THE TAO TEH KING,
(THE TAO AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS)
by Lao-Tse
(source translation Legge, Bynner and Bahm)
(MASTER COPY)
wonder, simplicity
Nature, fractional/rational
wonder
existence
If name be needed, Nature names them both
Nature is ingenious:
from simplicity to simplicity,
through infinite fractions that comprise nature
Existence occurs;
the eternal mystery comes into view.
(From wonder to wonder,
Existence opens.)
Ch. 1.
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. Nature can never be completely described, for such a description of Nature would have to duplicate Nature. No name can fully express what it represents.
Conceived of as having no name, it is the Originator of heaven
and earth; conceived of as having a name, it is the Mother of all
things.
The ultimate source of all that happens, all that comes and goes, begins and ends, is and is not. But to describe Nature as "the ultimate source of all" is still only a description, and such a description is not Nature itself.
Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development
takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them
the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that
is subtle and wonderful.
In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words,
Words came out of the womb of matter;
And whether a man dispassionately
Sees to the core of life
Or passionately
Sees the surface,
The core and the surface
Are essentially the same,
Words making them seem different
Only to express appearance.
If name be needed, wonder names them both:
From wonder into wonder
Existence opens.
2.
All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing
this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill
of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the
want of skill is. A balloon known by its containing edges.
So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to
(the idea of) the other;
that difficulty and ease produce the one (the
idea of) the other;
that length and shortness fashion out the one the
figure of the other;
that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from
the contrast of the one with the other;
that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another;
and that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.
If something exists which cannot be wholly revealed to him with his viewpoint, he does not demand of it that it be nothing but what it seems to him.
If some one else interprets him, he does not trust that interpretation as being equal to his own existence. If some part of him stands out as if a superior representative of his nature, he will not surrender the rest of his nature to it.
And in not surrendering the whole of his nature to any part of it, he keeps himself intact. This is how the intelligent man preserves his nature.
Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and
conveys his instructions without the use of speech.
The sanest man sets up no deed, lays down no law, takes everything that happens as it comes.
All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show
itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership;
they go through their processes, and there is no expectation of a
reward for the results. The work is accomplished, and there is no
resting in it as an achievement.
To earn, not to own, to accept naturally without self-importance: if you never assume importance you never lose it. The work is done, but how no one can see; it is this that makes the power not cease to be.
“And in not surrendering the whole of his nature to any part of it, he keeps himself intact. This is how the intelligent man preserves his nature.”
3.
Not to value and employ men of superior ability is the way to
keep the people from rivalry among themselves;
not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves;
not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is
the way to keep their minds from disorder.
Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government,
empties their minds,
open people's hearts,
fills their bellies,
weakens their wills,
and strengthens their bones
so to clarify their thoughts and cleanse their needs
such that no cunning meddler could touch them.
He constantly attempts to keep them without knowledge
and without desire,
and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them
from presuming to act.
When there is this abstinence from
action, good order is universal.
Without being forced, without strain or constraint,
One attains.
4.
The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our
employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How
deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!
We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of
things; we should temper our brightness, and bring ourselves into
agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Tao
is, as if it would ever so continue!
I do not know whose sun it is. It might appear to have been before
God.
Nature contains nothing but natures; and these natures are nothing over and above Nature.
In Nature, all natures originate,
all conflicts are settled,
all differences are united,
all disturbances are quieted.
Yet no matter how many natures come into being, they can never exhaust Nature. To look for an external source of Nature is foolish, for Nature is the source of all else.
Existence, by nothing bred,
Breeds everything.
Parent of the universe,
It smooths rough edges,
Unties hard knots,
Tempers the sharp sun,
Lays blowing dust,
Its image in the wellspring never fails.
But how was it conceived?--this image
Of no other sire.
5.
Heaven and earth do not act from any impulse to be
benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt
with. The sages do not act from any wish to be benevolent; they
deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with.
Nature, immune as to a sacrifice of straw dogs, faces the decay of its fruits.
Opposites are not sympathetic to each other. Each one of the many kinds of opposites acts as if it could get along without its other. But Nature treats opposites impartially, dealing with each of every pair of opposites with the same indifference.
No matter how deeply natures are torn by opposition, Nature itself remains unchanged. In conflicts between opposites, the more one attacks his seeming opponent upon which he depends for his completion, the more he defeats himself.
He demonstrates that only Nature, and not any opposite abstracted from existence, is self-sufficient.
And the intelligent man will regard opposites in the same manner..
The universe, like a bellows,
Is always emptying, always full:
The more it yields, the more it holds.
It is emptied, yet it loses not its power;
Moved again, the Tao sends forth air the more.
Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see;
Your inner being guard, and keep it free.
6.
The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;
The female mystery thus do we name.
Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,
Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.
Long and unbroken does its power remain,
Used gently, and without the touch of pain.
The tendency towards opposition is ever-present. Opposition is the source of all growth.
The seeming of a world never to end,
Breath for men to draw from as they will:
And the more they take of it, the more remains.
7.
Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason
why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is
because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are
able to continue and endure.
Having no finite self, it stays infinite.
Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in
the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him,
and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no
personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?
A sound man by not advancing himself
Stays the further ahead of himself,
By not confining himself to himself
Sustains himself outside himself:
By never being an end in himself
He endlessly becomes himself.
The intelligent man, when an issue arises, stands off and observes both contentions.
Since he does not take sides, he never loses a battle.
8.
The highest excellence is like water. The excellence
of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying,
without striving to the contrary, the low place which all men
dislike. Hence its way is near to that of the Tao.
The excellence of a residence is in the suitability of the place;
that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in
their being with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing
good order; that of the conduct of affairs is in its ability; and
that of the initiation of any movement is in its timeliness.
And when one with the highest excellence does not wrangle about
his low position, no one finds fault with him.
Wise behaviour adapts itself appropriately to the particular circumstances, All this is because these are the easiest ways.
Man at his best, like water,
Serves as he goes along:
Like water he seeks his own level,
The common level of life,
Loves living close to the earth,
Living clear down in his heart,
Loves kinship with his neighbors,
The pick of words that tell the truth,
The even tenor of a well-run state,
The fair profit of able dealing,
The right timing of useful deeds,
And for blocking no one's way
No one blames him.
