為學日益，為道日損。損之又損，以至於無為。無為而無不為。取天下常以無事，及其有事，不足以取天下。
My translation of this famous chapter of Tao Te Ching, chapter 48
To learn we add daily
To practise Tao we abandon daily
Abandon and abandon
Until we have nothing to abandon
With nothing to abandon we are free
(No incident means good governance
Solving problems means bad governance)
Paul's comment: Never misunderstand that the sage had said that we should all forget about everything and seated cross-legged to meditate upon a waterfall all day long. Knowledge has always been organized to help us, or more precisely our rational mind or ego, to solve practical day to day problems. It is always spiritual knowledge that humans are lacking, in all ages and all times. But spiritual knowledge is empirical experience that cannot be learned from college, or master degree in Buddhist Studies, for that matter. Enlightenment comes form shedding knowledge gained from our rational mind. It comes from putting our ego in its rightful place (not a dissolution of which permanently, which means insanity). It means a dissolution of karma. It means Tao. And in the most practical sense it means using either our rational mind or our compassionate heart at the right time, in the right place.
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