Also this very nice entry at the SEP:
plato.stanford.edu/entries/neo-...

玄学 Xuanxue or Neo-Daoism. Notable figures include Wang Bi (226-249) and Guo Xiang (252-312).

For reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanxue.

玄 is wild. In pre-Han literature it frequently is used simply as "dark" or "black." Over time 玄 comes to mean "deep," "profound," or "obscure." After the influence 玄学 we get "permitting the passage of light without making visible" (a kind of shadowy translucence).

玄之又玄，衆妙之門。

The obscurity of its obscurity,
The gate of multitudinous mystery.

此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。

Of these two, together going forth but differently named, together calling them obscure.

故常無欲，以觀其妙；
常有欲，以觀其徼。

Hence constantly without desire, thereby observe its mysteries.
Constantly having desire, thereby observe its boundaries.

道可道，非常道。
名可名，非常名。

Without names the origin of heaven and hearth.
Having names the mother of the ten-thousand things.

道德经 1

道可道，非常道。
名可名，非常名。

Dao that can be "Dao" is not constant Dao.
Names that can be names are not constant names.

Also - providing content without providing content.

The text that can be translated is not the constant text.

Trigger warning: Dao De Jing translations incoming.

The AI Great Leap Forward In 1958, Mao ordered every village to produce steel. The steel was useless. The crops rotted. Today's top-down AI mandates are producing the same pattern: ba...

leehanchung.github.io/blogs/2026/0...

Novice: exoteric teachings.

Disciple: esoteric teachings.

Master: excreteric teachings.

Behold! All mudras, mantras, and mandalas are surpassed by the truth of MiraLAX.

There is the colon.
There is not the colon.
There is the colon and not the colon.
There is neither the colon nor not the colon.

孔子對曰：「舉直錯諸枉，則民服；舉枉錯諸直，則民不服。」

Kong Zi replied: lift up the upright, remove the crooked, the people will serve; lift up the crooked, remove the upright, the people will not serve.

利欲熏心〔﹣慾薰﹣〕

PY lìyù-xūnxīn

IDIOM
be obsessed with the desire for gain; be overcome by covetousness; be blinded by greed

Note the emphasis on the heart-mind as the locus of consciousness; also, the excellent use of 熏 as “smoke” or “fumigate.”

This behavior is modeled on 天地, which does not act or live for itself. Thus selfless nature of 天地 is both descriptive of the world and normative for the sage.

身 is linterally body, but is frequently used to indicate one's person, including social self. So DDJ contrasts the physical and social self of 身 with the private internal 私. The Daoist places the body and social self last, and by doing so preserves a private, internal self.

Confucians are critical of 私, which is used to convey private, selfish intentions. Here the Daoists shift the concept, indicating a kind of private, internal self that can be preserved precisely because it rejects selfish intents.

Dao De Jing 7 (2/2):

是以聖人後其身而身先；
外其身而身存。
非以其無私耶？
故能成其私。

So it is because the sage themselves last they are first;
externalizes themselves so they are conserved.
Is it not because they have no personal self?
Therefore their self becomes complete.

Dao De Jing 7 (1/2):

天長地久。
天地所以能長且久者，
以其不自生，
故能長生。

Heaven is vast, earth endures long.
The reason the world is vast and endures,
Is because it does not live for itself,
therefore it may be vast.

Doing It Wrong Actually Works #XieQiu #LifeHack YouTube video by RADII

m.youtube.com/shorts/5Wyhk...

Cleaned up slightly:

Hosts of birds rise in flight to the edge.
An orphan cloud in isolation drifts away.
Mutually seeing the two without distaste.
There is only respect for Ting Shan.

Li Bai
Sitting Alone and Honoring Ting Shan (Mountain).

独坐敬亭山 孝白

众鸟高飞尽
孤云独去闲
相看两不厌
只有敬亭山

Hosts of birds rise in flight to the edge (of the sky)
An orphan cloud in isolation drifts idly away
Mutually looking, two without loathing
One can only respect Ting Shan

Li Bai, "Going alone to Ting Shan"

Reifications of culture seve only those who would be their covetous keepers.

Blue spandex bodies
arc on flashing steel arcoss
frozen blur of now

... yeah, nope. But it does support scholars who point to the emotional capacities of the Confucian sage and the importance. Here it suggests an ability to encounter anyone and respond with care - supported again by an intimate awareness of empathy.

Does this mean Kongzi is secretely a disciple of Mozi?!

汎 is more commonly "drift" or "float," which suggests "in a non-intentional manner," or "as you come into contact with." This gives "indiscriminate" as a reasonable but imperfect single-term translation.