This is called [having] deep roots and a firm base,
It's the Way of long life and long-lasting vision.
60
Ruling a large state is like cooking small fish.
When you use the Way to govern the world, evil spirits won't have godlike power.
Actually, it's not that evil spirits won't have godlike power,
It's that their power will not harm men.
But it's not [just] that their power won't harm men,
The Sage, also, will not harm them.
Since these two do not harm others,
Therefore their Virtues intermingle and return to them.
61
The large state is like the lower part of a river;
It is the female of the world;
It is the meeting point of the world.
The female constantly overcomes the male with tranquility.
Because she is tranquil, therefore she is fittingly underneath.
The large state梚f it is below the small state, then it takes over
the small state;
The small state梚f it is below the large state, then it is taken over by the large state.
Therefore some by being low take over,
And some by being low are taken over.
Therefore the large state merely desires to unite and rear others;
While the small state merely desires to enter and serve others.
If both get what they want,
Then the large state should fittingly be underneath.
62
The Way is that toward which all things flow.
It is the treasure of the good man,
And that which protects the bad.
Beautiful words can be bought and sold;
Honored deeds can be presented to others as gifts;
[Even with] things that people regard as no good梬ill they be rejected?
Therefore, when the So of Heaven is being enthroned or the Three Ministers installed,
Though you might salture them which disks of jade preceded by teams of four horses,
That's not so good as sitting still and offering this.
The reason why the ancients valued this梬hat was it?
Did they not say, "Those who seek, with this will attain, and those who commit offenses, with this will escape"?!
Therefore, it's the most valued thing in the world.
63
Act without acting;
Serve without concern for affairs;
Find flavor in what has no flavor.
Regard the small as large and the few as many,
And repay resentment with kindness.
Plan for the difficult while it is easy;
Act on the large while it's minute.
The most difficult things in the world begin as things that are easy;
The largest things in the world arise from the minute.
Therefore the Sage, to the end does not strive to do the great,
And as a result, he is able to accomplish the great;
Those who too lightly agree will necessarily be trusted by few;
And those who regard many things as easy will necessarily [end up] with many difficulties.
Therefore, even the Sage regards things as difficult,
And as a result, in the end he has no difficulty.
64
What is at rest is easy to hold;
What has not yet given a sign is easy to plan for;
The brittle is easily shattered;
The minute is easily scattered;
Act on it before it comes into being;
Order it before it turns into chaos.
A tree [so big] that it takes both arms to surround starts out as
the tiniest shoot;
A nine-story terrace rises up from a basket of dirt.
A high place one hundred, one thousand feet high begins from under your feet.
Those who act on it ruin it;
Those who hold on to it lose it.
Therefore the Sage does not act,
And as a result, he doesn't ruin [things];
He does not hold on to [things],
And as a result, he doesn't lose [things];
In people's handling of affairs, they always ruin things when they're right at the point of completion.
Therefore we say, "If you're as careful at the end as you were at the beginning, you'll have no failures."
Therefore the Sage desires not to desire and doesn't value goods that are hard to obtain;
He learns not to learn and returns to what the masses pass by;
He could help all things to be natural, yet he dare not do it.
65
Those who practiced the Way in antiquity,
Did not use it to enlighten the people.
Rather, they used it to make them dumb.
Now the reason why people are difficult to rule is because of their knowledge;
As a result, to use knowledge to rule the state
Is thievery of the state;
To use ignorance to rule the state
Is kindness to the state.
One who constantly understands these two,
Also [understands] the principle.
To constantly understand the principle?br> This is called Profound Virtue.
Profound Virtue is deep, is far-reaching,
And together with things it returns.
Thus we arrive at the Great Accord.
66
The reason why rivers and oceans are able to be the kings of the one hundred valleys is that they are good at being below them.
for this reason they are able to be the kings of the one hundred valleys.
Therefore in the Sage's desire to be above the people,
He must in his speech be below them.
And in his desire to be at the front of the people,
He must in his person be behind them.
Thus he dwells above, yet the people do not regard him as heavey;
And he dwells in front, yet the people do not see him as posing a threat.
The whole world delights in his praise and never tires of him.
Is it not because he is not contentious,
That, as a result, no one in the world can contend with him?!
67
The whole world says, I'm Great;
Great, yet unlike [everyone else],
But it's precisely because I'm unlike [everyone else], that I'm therefore able to be Great.
Were I like [everyone else], for a long time now I'd have seemed insignificant and small.
I constantly have three treasures;
Hold on to them and treasure them.
The first is compassion;
The second is frugality;
And the third is not presuming to be at the forefront in the world.
Now, it's because I'm compassionate that I therefore can be courageous;
And it's because I'm frugal that I therefore can be magnamimous;
And it's because I don't presume to be at the forefront in the world that I therefore can be the head of those with complete talent.
Now, if you abandon this compassion and yet try to be courageous,
And if you abandon this frugality and yet try to be magnanimous,
And if you abandon this staying behind and yet go to the fore,
Then you will die.
If with compassion you attack, then you'll win;
If you defend, then you'll stand firm.
When Heaven's about to establish him,
It's as though he surrounds him with the protective wall of compassion.
68
Therefore, one who is good at being a warrior doesn't make a show of his might;
One who is good in battle doesn't get angry;
One who is good at defeating the enemy doesn't engage him.
And one who is good at using men places himself below them.
This is called the virtue of not competing;
This is called [correctly] using men;
This is called matching Heaven.
