Reason always practises non-assertion, and there is nothing that remains undone.
If princes and kings could keep Reason, the ten thousand creatures would of themselves be reformed. While being reformed they might yet be anxious to stir; but I would restrain them by the simplicity of the Ineffable.
"The simplicity of the unexpressed
Will purify the heart of lust.
Is there no lust there will be rest,
And all the world will thus be blest."
38
Discourse on Virtue
Superior virtue is unvirtue. Therefore it has virtue. Inferior virtue never loses sight of virtue. Therefore it has no virtue.
Superior virtue is non-assertion and without pretension. Inferior virtue asserts and makes pretensions.
Superior benevolence acts but makes no pretensions. Superior justice acts and makes pretensions.
Superior propriety acts and when no one responds to it, it stretches its arm and enforces its rules.
Thus one loses Reason and then virtue appears. One loses virtue and then benevolence appears. One loses benevolence and then justice appears. One loses justice and then propriety appears. The rules of propriety are the semblance of loyalty and faith, and the beginning of disorder.
Traditionalism is the flower of Reason, but of ignorance the beginning.
Therefore a great organizer abides by the solid and dwells not in the external. He abides in the fruit and dwells not in the flower.
Therefore he discards the latter and chooses the former.
39
The Root of Order
From of old these things have obtained oneness:
"Heaven by oneness becometh pure.
Earth by oneness can endure.
Minds by oneness souls procure.
Valleys by oneness repletion secure.
"All creatures by oneness to life have been called.
And kings were by oneness as models installed."
Such is the result of oneness.
"Were heaven not pure it might be rent.
Were earth not stable it might be bent.
Were minds not ensouled they'd be impotent.
Were valleys not filled they'd soon be spent.
When creatures are lifeless who can their death prevent?
Are kings not models, but on haughtiness bent,
Their fall, forsooth, is imminent."
Thus, the nobles come from the commoners as their root, and the high rest upon the lowly as their foundation. Therefore, princes and kings call themselves orphaned, lonely, and unworthy. Is this not because they take lowliness as their root?
The several parts of a carriage are not a carriage.
Those who have become a unity are neither anxious to be praised with praise like a gem, nor disdained with disdain like a stone.
40
Avoiding Activity
"Homeward is Reason's course,
Weakness is Reason's force."
Heaven and earth and the ten thousand things come from existence, but existence comes from non-existence.
41
Sameness in Difference
When a superior scholar hears of Reason he endeavors to practise it.
When an average scholar hears of Reason he will sometimes keep it and sometimes lose it.
When an inferior scholar hears of Reason he will greatly ridicule it. Were it not thus ridiculed, it would as Reason be insufficient.
Therefore the poet says:
"The Reason--enlightened seem dark and black,
The Reason--advanced seem going back,
The Reason--straight-levelled seem rugged and slack.
"The high in virtue resemble a vale,
The purely white in shame must quail,
The staunchest virtue seems to fail.
"The solidest virtue seems not alert,
The purest chastity seems pervert,
The greatest square will rightness desert.
"The largest vessel is not yet complete,
The loudest sound is not speech replete,
The greatest form has no shape concrete."
Reason so long as it remains latent is unnamable. Yet Reason alone is good for imparting and completing.
42
Reason's Modifications
Reason begets unity; unity begets duality; duality begets trinity; and trinity begets the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things are sustained by Yin [the negative principle]; they are encompassed by Yang [the positive principle], and the immaterial breath renders them harmonious.
That which the people find odious, to be orphaned, lonely, and unworthy, kings and princes select as their titles. Thus, on the one hand, loss implies gain, and on the other hand, gain implies loss.
What others have taught I teach also.
The strong and aggressive do not die a natural death; but I will obey the doctrine's father.
43
Its Universal Application
The world's weakest overcomes the world's hardest.
Non-existence enters into the impenetrable.
Thereby I comprehend of non-assertion the advantage. There are few in the world who obtain of non-assertion the advantage and of silence the lesson.
