The Essential Secret
Translation by Tree Buffalo
The good traveler leaves no track to trace.
The good speaker leaves no blemish to blame.
The good counter doesn’t use a counter to count.
The good closer doesn’t use a bolt or bar and yet none can open what they close.
The good tier doesn’t use rope or string and yet none can loosen what they tie.
Therefore, the wise person is always good at saving people because they do not reject anyone.
And they are good at saving things because they do not reject things.
Call this following the light.
Because the good person is the bad person’s teacher, and the bad person is the good person’s raw material.
And those who don’t value their teacher or cherish their lessons, however clever, are greatly confused.
Call this the essential secret.
Read some of the first English translations of Chapter 27 here.
