Difficult & easy complete each other
Lasting & brief define each other
High & low rely on each other
Tone & voice resonate with each other
Before & after follow each other
This is how wise ones abide without interfering with the work,
Practice without speaking their doctrine
A myriad beings emerge here, but without explanation
Are produced, but with no claims
Are developed, but with no expectations
Works are accomplished, but with no dwelling
Insofar as there is no dwelling
This means there is no departure
3
Not exalting worthies
Keeps the people from rivalry
Not prizing goods which are hard to obtain
Keeps the people from acting like thieves
Not displaying the desirable
Keeps the peoples?hearts from confusion
This is how wise ones approach government
Emptying the hearts
(And) filling the bellies
Weakening the ambitions
(And) strengthening the bones
Always keeping the people free of sophistication, free of desires
So that even the clever ones will not presume to meddle at all
(Where) action does not take action
There nothing is out of order
4
The way (is) fluid, and yet in its practice
Somehow there is nothing in excess
So deep-
As if ancestor to the myriad beings
Blunt in its sharpness
Resolved in its tangles
Shaded in its glare
One with this world
So deep & clear
Seeming as though seeming to exist
We do not know whose child this is
(But) imagine it divinity抯 ancestor
5
Heaven & earth are not compassionate
Treating the myriad beings as straw dogs
Wise ones are not compassionate
Regarding the hundred families as straw dogs
The space between heaven & earth
How this is like bellows & flutes!
Empty, yet never exhausted
(When) moved then more is produced
Lots of words adds up to exhaustion,
(This is) never as good as holding the center
6
The spirit of the valley does not die
It may be known as the mysterious feminine
The gateway of the mysterious feminine
May be known as the source of heaven and earth
Endless, continuous, seeming to exist
To practice this is not effort
7
Heaven is eternal, earth endures
The reason why heaven & earth can continue and endure
is this:
That their lives are not their own
In this way (they) can go on living
This is why wise ones put themselves last
And yet (their) being advances
Exclude themselves
And yet (their) being persists
Is it not because they have no self-interest?
Thus (they) can fulfill their self-interests
8
The highest good is like water
Water抯 goodness benefits the myriad beings
And yet does not strive
Dwells in places which everyone else regards with contempt
And in this way is close to the way
In dwelling the good is place
In mind the good is depth
In relations the good is compassion
In speech the good is sincerity
In government the good is organization
In business the good is competence
In movement the good is timing
It is only when there is no contention
That there then is no resentment
9
To maintain but then overdo something
Is not as good as one抯 showing restraint
To rough out but then (over)hone something
Does not help hold (the edge) long
(When) coins and jade fill the hall
Nobody can defend this
(Being) wealthy & honored and then being proud
The natural consequence is one抯 own misfortune
(When) the work succeeds a body retires
Keeping to heaven抯 path
10
(Are) shaping a soul & embracing union
Possible without separation?
(Are) concentrating the breath & attaining responsiveness
Possible (as a) newborn child?
(Are) cleansing & clearing the mystery抯 vision
Possible without a stain?
(Are) caring for people & ruling a realm
Possible without interfering?
(Are) opening & closing the gates of heaven
Possible playing the woman?
(Are) clarifying & simplifying the four directions
Possible without knowledge?
Create things & care for them
Create but do not possess
Act but do not expect
Lead but do not rule
These may be called 搈ystical powers?br>
11
Thirty spokes converge in one hub
Then depending upon what does not exist
is the vehicle抯 usefulness
Mold clay in order to produce a vessel
Then depending upon what does not exist
is the vessel抯 usefulness
Cut out doors and windows in order to make a dwelling
Then depending upon what does not exist
is the dwelling抯 usefulness
Thus, the existence of something serves to make value
The lack of something serves to make utility
12
The five colors will make the human eye blind
The five tones will make the human ear deaf
The five flavors will make the human palate jaded
Racing for speed and hunting for sport
Will make the human heart go mad
Goods which are hard to obtain
Will bring human progress obstruction
This is why wise ones
Regard the belly instead of regarding the sight
And so dismiss That to choose This
13
Favor & disgrace are equally frightening
Exaltation and big trouble are the same as oneself
Why say that favor & disgrace are equally frightening
Favor sets up a downfall
To get it is the same as a warning
To lose it is the same as a warning
Which says that favor & disgrace are equally frightening
Why say that exaltation and big trouble
are the same as oneself?
This is the reason that we have big troubles:
Assuming that we are selves
As long as we are not selves
What troubles do we have?
And so, to respect & regard as oneself
the workings of the world
Is the same as deserving to inhabit the world
To love & regard as oneself
the workings of the world
Is the same as deserving to be steward to the world
14
Looking for things not seen
Descriptions will tell of 搕he invisible?br> Listening for things not heard
Descriptions will tell of 搕he inaudible?br> Reaching for things not grasped
Descriptions will tell of 搕he intangible?br> These three do not allow complete investigation
And so are confused and considered as one
What height is not bright
What depth is not dark
An unbroken continuity does not permit description -
A return home to non existence
And so this is called the form of the formless
The image of nothingness
It is called elusive & obscure
When it is met its head is not seen
When it is followed its end is not seen
To grasp the path of the ancients
Is the way to master present existence
The capacity to comprehend the ancient beginnings
May be called the clue* to the way
15
The ancients who had skill at practicing the way
Were subtle & mysterious, profound & penetrating
A depth not easy to fathom
Inasmuch as they were not easy to fathom
It is thus an effort to construct their appearance
So ready-
As if fording a stream in winter
So vigilant-
As if wary of (all) four neighbors
So dignified-
As though they were guests
So relenting-
Like ice which is about to melt
So artless-
As though they were of unworked wood
So expansive-
As though they were watersheds
So intermingled-
As though they were turbid streams
Who is able, (as) a turbid stream, to become still
and arrive by degrees at clarity?
