Identified with Tao, they joyfully accept the Tao; identified with virtue, they joyfully accept virtue; identified with loss, they joyfully accept loss.
If sincerity is lacking it is because of superficial faith.
24
Who tiptoes, totters. Who straddles, stumbles. The self-regarding cannot cognize; the egotistic are not distinguished; the boastful are not meritorious; the self-conceited cannot excel. Such from the standpoint of the Tao are like remnants of food, or parasites, which all things probably detest. Hence, those who possess the Tao are not so.
25
There was a completed, amorphous something before the Heaven-Earth was born. Tranquil! Boundless!
Abiding alone and changing not! Extending everywhere without risk. It may be styled 搕he world-mother.?br> I do not know its name, but characterize it ?tae Tao. Arbitrarily forcing a name upon it I call it the Great.
Great, it may be said to be transitory. Transitory, it become remote. Remote, it returns.
The Tao, then, is great; Heaven is great; Earth is Great; a king is also great. In space there are four that are great, and the king dwells there as one of them.
Man抯 standard is the earth. Earth抯 standard is the Heaven. Heaven抯 standard is the Tao. The Tao抯 standard is spontaneity.
26
Lightness has its roots in heaviness. Restlessness has a master in stillness. Therefore, the Holy Man travels all day without leaving the baggage wagon. Surrounded by sensuous enjoyments he remains peaceful and free.
How, then, can the Lord of ten thousand chariots regard his personality as of less importance than his royal trust? By levity he will lose his ministers; by restlessness he will lose his throne.
27
Good doers leave no tracks. True words have no defects. Skillful plans require no calculations. Able closers need no locks and bars, yet none can open what they t. Real strength wants no cords, yet none can loose it.
It follows that the Holy Man when helping others, works in accordance with the unchanging goodness.
Hence, he rejects none. He does the same when helping nature to develop. Therefore, he rejects nothing.
This may be called 搊bscure perception.?br> Thus a Good Man is the bad man抯 instructor; the bad man the Good Man抯 material. Yet he does not esteem himself a teacher, nor does he love his material.
Although one may be wise, here he is deceived.
This is called 揟he Cardinal Mystery.?br>
28
One conscious of virility, maintaining muliebrity, is a world-channel. From a world-channel the unchanging energy never departs. This is to revert to the state of infancy.
One conscious of brightness, placid in shade, is a world-model. In a world-model the unchanging energy remains undiminished. This is to revert to the unlimited.
One conscious of merit, content in disgrace, is a world-valley. In a world-valley the unchanging energy is sufficient. This is to revert to simplicity.
Simplicity scattered becomes capacity, and in the hands of the Holy Man, administrators.
Thus the Supreme Mandate may not be sundered.
29
I perceive that no desire can succeed which has as its objective the moulding of the state. The state possesses a divine capacity, which cannot be moulded.
To make is to mar; to grasp is to lose.
Thus in nature some things lead, others follow; some inspire, others expire; some are strong, some are weak; some survive, others succumb; hence, the Holy Man renounces excess, extravagance, exaltation.
30
When one uses the Tao in assisting his sovereign, he will not employ arms to coerce the state. Such methods easily react.
When military camps are established. Briers and thorns flourish. When great armies have moved through the land calamities are sure to follow.
The capable are determined, but no more. They will not venture to compel; determined, but not conceited; determined, but not boastful; determined, but not arrogant; determined because it cannot be helped; determined, but not forceful.
When things reach their prime, they begin to age. This cannot be said to be the Tao. What is Not the Tao soon ends.
31
The magnificence of the army cannot make it an auspicious weapon. It is possible that even inanimate Nature detests it. Hence, one who possesses Tao has nothing to do with it.
The Master Thinker (the Sage) when at home honours the left. When leading troops he honours the right.
Soldiers are instruments of ill omen. They are not agents for a Master Thinker. Only when inevitable will he employ them. What he most prizes is quiet and peace He will not praise a victory. To do so would show delight in the slaughter of men. As for those who delight in the slaughter of men, the world is too small for the gratification of their desires.
