Chapter XL

The movements of the Tao are cyclical; the sufficiency of the Tao is latency. 1 All that is, 2 exists in being (bhava), being in non-being. 3 "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth yieldeth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof." "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened." 69:1 Literally "weakness," the weakness of latent strength. 69:2 Literally "heaven, earth, the myriad existences." 69:3 The yet unformed ships exist in the forest trees.