NOT to realize it is something of a defect.
The reason Sages have no such defects (LEFT!,)
is because they treat defects AS defects..
and thus they have none left.
72
When the people do not fear what is majestic,
Great Majesty will soon visit them.
Do not limit their dwellings
nor suppress their livelihoods.
Simply because you do not oppress them,
they will not grow tired of you.
For this reason,
Sages are self-aware,
but do not flaunt themselves;
they are self-focused,
but do not glorify themselves.
They out-grow the one and adopt the other.
73
One who is brave in daring will be killed.
One who is brave but not in daring will survive.
One of these two courses is beneficial, the other harmful.
Who knows the reason for Heaven's preferences?
The way of Heaven is to not make war,
yet it is good at conquering;
does not expound,
yet is good at answering;
will not be ordered-about,
yet comes of it's own free will;
is unconcerned,
yet good at making plans.
Heaven's net is vast;
though it's mesh is wide,
NOTHING ESCAPES.
74
If there is someone who doesn't fear death,
why threaten to kill them?
If people did fear death
and one were to capture and kill the devious few,
who would dare to be devious?:
if the people are always at risk of execution,
there will never lack an executioner.
Now, to kill like an executioner is like-
hacking at wood, instead of masterful carpentry;
few are there who can escape cutting their own hands!
75
Human hunger
is the result of governmental profiteering.
Because of THAT, there is hunger.
The common people are not 'governable'
because of their 'superiors' own behavior.
Because of THAT, they are not governable.
The people are 'entertained' by death
because of too much emphasis on preserving their lives.
Because of THAT, death is their 'entertainment.'
Now, only Great Benevolence who acts not for the sake of outer life
is wiser than those who value their own skin very highly.
76
Human beings are
soft and supple when alive,
stiff and straight when dead.
The myriad creatures, grasses and trees are
soft and supple when alive,
dry and withered when dead.
Therefore it is said:
the rigid person is a disciple of death;
the soft, supple and delicate are lovers of life.
The army that is inflexible will not conquer;
the tree that cannot bend will snap!
The unyielding and mighty will be brought low;
the soft, supple and delicate will rise above them.
77
The Path of Heaven is like bending a bow-
the upper part is pressed down,
the lower part is raised up;
the part which has much is reduced,
the part that has little is increased.
Therefore, the Path of Heaven
reduced surplus to make up for scarcity;
the way of mankind's Ego
reduces scarcity and pays tribute to surplus!
Who is there who can have a surplus
and take from it to pay tribute to Heaven?
Surely, only one who is on the Path.
For this reason, Sages transact, but do not hoard,
complete their work but do not dwell upon it.
In this way, they have no desire to display their 'worth.'
78
Nothing under heaven is gentler or weaker than water,
and yet nothing is better at cutting-through what is hard and strong,
because it is relentless.
This defeat of the hard by the soft, the strong by the weak-
this is known to everyone in the world,
yet nobody actually practices it.
Therefore Sages say:
"One who bears abuse directed against the state
is called 'Lord of the altars of the gods of soil and grain;'
One who bears the misfortunes of the state
is called the 'King of all under Heaven.'
True words SEEM contradictory!
79
Compromise with great resentment
will surely yield resentment that lingers.
How can that be called 'good?'
Thus, Sages hold the debtor's side of contracts
and do not make claims upon others.
Thus the person of DEI attends to their debts;
the person without DEI-ty attends to their interest-ledgers.
The way of Heaven IS impartial,
yet is ALWAYS on the side of the well-meaning.
80
Let there be a small state with few people in it,
where military weapons get no use;
let the people view solemnly the idea of death
and they will banish the thought of ever moving away:
They may have carts and boats
but there will be no NEED to ride in them;
they may have armor and weapons
but they will never NEED to display them.
Let the people go back to tying knots for record-keeping;
let their food be savory;
their clothing beautiful;
their customs pleasurable;
their homes secure.
Though they may gaze across at a neighbor's holdings
and hear the sounds of it's dogs and chickens,
they will not bother them, coming and going.
They will die of happy old age.
81
Sincere words are not 'elegant.'?Elegance of speech is insincere.
One who knows is not 'learned;' Learnedness is not knowledge.
One who is 'good' does not have much;?Possessions are not virtue.
Sages do not hoard.
The more they do for others,
the more they have, themselves;
the more they give to others,
the more their own bounty is increased.
Thus the Path of DEI-ty benefits without harming;
the way of ego 'acts' but without effect.
English_Wieger_TTK
Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse
French ( Wieger, 1913) - English by
Derek Bryce, 1999
1
The principle that can be enunciated is not the one that always was. The being that can be named is not the one that was at all times.
Before time there was an ineffable, unnameable being. When it was still unnameable, it conceived heaven and earth. When it had thus become nameable, it gave birth to the multitude of beings.
These two acts are but one, under two different denominations.
The unique act of generation; that is the mystery of the beginning; the effects.
2
Everyone has the idea of beauty, and from that by opposition that of not beautiful (ugly).
All men have the idea of good, and from that by contrast that of not good (bad).
Thus, being and nothingness, difficult and easy, long and short,
high and low, sound and tone, before and after, are correlative ideas, one of which, in being known, reveals the other.
That being so, the Sage serves without acting and teaches without speaking.
He lets all beings become, without thwarting them, he lets them live, without monopolizing them, and lets them act, without exploiting them.
He does not attribute to himself the effects produced, and in consequence these effects last.
3
Not making any special case of cleverness, of ability, will have the result that people will no longer push themselves.
Not to prize rare objects will have the result that no one will continue to steal.
To show nothing as alluring will have the effect of putting the people's hearts at rest.
