"Tao is a great acceptance, Tao is a tremendous acceptance, Tao is an unconditional tathata. Whatsoever is, is – nothing can be done about it.

"And there is no need to do anything either. The moment you start doing, you create mischief – the doers are the mischievous people. The non-doers are the real people; through non-doing, one can know what is. When you start doing something you bring your mind in, and the moment mind comes in there is confusion – all clarity is lost. Try to understand this as the basic, fundamental Tao.

"Then today's parable will be very easily understood. It is of tremendous beauty, this parable. It can open a new vista, it can open a door in your being, it can give you a vision of reality. But the fundamental rule is: do not interfere. That is real non-violence.

"If you go to Lao Tzu and you say that somebody is a thief, he says, 'So what! Somebody is a thief. Let it be so.' Lao Tzu is unworried about reality. If somebody is mad. Lao Tzu will say, 'So what! Let it be so. If that's how the whole wills it then that is how it has to be. Who are you? Who has given you the authority to change anything, to transform it? Leave reality to itself and everything goes beautifully, rhythmically. Interfere, and everything is disturbed.'

"You have heard about the non-violence of Mahavira, you have heard about the non-violence of Buddha, but they are nothing compared to Lao Tzu. In their non-violence there is a subtle violence still: the violence of interference. The good has to be brought in, the bad has to be destroyed; the immoral has to be changed into moral, the wrong has to be put right. They are still not in wu-wei, non-interference. The violent person is trying to change reality violently, the non-violent person is trying to change reality non-violently, but both are trying to change reality. And to change is to be violent. To accept things as they are, to accept with no mind at all – that is the Tao understanding.

"If you have a mind you cannot accept."