9.
It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to
carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been
sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them
safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil
on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming
distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
Keep stretching a bow
You repent of the pull,
A 'whetted saw
Goes thin and dull,
Surrounded with treasure
You lie ill at ease,
Proud beyond measure
You come to your knees:
Do enough, without vieing,
Be living, not dying.
10.
Can you hold the door of your tent wide to the firmament?
When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one
embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided
attention to the breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of
pliancy, he can become as a tender babe. When he has cleansed away
the most mysterious sights of his imagination, he can become without
a flaw.
The Tao produces all things and nourishes them; it produces
them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not
boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them.
This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality' of the Tao.
If you desire to realize the potentialities of your indescribable original nature, how can you insist that some selected aspect of your personality is really superior to that original nature?
If you desire to know the nature of the various kinds of things, must you meddle with them, experiment with them, try to change them, in order to find out?
Nature procreates all things and then devotes itself to caring for them, Just as parents give birth to children without keeping them as slaves. It willingly gives life, without first asking whether the creatures will repay for its services. It provides a pattern to follow, without requiring anyone to follow it. This is the secret of intelligent activity.
If you can bear issue and nourish its growing,
If you can guide without claim or strife,
If you can stay in the lead of men without their knowing,
You are at the core of life.
11.
Every positive involves its negative or opposing factor
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty
space for the axle, that the use of the wheel depends.
Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that
their use depends.
The door and windows are cut out from the walls to form an apartment;
but it is on the empty space within, that its use depends.
Therefore, what has a positive existence serves for profitable adaptation,
and what has not that for actual usefulness.
Thus we are helped by what is not
to use what is.
We profit equally by the positive and negative ingredients in each situation.
12.
Interest in the varieties of colour diverts the eye from regarding the thing which is coloured.
The five colors can blind,
The five tones deafen,
The five tastes cloy.
The race, the hunt, can drive men mad
And their booty leave them no peace.
Therefore a sensible man
Prefers the inner to the outer eye:
He has his yes, --he has his no.
Excessive devotion to chasing about and pursuing things agitates the mind with insane excitement. Greed for riches ensnares one's efforts to pursue his healthier motives.
The intelligent man is concerned about his genuine needs and avoids being confused by dazzling appearances. He wisely distinguishes one from the other.
13.
Favor and disfavor have been called equal worries,
Success and failure have been called equal ailments.
How can favor and disfavor be called equal worries?
Because winning favor burdens a man
With the fear of losing it.
But our inner peace and distress should be our primary concerns.
The inner self is our true self; so in order to realize our true self, we must be willing to live without being dependent upon the opinions of others. When we are completely self-sufficient, then we can have no fear of disesteem.
He who wisely devotes himself to being self-sufficient, and therefore does not depend for his happiness upon external ratings by others, is the one best able to set an example for, and to teach and govern, others.
One who knows his lot to be the lot of all other men
Is a safe man to guide them,
One who recognizes all men as members of his own body
Is a sound man to guard them.
14.
We look at it, and we do not see it, and
we name it 'the Equable.'
We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and
we name it 'the Inaudible.'
We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and
we name it 'the Subtle.'
With these three qualities, it cannot be made
the subject of description;
and hence we blend them together and
obtain The One.
What we look for beyond seeing
And call the unseen,
Listen for beyond hearing
And call the unheard,
Grasp for beyond reaching
And call the withheld,
Merge beyond understanding
In a oneness
Which does not merely rise and give light,
Does not merely set and leave darkness,
Since what is ultimate in Nature cannot be seen with one's eyes, it is spoken of as invisible. Since it cannot be heard with one's ears, it is called inaudible. Since it cannot be grasped in one's hands, it is thought of as intangible
But not even all these three together can adequately describe it. Nature did not originate in beginnings, and will not reach its goal in endings. Rather it acts unceasingly, without either absolute beginnings or final endings.
No matter how closely we scrutinize its coming toward us, we cannot discover a beginning. No matter how long we pursue it, we never find its end.
One must comprehend the way in which the original Nature itself operates, if he wishes to control present conditions. That is, he should study the ultimate source itself. This is the way to understand how Nature behaves.
One who is anciently aware of existence
Is master of every moment,
Feels no break since time beyond time
In the way life flows.
15.
The skilful masters of the Tao in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep so as to elude men's knowledge.
'Roiled as a torrent,
Why roiled as a torrent?
Because when a man is in turmoil how shall he find peace
Save by staying patient till the stream clears?
The more you try to stir the dirt out of it, the murkier it gets.
How can a man's life keep its course
If he will not let it flow?
Those who flow as life flows know
They need no other force:
They feel no wear, they feel no tear,
They need no mending, no repair.
They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full of
themselves. It is through their not being full of themselves that
they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.
16.
In order to arrive at complete contentment, restrain your ambitions.
The state of vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree,
and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things
alike go through their processes of activity, and then we see them
return to their original state. When things in the vegetable
world have displayed their luxuriant growth, we see each of them
return to its root. This returning to their root is what we call the
state of stillness; and that stillness may be called a reporting that
they have fulfilled their appointed end.
The report of that fulfilment is the regular, unchanging rule.
For everything which comes into being eventually returns again to the source from which it came. Each thing which grows and develops to the fullness of its own nature completes its course by declining again in a manner inherently determined by its own nature.
Completing its life is as inevitable as that each thing shall have its own goal. Each thing having its own goal is necessary to the nature of things.
Be utterly humble
And you shall hold to the foundation of peace.
Be at one with all these living things which, having arisen and flourished,
Return to the quiet whence they came,
Like a healthy growth of vegetation
Falling back upon the root.
Acceptance of this return to the root has been called 'quietism,'
Acceptance of quietism has been condemned as 'fatalism.'
But fatalism is acceptance of destiny
And to accept destiny is to face life with open eyes,
Whereas not to accept destiny is to face death blindfold.
Being intelligent, he knows that each has a nature which is able to take care of itself. Knowing this, he is willing that each thing follow its own course.
