I do not know who gave it birth; it is more ancient than God.
5
Neither Heaven nor Earth has any predilections; they regard all persons and things as sacrificial images.
The wise man knows no distinctions; he beholds all men as things made for holy uses.
The celestial space is like unto bellows though containing nothing that is solid, it does not at any time collapse; and the more it is set in motion, the more does it produce.
The inflated man, however, is soon exhausted.
Than self-restraint there is nothing better.
6
Like the river in the valley, the spirit is never dried up.
I call it the Mother-Deep.
The motion of the Mother-Deep I regard as the origin of the Heaven and the Earth.
Forever it endures and moves without design.
7
Both Heaven and Earth endure a long time.
The cause of their endurance is their indifference to long life.
This is why the subsist.
Thus the wise man, indifferent to himself, is the greatest among men, and taking no care for himself, he is nevertheless preserved.
By being the most unselfish he is the most secure of all.
8
The greatest virtue is like water; it is good to all things.
It attains the most inaccessible places without strife.
Therefore it is like Tao.
It has the virtue of adapting itself to its place.
It is virtuous like the heart by being deep.
It is virtuous like speech be being faithful.
It is virtuous like government in regulating.
It is virtuous like a servant in its ability.
It is virtuous like action by being in season.
And because it does not strive it has no enemies.
9
It is advisable to refrain from continual reaching after wealth.
Continual handling and sharpening wears away the most durable thing.
If the house be full of jewels, who shall protect it?
Wealth and glory bring care along with pride.
To stop when good work is done and honour advancing is the way of Heaven.
10
By conserving the natural and spiritual powers it is possible to escape dissolution.
By restraining the passions and letting gentleness have its sway it is possible to continue as a child.
By purging the mind of impurities it is possible to remain untainted.
By governing the people with love it is possible to remain unknown.
By continual use of the Gates of Heaven it is possible to preserve them from rust.
By transparency on all sides it is possible to remain unrecognized.
o bring forth and preserve, to produce without possessing, to act without hope of reward, and to expand without waste, this is the supreme virtue.
11
The thirty spokes of a carriage wheel uniting at the nave are made useful by the hole in the centre, where nothing exists.
Vessels of moulded earth are useful by reason of their hollowness.
Doors and windows are useful by being cut out.
A house is useful because of its emptiness.
Existence, therefore, is like unto gain, but Non-Existence to use.
12
Light will blind a man, sound will make him deaf, taste will ruin his palate, the chase will make him wild, and precious things will tempt him.
Therefore soes the wise man provide for the soul and not for the senses.
He ignores the one and takes the other with both hands.
13
Honour and shame are the same as fear.
Fortune and disaster are the same as the person.
What is said of honour and shame is this: shame is abasement, which is feared whether is be absent or present.
So dignity and shame are inseparable from the fear which both occasion.
What is said of fortune and disaster is this: fortune and disaster are things which befall the person.
So without personality how should I suffer disaster or the reverse?
Therefore by the accident of good fortune a man may rule the world for a time.
But by virtue of love he may rule the world for ever.
14
Ie. Plainness is that which cannot be seen by looking at it.
He. Stillness is that which cannot be heard by listening to it.
We. Rareness is that which cannot be felt by handling it.
These, being indiscernible, may be regarded as an unity - I H W, Tao.
It is not bright above nor dark beneath.
Infinite in operation, it is yet without name.
Issuing forth it enters into Itself.
This is the appearance of the Non-Apparent, the form of the Non-Existent.
This is the unfathomable mystery.
Going before, its face is not seen; following after, its back is not observed.
Yet to regulate one's life by the ancient knowledge of Tao is to have found the path.
15
The ancient wise men were skilful in their mysterious acquaintance with profundities.
They were fathomless in their depths; so profound, that I cannot bring them forth to my mind.
They were cautious, like one who crosses a swollen river.
They were reserved, like one who doubts his fellows.
They were watchful, like one who travels abroad.
They were retiring, like snow beneath the sun.
They were simple, like newly felled timber.
They were lowly, like the valley.
They were obscure, like muddy water.
May not a man take muddy water and make it clear by keeping still?
May not a man take a dead thing and make it alive by continuous motion?
Those who follow this Tao have no need of replenishing, and being devoid of all properties, they grow old without need of being filled.
16
Having emptied yourself of everything, remain where you are.
All things spring forth into activity with one accord, and wither do we see them return?
After blossoming for a while, everything dies down to its root.
This going back to one's origin is called peace: it is the giving of oneself over to the inevitable.
This giving of oneself over to the inevitable is called preservation.
He who knows this preservation is called enlightened.
He who knows it not continues in misery.
He who knows this preservation is great of soul.
He who is great of soul is prevailing.
Prevailing, he is a king.
Being a king, he is celestial.
Being celestial, he is of Tao.
Being of Tao, he endures for ever: for though his body perish, yet he suffers no hurt.
17
In the first age of mankind the people recognized their superiors.
In the second age they served and flattered them.
In the third age they feared them,
In the fourth age they despised them.
Where faith is lacking it does not inspire confidence.
How careful were they in their expressions!
When they had done a good thing they would say, "How very natural we are!"
18
When the great Tao is lost men follow after charity and duty to one's neighbours.
When wisdom has met with honours the world is full of pretenders.
When family ties are severed then filial duty and parental indulgence take their place
When a nation is filled with strife then do patriots flourish.
19
By giving up their self-righteousness and abandoning their wisdom the people would be immensely improved.
Forsaking Charity and Duty to the neighbours, they might revert to their natural relations.
Abandoning excellence and foregoing gain, the people would have no more thieves.
The cultivation of these things has been a failure, therefore they should go back whence they came.
