To compel conformance.
Thus the loss of the Way
Meant the advent of virtue,
The loss of virtue
The advent of kindness,
The loss of kindness
The advent of service,
The loss of service
The advent of ritual rule.
Ritual rule turned loyal trust to deceit,
Leading to disorder.
All that has been learned adorns the Way
And engenders delusion.
Hence those strong and true keep commitment,
n deceit,
Stay with the kernel that抯 real,
And sun flowery adornment,
Choosing the first, refusing the last.
39
From ancient times the foremost number
Has kept the heavens clear and pure,
The earth below firm and secure,
And made its spirits animate,
And its vales exuberant,
Enabled being to procreate,
And kings and lords to tell their fate.
Without that one prime integer
Heaven would crack, since not kept pure,
And earth would split, since not secure.
Spirits would fade since not vital,
And valleys fail, since not fruitful.
All things would die, not procreating,
And kings would fall, their fate mistaking.
The noble and the lowly are sustained;
Those above must have support below.
Hence lords and kings themselves proclaim
揃ereft,?揵ereaved,?or 揾umble slave,?br> Relying on a lowly name.
Is it not so?
Thus 揻requent praising brings no fame.?br> 揚refer not jade抯 gentle chime
To dull stone抯 harsher tang.?br>
40
The Way moves on by contra-motion;
Yielding is the application.
Becoming begets all beings below,
Becoming begotten of negation.
41
When men of service hearken to the Way,
The lofty strive to see it applied,
The average cannot seem to decide,
While the lower sort grandly deride.
Their derision makes Dao抯 reputation.
So the Words of Guidance says:
揝eers of the Way seem not to see
And those who advance, to retreat.
The smoothest path seems unsure,
Honoured virtue seems undistinguished,
Ample virtue unqualified,
Resolute virtue undependable,
Stable virtue unfaithful.
Pure white seems impure,
Broad planes lack angles,
Great works take time,
Mighty voices rarely sound,
Grand vision has no set design,
Unknown the Way and thus unnamed.?br> But the Way it is, the Way alone,
That brings first motions to fruition.
42
The number one of the Way was born.
A duad from this monad formed.
The duad next a triad made;
The triad bred the myriad,
Each holding The number one of the Way was born.
A duad from this monad formed.
The duad next a triad made;
The triad bred the myriad,
Each holding yang
And held by yin,
Whose powers?balanced interaction
Brings all ten thousand to fruition.
By the names men most of all abhor ?br> 揙rphaned,?搘anting,?揹estitute br> Kings and lords make themselves known.
For in this world
Those who take less shall have more,
Those given more shall have less.
These words men have taught
And so shall I teach:
揥ho lives by might never do die right?
These my authority, my guiding light.
43
In this world below the sky
The gentle wind will outdo the strong,
And the nonmaterial are able
To enter the impregnable.
Thus I know and know for sure
The gains that under-acting yields.
But teaching by the word unspoken
In this world few can master;
The gains that under-acting yields
In this world few realize.
44
Is the name or the man more precious?
Does the man or his goods count for more?
Does the gain or loss bring more pain?
Extreme economies entail great waste,
And excess holding heavy losses;
But a humbling is spared by few wants,
A miscarriage by knowing the limits;
Thus one can abide and endure.
45
Great successes may seem flawed,
But their benefits injure no one.
Great abundance may seem spent,
But its supply is endless.
Great honesty may seem unfair,
Great eloquence like reticence,
Great artistry like clumsiness,
But they stand the trial of use.
Keen cold yields to excitation,
And heat of passions to repose:
On reflection and repose rely
To rightly rule the world below the sky.
46
When the Way prevails below the sky
Disbanded chargers dung the lad;
But when the Way the world deserts
War horses breed outside the towns.
No crime exceeds desire sanctioned,
No woe is worse than discontent,
No omen more dire than desire gained.
Truly with few wants content,
Contentment lasts as long as life.
47
No need to venture past the door
To know this world below the skies,
No peer outside the window frame
To see the heaven's works and ways:
揇istant ventures, meager knowledge.?br> For this reason men of wisdom
Know the world not having walked it,
And name it true not having seen it,
And gain success not striving for it.
48
To pursue learning, learn more day by day;
To pursue the Way, unlearn it day by day:
Unlearn and then unlearn again
Until there is nothing left to pursue:
No end pursued, no end ungained.
Whoever means to win this world below
Never undertakes that task:
Whoever does make that his task
Is not fit to win this world below.
49
The wise maintain no constant mind,
But take as theirs the people抯 mind.
揟hos minded to do good we take for good,
As we do those not so minded?
And this obligates their goodness.
揂nd the trusted I trust,
As I trust the not-to-trust?
And this obligates their trust.
In this world the wise man stands
All-enfolding, all-accepting ?br> No longer apart from the world, no above.
The people lend him their eyes and their ears;
The wise man cradles them like babes.
50
They come forth into life and they go to the dead:
The gateways of life are thirteen in all,
And the gateways of death the same thirteen.
But people in pursuit of life
Drive themselves to where death waits
At any of the thirteen mortal points.
And why is this?
A way of life too rich.
Men say those who secret themselves well
Will meet no gaur or tiger on the land,
Nor suffer weapon抯 wound in war:
Present the gaur no place to gore them,
Nor the tiger place to claw them,
Nor the foe a place to stab them.
And why is this so?
Their mortal points are not exposed.
51
Ten thousand Dao begets and breeds,
Which its power tends and feeds
As objects all take varied shape,
As things to use reach final form.
For this the natural myriad
Honour the Way, esteem its power.
Such honour and such high esteem
No mandate from above decreed;
It is their norm of self-becoming.