When affairs are felicitous the left is honoured, but when they are inauspicious the right is honoured. The Second Officer is placed on the left, but the Commander-in-Chief is placed on the right. That is to say, his position is as if he were attending a funeral. The slayer of multitudes should bitterly weep and lament.
Having fought and won it is as if he were presiding at a funeral.
32
Tao ?the Eternally Nameless.
Though primordial simplicity is infinitesimal, none dare make it a public servant.
Were princes and monarchs able to maintain it, all creation would spontaneously submit.
Heaven and earth harmonized, there would be an abundance of nourishing agencies; the people unbidden, would cooperate of their own accord.
Names arose when differentiation commenced; once there were names it became important to know where to stop. This being known, danger ceased.
The Tao spread throughout the world, may be compared to mountain rivulets and streams flowing toward the sea.
33
Who knows men has discernment; who knows himself has illumination.
Who overcomes men has strength; who overcomes himself has determination. Who knows contentment has wealth.
Who acts vigourously has will.
Who never departs from his base, endures long; he dies, but does not perish; he lives eternally.
34
Supreme is the Tao! All pervasive; it can be on the left hand and on the right.
All things depend on it for life, and it denies none.
Its purposes accomplished, it claims no credit.
It clothes and fosters all things, but claims no lordship.
Ever desireless, it may be named 揟he Indivisible.?br> All things revert to it, but it claims no lordship. It may be named 揟he Supreme.?br> Because to the end it does not seek supremacy; it is able to accomplish great things.
35
Apprehend the inimitable conception, you attract the world; coming it receives no harm, but it tranquil, peaceful, satisfied.
Like transient guests, music and dainties pass away.
The Tao entering the mouth is insipid and without flavour; when looked at it evades sight; when listened for it escapes the ear ?(yet) its operations are interminable.
36
When about to inhale it is certainly necessary to open the mouth; when about to weaken it is certainly necessary to strengthen; when about to discard it is certainly necessary to promote; when about to take away it is certainly necessary to impart - this is atomic perception.
The weak overcome the strong.
Fish cannot leave the deeps.
The innerness of the government cannot be shown to the people.
37
The Tao ?eternally actionless and the cause of all action!
Were princes and monarchs able to acquiesce the myriad existences would by degrees spontaneously transform. Transforming and wishing to function I would immediately guide by the simplicity of the nameless.
The simplicity of the nameless is akin to desirableness.
Desireless and at rest the world would naturally become peaceful.
38
Superior energy is non-action, hence it is energy.
Inferior energy will not resign action; hence, it is not energy.
Superior energy is actionless because motiveless.
Inferior energy acts from motive.
Superior magnanimity is active but motiveless.
Superior equity is active from motive.
Superior propriety is active; is bares its arm and asserts itself when it meets with no response.
Thus as the Tao recedes there are energies; as the energies recede there is magnanimity; as magnanimity recedes there is equity; as equity recedes there is propriety.
Inasmuch as propriety is the attenuation of conscientiousness it is the origin of disorder.
The beginnings of consciousness are flower of Tao, but the commencement of delusion.
Therefore the men who are great live with that which is substantial, they do not abide with realities, they do not remain with what is showy. The one they discard, the other they hold.
39
The things which from of old harmonized with the One are: The heavens, which through the One are clear; the earth, which through the One is reposeful; the gods, which through the One are spiritual; space, which through the One is full; whatever has form, which through the One develops; princes and monarchs, which through the One adjust the empire: these are all effects of the One.
Were the heavens not thus clear they would be liable to rend; were the earth thus not reposeful, it would be liable to frothiness; were the gods not thus spiritual, they would be liable to imbecility; were space thus not full, it would be liable to exhaustion; were that which had form not thus developed, it would be liable to
annihilation; were princes and monarchs not thus regulated, their dignities and honours would be liable to a downfall.
Hence humility is the root of honour: lowliness the foundation of loftiness. It is on this account that princes and monarchs style themselves 搆ithless,?揻riendless,?搖nworthies.?Do they not thus acknowledge humility as their root?