It's the high point of the past.
69
Those who use weapons have a saying which goes:
"I don't presume to act like the host, and instead play the part of the guest;
I don't advance an inch, but rather retreat a foot."
This is called moving forward without moving forword?br> Rolling up one's sleeves without baring one's arms?br> Grasping firmly without holding a weapon?br> And enticing to fight when there's no opponent.
Of disasters, none is greater than [thinking] you have no rival.
To think you have no rival is to come close to losing my treasures.
Therefore, when weapons are raised and [the opponents] are farily well matched,
Then it's the one who feels grief that will win.
70
My words are easy to understand,
And easy to put into practice.
Yet no one in the world can understand them,
And no one can put them into practice.
Now my words have an ancestor, and my deeds have a lord,
And it's simply because [people] have no understanding [of them], that they therefore don't understand me.
But when those who understand me are few, then I'm of great value.
Therefore the Sage wears coarse woolen cloth, but inside it he holds on to jade.
71
To know you don't know is best.
Not to know you [don't] know is a flaw.
Therefore, the Sage's not being flawed
Stems from his recognizing a flaw as a flaw.
Therefore, he is flawless.
72
When the people don't respect those in power, then what they greatly fear is about to arrive.
Don't narrow the size of the places in which they live;
Don't oppress them in their means of livelihood.
It's simply because you do not oppress them, that they therefore will not be fed up.
Therefore the Sage knows himself but doesn't show himself;
he cherishes himself but doesn't value himself.
For this reason, he rejects that and takes this.
73
If you're brave in being daring, you'll be killed;
If you're brave in not being daring, you'll live.
With these two things, in one case there's profit, in the other there's harm.
The things Heaven hates梬ho knows why?
The Way of Heaven is not to fight yet to be good at winning?br> Not to speak yet skillfully respond?br> No one summons it, yet it comes on its own?br> To be at ease yet carefully plan.
Heaven's net is large and vast;
Its mesh may be coarse yet nothing slips through.
74
If the people were constant [in their behavior] and yet did not fear death,
How could you use execution to intimidate them?
If you brought it about that the people were constant [in their behavior] and moreover feared, and [we] took those who behaved in abnormal ways and killed them梬ho would dare act in this way?!
If the people are constant and moreover necessarily fear death,
then we constantly have the one in charge of executions.
Now killing people in place of the one in charge of executions,
this [is like] cutting wood in place of the head carpenter.
And of those who cut wood in place of the head carpenter, very few do not hurt their hands!
75
The reason why people starve,
Is because they take so much in tax-grain.
Therefore they starve.
The reason why the common people cannot be ruled,
Is because their superiors have their reason for acting.
Therefore they cannot be ruled.
The reason why people take death lightly,
Is because they so avidly seek after life.
Therefore they take death lightly.
Only those who do not act for the purpose of living?br> Only these are superior to those who value life.
76
When people are born, they're supple and soft;
Whey they die, they end up stretched out firm and rigid;
When the ten thousand things and grasses and trees are alive, they're supple and pliant;
When they're dead, they're withered and dried out.
Therefore we say that the firm and rigid are compassions of death,
While the supple, the soft, the weak, and the delicate are compassions of life.
If a soldier is rigid, he won't win;
If a tree is rigid, it will come to its end.
Rigidity and power occupy the inferior position;
Suppleness, softness, weakness, and delicateness occupy the superior position.
77
The Way of Heaven is like the flexing of a bow.
The high it presses down; the low it raises up.
From those with a surplus it takes away; to those without enough it adds on.
Therefore the way of Heaven?br> Is to reduce the excessive and increase the insufficient;
The Way of Man?br> Is to reduce the insufficient and offer more to the excessive.
Now, who is able to have a surplus and use it to offer to Heaven?
Clearly, it's only the one who possesses the Way.
Therefore the Sage?br> Take actions but does not possess them;
Accomplishes his tasks but does not dwell on them.
Like this, is his desire not to make a display of his worthiness.
78
In the whole world, nothing is softer and weaker than water.
And yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can bear it,
Because there is nothing you can use to replace it.
That water can defeat the unyielding?br> That the weak can defeat the strong?br> There is no one in the whole world who doesn't know it,
And yet there is no one who can put it into practice.
For this reason, the words of the Sage say:
To take on yourself the disgrace of the state梩his is called being the lord of [the altars of] earth and grain;
To assume responsibility for all ill-omened events in the state梩his is called being the king of the world.
Correct words seem to say the reverse [of what you expect them to say].
79
To make peace where there has been great resentment, there is bound to be resentment left over.
How could this be regarded as good?
Therefore the Sage [holds] the right tally yet makes no demands of others.
For this reason, those who have virtue are in charge of the tally;
Those without virtue are in charge of the taxes.
The Way of Heaven has no favorites,
It's always with the good man.
80
Let the country be small and people few?br> Bring it about that there are weapons for "tens" and "hundreds," yet let no one use them;
Have the people regard death gravely and put migrating far from their minds.
Though they might have boats and carriages, no one will ride them;
Though they might have armor and spears, no one will display them.
Have the people return to knotting cords and using them.
They will relish their food,
Regard their clothing as beautiful,
Delight in their customs,
And feel safe and secure in their homes.
Neighboring states might overlook one another,
And the sounds of chickens and dogs might be overheard,
Yet the people will arrive at old age and death with no comings and goings between them.
