56
Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.[So:] Stop up yourorifices. Close your doors. Blunt your sharpness. Release your tangles.Harmonize your lights. Make same your dust. So doing is called the darkand mysterious identity. Therefore [those who have attained to the mysteriousidentity] cannot be made to be intimate, and they cannot be alienated.They cannot be benefited, and they cannot be injured. They cannot be ennobled,and they cannot suffer degradation. Therefore they are noble among allthose in the world.
57
Govern the kingdom with uprightness. Use weapons of war with guile. Takethe world by means of non-doing. How do I know the way it is? By this:If there are many prohibitions in the world, then the people will becomeeven poorer. If the people have many sharp weapons then the kingdom willbecome even more chaotic. If the people have many tricks then abnormalthings will abound. If laws and commandments proliferate, then there willbe large numbers of bandits and robbers. So the Sage says: I do nothingand the people transform of their own accord. I like tranquility and thepeople rectify themselves. I do not (have things to do =) meddle and thepeople themselves prosper. I have no desires and the people themselvescome to the state of the Uncarved Block.
58
When governance is stifled the people will be wholesome. When governanceis exacting, the people will be shifty. Good fortune depends on disaster,and disaster [in turn] is concealed in good fortune. Who knows the end[of this cyclical process] or [the extent of] its irregularity? The straightforwardchanges into guile. Good changes into what is pernicious. This has indeedbaffled people for a long time. For this reason the Sage squares yet doesnot cut. He is probing yet does no one injury. He is straight and yet doesnot force things into line. He is radiant and yet does not dazzle.
59
There is nothing as good as frugality for regulating the people and forserving Heaven. Now only frugality can be called an early compliance. Anearly compliance is spoken of as a double accumulation of virtue. Whenvirtue is doubly accumulated, then there is nothing that is not overcome.When there is nothing that is not overcome, then no one knows your limit.When no one knows your limit, then you may possess the kingdom. When youhave the mother of the kingdom, you can be long enduring. That is spokenof as the deep root, the firm-set trunk, the Way to long life and enduringvision.
60
Regulating a large country is like boiling small fish. When the Dao isused to oversee the world, then its negative (contractive) forces of naturewill not act as positive (expansive) forces. Not [only] will its negative(contractive) forces not become positive (expansive) forces, [even] itsspirits will not (pierce =) injure humans. Not [only] will its spiritsnot injure humans, [even] extraordinarily talented humans will not injurepeople. Now when these two do not injure each other, then virtuous interactionwill return thereto.
61
A large country is at the low end of the watershed. It takes the role ofthe female in the world. In the interactions that take place in the world,the female always overcomes the male by means of her tranquility. Becauseof her tranquility the female is the lower one. {Therefore it is appropriatethat she be lower.} So if the large country takes the lower position withregard to the smaller countries, it can then take the smaller countries.If the smaller countries take the lower position with regard to the largercountry, then they can {be} take{n by} the larger country. So either oneis lower in order to take, or lower in order to be taken. The larger countryonly desire to foster all of the people. The smaller countries only desireto enter into the service of others. Now when the two sides each have gottenwhat they desire, it is appropriate that the larger country still takethe lower role.
62
The Dao is sanctum for the myriad creatures. It is the treasure of thegood person, and what protects the person who is not good. How can peoplewho are not good be abandoned? Beautiful words can be marketed [to people].Fine behavior can be presented to people. So in enthroning a Son of Heavenor in installing one of the three great ministers, reverently offeringa jade ceremonial disk as a preliminary to presenting a chariot and teamof four is not as good as kneeling to offer this Dao. Why was this Daoesteemed in antiquity? Is it not said: "By it one attains with {out?}seeking. By it one escapes from one's transgressions?'' Therefore it isprized by the world.
63
Act by nonaction. Do by not doing. Find flavor in blandness. Magnify thesmall. Augment the few. Respond to enmity with virtue. Solve difficultproblems while they are still easy. Do great tasks while they are yet small.The difficult problems of the world must be solved while they are stilleasy. The great tasks of the world must be done while they are still small.For this reason the Sage never undertakes great projects, and so he canaccomplish great things. When acquiescence is given lightly, trust mustbe diminished. When things are oversimplified, difficulty must be magnified.So the Sage treats things as even more difficult [than they would seemto be], and [so] in the end there is no difficulty.