44
Setting Up Precepts
"Name or person, which is more near?
Person or fortune, which is more dear?
Gain or loss, which is more sear?
"Extreme dotage leadeth to squandering.
Hoarded wealth inviteth plundering.
"Who is content incurs no humiliation,
Who knows when to stop risks no vitiation,
Forever lasteth his duration."
45
Greatest Virtue
"Greatest perfection imperfect will be,
But its work ne'er waneth.
Greatest fulness is vacuity,
Its work unexhausted remaineth."
"Straightest lines resemble curves;
Greatest skill like a tyro serves;
Greatest eloquence stammers and swerves."
Motion conquers cold. Quietude conquers heat. Purity and clearness are the world's standard.
46
Moderation of Desire
When the world possesses Reason, race horses are reserved for hauling dung. When the world is without Reason, war horses are bred in the common.
No greater sin than yielding to desire. No greater misery than discontent. No greater calamity than greed.
Therefore, he who knows content's content is always content.
47
Viewing the Distant
"Without passing out of the gate
The world's course I prognosticate.
Without peeping through the window
The heavenly Reason I contemplate.
The further one goes,
The less one knows."
Therefore the holy man does not travel, and yet he has knowledge. He does not see things, and yet he defines them. He does not labor, and yet he completes.
48
Forgetting Knowledge
He who seeks learnedness will daily increase. He who seeks Reason will daily diminish. He will diminish and continue to diminish until he arrives at non-assertion.
With non-assertion there is nothing that he cannot achieve. When he takes the empire, it is always because he uses no diplomacy. He who uses diplomacy is not fit to take the empire.
49
Trust in Virtue
The holy man has not a heart of his own. The hundred families' hearts he makes his heart.
The good I meet with goodness; the bad I also meet with goodness; that is virtue's goodness. The faithful I meet with faith; the faithless I also meet with faith; that is virtue's faith.
The holy man dwells in the world anxious, very anxious in his dealings with the world. He universalizes his heart, and the hundred families fix upon him their ears and eyes. The holy man treats them all like children.
50
The Estimation of Life
Abroad in life, home in death.
There are thirteen avenues of life; there are thirteen avenues of death; on thirteen avenues men that live pass unto the realm of death.
Now, what is the reason? It is because they live life's intensity.
Yea, I understand that one whose life is based on goodness, when traveling on land will not fall a prey to the rhinoceros or the tiger. When coming among soldiers, he need not fear arms and weapons. The rhinoceros finds no place wherein to insert its horn. The tiger finds no place wherein to put his claws. Weapons find no place wherein to thrust their blades. The reason is that he does not belong to the realm of death.
51
Nursing Virtue
Reason quickens all creatures. Virtue feeds them. Reality shapes them. The forces complete them. Therefore among the ten thousand things there is none that does not esteem Reason and honor virtue.
Since the esteem of Reason and the honoring of virtue is by no one commanded, it is forever spontaneous.
Therefore it is said that Reason quickens all creatures, while virtue feeds them, raises them, nurtures them, completes them, matures them, rears them, and protects them.
To quicken but not to own, to make but not to claim, to raise but not to rule, this is called profound virtue.
52
Returning to the Origin
When the world takes its beginning, Reason becomes the world's mother.
As one knows his mother, so she in turn knows her child; as she quickens her child, so he in turn keeps to his mother, and to the end of life he is not in danger. Who closes his mouth, and ts his sense-gates, in the end of life he will encounter no trouble; but who opens his mouth and meddles with affairs, in the end of life he cannot be saved.
Who beholds his smallness is called enlightened. Who preserves his tenderness is called strong. Who uses Reason's light and returns home to its enlightenment does not surrender his person to perdition. This is called practising the eternal.
53
Gaining Insight
If I have ever so little knowledge, I shall walk in the great Reason. It is but expansion that I must fear.
The great Reason is very plain, but people are fond of by-paths.
When the palace is very splendid, the fields are very weedy and granaries very empty.