Who is able, at peace, to become energetic
and arrive by degrees at vitality?
Whoever preserves this path
Not longing for more than fullness
Only those not overfull
Can then stay obscure
and not begin to be finished
16
Attaining perfect emptiness
Remain patient & sincere
The myriad beings arise as one
Through this we observe the return
Of beings in numberless multitudes
Each coming home to its root
Return to the root means serenity
It may be called a return to a higher order
Return to higher order speaks of the enduring
To comprehend the enduring speaks of clarity
To not comprehend the enduring
Is to recklessly create suffering
To comprehend the enduring (is) tolerance
Tolerance becomes justice
Justice becomes sovereignty
Sovereignty becomes celestial
The celestial becomes the path
The path is then continuous
The death of self is nothing to fear
17
Great leaders?subordinates know of their existence
Those next in order are loved and praised by them
Those next in order are feared by them
Those next in order are despised by them
If trust lacks basis here
There will be no trust here
So step back- there is value to words
Complete the task, follow through in the work
The hundred families all will declare
?It was) our natural course!?br>
18
(Where) the great path is abandoned
There appear benevolence & righteousness
(When) the learned & clever emerge
There appear great hypocrisies
(When) the six bonds of kinship are out of balance
There appear filial piety and parental affection
(When) countries & clans are in darkness & turmoil
There appear loyalty & public service
19
Cut out sanctimony, repudiate cleverness
The people will profit a hundred times over
Cut out benevolence, abandon righteousness
The people return to filial piety & parental affection
Cut out artfulness, abandon rewards
(Then) robbers and thieves have nothing to gain
These three may help to improve the culture
but (they) are not a foundation
So let there be purpose to build on:
Look to the ordinary & embrace original nature
Diminish self-interest & have fewer desires
20
Cut out the academics & avoid the anxieties
The (ready) yes, alongside the (obsequious) yea
What is the distance or nearness between them?
(Even) the good, next to the bad,
What is the difference or likeness between them?
(That) that which the others hold in awe
Will not permit less than awe -
What nonsense! There will never be an end to this, ever!
Everyone (else) is resplendent & festive
As if feasting on great sacrifices
As if in springtime & climbing up towers
I alone am unmoved here, one yet to give a sign
Like a newborn infant, one yet to smile
So worn & weary, as one with no home to come home to
Everyone (else) takes more than enough
While I alone seem forsaken
With only my simpleton抯 mind!
So muddled & confused
The common folk are bright & sunny
I alone am in chaos & gloom
The common folk are alert & sharp
I alone am torpid & blunt
So placid- in this like the sea
So restless a wind- as if never to stop
Everyone else has purpose
While I alone am wayward, like a rustic
I alone am other than the others
Still enjoying mother抯 meals
21
The bearing of true character
Is simply to follow a true path
If the way is regarded as an entity
It is only elusive, only vague
So vague & so elusive
(Yet) at its center there is shape
So elusive & so vague
(Yet) at its center there are beings
So arcane & so shadowy
(Yet) at its center there is seed
This seed is profoundly real
At its center there is truth
From the present back into antiquity
Its meaning does not fade
Through this is seen a common ancestry
How do we know that the common ancestry抯 shape is thus?
By This
22
The yielding becomes whole
The bent becomes straight
The hollow becomes replenished
The worn becomes renewed
The diminished becomes endowed
The plentiful becomes doubtful
This is why wise ones embrace unity
Adopting nature as model
Without self-display
And thus clear
Without self-righteousness
And thus distinguished
Without self-assertion
And thus having merit
Without self-glorification
And thus enduring
It is only when there is no contending
That none in the world can contend against them
The ancient ones had reasons to claim
揟he accommodating becomes whole?br> Is this (just) empty talk now?
(When) wholeness is real then one has come home
23
Sparing are the speeches from nature
So the whirling winds do not last morning
The storming rains do not last all day
What is it producing these?
Heaven and earth
(If) even heaven and earth are unable to persist
Then compare this (case) with humanity!
And so to attend to affairs of the path:
The path means an identity with the path
Character means an identity with character
Failure means an identity with failure
For those who identify with the path
The path, in turn, readily* accepts them
For those who identify with character
Character, in turn, readily accepts them
For those who identify with failure
Failure, in turn, readily accepts them
If truth has no basis here
There will be no truth here
24
Those who stand on tiptoe do not stand (firmly)
Those who stretch strides do not make progress
Those who display themselves are less than clear
Those who are self-righteous are less than distinguished
Those who assert themselves lack merit
Those who glorify themselves do not endure
To someone on the path here
These suggest excessive indulgence and irrelevant action
Things somehow wrong to have
So those who have the way do not linger
25
There was something in chaos (yet) complete