Being willing to let each thing follow its own course, he is gracious.
Being gracious, he is like the source which graciously gives life to all.
Being like the gracious source of all, he embodies Nature's way within his own being.
And in thus embodying Nature's way within himself, he embodies its perpetually recurrent principles within himself.
And so, regardless of what happens to his body, there is something about him which goes on forever.
17.
The most intelligent leaders bring about results without making those controlled realize that they are being influenced. The less intelligent seek to motivate others by appeals to loyalty, honour, self-interest, and flattery. Those still less intelligent employ fear by making their followers think they will not receive their rewards. The worst try to force others to improve by condemning their conduct.
How irresolute did those earliest rulers appeared, showing by
their own self-reverence the importance which they set upon their words.
The intelligent leader will be careful not to speak as if he doubted or distrusted his follower's ability to do the job suitably.
When the work is done, and as he wanted it done, he will be happy if the followers say: "This is just the way we wanted it."
Their work was done and their undertakings were successful, while the
people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'
18.
When the Great Tao Way or Method ceased to be observed,
benevolence and righteousness came into vogue. Then appeared wisdom
and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.
When people try to improve upon, and thus deviate from, the way Nature itself naturally functions, they develop artificial codes of right and wrong.
When knowledge becomes highly abstract, men are deceived by mistaking abstractions for realities.
When people lost sight of the way to live
Came codes of love and honesty,
Learning came, charity came,
Hypocrisy took charge.
When harmony no longer prevailed throughout the six kinships,
filial sons found their manifestation; when the states and clans fell
into disorder, loyal ministers appeared.
19.
If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it
would be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce
our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people would again
become filial and kindly. If we could renounce our artful
contrivances and discard our (scheming for) gain, there would be no
thieves nor robbers.
Those three methods (of government)
Thought olden ways in elegance did fail
And made these names their want of worth to veil;
But simple views, and courses plain and true
Would selfish ends and many lusts eschew.
Here is the way, it seems to me:
Set people free,
As deep in their hearts they would like to be,
From private greeds
And wanton needs.
Simply be yourself. Act naturally. Refrain from self-assertiveness. Avoid covetousness.
20.
When we renounce learning we have no troubles.
The ready 'yes,' and flattering 'yea;'--
Small is the difference they display.
But mark their issues, good and ill;--
What space the gulf between shall fill?
--how wide and without end is the range of questions asking/waiting to be discussed!
If we stop fussing about grammatical trivialities, we will get along much better. The difference between "Yes" and "ya" is insignificant as compared with a genuine distinction like "Good" and "Bad".
The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a
full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem
listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of
their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look
dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of
men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost
everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of
chaos.
If one man leads, another must follow; how silly that is and how false! Yet conventional men lead an easy life with all their days feast days, a constant spring visit to the Tall Tower. Meanwhile I am a simpleton, a do-nothing, not big enough yet to raise a hand, not grown enough to smile, and a homeless, worthless waif.
While others enjoy devoting themselves to ceremonious holiday celebrations, such as the spring festivals, I stay at home as unperturbed as a helpless babe. So while others are feasting, I appear neglected. Am I the one who is a misguided fool? When everyone else is exuberant, I continue to be disinterested.
When everyone else is alert to the niceties of etiquette, I persist in being indifferent. I am as unconcerned as the rolling ocean, without a care to bother me. While others behave like busybodies, I alone remain placid and resist arousement. How can I withstand the pressure of public opinion? Because I am succored by Mother Nature herself.
Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be
benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull
and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as
if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while
I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. Thus I alone
am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother the Tao.
21.
Intelligence consists in acting according to Nature. It is intuitively self-evident, for every existing thing testifies to it, including what appears right here and now.
The surest test if a man be sane is if he accepts life whole, as it is, without needing by measure or touch to understand the measureless untouchable source of its images, the measureless untouchable source of its substances which appears dark emptiness, brims with a quick force: farthest away and yet nearest at hand from oldest time unto this day, charging its images with origin.
What more need I know of the origin than this?
The grandest forms of active force
From Tao come, their only source.
Who can of Tao the nature tell?
Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
Eluding sight, eluding touch,
The forms of things all in it crouch;
Eluding touch, eluding sight,
There are their semblances, all right.
Profound it is, dark and obscure;
Things' essences all there endure.
Those essences the truth enfold
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
Now it is so; 'twas so of old.
Its name--what passes not away;
So, in their beautiful array,
Things form and never know decay.
How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things? By
this nature of the Tao.
22.
'Yield and you need not break:'
Submit to Nature if you would reach your goal. For, whoever deviates from Nature's way, nature forces back again.
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty,
full; the worn out, new. Whoever gives up his desire to improve upon Nature will find Nature satisfying all his needs. He whose desires are few gets them; he
whose desires are many goes astray. Whoever desires little is easily satisfied. Whoever desires much suffers frustration.
Therefore, the intelligent person is at one with Nature, and so serves as a model for others.
Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing of
humility, and manifests it to all the world. He is free from
self-display, and therefore he shines; from self-assertion, and
therefore he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his
merit is acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefore he
acquires superiority. It is because he is thus free from striving
that therefore no one in the world is able to strive with him.
And, because he does not compete with others,
Finds success peacefully, achieving without opposition.
How true is the old saying,
'Yield and you need not break'!
"Submit to Nature if you would reach your goal." For that is the only genuine way.
23.
Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity
of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning;
a sudden rain does not last for the whole day.
Things which act naturally do not need to be told how to act. The wind and rain begin without being ordered, and quit without being commanded. This is the way with all natural beginnings and endings. If Nature does not have to instruct the wind and the rain, how much less should man try to direct them?
If nature does not have to insist,
Why should man?
Therefore when one is making the Tao his business, those who are
also pursuing it, agree with him in it, and those who are making the
manifestation of its course their object agree with him in that; while
even those who are failing in both these things agree with him where
they fail.
Whoever keeps to the way of life
Feels at home,
Whoever uses it properly
Feels welcome,
Whereas he who uses it improperly
Feels improperly used.
Those who do not trust Nature as a model cannot be trusted as guides.
24.
