constantly drive out desire, the mind will naturally become still; settle the mind, and the spirit will naturally become clear. Then the six desires (the cravings arising from the six faculties: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind) no longer arise, and the three poisons (greed, hatred and delusion) are eliminated. Those who cannot do this have not yet settled the mind and have not yet driven out desire. One who can drive it out, looking inward at his own mind, finds that there is no real mind; looking outward at his own body, finds that there is no real body; looking farther at external things, finds that there are no real things. When these three, mind, body and things, are seen through, all that is seen is emptiness. But going one step further, even this emptiness must be contemplated as empty: emptied until there is nothing left to empty; once what is emptied is gone, that nothingness too returns to nothingness; when even nothingness is no more, there is a profound clarity and constant stillness; stillness reaches the point where there is no stillness at all, so from where could desire possibly arise? When desire no longer arises, this is true stillness. With this true and constant mind responding to things, one gains one's own nature within that response; constantly responding and constantly still, one is also constantly clear and still. Being clear and still in this way, one gradually enters the true Dao; having entered the true Dao, one is said to have attained the Dao. Though it is called attaining the Dao, in fact nothing has been attained; it is only in order to teach living beings that the name of attaining the Dao is reluctantly assigned. One who can understand this may be taught the sacred Dao.

老君曰：上士無爭，下士好爭；上德不德，下德執德；執著之者，不名道德。眾生所以不得真道者，為有妄心。既有妄心，即驚其神；既驚其神，即著萬物；既著萬物，即生貪求；既生貪求，即是煩惱；煩惱妄想，憂苦身心；便遭濁辱，流浪生死，常沉苦海，永失真道。真常之道，悟者自得。得悟道者，常清靜矣。

Laozi said: People of the highest capacity do not contend with others, while people of the lowest capacity love to contend; those of high virtue do not rely on their virtue, while those of low virtue cling tightly to virtue. Virtue (the capacity that the Dao shows when it is embodied in concrete things, not virtue in the ethical sense), once clung to, can no longer be called true Dao and virtue. The reason living beings cannot attain the true Dao is that they have a deluded mind. With a deluded mind the spirit is disturbed; once the spirit is startled, it sticks to things; sticking to things gives rise to craving; craving becomes affliction; with affliction and deluded thoughts entangling them, worry and suffering torment body and mind; they then endure defilement and humiliation, drift through birth and death, sink for ages in the sea of suffering, and lose the true Dao forever. As for the true and constant Dao, whoever awakens to it naturally obtains it. One who has truly awakened to the Dao is also constantly clear and still.

仙人葛玄曰：吾得真道，曾誦此經萬遍。此經是天人所習，不傳下士。吾昔受之於東華帝君。東華帝君受之於金闕帝君，金闕帝君受之於西王母。西王母皆口口相傳，不記文字。吾今於世書而錄之。上士悟之，昇為天官。中士修之，南宮列仙。下士得之，在世長年，遊行三界，昇入金門。

The immortal Ge Xuan said: Before I attained the true Dao, I recited this scripture ten thousand times. This scripture is what the divine beings of heaven practice, and it is not passed on to people of the lowest capacity. I received it in the past from the Lord of the Eastern Flower; the Lord of the Eastern Flower received it from the Lord of the Golden Gate Tower, and the Lord of the Golden Gate Tower received it from the Queen Mother of the West. At the Queen Mother of the West's place it has always been transmitted by word of mouth, leaving no written text. Now in the human world I have written it down and recorded it as a book. Those of the highest capacity who understand it can rise to be heavenly officials; those of middling capacity who practice it can be enrolled among the immortals in the Southern Palace; those of the lowest capacity who obtain it can still live long in the world, roam the three realms, and ascend to the Golden Gate.

左玄真人曰：學道之士，持誦此經，即得十天善神擁護其人。然後玉符寶神，金液鍊形，形神俱妙，與道合真。

The Perfected Man Zuo Xuan said: Students of the Dao who simply uphold and recite this scripture will be guarded by the benevolent gods of the ten heavens. After that, they may secure their spirit with jade talismans and refine their body with golden liquid (in the language of inner alchemy, the essence of the fluids obtained through cultivation), until body and spirit both reach subtle perfection, and they unite with the Dao and become true.

正一真人曰：人家有此經，悟解之者，災障不幹，眾聖護門，神昇上界，朝拜高尊。功滿德就，相感帝君。誦持不退，身騰紫雲。

The Perfected Man of Zhengyi said: If a household keeps this scripture and is able to understand it, calamities and demonic obstacles will not trouble that person; the holy and perfected ones will guard the gate of his home, and his spirit can ascend to the heavens to pay homage to the supreme venerable gods. When merit and practice are fulfilled and virtuous deeds accomplished, he can move the Emperor Lord. If he recites it without backsliding, this body can rise in flight on purple clouds.