Bad years follow on the heels of armies in motion.
The good soldier is brave when occasion requires, but he does not risk himself for power.
Brave is he when occasion requires, but he does not oppress.
Brave is he when occasion requires, but he does not boast.
Brave is he when occasion requires, but he is not mean.
Brave is he when occasion requires, but he does not rage.
Things become old through excess of vigour. This is called Non-Tao; and what is Non-Tao is soon wasted!
31
Weapons, however ornamental, are not a source of happiness, but are dreaded by all.
Therefore the man of Tao will not abide where such things are.
A respectable man at home sets the place of honour at his left hand; but the warrior on going forth to battle gives honour to the right hand. For weapons are things of ill omen, and the man of enlightenment does not use them except when he cannot help it.
His great desire is peace, and he does not take joy in conquest.
To joy in conquest is to joy in the loss of human life.
He who joys in bloodshed is not fit to govern the country.
When affairs are prosperous the left side is preferred, but when things are adverse the right is esteemed.
The adjutant-general is therefore on the left side, while the general-in-chief is on the right.
This I perceive is the manner also observed at a funeral!
He who has occasion to kill many people has cause for deep sorrow and tears.
Therefore a victorious army observes the order of a funeral.
32
Tao the absolute has no name.
But although insignificant in its original simplicity, the world does not presume to bemean it.
If a king could lay hold on it, the world would of itself submit to him.
Heaven and Earth would conspire to nourish him.
The peopole without pressure would peacefully fall into their own places.
If he should dispose them by titles and names, he would be making a name for himself.
Yet he would wisely stop short of the name, and thus avoid the evil of distinctions.
Tao is to the world what the streams and valleys are to the great rivers and seas.
33
He is wise who knows others.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He is strong who conquers others.
He who conquers himself is mighty.
He is rich who is well satisfied.
He walks fast who has an object.
He who fills his place remains secure.
He who dies without being corrupted enjoys a good old age.
34
Mighty Tao is all pervading.
It is simultaneously on this side and on that.
All living things subsist from it, and all are in its care.
It works, it finishes, and knows not the name of merit.
In love it nurtures all things, and claims no excellence therein.
It knows neither ambition nor desire.
It can be classed with the humblest of things.
All things finally revert to it, and it is not thereby increased.
It can be mentioned with the greatest of things.
Thus does the wise man continually refrain from self-distinction.
35
Attain to the Great Idea, and all the world will flock to you.
It will flock to you and will not be hurt therein, for it will rest in a wonderful peace.
Where there is a festival the wayfarer will stay.
To the palate the Tao is insipid and tasteless.
In regarding it the eye is not impressed.
In listening to it the ear is not filled.
But in its uses it is inexhaustible.
36
When Nature is about to withhold a thing it is sure first to increase it.
When about to weaken it is first sure to strengthen.
When about to debase it is certain first to exalt.
When about to deprive it is first sure to give.
This is what I call the covert agreement.
The soft and the weak overcome the hard and the strong.
As a fish out of water is in danger, so a nation is in peril when its armaments are revealed to the people.
37
Tao remains quiescent, and yet leaves nothing undone.
If a ruler or a king could hold it, all things would of their own accord assume the desired shape.
If in the process of transformation desire should arise, I would check it by the ineffable simplicity.
The ineffable simplicity would bring about an absence of desire, and rest would come back again.
Thus the world would regenerate itself.
38
The superior virtue is not recognized as such, and it is therefore the very essence of virtue.
The inferior virtue has the distinction of virtue, therefore it lacks the essence.
The superior virtue is spontaneous, and makes no claim to merit.
The inferior virtue is designing, and lays claim to recognition.
The higher benevolence acts without pretension to merit.
The inferior justice acts, and also makes pretensions.
The inferior expediency is designing, and therefore no one honours it.
Therefore does it bare its arm and assert itself by force.
Thus it transpires that when virtue is lost, benevolence takes its place.
When benevolence is lost, justice ensues.
When justice is lost, then expediency follows.
But expediency is the mere shadow of what is right and true, and it is portentous of confusion.
Superficial virtue is the mere tinsel of Tao, and the fool makes use of it.
But the truly great man establishes himself on that which is solid, and will not lean upon a shadow.
He keeps to the real, and avoids display.
He rejects the one, and takes the other with both hands.
39
Certain things have, by unity, lasted from most ancient times, namely:-
The transparency of Heaven;
The steadfastness of Earth;
The incorporeality of spirits;
The watery plenitude of valleys;
The life of all creations;
The government of kings and princes;
All these endure by unity.
But for the cause of its transparency Heaven would be in danger of obscuration.
But for the cause of its steadfastness the Earth would be in danger of disintegration.
But for the cause of their incorporeality spirits would be in danger of decease.
But for the cause of their plenitude the valleys would be in danger of sterility.
But for the cause of their vitality all creation would be in danger of destruction.
But for the cause of their honour and greatness princes and kings would be in danger of an overthrow.
Herein we see how honour is derived from that which is without distinction; and how greatness rests upon, and is sustained by, that which is insignificant.
Hence do princes and kings call themselves "orphans," "solitary men," and "chariots without wheels."
Do they not thereby acknowledge their authority to be vested in, and supported by, their superiors?
Who can deny it?
Surely "a chariot without wheels" is no chariot at all!
It is as hard for a man to be isolated like a single gem as to be lost in the crowd like a common pebble.
40
The path of the Tao is backward.
The characteristic of Tao is gentleness.
Everything in the universe comes from existence, and existence from non-existence.
41
When a wise man hears the Tao, he follows it.