He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm; he who stretches
his legs does not walk easily. He who displays himself does
not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who
vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is
self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him. Such conditions,
viewed from the standpoint of the Tao, are like remnants of food, or a
tumour on the body, which all dislike. One who acts naturally avoids such extremes. Those who pursue the Tao do not adopt and allow them.
25.
There was something undefined and complete,
coming into existence before Heaven and Earth.
How still it was and formless, standing alone,
and undergoing no change,
reaching everywhere and in
no danger of being exhausted.
--something which is prior to all beginnings and endings,
which, unmoved and unmanifest,
itself neither begins nor ends.
All-pervasive and inexhaustible,
it is the perpetual source of everything else.
Though there can be no name for it.
For want of a better name, I call it Nature.
If I am forced to describe it,
I speak of it as "ultimate reality."
I have called it 'the way of life.'
Perhaps I should have called it 'the fullness of life,'
Since fullness implies widening into space,
Implies still further widening,
Implies widening until the circle is whole.
Ultimate reality involves initiation of growth,
initiation of growth involves completion of growth,
and completion of growth involves returning to that whence it came.
Great, it passes on in constant flow.
Passing on, it becomes remote.
Having become remote, it returns.
These are the four amplitudes of the universe
And a fit man is one of them:
Man devotes himself to satisfying his desires,
fulfilling his purposes,
realizing his ideals,
or achieving his goals.
But goals are derived from aims.
And all aiming is Nature's aiming,
and is Nature's way of being itself.
Man rounding the way of earth,
Earth rounding the way of heaven,
Heaven rounding the way of life
Till the circle is full.
26.
Gravity is the root of lightness;
stillness, the ruler ofmovement.
Gravity is the root of grace;
the mainstay of all speed.
Saneness or sobriety is more basic than frivolity.
Calmness or self-sufficiency is superior to being agitated.
Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day,
does not go far from his baggage waggons.
Although he may have brilliant prospects to look at,
he quietly remains in his proper place, indifferent to them.
How should the lord of a myriad chariots carry himself lightly
before the kingdom?
If he do act lightly, he has lost his root of gravity;
if he proceed to active movement,
he will lose his throne.
27.
The skilful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels or
footsteps, with no need to retrace his steps;
the skilful speaker says nothing that can be found fault
with or blamed, not needing to repeat himself;
the skilful reckoner uses no tallies, no scales;
the skilful closer needs no bolts or bars,
while to open what he has shut will be impossible;
the skilful binder uses no strings or knots,
while to unloose what he has bound will be impossible:
it will not open itself even though it is not forced to stay shut.
Things which go together naturally do not have to be tied;
for they will not separate even without bonds.
In the same way the sage is always skilful at saving men,
and so he does not cast away any man;
the intelligent man expresses his beneficence to other men
by accepting each man's own way as best for himself.
And he performs the same service for all other beings,
for he willingly recognizes that,
by following its own nature,
each thing does the best that can be done for it.
he is always skilful at saving things,
and so he does not cast away anything.
This is called 'Hiding the light of his procedure.'
Bad men can learn from the good man's successes.
Good men can learn from the bad man's failures.
Whoever despises such teachers,
whether good or bad,
or who fails to appreciate such lessons,
And whichever teacher
Discounts the lesson
Is as far off the road as the other,
Whatever else he may know.
This is the secret of wisdom.
28.
Who knows his manhood's strength,
Yet still his female feebleness maintains;
As to one channel flow the many drains,
All come to him, yea, all beneath the sky.
Thus he the constant excellence retains;
The simple child again, free from all stains.
'One who has a man's wings
And a woman's also
Is in himself a womb of the world'
And, being a womb of the world,
Continuously, endlessly,
Gives birth;
One who, preferring light,
Prefers darkness also
Is in himself an image of the world
And, being an image of the world,
Is continuously, endlessly
The dwelling of creation;
One who is highest of men
And humblest also
Is in himself a valley of the world,
And. being a valley of the world,
Continuously, endlessly
Conducts the one source
From which vessels may be usefully filled;
Servants of the state are such vessels,
To be filled from undiminishing supply.
He who knows how to be aggressive,
and yet remains patient,
becomes a receptacle for all Nature's lessons.
Being thus receptive,
he continually reembodies intelligence,
and recuperates his primal nature(primitive wholeness).
29.
Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.
The course and nature of things is such that
What was in front is now behind;
What warmed anon we freezing find.
Strength is of weakness oft the spoil;
The store in ruins mocks our toil.
Whenever someone sets out to remold the world,
experience teaches that he is bound to fail.
For Nature is already as good as it can be.
It cannot be improved upon.
He who tries to redesign it, spoils it.
He who tries to redirect it, misleads it.
He who would so win it destroys it;
he who would hold it in his grasp loses it.
The earth is like a vessel so sacred
That at the mere approach of the profane
It is marred
And when they reach out with their fingers it is gone.
At no time in the world will a man who is sane
Over-reach himself,
Over-spend himself,
Over-rate himself.
Hence the sage puts away excessive effort,
extravagance, and easy indulgence.
The intelligent man avoids extremes,
shunning excess in one way as well as in the other.
A Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
30.
One who would guide a leader of men in the uses of life
Will warn him against the use of arms for conquest,
for such a course is sure to meet with its proper return.
Weapons often turn upon the wielder.
An army's harvest is a waste of thorns.
Conscription of a multitude of men
Drains the next year dry.
After the battle come years of destitution.
He who is wise lets well enough alone.
A good general, daring to march, dares also to halt.
He does not press a victory by further conquest.
He will never press his triumph beyond need.
What he must do he does but not for self;
He has done it because it had to be done,
Not from a hot head.
Let life ripen and then fall,
Force is not the way at all:
When things reach maturity, they decay of themselves.
So cruelty is unnatural.
Whoever acts unnaturally will come to an unnatural finish.
31.
Now arms, however beautiful, are instruments of evil omen, hateful.
Arms are an instrument of evil,
No measure for thoughtful men
Until there fail all other choice
But sad acceptance of it.
And the way for a vital man to go is not the way of a soldier.
But in time of war men civilized in peace
Turn from their higher to their lower nature.
