Wei Wu Wei - Neither present nor absent

 

 

 I am not subject to space, therefore I know no 'where',
I am not subject to time, therefore I know no 'when',
What space-time is I am, and nothing finite appertains to me.

Being nowhere I am every 'where', being everywhere I am no 'where',
For I am neither any 'where' nor no 'where',
Neither inside nor outside any thing or no thing,
Neither above nor below, before nor after, at either side of any or no thing.

I do not belong to that which is perceptible or knowable,
Since perceiving and knowing is what I am,
I am not beyond hither or thither, within or without,
Because they too are what I am.

I am not extended in space, I am not developed in duration;
All these are my manifestations, all these are conceptual images of what I am,
For it is my absence, my absolute absence, which renders concepts conceivable.

I am ubiquitous, both as absence and as presence,
Since, as I,
I am neither present nor absent.
I can never be known as an object in mind,
For I am what is knowing, and even 'mind' is my object.