64
It is easy to maintain control of things while they are still quiescent.It is easy to plan for them before they have given any inkling. When thingsare crisp, they are easy to shear off. When things are minute, they areeasily dispersed. Do it before they come into existence! Regulate thembefore they become disordered! A tree of two spans starts as the finestfilament. A tower of nine stories begins by heaping up dirt. A journeyof a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet. Those who do things defeat[their goals]. Those who clutch at things lose them. For that reason theSage has no activity and so suffers no defeats. He clutches at nothingand so loses nothing. In pursuing their objectives the people constantlyfail when they are about to succeed. If you are as careful of conclusionsas you are of beginnings, then you will not ruin things. For that reasonthe Sage desires not to desire, and does not value scarce commodities.He learns non-learning, in order to return to what the multitudes havepassed by, and thereby can aid in the natural processes of the myriad creatureswithout daring to act forcefully.
65
Those of antiquity who were good at the practice of the Dao did not enlightenpeople---rather, they made them ignorant. The people are difficult to regulatewhen they are too clever. So to use cleverness to regulate a country isto do injury to the country. To not use cleverness to regulate a countryis to be a benefactor to the country. Knowing these two alternatives constitutesa model. Having a constant awareness of this model is called the dark andmysterious virtue. The dark and mysterious virtue is profound and remote.It is opposed to [the ordinary inclinations of] creatures and so comesinto a great confluence [with the total process of the universe].
66
The reason that the great rivers and the seas can be the kings of the hundredvalleys is that they are good at lying beneath them. Thus they can be thekings of the hundred valleys. So if one would be superior to people, onemust by words put oneself beneath them. If one would lead the people, onemust put one's person (i.e., interests) behind them. For that reason, althoughthe Sage is on top, the people do not perceive him to be a burden. Althoughhe is in front of them, the people do not take that to be an injury. Sothe world takes joy in pushing him to the fore and does not become tiredof him. Because he does not contend, no one in the world can contend withhim.
67
Everyone in the world says that my Dao is great and yet it does not seemso. Now only because it is great does it not seem so. If it seemed so,then long would it have been petty. I have three treasures that I upholdand protect: The first is called compassion, the second is called thrift,the third is not being willing to be first in the world. Being compassionate,one is able to be brave. Being thrifty one is able to be generous. Notbeing willing to be first in the world, one is able to become the ChiefAgent [of the processes of the universe that constitute the manifestationsof the Dao]. Now should one abandon compassion and yet seek to act bravely,should one abandon thrift and yet seek to be generous, or abandon one'sposition at the rear and yet seek to be foremost, then it will be fatal.And if one wages war with compassion then one will win. If one seeks todefend something using compassion then it will be secure. What Heaven willgive salvation, it protects by means of compassion.
68
Those who are good at being knights are not martial. Those who are goodat warfare do not rage. Those who are good at overcoming their adversariesdo not join issue. Those who are good at employing others put themselvesbeneath them. That is called the virtue of non-contention. That is calledthe power to employ others. That is called the perfection attained by becominga match with Heaven.
69
There is a saying about using armed forces. "I dare not be the host (i.e.,the initiator) and instead become the guest. I dare not advance an inch,but rather retreat a foot.'' That is called to make troop movements withoutform, shoving aside without a forearm, destroying without involving anenemy, and wielding arms without there being a weapon. There is no greaterdisaster than underestimating one's enemy. If one were to underestimateone's enemy that would be tantamount to losing one's treasures. So whentroops of equivalent strength are opposed, the side that goes into battlewith sorrow will win.
70
My words are extremely easy to know and extremely easy to put into practice.No one in the world is able to know them or to put them into operation.[My] sayings have ancestors, and events have rulers. Now only because theydo not know them do they not (know =) understand me. Those who know meare few, and so I am precious. For that reason the Sage cloaks himselfwith a rough garment and holds his jade to his bosom.