Triumph is not beautiful.
He who thinks triumph beautiful
Is one with a will to kill,
And one with a will to kill
Shall never prevail upon the world.
Just as the slaughter of many people
Should be accomplished by weeping and mourning,
So the positions in a victory parade
Should properly parallel those in a funeral procession.
It is a good sign when man's higher nature comes forward.
32.
The Tao, considered as unchanging, has no name.
Nature is always indeterminable.
Although, in its original simplicity,
it may appear to be helpless,
no one else can tell it what to do.
If legislators and administrators could keep this in mind,
everybody would obey their laws without enforcement.
Life was a freshness of rain,
Subject to none,
Free to all.
Existence is infinite, not to be defined.
But men of culture came, with their grades and their distinctions;
And as soon as such differences had been devised
No one knew where to end them.
When opposites supplement each other,
everything is harmonious.
Without compulsion, each supports the other.
Though the one who does know the end of all such differences
Is the sound man:
Existence
Might be likened to the course
Of many rivers reaching the one sea.
33.
He who knows other men is discerning;
he who knows himself is intelligent.
He who overcomes others is strong;
he who overcomes himself is mighty.
He who is satisfied with his lot is rich:
He who occupies a place provided for him by others may live a long life,
but he who dwells in his own self-contained place,
even though he decays, is eternal.
Knowledge studies others,
Wisdom is self-known;
Muscle masters brothers,
Self-mastery is bone;
Content need never borrow,
Ambition wanders blind:
Vitality cleaves to the marrow
Leaving death behind.
34.
All-pervading is the Great Tao!
It may be found on the left
hand and on the right.
Bountiful life, letting anyone attend,
Making no distinction between left or right.
Feeding everyone, refusing no one,
Has not provided this bounty to show how much it owns,
Has not fed and clad its guests with any thought of claim;
And, because it lacks the twist
Of mind or body in what it has done,
The guile of head or hands,
Is not always respected by a guest.
Others appreciate welcome from the perfect host
Who, barely appearing to exist,
Exists the most.
All other things owe their existence to it
and draw their sustenance from it,
without anyone being refused.
Having created and and nurtured them,
it does not demand title to them.
Even though it has provided for all,
it refuses to dominate over a single one.
Since it asks nothing in return for its services,
it may appear as of little worth.
But all things return home to it again,
even though they do not know that they are being called home.
35.
He who grasps the ultimate structure of reality draws everyone to him.
They approach him without being harmed,
but find security, satisfaction, and contentment.
To him who holds in his hands the Great Image of the Tao,
the whole world repairs.
A traveler gladly waits.
Though it may not taste like food
And he may not see the fare
Or hear a sound of plates,
How endless it is and how good!
The Tao as it comes from the mouth,
seems insipid and has no flavour,
though it seems not worth being looked at or listened to,
the use of it is inexhaustible.
36.
The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
The purpose of contraction is served by expansion.
The purpose of subsiding or satisfying desire
is served by arousing the will to live.
Culminating life is served toward the last of life,
for which the first was made.
He who feels punctured
Must once have been a bubble
Just as a fish should not be taken out of water,
So a sword should never be taken from its scabbard.
The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
37.
Nature never acts, yet it activates everything.
The Tao in its regular course does nothing for the sake of doing it,
and so there is nothing which it does not do.
The world's passion to stray from straightness
Is checked at the core
By the simple unnamable cleanness
Through which men cease from coveting,
And to a land where men cease from coveting
Peace comes of course.
If princes and kings were able to maintain it,
all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
If this transformation became to me an object of desire,
I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.
The way to use life is to do nothing through acting,
The way to use life is to do everything through being.
Simplicity without a name
Is free from all external aim.
With no desire, at rest and still,
All things go right as of their will.
PART II.
38.
Those who possessed in highest degree the attributes of the
Tao did not seek to show them, and therefore they possessed them
in fullest measure. Those who possessed in a lower degree those
attributes sought how not to lose them, and therefore they did not
possess them in fullest measure.
Intelligent control appears as uncontrol or freedom. And for that reason it is genuinely intelligent control.
When Nature's spontaneous activity disappears, knowledge of law appears at once as a flowering of Nature's way and as the source of error. valuing law as an end in itself results in minimizing fidelity to Nature itself.
Losing the way of life, men rely first on their fitness;
Losing fitness, they turn to kindness;
Losing kindness, they turn to justness;
Losing justness, they turn to convention.
Conventions are fealty and honesty gone to waste,
They are the entrance of disorder.
When the Tao was lost, propriety in its attributes appeared;
when its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared; when benevolence
was lost, righteousness appeared; and when righteousness was lost, the
proprieties appeared.
Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good
faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is
only a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.
Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews
what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is
thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.
The intelligent man adheres to the genuine and discards the superficial. He keeps the fruit rather than the flower, Naturally preferring the one to the other.
39.
There are things that have always maintained their own self-activity. The tendency to initiate is, by its self-activity, obviously self-originating. The tendency towards completion is, by its self-activity, always self-perfection. The tendency to maintain integrity, by its self-activity, sustains integrity. The tendency to oppose is, by its self-activity, sufficient for all opposition.
It is by self-activity that all things fulfill themselves. So it is by self-activity that the world is governed.
The things which from of old have got the One Tao are--
Heaven which by it is bright and pure;
Earth rendered thereby firm and sure;
Spirits with powers by it supplied;
Valleys kept full throughout their void
All creatures which through it do live
Princes and kings who from it get
The model which to all they give.
All these are the results of the One Tao.
The wholeness of life has, from of old, been made manifest in its parts:
Clarity has been made manifest in heaven,
Firmness in earth,
Purity in the spirit,
In the valley conception,
In the river procreation;
And so in a leader are the people made manifest
For wholeness of use.
But for clarity heaven would be veiled,
But for firmness earth would have crumbled,
But for purity spirit would have fumbled,
But for conception the valley would have failed,
But for procreation the river have run dry;
So, save for the people, a leader shall die:
Always the low carry the high
On a root for growing by.
The esteemed must depend upon others for their esteem, whereas the unesteemed are self-sufficient. The high must depend on the low for its foundations, whereas the low serves as its own foundation.