Dao indeed begets and breeds
All its power tends and feeds
And fosters and then raises up
And brings to full maturity
And still preserves and still protects.
For Dao begets but does not keep,
Works its way but does not bind:
Authority that does not rule.
Such is the meaning of 揾idden power?
52
The world below has its gestation;
We hold there抯 a mother of all below.
The mother gained
The children known;
The children known,
The mother regained;
Then your life will not miscarry.
Interdict all interactions;
Seal and bar all gates and doors;
Thus prevent debility.
Open paths of interaction;
Busy furthering your ends;
Then never make recovery.
True vision marks the smallest signs;
Real strength keeps to the gentler way.
Apply your view,
But regain true vision抯 inner home.
Fall not into life抯 misfortunes;
Strive for the common lasting norm.
53
Grant me this: to firmly know
That in walking the great high Way
I shall fear only to deviate
From the high way plain and fair;
For to byways men are lightly drawn.
The court is richly blessed,
But the farm fields are wasting,
And the bins bare of grain;
And courtiers dress in elegance,
Bear well-honed swords,
Gorge on food and drink ?br> This superflux of wealth and goods
Is the piper抯 tune for thieves,
The negation of the Way.
54
Virtue well-founded nothing uproots;
Virtue fast-bound no one can steal;
And this ensures through generations
The sacred services be not cut off.
Cultivated in his character,
His virtue pure and simple.
Cultivated in his clan,
His virtue well suffices.
Cultivated in his district,
His virtue offers leadership.
Cultivated in his kingdom,
His virtue brings prosperity.
Cultivate in this realm below,
His virtue knows no limitation.
This is the reason to consider
Character in terms of character,
Clan in terms of clan,
District in terms of district,
Kingdom in terms of kingdom,
And the world below as the world below.
How do I know this is true of the realm?
By this very means.
55
Who holds within the fullest power
To a newborn may compare,
Which no insects stings,
No wild beast seizes,
No taloned bird snatches.
Though soft-boned and weak-limbed, its grip is firm.
Before it ever knows of intercourse,
Its standing phallus knows its full life force.
It cries all day without a loss of voice,
A sign of its perfect balance.
Knowing balance means constant norm;
Knowing the norm means inner vision;
Enhancing life means good fortune;
Mind controlling spirit means inner strength.
揃eware old age in pride of manly might,?br> For that means working against the Way.
揥ork against the Way, die before your day.?br>
56
Those who know it do not say it;
Those who sat it do not know it.
Those who know bar interaction,
t and seal the gates and doors;
They dull their keen edge and
Resolve their differences,
Reconcile the points of view
And blend with the lowly dust.
This we call sublime at-oneness.
Favour affects them not,
Nor disfavour,
Neither advantage
No injury,
Neither honour
Nor dishonour.
Thus those who know are honoured in the world.
57
Rule kingdoms by right;
Wage war by deceit;
To win the world forsake ambition;
How do I know that this is so?
The more thou-shalt-nots for the world,
The more the people are deprived.
The more devices that bring gain,
The more the clan and kingdom抯 bane.
The more that clever crafts expand,
The more strange artifacts abound.
The more the laws and writs declared,
The more that crime and violence spread.
Hence the wise in rule have said,
揗ay we under-govern and
The ruled uplift themselves.
May we forsake ambition and
The ruled enrich themselves.
May we have no more desire
And the ruled keep their simple ways.?br>
58
Under rule restrained but caring
Simple and wholesome stay the ruled;
But under rule that probes and prods
They connive and they contrive.
Good fortune stands beside ill fate;
Beneath good fortune ill fate hides.
Who can find the turning point?
For it there is no standard rule:
Rule reverses to exception,
Boon reverses to affliction,
For which men have lost direction
For a time of long duration.
This is why the wise who rule
Keep to the square but form no edge,
Gather gains but will not thrust,
Stay straight and true but cross no line;
And shed light but not to blind.
59
For ruling men, for serving heaven,
Nothing surpasses having in store.
For it is having in store
That we call taking precaution.
And taking precaution we call
Bent on amassing one抯 powers
Means overcoming all obstacles.
Overcoming all obstacles
Means having no known turning point.
Having no known turning point
Gives dominion over the kingdom.
The mother-source of this dominion
Yields staying power ?br> What is known as deep roots and strong base,
The Way of extended life and sustained reflection.
60
Rule a great state as you cook a small fish.
Through the Way take a ruler抯 place in the world,
And the ghosts of the dead shall have no force.
Is it that they have no force?
Or that their force can do no harm?
That their force can do no harm?
Or that the wise lord does no harm?
Nor ghosts nor wise lords doing harm
To their joint virtue thus rebounds.
61
A mighty kingdom stays downstream,
Female of this world below,
Where all the courses intersect.
Dam holding still has ever conquered sire.
But to hold herself still
She must remain below.
By lying below a small kingdom
A great one takes it over.
By lying below a great kingdom
A small state is taken over.
A great kingdom seeks no more
Than to absorb and protect.
A small state no more than to enter its service.
Thus for both to fulfill their desire
Lower must the greater lie.
62
A midden for the myriad,
The Way is sacred to men of merit
And a safeguard to all who do wrong.
Fine words may buy high station,
Fine deeds win men抯 acclaim,
But why turn from those who do wrong?
For when the son of heaven is enthroned,
And his three elder statesmen are installed,
Better to counsel them in the Way
Than ride an envoy抯 four-horse coach
Heralded by the jade disc of state.
Why did men of old honour the Way?
Has it not been said, 揟hrough the Way
Shall right be found, wrongdoers spared?
For this the world honours the Way.
63
Do what is undone;