And for you, do come forth in your natural simplicity, lay hold on verities, restrain selfishness, and rid yourself of ambition.
20
Dispense with your learning and save yourselves anxiety; the difference between certainly and perhaps is not much after all.
Do they help us to distinguish between good and evil? for one must always by careful of distinctions!
Alas! but the people will never be free of their folly.
They are filled with ambition, as the stallion ox is filled with lust.
I am singular in my bashfulness, I am devoid of ambition, I am undeveloped as a little child.
I am but a waif, a stray, a child without a home.
All others have an excess of good things, but I am as one abandoned.
How foolish and simple am I! I am bewildered.
Everyone sparkles with intelligence, I am alone in my obscurity.
The people are full of discernment; I alone am dull.
I am tossed about like the ocean; I roll am never at rest.
Everyone has something to do; I alone am incapable and without merit.
I alone am estranged from the people, but I glory on the breast of my mother!
21
The greatest virtue is in simply following Tao, the intangible, inscrutable.
Inscrutable, intangible, and yet containing forms.
Intangible, inscrutable, and yet containing things.
Profound and obscure, but having an essence, a veritable essence in which is consistence.
From eternity until now its nature has remained unchanged.
It inheres in all things from their beginnings.
How do I know of the origin of things?
I know by Tao.
22
Whosoever adapteth himself shall be preserved to the end.
Whosoever bendeth himself shall be straightened.
Whosoever emptieth himself shall be filled.
Whosoever weareth himself away shall be renewed.
Whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased.
Therefore doth the Sage cling to simplicity, and is an example to all men.
He is not onstentatious, and therefore he shines.
He is not egotistic, and therefore he is praised.
He is not vain, therefore he is esteemed.
He is not haughty, and therefore he is honoured.
And because he does not compete with others, no man is his enemy.
The ancient maxim, "Whosoever adapteth himself shall be preserved to the end," verily it is no idle saying.
Without doubt he shall go back to his Home in peace.
23
Moderate your speech, and preserve yourself.
A hurricane will not outlast the morning, a heavy rain will not outlast the day.
Who have the power to make these things but Heaven and Earth?
And if Heaven and Earth cannot continue them long, how shall a man do so?
If a man accords with Tao in all things, he is identified with Tao by that agreement.
A virtuous man is identified with virtue, a vicious man is identified with vice.
Whoever is identified with Tao, him do the Taoists receive with gladness.
Whoever is identified with virtue, him do the virtuous receive with gladness.
But whoever is identified with vice, him do the vicious gladly serve with vice.
For wherever confidence is lacking, it is not met with trust.
24
By standing on tiptoe one cannot keep still.
Astride of one's fellow one cannot progress.
By displaying oneself one does not shine.
By self-approbation one is not esteemed.
In self-praise there is no merit.
He who exalts himself does not stand high.
Such things are to Tao what refuse and excreta are to the body.
They are everywhere detested.
Therefore the man of Tao will not abide with them.
25
Before Heaven and Earth existed there was in Nature a primordial substance.
It was serene, it was fathomless.
It was self-existent, it was homogeneous.
It was omnipresent, nor suffered any limitation.
It is to be regarded as the universal mother.
I do not know its name, but I call it Tao.
If forced to qualify it, I call it the boundless.
Being boundless, I call it the inconceivable.
Being inscrutable, I call it the inaccessible.
Being inaccessible, I call it the omnipresent.
Tao is supreme, Heaven is supreme, Earth is supreme, the King is supreme.
There are in the universe four kinds of supremacy, and their rulership is one.
Man is ruled by the Earth, the Earth is ruled by Heaven, Heaven is ruled by Tao, and Tao is ruled by itself.
26
Weight underlies lightness, quiescence underlies motion.
Therefore the Sage never loses his gravity and quiescence from day to day.
Though glorious palaces should belong to him, he would dwell in them peacefully, without attachment.
Alas that a king with many chariots should conduct himself with frivolity in the midst of his kingdom!
By levity he loses his ministers, and by inconstancy his throne.
27
A good walker makes no dust after him.
The good speaker incurs no discussion.
The good reckoner needs no arithmetic.
The good keeper needs no bolts or bars, and none can open after him.
The wise man is constant and a good helper of his fellows. He rejects none.
He is a continual good preserver of things. He disdains nothing.
His intelligence is all-embracing.
Good men instruct one another; and bad men are the material they delve in.
Whoever, therefore, does not honour his teacher and cherish his material, though he be called wise, is yet in a state of delusion.
This is no less important than strange.
28
He who, being a man, remains a woman, will become an universal channel.
As an universal channel the eternal virtue will never forsake him. He will re-become a child.
He who, being in the light, remains in obscurity, will become an universal model.
As an universal model the eternal virtue will not pass him by. He will go back to the all-perfect.
He who, being glorious, continues in humility, will become an universal valley.
As an universal valley the eternal virtue will fill him. He will revert to the first essence.
This first essence is that which, being differentiated, gives rise to innumerable vessels of life.
A wise man, by embracing it, becomes the wisest of governors.
A liberal government is that which neither disregards not hurts anyone.
29
When a man who wishes to reform the world takes it in hand, I perceive that there will be no end to it!
Spiritual vessels are not fashioned in the world.
Whoever makes destroys; whoever grasps loses.
For perforce if one advances another is left behind; if one blows hot another will blow cold; if one be strengthened another will be weakened; is one be supported another will be undermined.
Therefore the Sage gives up all enthusiasm, levity, and pomp.
30
The man who aids the King by use of Tao forces the people into submission without resort to the use of arms. He will not regard the fruit of his actions.
Prickly briars and thorns flourish where battalions have quartered.