What can stand lofty with no low foundation?
Thus it is that dignity finds its firm root in its previous
meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness from
which it rises. Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,'
'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without a nave.' Is not this
an acknowledgment that in their considering themselves mean they see
the foundation of their dignity?
So it is that in the enumeration of the different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it answer the ends of a carriage.
They do not wish to show themselves elegant-looking as jade, but prefer to be coarse-looking as an ordinary stone.
One cannot be outstanding when he is alone, and he should not try to be so when he is with others.
40.
1.
The movement of the Tao
By contraries proceeds;
And weakness marks the course
Of Tao's mighty deeds.
2. All things under heaven sprang from It as existing (and named);
that existence sprang from It as non-existent (and not named).
41. 1. Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao,
earnestly carry it into practice. Scholars of the middle class, when
they have heard about it, seem now to keep it and now to lose it.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they have heard about it, laugh
greatly at it. If it were not (thus) laughed at, it would not be fit
to be the Tao.
2. Therefore the sentence-makers have thus expressed themselves:--
'The Tao, when brightest seen, seems light to lack;
Who progress in it makes, seems drawing back;
Its even way is like a rugged track.
Its highest virtue from the vale doth rise;
Its greatest beauty seems to offend the eyes;
And he has most whose lot the least supplies.
Its firmest virtue seems but poor and low;
Its solid truth seems change to undergo;
Its largest square doth yet no corner show
A vessel great, it is the slowest made;
Loud is its sound, but never word it said;
A semblance great, the shadow of a shade.'
3. The Tao is hidden, and has no name; but it is the Tao which is
skilful at imparting (to all things what they need) and making them
complete.
42. 1. The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three;
Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity
(out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the
Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised
by the Breath of Vacancy.
2. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as
carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which
kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are
increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being
increased.
3. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong
do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my
teaching.
43. 1. The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the
hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there
is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing
(with a purpose).
2. There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without
words, and the advantage arising from non-action.
44.
1.
Or fame or life,
Which do you hold more dear?
Or life or wealth,
To which would you adhere?
Keep life and lose those other things;
Keep them and lose your life:--which brings
Sorrow and pain more near?
2.
Thus we may see,
Who cleaves to fame
Rejects what is more great;
Who loves large stores
Gives up the richer state.
3.
Who is content
Needs fear no shame.
Who knows to stop
Incurs no blame.
From danger free
Long live shall he.
45.
1.
Who thinks his great achievements poor
Shall find his vigour long endure.
Of greatest fulness, deemed a void,
Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.
Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;
Thy greatest art still stupid seem,
And eloquence a stammering scream.
2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity
and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
46. 1. When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift
horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the
world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
2. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity
greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than
the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is
an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
47. 1. Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes
place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees
the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the
less he knows.
2. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave
their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished
their ends without any purpose of doing so.
48. 1. He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to
increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks)
from day to day to diminish (his doing).
2. He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing
nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action,
there is nothing which he does not do.
3. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself
no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he
is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.
49. 1. The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind
of the people his mind.
2. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not
good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To
those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are
not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be
sincere.
3. The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps
his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their
eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his
children.
50. 1. Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die.
2. Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three
are ministers of death.
3. There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose
movements tend to the land (or place) of death. And for what reason?
Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.
4. But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life
entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun
rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff
coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which
to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws,
nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason?
Because there is in him no place of death.
51. 1. All things are produced by the Tao, and nourished by its
outflowing operation. They receive their forms according to the
nature of each, and are completed according to the circumstances of
their condition. Therefore all things without exception honour the
Tao, and exalt its outflowing operation.
2. This honouring of the Tao and exalting of its operation is not the
result of any ordination, but always a spontaneous tribute.
3. Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them,
brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures
them, maintains them, and overspreads them.
4. It produces them and makes no claim to the possession of them; it
carries them through their processes and does not vaunt its ability in
doing so; it brings them to maturity and exercises no control over
them;--this is called its mysterious operation.
52. 1. (The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be
considered as the mother of them all.
2. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be.
When one knows that he is his mother's child, and proceeds to guard
(the qualities of) the mother that belong to him, to the end of his
life he will be free from all peril.
3. Let him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his
nostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion.
Let him keep his mouth open, and (spend his breath) in the promotion
of his affairs, and all his life there will be no safety for him.
4. The perception of what is small is (the secret of) clear-sightedness;
the guarding of what is soft and tender is (the secret of) strength.
5.
Who uses well his light,
Reverting to its (source so) bright,
Will from his body ward all blight,
And hides the unchanging from men's sight.
53. 1. If I were suddenly to become known, and (put into a position
to) conduct (a government) according to the Great Tao, what I should
be most afraid of would be a boastful display.
2. The great Tao (or way) is very level and easy; but people love the
by-ways.
3. Their court(-yards and buildings) shall be well kept, but their
fields shall be ill-cultivated, and their granaries very empty. They
shall wear elegant and ornamented robes, carry a sharp sword at their
girdle, pamper themselves in eating and drinking, and have a
superabundance of property and wealth;--such (princes) may be called
robbers and boasters. This is contrary to the Tao surely!
54.
1.
What (Tao's) skilful planter plants
Can never be uptorn;
What his skilful arms enfold,
From him can ne'er be borne.
Sons shall bring in lengthening line,
Sacrifices to his shrine.
2.
Tao when nursed within one's self,
His vigour will make true;
And where the family it rules
What riches will accrue!
The neighbourhood where it prevails
In thriving will abound;
And when 'tis seen throughout the state,
Good fortune will be found.
Employ it the kingdom o'er,
And men thrive all around.
3. In this way the effect will be seen in the person, by the
observation of different cases; in the family; in the neighbourhood;
in the state; and in the kingdom.
4. How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the
sky? By this (method of observation).
55. 1. He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao) is
like an infant. Poisonous insects will not sting him; fierce beasts
will not seize him; birds of prey will not strike him.
2. (The infant's) bones are weak and its sinews soft, but yet its
grasp is firm. It knows not yet the union of male and female, and yet
its virile member may be excited;--showing the perfection of its
physical essence. All day long it will cry without its throat
becoming hoarse;--showing the harmony (in its constitution).