Therefore the politics of Sages consists in emptying the minds of men and filling their stomachs, in weakening their initiative and strengthening their bones.
Their constant care is to hold the people in ignorance and apathy. They make things such that clever people dare not to act,
for there is nothing that cannot be sorted out through the practice of non-action.
4
The Principle produces in abundance, but without filling itself up.
Empty abyss, it seems to be (is) the ancestor (origin) of all beings.
It is peaceful, simple, modest, amiable.
Spilling itself out in waves, it seems to remain (it remains) always the same.
I do not know of whom it is the son (where it comes from). It seems to have been (it was) before the Sovereign.
5
Heaven and earth are not good to the things that they produce, but treat them like straw dogs.
Like heaven and earth, the Sage is not good for the people he governs, but treats them like straw dogs.
The betwixt of heaven and earth, seat of the Principle, the place from where its virtue acts, is like a bellows, like the bag of a bellows of which heaven and earth would be the two boards, which empties itself without exhausting itself, which moves itself externally without cease.
This is all that we can understand of the Principle and of its action as producer. To seek to detail it further using words and numbers would be a waste of time. Let us hold ourselves to this grand idea.
6
The expansive transcendent power which resides in the median space, the virtue of the Principle, does not die. It is always the same and acts the same, without diminution or cessation. This virtue is the mysterious mother of all beings.
The doorway of this mysterious mother is the root of heaven and earth, the Principle.
Sprouting forth, she does not expend herself; acting, she does not tire herself.
7
If heaven and earth last forever,
it is because they do not live for themselves.
Following this example, the Sage, in withdrawing, advances;
in neglecting himself, he conserves himself.
As he does not seek his own advantage, everything turns to his advantage.
8
Transcendent goodness is like water. Water likes to do good to all beings; it does not struggle for any definite form or position, but puts itself in the lowest places that no one wants. By this, it is the reflection of the Principle.
From its example, those who imitate the Principle, lower themselves, sink themselves. They are benevolent, sincere, regulated, efficacious, and they conform themselves to the times.
They do not struggle for their own interest, but yield. Therefore they do not suffer and contradiction.
9
To hold a vase filled to the brim, without spilling anything, is impossible; better not to fill it so.
To keep an over-sharpened blade without its edge becoming blunt, is impossible; better not to sharpen it to this extreme.
To keep a roomful of precious stones, without any of it becoming misappropriated, is impossible; better not to amass this treasure.
No extreme can be maintained for a long time. Every height is followed by a decline. Likewise for a man. Whomsoever, having become rich and powerful, takes pride in himself, prepares thereby his own ruin.
To retire at the height of one's own merit and fame, that is the way of heaven.
10
Keep your body and spermatic soul closely united, and ensure that they do not become separated.
Apply yourself such that the air you breath in, converted into the aerial soul, animates this composite, and keeps it intact as in a new-born baby.
Withhold yourself from considerations which are too profound, in order not to wear yourself out.
As for love of the people and anxiety for the state, limit yourself to non-action.
Let the gates of heaven open and close, without wishing to do something, without interfering.
Know all, be informed on everything, and for all that remain indifferent, as if you knew nothing.
Produce, breed, without taking any credit for what has been produced, without exacting a return for your actions, without imposing yourself on those you govern. There you have the formula for transcendent action.
11
A wheel is made of thirty perceptible spokes, but it turns due to the imperceptible central axis of the hub.
Vessels are made of perceptible clay, but it is their imperceptible hollow that is useful.
The imperceptible holes which make the doors and windows of a house, are its essentials.
It is the imperceptible that produces effects and results.
12
Colours blind the eyes of man. Sound makes him deaf. Flavours exhaust his taste.
Hunting and racing, by unchaining savage passions in him, madden his heart. The love of rare and difficult-to-obtain objects pushes him to efforts that harm him.
Therefore the Sage looks to his stomach, and not his senses. renounces this, in order to embrace that. (He renounces what causes wear, in order to embrace what conserves).
13
Favour, because it can be lost, is a source of worry. Greatness, because it can be ruined, is a source of fear.
What do these two sentences mean? The first means that the care required to keep in favour, and the fear of losing it, fill the mind with worry.
The second points out that ruin generally comes from caring too much for one's own greatness. He who has no personal ambition does not have to fear ruin.
He who is only concerned about the greatness of the empire (and not that of himself), he who only desires the good of the empire (and not his own good), to him the empire should be confided (and it would be in good hands).
14
Looking, one does not see it, for it is invisible. Listening, one does not hear it, for it is silent. Touching, one does not feel it, for it is impalpable.
These three attributes must not be separated, for they designate one and the same being.
This being, the Principle, is not light above and dark below, as are opaque material bodies. Like a slender thread, it unwinds itself (as continuous existence and action). It has no name of its own. It goes back as far as the time when there were no other beings but itself.
It has no parts; from in front one sees no head, from behind no rear.
It is this primordial Principle that has ruled, and rules, all beings right up to the present. Everything that has been, or is, since the ancient origin, is from the unwinding of the Principle.
15
The ancient Sages were subtle, abstract, profound, in a way that cannot be expressed in words.
Therefore I am going to use illustrative comparisons in order to make myself as clearly understood as possible. They were circumspect like on who crosses an ice-covered river; prudent like one who knows that his neighbours have their eyes on him; reserved like a guest in front of his host.
They were indifferent like melting ice (which is neither one thing nor the other). They were unsophisticated like a tree trunk (the rough bark of which conceals the excellent heartwood). They were empty like a valley (with reference to the mountain that form it). They were accommodating like muddy water, (they, the clear water, not repelling the mud, not refusing to live in contact with the common people, not forming a separate group).