To wear ornaments and gay clothes, to carry sharp swords, to be excessive in drinking and eating, to have a redundance of costly articles, this is the pride of robbers.
Surely, this is un-Reason.
54
The Cultivation of Inituition
"What is well planted is not uprooted;
What's well preserved can not be looted!"
By sons and grandsons the sacrificial celebrations shall not cease.
Who cultivates Reason in his person, his virtue is genuine.
Who cultivates it in his house, his virtue is overflowing.
Who cultivates it in his township, his virtue is lasting.
Who cultivates it in his country, his virtue is abundant.
Who cultivates it in the world, his virtue is universal.
Therefore,
By one's person one tests persons.
By one's house one tests houses.
By one's township one tests townships.
By one's country one tests countries.
By one's world one tests worlds.
How do I know that the world is such? Through IT.
55
The Signet of the Mysterious
He who possesses virtue in all its solidity is like unto a little child.
Venomous reptiles do not sting him, fierce beasts do not seize him. Birds of prey do not strike him. His bones are weak, his sinews tender, but his grasp is firm. He does not yet know the relation between male and female, but his virility is strong. Thus his metal grows to perfection. A whole day he might cry and sob without growing hoarse. This shows the perfection of his harmony.
To know the harmonious is called the eternal. To know the eternal is called enlightenment.
To increase life is called a blessing, and heart-directed vitality is called strength, but things vigorous are about to grow old and I call this un-Reason.
Un-Reason soon ceases!
56
The Virtue of the Mysterious
One who knows does not talk. One who talks does not know. Therefore the sage keeps his mouth t and his sense-gates closed.
"He will blunt his own sharpness, His own tangles adjust; He will dim his own radiance, And be one with his dust."
This is called profound identification.
Thus he is inaccessible to love and also inaccessible to enmity. He is inaccessible to profit and inaccessible to loss. He is also inaccessible to favor and inaccessible to disgrace. Thus he becomes world-honored.
57
Simplicity in Habits
With rectitude one governs the state; with craftiness one leads the army; with non-diplomacy one takes the empire. How do I know that it is so? Through IT.
The more restrictions and prohibitions are in the empire, the poorer grow the people. The more weapons the people have, the more troubled is the state. The more there is cunning and skill, the more startling events will happen. The more mandates and laws are enacted, the more there will be thieves and robbers.
Therefore the holy man says: I practise non-assertion, and the people of themselves reform. I love quietude, and the people of themselves become righteous. I use no diplomacy, and the people of themselves become rich. I have no desire, and the people of themselves remain simple.
58
Adaptation to Change
Whose government is unostentatious, quite unostentatious, his people will be prosperous, quite prosperous. Whose government is prying, quite prying, his people will be needy, quite needy.
Misery, alas! rests upon happiness. Happiness, alas! underlies misery. But who foresees the catastrophe? It will not be prevented!
What is ordinary becomes again extraordinary. What is good becomes again unpropitious. This bewilders people, and it happens constantly since times immemorial.
Therefore the holy man is square but not sharp, strict but not obnoxious, upright but not restraining, bright but not dazzling.
59
Hold Fast to Reason
To govern the people is the affair of heaven and there is nothing like thrift.
Now consider that thrift is said to come from early practice.
By early practice it is said that we can accumulate an abundance of virtue. If one accumulates an abundance of virtue then there is nothing that can not be overcome.
When nothing can not be overcome then no one knows his limit. When no one knows his limit one can have possession of the commonwealth.
Who has possession of the commonwealth's mother [thrift] may last and abide.
This is called the possession of deep roots and of a staunch stem. To life, to everlastingness, to comprehension, this is the way.
60
How to Maintain One's Place
Govern a great country as you would fry small fish: [neither gut nor scale them.]
If with Reason the empire is managed, its ghosts will not spook. Not only will its ghosts not spook, but its gods will not harm the people. Not only will its gods not harm the people, but neither will its holy men harm the people. Since neither will do harm, therefore their virtues will be combined.