When one of average mind hears it, he holds to it a while and presently loses it.
When a foolish man hears it, he only laughs at it.
If it were not held in derision by such men, it could not rightly be called Tao.
Therefore, as the verse-makers would say:-
Who shines with Tao is lost in shade;
His path in Tao is retrograde,
And all his actions are obscure.
The highest virtue has no name,
The greatest pureness seems but shame;
True wisdom seems the least secure.
Inherent goodness seems most strange;
What most endures is changeless Change;
And squareness doth no angles make.
The largest vessel none can gird; The loudest voice was never heard;
The greatest thing no form doth take.
For Tao is hidden, and it has no name; but it is good at beginning and finishing.
42
Tao emaned the One; the one emaned the Two; and the two emaned the Three.
From the Three all things have proceeded.
All things are backed by the Unmanifest and faced by the Manifest.
That which unites them is the immaterial breath.
Orphanage, isolation, and a chariot without wheels are nned by the people; but kings and great men appropriate these names to themselves.
For things increase by being deprived; and being added to they are diminished.
That which people teach by their actions I make use of to instruct them.
Those who are violent and headstrong, for example, do not die a natural death.
They teach a good lesson, and so I make use of them.
43
The gentlest thing in the world will override the strongest.
The Non-Existent pervades everything, though there be no inlet.
By this I comprehend how effectual is non-action.
To teach without words and to be useful without action, few among men are capable of this.
44
Which is neared to you, your name or your person?
Which is more precious, your person or your wealth?
Which is the greater evil, to gain or to lose?
Great devotion requires great sacrifice.
Great wealth implies great loss.
He who is content can never be ruined.
He who stands still will never meet danger.
These are the people who endure.
45
He who sees that his highest attainments are always incomplete may go on working indefinitely.
He who sees his greatest possessions to be inadequate may go on acquiring forever.
His highest rectitude is but crookedness.
His greatest wisdom is but foolishness.
His sweetest eloquence is but stammering.
Action overcomes cold; inaction overcomes heat.
With virtue and quietness one may conquer the world.
46
When Tao is in the world, horses are used in the pastureland.
When Tao has left the world, chargers are reared in the wilderness.
There is no greater sin than indulging desire.
There is no greater pain than discontent.
There is nothing more disastrous than the greed of gain.
Hence the satisfaction of contentment is an everlasting competence.
47
A man may know the world without leaving his own home.
Through his windows he can see the supreme Tao.
The further afield he goes the less likely is he to find it.
Therefore the wise man knows without travelling, names things without seeing them, and accomplishes everything without action.
48
Bodily and mental distress is increased every day in the effort to get knowledge.
But this distress is daily diminished by the getting of Tao.
Do you continually curtail your effort till there be nothing left of it?
By non-action there is nothing which cannot be effected.
A man might, without the least distress, undertake the government of the world.
But those who distress themselves about governing the world are not fit for it.
49
The wise man has no fixed opinions to call his own.
He accommodates himself to the minds of others.
I would return good for good; I would also return evil for evil.
Virtue is good.
I would meet trust with trust; I would likewise meet suspicion with confidence.
Virtue is trustful.
The wise man lives in the world with modest restraint, and his heart goes out in sympathy to all men.
THe people give him their confidence, and he regards them all as his children.
50
Men go forth from Life and enter into Death.
The Gates of Life are thirteen in number; and the same are the Gates of Death.
By as many ways does life pass quickly into Death. And wherefore?
Because men strive only after the Sensuous Life.
It has been said that one who knows how to safeguard Life can go through the country without protection against the rhinoceros and tiger.
He may enter into battle without fear of the sword.
The rhinoceros finds no place wherein to drive his horn.
The tiger finds no place wherein to fix his claws.
The sword finds no place wherein to thrust itself.
Why is this?
It is because he has overcome Death.
51
Tao brings forth and Teh nourishes.
All things take up their several forms, and natural forces bring them to perfection.
Therefore all things conspire to exalt Tao and to cherish virtue.
But this regard of Tao and Teh is not in deference to any mandate.
It is unconstrained, and therefore it endures forever.
For Tao produces all things, and Teh nourishes, increases, feeds, matures, protects, and watches over them.
To produce without possessing; to work without expecting; top enlarge without usurping; this is the absolute virtue!
52
That from which the universe sprang may be looked upon as its Mother.
By knowing the Mother you have access to the child.
And if, knowing the child, you prefer the Mother, though your body perish, yet you will come to no harm.
Keep your mouth t, and close up the doors of sight and sound, and as long as you live you will have no vexation.
But open your mouth, or become inquisitive, and you will be in trouble all your life long.
To perceive things in the germ is intelligence.
To remain gentle is to be invincible.
Follow the light that guides you homeward, and do not get lost in the darkness.
This I call using the eternal.
53
Ah that I were wise enough to follow the great Tao!
Administration is a great undertaking.
The great Tao is extremely simple, but the people prefer the complex ways.
While the palace is extremely well appointed, the fields may be full of tares, and the granaries may be empty.
To dress grandly, to carry sharp swords, to eat and drink excessively, and to amass great wealth, this I call stylish theft.
That it is not Tao is certain.
54
He who plants rightly never uproots.
He who lays hold rightly never relinquishes.
His posterity will honour him continually.
Whoever develops the Tao in himself will be rooted in virtue.
Whoever develops the Tao in his family will cause his virtue to spread.
Whoever develops the Tao in his village will increase prosperity.
Whoever develops the Tao in the kingdom will make good fortune prevail.
Whoever develops Tao in the world will make virtue universal.
I observe myself, and so I come to know others.