3.
To him by whom this harmony is known,
(The secret of) the unchanging (Tao) is shown,
And in the knowledge wisdom finds its throne.
All life-increasing arts to evil turn;
Where the mind makes the vital breath to burn,
(False) is the strength, (and o'er it we should mourn.)
4. When things have become strong, they (then) become old, which may
be said to be contrary to the Tao. Whatever is contrary to the Tao
soon ends.
56. 1. He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he
who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.
2. He (who knows it) will keep his mouth shut and close the portals
(of his nostrils). He will blunt his sharp points and unravel the
complications of things; he will attemper his brightness, and bring
himself into agreement with the obscurity (of others). This is called
'the Mysterious Agreement.'
3. (Such an one) cannot be treated familiarly or distantly; he is
beyond all consideration of profit or injury; of nobility or
meanness:--he is the noblest man under heaven.
57. 1. A state may be ruled by (measures of) correction; weapons of
war may be used with crafty dexterity; (but) the kingdom is made one's
own (only) by freedom from action and purpose.
2. How do I know that it is so? By these facts:--In the kingdom the
multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the
people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people
have, the greater disorder is there in the state and clan; the more
acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange
contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the
more thieves and robbers there are.
3. Therefore a sage has said, 'I will do nothing (of purpose), and the
people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping
still, and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take
no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I
will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to
the primitive simplicity.'
58.
1.
The government that seems the most unwise,
Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
That which is meddling, touching everything,
Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.
Misery!--happiness is to be found by its side! Happiness!--misery
lurks beneath it! Who knows what either will come to in the end?
2. Shall we then dispense with correction? The (method of) correction
shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn
become evil. The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed
subsisted for a long time.
3. Therefore the sage is (like) a square which cuts no one (with its
angles); (like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).
He is straightforward, but allows himself no license; he is bright,
but does not dazzle.
59. 1. For regulating the human (in our constitution) and rendering
the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like
moderation.
2. It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early
return (to man's normal state). That early return is what I call the
repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Tao). With that
repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation
(of every obstacle to such return). Of this subjugation we know not
what shall be the limit; and when one knows not what the limit shall
be, he may be the ruler of a state.
3. He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long. His
case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are
deep and its flower stalks firm:--this is the way to secure that its
enduring life shall long be seen.
60. 1. Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.
2. Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the manes of
the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy. It is not that
those manes have not that spiritual energy, but it will not be
employed to hurt men. It is not that it could not hurt men, but
neither does the ruling sage hurt them.
3. When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good
influences converge in the virtue (of the Tao).
61. 1. What makes a great state is its being (like) a low-lying,
down-flowing (stream);--it becomes the centre to which tend (all the
small states) under heaven.
2. (To illustrate from) the case of all females:--the female always
overcomes the male by her stillness. Stillness may be considered (a
sort of) abasement.
3. Thus it is that a great state, by condescending to small states,
gains them for itself; and that small states, by abasing themselves to
a great state, win it over to them. In the one case the abasement
leads to gaining adherents, in the other case to procuring favour.
4. The great state only wishes to unite men together and nourish them;
a small state only wishes to be received by, and to serve, the other.
Each gets what it desires, but the great state must learn to abase
itself.
62.
1.
Tao has of all things the most honoured place.
No treasures give good men so rich a grace;
Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface.
2. (Its) admirable words can purchase honour; (its) admirable deeds
can raise their performer above others. Even men who are not good are
not abandoned by it.
3. Therefore when the sovereign occupies his place as the Son of
Heaven, and he has appointed his three ducal ministers, though (a
prince) were to send in a round symbol-of-rank large enough to fill
both the hands, and that as the precursor of the team of horses (in
the court-yard), such an offering would not be equal to (a lesson of)
this Tao, which one might present on his knees.
4. Why was it that the ancients prized this Tao so much? Was it not
because it could be got by seeking for it, and the guilty could escape
(from the stain of their guilt) by it? This is the reason why all
under heaven consider it the most valuable thing.
63. 1. (It is the way of the Tao) to act without (thinking of) acting;
to conduct affairs without (feeling the) trouble of them; to taste
without discerning any flavour; to consider what is small as great,
and a few as many; and to recompense injury with kindness.
2. (The master of it) anticipates things that are difficult while they
are easy, and does things that would become great while they are
small. All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a
previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one
in which they were small. Therefore the sage, while he never does
what is great, is able on that account to accomplish the greatest
things.
3. He who lightly promises is sure to keep but little faith; he who is
continually thinking things easy is sure to find them difficult.
Therefore the sage sees difficulty even in what seems easy, and so
never has any difficulties.
64. 1. That which is at rest is easily kept hold of; before a thing
has given indications of its presence, it is easy to take measures
against it; that which is brittle is easily broken; that which is very
small is easily dispersed. Action should be taken before a thing has
made its appearance; order should be secured before disorder has
begun.
2. The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the
tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey
of a thousand li commenced with a single step.
3. He who acts (with an ulterior purpose) does harm; he who takes hold
of a thing (in the same way) loses his hold. The sage does not act
(so), and therefore does no harm; he does not lay hold (so), and
therefore does not lose his hold. (But) people in their conduct of
affairs are constantly ruining them when they are on the eve of
success. If they were careful at the end, as (they should be) at the
beginning, they would not so ruin them.
4. Therefore the sage desires what (other men) do not desire, and does
not prize things difficult to get; he learns what (other men) do not
learn, and turns back to what the multitude of men have passed by.
Thus he helps the natural development of all things, and does not dare
to act (with an ulterior purpose of his own).
65. 1. The ancients who showed their skill in practising the Tao did
so, not to enlighten the people, but rather to make them simple and
ignorant.
2. The difficulty in governing the people arises from their having
much knowledge. He who (tries to) govern a state by his wisdom is a
scourge to it; while he who does not (try to) do so is a blessing.
3. He who knows these two things finds in them also his model and
rule. Ability to know this model and rule constitutes what we call
the mysterious excellence (of a governor). Deep and far-reaching is
such mysterious excellence, showing indeed its possessor as opposite
to others, but leading them to a great conformity to him.
