Let Your Mind Settle Like Clear Water, Lao Tzu on Stillness, Small Steps and Gentle Strength

Scoop a glass of water from a stream after a rainstorm and hold it up to the light. It looks like chocolate milk, full of swirling silt.

Now set it on the windowsill and walk away. Come back in an hour and the water shines clear, the silt resting quietly at the bottom. You did one simple thing. You let it be still.

A sage in ancient China saw that same cloudy water and wrote it into a little book people have treasured for more than two thousand years.

This is part of Timeless Authors, our daily series on the writers who change ordinary days. Earlier this week Marcus Aurelius showed us the fountain within, and this morning Thoreau took us to Walden. Today we travel further east and further back in time, to Lao Tzu.

Lao Tzu (6th century BCE, according to tradition)
Legendary Chinese sage, keeper of the archives at the Zhou court and traditional author of the Tao Te Ching.

The Teaching of Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu taught that life flows best when we move like water, soft, patient and close to the ground. In the Tao Te Ching he invites us to grow still so our minds can clear, to begin great things while they are small and to trust gentleness as a quiet kind of strength. His Way is a daily rhythm of settling, returning and flowing.

Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15, trans. James Legge

I love how gentle this is. Lao Tzu offers one instruction for a cloudy mind, and all it asks of you is a pause and a little time.

In Their Own Words, Favorite and Lesser Known Quotes

Every quote below comes from the 1891 translation by James Legge, published in the Sacred Books of the East and free to read on Wikisource. The words in parentheses are Legge’s own additions to clarify the Chinese.

On Stillness

The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 16, trans. James Legge

Who can secure the condition of rest? Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15, trans. James Legge

Stillness takes vigour. We guard it the way we guard a candle flame from the wind. And on the busy days, rest arrives in its own time, so we can keep moving and trust it to come.

On Small Beginnings

The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64, trans. James Legge

(The master of it) anticipates things that are difficult while they are easy, and does things that would become great while they are small.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 63, trans. James Legge

This is the original wording of the most famous line Lao Tzu ever wrote. Every big thing in your life started as a tiny sprout, so the smallest step this morning counts as real progress.

On the Strength of Water and Gentleness

The highest excellence is like (that of) water.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 8, trans. James Legge

I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The first is gentleness; the second is economy; and the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 67, trans. James Legge

Water serves everything it touches, and over time it shapes stone. Lao Tzu’s three treasures of gentleness, economy and humility work the same way, quietly and for a very long time.

On Knowing Yourself

He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33, trans. James Legge

He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33, trans. James Legge

The real victories happen inside. Knowing your own heart and steering it kindly is the mightiest work of any day.

On Returning and Renewal

The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 22, trans. James Legge

When things (in the vegetable world) have displayed their luxuriant growth, we see each of them return to its root.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 16, trans. James Legge

Everything that feels unfinished in you is on its way to wholeness. Like a tree in October, you are allowed to draw your energy back to the root and rest there for a while.

Who Was Lao Tzu?

According to Chinese tradition, Lao Tzu flourished in the sixth century BCE. The oldest surviving account of his life comes from the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian (around 145 to 86 BCE). He writes that Lao Tzu came from the state of Chu, that his family name was Li and his given name Er, that he was also called Lao Dan, and that he kept the archives at the court of Zhou.

Confucius is said to have visited him to ask about ritual and to have praised him afterward. As the Zhou dynasty declined, Lao Tzu set off. At the border, the official Yin Xi asked him to write down his teaching, and he left behind a book of about five thousand characters in two parts on the Way and virtue.

Scholars treat much of this story as legend, and some believe Lao Tzu was a legendary figure altogether. The book itself is wonderfully real. Silk manuscripts found at Mawangdui in 1973 and bamboo slips excavated at Guodian in 1993, from a tomb dated to around 300 BCE, include some of the oldest known versions of the text.