The enumeration of the parts of a carriage no not make a carriage.
Desire neither the polish of the gem, nor the roughness of the stone.
40
The movements of the Tao are cyclical; the sufficiency of the Tao is latency.
All that is, exists in being, being in non-being.
41
The true student hears of the Tao; he is diligent and practices it.
The average student hear of it; sometimes he appears to be attentive, then again he is inattentive.
The half hearted student hears of it; he loudly derides it. If it did not provoke ridicule it would not be worthy of the name ?Tao.
Again there are those whose only care is phraseology.
The brilliancy of the Tao is an obscurity; the advance of the Tao is a retreat; the equality of the Tao is an inequality; the higher energy is as cosmic space; the greatest purity is as uncleanness; the widest virtue is as if insufficient; established virtue is as if furtive; the truest essence is as imperfection; the most perfect square
is cornerless; the largest vessel is last completed; the loudest sound has fewest tones; the grandest conception is formless.
The Tao is concealed and nameless, yet it is the Tao alone which excels in imparting and completing.
42
The Tao produced the One. The One produced two; the two produced three; the three produced all things.
Everything is permeated by the yin and the yang and vivified by the immaterial breath.
That which men hate is to be kithless, friendless and considered unworthy, but princes and dukes thus style themselves. Form this it would appear that advantages are disadvantageous, and disadvantages are advantageous.
I teach what others have taught.
The violent and the fierce do no live out their years.
I shall be chief among the teachers.
43
The world抯 weakest drives the world抯 strongest.
The indiscernible penetrates where there are no crevices.
From this I perceive the advantage of non-action.
Few indeed in the world realize the instruction of the silence, or the benefits of inaction.
44
Fame or life, which is dearer? Life or wealth, which is more? Gain or loss, which is worse?
Excessive love implies excessive outlay. Immoderate accumulation implies heavy loss.
Who knows contentment meets no shame. Who knows when to stop incurs no danger. Such long endure.
45
The greatest attainment is as though incomplete, but its utility remains unimpaired.
The greatest fullness is as a void; but its utility is inexhaustible.
The greatest uprightness is as crookedness; the greatest cleverness as clumsiness; the greatest eloquence as reticence.
Motion overcomes cold; stillness conquers heat.
Purity and stillness are the world抯 standards.
46
When the empire is controlled by the Tao, riding horses are employed in agriculture; when the empire is without Tao, war horses are in every open space.
There is no sin greater than covetousness; no calamity greater than discontent; no fault greater than acquisitiveness.
Who therefore knows the contentment of content possesses unchanging content.
47
The world may be known without going out of doors.
The heavenly way (Tao) may be seen without looking through the window.
The further one goes the less one knows.
Hence the Holy Man arrives without traveling; names without looking; accomplishes without action.
48
The pursuit of study bring daily increase; the pursuit of Tao brings daily decrease; decrease upon decrease, until non-action is reached, whence all action proceeds.
Only continued non-concern will win the Empire; where there is concern there is an insufficiency for the task.
49
The Holy Man is not inflexible, he plans according to the needs of the people.
I would return good for good. I would also return good for evil. Thus goodness operates (or 搕hus all become good?.
I would return trust for trust. I would also return trust for suspicion. Thus trust operates (or 搕hus all become trustworthy?.
The Holy Man as he dwells in the world is very apprehensive concerning it, blending his heart with the whole. Most men plan for themselves. The Holy Man treats every one as a child.
50
Birth is an exit; death an entrance.
Three in ten are ways of life; three in ten are ways of death; three in ten also of those who live move into the realm of death. Why is this? Because of their excessive strivings after life. It has been said that he who thoroughly understands how to care for life will not need to n the rhinoceros or the tiger; he need not fear weapons even in the midst of battle. The rhinoceros finds no place into which to thrust his horn; the tiger no place into which to fix his claws; nor the sword a place into which to flesh its point. Why is this?
Because such a one is not moved by the thought of death.