66. 1. That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive the homage
and tribute of all the valley streams, is their skill in being lower
than they;--it is thus that they are the kings of them all. So it is
that the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his
words below them, and, wishing to be before them, places his person
behind them.
2. In this way though he has his place above them, men do not feel his
weight, nor though he has his place before them, do they feel it an
injury to them.
3. Therefore all in the world delight to exalt him and do not weary of
him. Because he does not strive, no one finds it possible to strive
with him.
67. 1. All the world says that, while my Tao is great, it yet appears
to be inferior (to other systems of teaching). Now it is just its
greatness that makes it seem to be inferior. If it were like any
other (system), for long would its smallness have been known!
2. But I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The
first is gentleness; the second is economy; and the third is shrinking
from taking precedence of others.
3. With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be
liberal; shrinking from taking precedence of others, I can become a
vessel of the highest honour. Now-a-days they give up gentleness and
are all for being bold; economy, and are all for being liberal; the
hindmost place, and seek only to be foremost;--(of all which the end
is) death.
4. Gentleness is sure to be victorious even in battle, and firmly to
maintain its ground. Heaven will save its possessor, by his (very)
gentleness protecting him.
68.
He who in (Tao's) wars has skill
Assumes no martial port;
He who fights with most good will
To rage makes no resort.
He who vanquishes yet still
Keeps from his foes apart;
He whose hests men most fulfil
Yet humbly plies his art.
Thus we say, 'He ne'er contends,
And therein is his might.'
Thus we say, 'Men's wills he bends,
That they with him unite.'
Thus we say, 'Like Heaven's his ends,
No sage of old more bright.'
69. 1. A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be the
host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the
defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a
foot.' This is called marshalling the ranks where there are no ranks;
baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping
the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the
enemy where there is no enemy.
2. There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war. To do
that is near losing (the gentleness) which is so precious. Thus it is
that when opposing weapons are (actually) crossed, he who deplores
(the situation) conquers.
70. 1. My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practise; but
there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practise
them.
2. There is an originating and all-comprehending (principle) in my
words, and an authoritative law for the things (which I enforce). It
is because they do not know these, that men do not know me.
3. They who know me are few, and I am on that account (the more) to be
prized. It is thus that the sage wears (a poor garb of) hair cloth,
while he carries his (signet of) jade in his bosom.
71. 1. To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest
(attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease.
2. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this
disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease.
He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he
does not have it.
72. 1. When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which
is their great dread will come on them.
2. Let them not thoughtlessly indulge themselves in their ordinary
life; let them not act as if weary of what that life depends on.
3. It is by avoiding such indulgence that such weariness does not
arise.
4. Therefore the sage knows (these things) of himself, but does not
parade (his knowledge); loves, but does not (appear to set a) value
on, himself. And thus he puts the latter alternative away and makes
choice of the former.
73. 1. He whose boldness appears in his daring (to do wrong, in
defiance of the laws) is put to death; he whose boldness appears in
his not daring (to do so) lives on. Of these two cases the one
appears to be advantageous, and the other to be injurious. But
When Heaven's anger smites a man,
Who the cause shall truly scan?
On this account the sage feels a difficulty (as to what to do in the
former case).
2. It is the way of Heaven not to strive, and yet it skilfully
overcomes; not to speak, and yet it is skilful in obtaining a reply;
does not call, and yet men come to it of themselves. Its
demonstrations are quiet, and yet its plans are skilful and effective.
The meshes of the net of Heaven are large; far apart, but letting
nothing escape.
74. 1. The people do not fear death; to what purpose is it to (try to)
frighten them with death? If the people were always in awe of death,
and I could always seize those who do wrong, and put them to death,
who would dare to do wrong?
2. There is always One who presides over the infliction of death. He who
would inflict death in the room of him who so presides over it may be
described as hewing wood instead of a great carpenter. Seldom is it
that he who undertakes the hewing, instead of the great carpenter,
does not cut his own hands!
75. 1. The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes
consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer
famine.
2. The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive)
agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this
that they are difficult to govern.
3. The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their
labours in seeking for the means of living. It is this which makes
them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of
living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on
it.
76. 1. Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and
strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early
growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.
2. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of
death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
3. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not
conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms,
(and thereby invites the feller.)
4. Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that
of what is soft and weak is above.
77. 1. May not the Way (or Tao) of Heaven be compared to the (method
of) bending a bow? The (part of the bow) which was high is brought
low, and what was low is raised up. (So Heaven) diminishes where
there is superabundance, and supplements where there is deficiency.
2. It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to
supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes
away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance.
3. Who can take his own superabundance and therewith serve all under
heaven? Only he who is in possession of the Tao!
4. Therefore the (ruling) sage acts without claiming the results as
his; he achieves his merit and does not rest (arrogantly) in it:--he
does not wish to display his superiority.
78. 1. There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water,
and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing
that can take precedence of it;--for there is nothing (so effectual)
for which it can be changed.
2. Every one in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and
the weak the strong, but no one is able to carry it out in practice.
3.
Therefore a sage has said,
'He who accepts his state's reproach,
Is hailed therefore its altars' lord;
To him who bears men's direful woes
They all the name of King accord.'
4. Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical.
79. 1. When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a
great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind
of the one who was wrong). And how can this be beneficial (to the
other)?
2. Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand
portion of the record of the engagement, and does not insist on the
(speedy) fulfilment of it by the other party. (So), he who has the
attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the
engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the
conditions favourable to himself.
3. In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always
on the side of the good man.
80. 1. In a little state with a small population, I would so order it,
that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a
hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the
people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove
elsewhere (to avoid it).
2. Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion
to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp weapons, they
should have no occasion to don or use them.
3. I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead
of the written characters).
4. They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes
beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common
(simple) ways sources of enjoyment.
5. There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices
of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I
would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any
intercourse with it.
81. 1. Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those
who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the
disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not
extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
2. The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he
expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that
he gives to others, the more does he have himself.
3. With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with
all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.
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