Today the Tao Te Ching is read in 81 short chapters, the first 37 on the Tao, or Way, and the rest on De, or virtue. Our main source for his story is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Laozi.

What the Way of Water Really Means

Lao Tzu keeps returning to water because water shows the Tao at work. It is soft, it flows to the low places, it serves every living thing, and given time it carves canyons.

For a morning person, this changes everything. You can work with the grain of your day, starting small, staying soft and letting your mind settle before you act. I wrote more about this balance in acting and allowing at the same time and in the art of letting go.

So instead of asking how hard I can push today, try asking where the water is already flowing.

Why This Teaching Fits Today

This post arrives on a Saturday in late October, right in the middle of autumn. The trees outside are doing exactly what Lao Tzu described, releasing their luxuriant growth and drawing their life back to the root.

By Saturday the glass is often cloudy. A full week of inboxes, plans and errands leaves the mind swirling. That makes this weekend morning the perfect time to set the glass down and let it settle.

Your Morning Practice, the Still Water Sit

This takes about ten minutes. Do it before you open your phone.

1. Set the glass down. Sit comfortably and watch your breath for three minutes as your thoughts slowly settle.
2. Return to the root. Ask yourself what matters most today, and write the answer in one sentence.
3. Find the sprout. Take your biggest task, name the tiniest first step and do that step this morning.
4. Choose the soft way. Pick one moment today where you will lead with gentleness, and picture it going well.
5. Count your riches. Write one line about something you already have that feels like plenty.

To make it automatic, attach it to something you already do. If I fill the kettle in the morning, then I sit and let my mind settle while the water heats. More on that in If Then Planning.

Essential Reading

• Tao Te Ching, trans. James Legge (1891). Careful and scholarly, free on Wikisource.
• The Sayings of Lao Tzŭ, trans. Lionel Giles. A short, graceful selection arranged by theme, free on Wikisource.
• Chuang Tzŭ, trans. Herbert A. Giles. The second great classic of Taoism, full of stories and humor, free on Wikisource.
• Laozi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. A clear, thorough guide to the history and ideas behind the book, free online.

Quick Answers About Lao Tzu

Who was Lao Tzu?

Lao Tzu is the legendary Chinese sage traditionally credited with the Tao Te Ching. According to the historian Sima Qian, he came from the state of Chu, kept the archives at the Zhou court and lived in the sixth century BCE.

Did Lao Tzu really write the Tao Te Ching?

Tradition says he wrote it at a border pass at the request of the keeper Yin Xi. Many modern scholars see the book as a collection that took shape over time, and some of its oldest known versions, the Guodian bamboo slips, come from a tomb dated to around 300 BCE.

What does Tao mean?

Tao means the Way. For Lao Tzu it is the source and natural flow of all things, the deep pattern we join when we live simply and gently.

What is Lao Tzu’s most famous quote?

In Legge’s translation of Chapter 64 it reads, the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step. Most of us know it as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, since a li is a traditional Chinese unit of distance.

Where can I read the Tao Te Ching for free?

James Legge’s 1891 translation is free on Wikisource, and Lionel Giles’s selection The Sayings of Lao Tzŭ lives there too. Both are in the public domain.

Let the Water Settle

Think back to that glass of stream water on the windowsill. The silt came down all by itself, because someone gave it a quiet place and a little time. Your mind works the same way.

Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15, trans. James Legge

What will you let settle this morning?

Start early. Start still. Start today.

Complement this with Marcus Aurelius on looking within, Emerson on trusting yourself and The Quiet Practice.

Want a calm, intentional start every day? Hold Until Sunrise is our little app for mornings that matter.

For a little goodness in your inbox every Sunday, join us here.

With love, Paolo

Sources

• Laozi, Tâo Teh King, trans. James Legge, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 39 (1891), Wikisource
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Laozi
• The Sayings of Lao Tzŭ, trans. Lionel Giles, Wikisource
• Chuang Tzŭ, trans. Herbert A. Giles, Wikisource