71
To know that you do not know is the best. To not know that you {do not}know is a defect. Now only by treating defect as defect can you be withoutdefect. The Sage is without defect because he treats [all] defects as defectsand so is without defect.
72
When the people do not fear terrible things, then the great terrors arrive.[Therefore:] Do not restrict the range of their daily activities. Do notoppress them in their livelihood. Now it is only by not oppressing themthat they will not find your presence oppressive. For this reason the Sageknows himself but does not show himself. He loves himself but does notexalt himself. So he rids himself of that and accepts this.
73
When one is brave at acting bold then one will be killed. When one is braveat not acting bold then one will live.[Of] these two [one] may involvebenefit [and one may involve] injury. Who knows the reason for what Heavenhates. The Dao of Heaven does not contend and yet is good at winning, does notspeak and yet is good at responding, does not summon yet things come toit of their own accord, is in repose and yet good at laying plans. Thevast net of Heaven is coarse, yet nothing escapes it.
74
If the people do not fear death, how can anyone use [the threat of] deathto intimidate them? Supposing the people to be caused to be constantlyin fear of death and at the same time to regard it as an unusual event---shouldI [be prepared to] seize and have them killed then who would dare [performthe execution]? There is always an executioner to do the killing. To takethe place of the executioner to kill is said to be [like] taking the placeof the great lumberman to chop wood. Now one who takes the place of thegreat lumberman to chop wood seldom avoids injuring his own hand.
75
The reason that the people starve is that their superiors consume so muchtax grain. For this reason do they starve. The reason the people are difficultto govern is that their superiors are officious. For this reason are theydifficult to govern. The reason the people view death lightly is that theirsuperiors seek to augment the richness of life. For this reason do theyview death lightly. Now only those who do not do things to augment lifeare good at valuing life.
76
In life people are soft and supple. In death they are hard and rigid. Amongthe myriad creatures, the grasses and trees in life are pliant and crisp,But in death they are brittle and withered. So the hard and rigid are thedisciples of death, and the soft and supple are the disciples of life.For that reason, when armies are powerful they will not win. When treesare rigid they will be terminated. The rigid and large take the lower positionwhile the soft and supple take the upper position.
77
The Dao of Heaven (i.e., the process of the universe) is like the drawingof a bow---the high end [of the bow] is pulled down and the low end ispulled up. What has an excess is depleted and what is inadequate is augmented.The Dao of Heaven works to deplete whatever has an excess and to augmentwhatever is inadequate. The dao of human beings is not this way. It depleteswhat is already inadequate to present to what already has an excess. Whocan have a surplus to present to the world? Only those who have the Dao.For that reason the Sage acts without exacting gratitude. When his accomplishmentsare made he does not dwell on them, such is his unwillingness to manifesthis worthiness.
78
There is nothing in the world more soft and supple than water. But nothingcan surpass it for attacking the hard and rigid because there is nothingby which they can change it. None in the world fail to know that the suppleovercomes the rigid and that the soft overcomes the hard, but none canput this knowledge into practice. For that reason the Sage says: He whoreceives the dirt of the kingdom is called the master of the shrine toEarth and Millet. He who takes up the inauspicious affairs of the kingdomis called the king of the world. Correct sayings seem to have things turnedupside-down.
79
After harmonizing a great grievance there must remain a residue of enmity.How can that be regarded as good? For that reason the Sage takes the leftportion of the contract tally rather than trying to make (contractual)demands on people. Those who have virtue take charge of [fulfilling obligationsof] the contract. Those who have no virtue take charge of exaction. TheDao of Heaven has no one to whom it is close by birth. It always givesto the good person.
80
Diminish the size and population of a country. Let them have the utensilsof squads and platoons yet be unwilling to use them. Let the people takedeath as a serious matter and so not venture far away, and even thoughthey have boats and carts, not ride in them. Even though they have shieldsand edged weapons, let them not ever display them. Let the people revertto recording information by knotting cords. Let them relish their food,find their clothing beautiful, be content with their dwellings, and takejoy in their customs. Although they be within sight of neighboring kingdoms,so that they can hear each others' dogs and roosters, let them never visitback and forth all the days of their lives.
