5
Heaven and earth are inhumane,
They treat all things like straw dogs;
The rule is inhumane,
He treats his people like straw dogs.
Between the heaven and earth, is it like a bellows?
It is empty yet inexhaustible; and
More agitations produce even more disturbances.
Much arguments are destined to end,
It is better to remain with the central core.
6
The valley spirit never dies,
It is the mysterious female.
The gate of the mysterious female,
Is the root of Heaven and Earth.
It exists forever in continuum,
And using it, it is inexhaustible.
7
Heaven is permanent and Earth everlasting.
The reason Heaven and Earth are permanent and everlasting is that
They do not exist for themselves.
Therefore they last forever.
Thus the sage:
Gets ahead by staying behind;
Survives by being selfless.
Is it no his being selfless that enables him to fulfill his wishes?
8
The ultimate good is like water.
Water benefits all things without competing with them.
It stays at places where all people disdain,
Therefore it is close to Tao.
A habitat is good because of its location;
A mind is good because of its profundity;
A friend is good because of his kindness;
A statement is good because of its credibility;
A government is good because of its excellent management;
A worker is good because of his productivity; and
A move is good because of its timeliness.
Only by being not contentious,
Will there be no ill will.
9
Holding a cup to fill it to brim,
It is better to stop in time.
Making a sword extremely sharp,
It is hard to keep its sharpness for long.
Filling up a hall with gold and jade;
It cannot be securely guarded.
He who becomes arrogant with wealth and power,
Sows the seeds of his own misfortune.
Retire once the work is successfully completed.
This is the way of heaven.
10
Command your body and soul to embrace the One,
Can there be no separation?
Concentrate your vital energy to achieve complete softness,
Can you be like an infant?
Cleanse your thoughts and purify your insight,
Can you be flawless?
In loving your people and governing your state,
Can you be without preconception?
In opening and closing the gate of Heaven,
Can you behave like a female?
In comprehending and penetrating the truth,
Can you be mindful of taking no action against Tao?
In producing and in nurturing lives, you are:
To produce, but not to possess;
To care for, but not to control;
To lead, but not to subjugate.
This is known as the profound virtue.
11
Thirty spokes are joined around the wheel抯 hub,
Its non-being makes the carriage useful.
Clay is molded to make a pot,
Its non-being provides the utility.
Doors and windows are cut to make a room,
Their utility is furnished by non-being.
Therefore,
Being only facilitates, non-being provides utility.
12
The five colours may blind one抯 eyes;
The five tones may deafen one抯 ears;
The five flavours may dull one抯 taste;
Racing and hunting may madden one抯 mind;
Rare commodities may prompt people抯 illicit activities.
Therefore,
The sage emphasizes the essentials of life, not the superficial temptations.\So he accepts this and rejects the other.
13
Exceptional favour or disgrace causes anxieties.
Treat calamities as treats to your body.
What is meant by 揺xceptional favour or disgrace causes anxieties?
Exceptional favour is granted to someone of low status:
Whoever receives it is anxious about what is expected of him;
Whoever loses it is anxious about the accompanying disgrace.
This explains 揺xceptional favour or disgrace cause anxieties?
What is meant by 搕reat calamities as threats to your body?
The reason I encounter calamities is that I have e a body.
If I no longer have a body, what calamity do I have?
Therefore,
He who values the world as his self merits the confidence of the world;
He who loves the world as his self deserves the trust of the world.
14
Looking at without seeing it, it is invisible;
Listening to without hearing it, it is inaudible;
Holding onto without finding it, it is intangible;
These three need no further inquiry, they are thus merged into the One:
It is not bright above, nor dark below,
Boundless beyond description, and reverting back to nothingness.
It is a shape without form, an image without substance, and
A blurred ambiguity.
Facing it, one sees no head, and following it, one sees no back.
Holding fast the Tao of old,
For the understanding of current discoveries,
One may learn the beginning of Creation.
This is called the principle of Tao.
15
A good practitioner of Tao of old is:
A man of subtlety with deep insight,
But it is too profound to understand
Simply because he cannot be understood, one has to describe him as follow:
Cautious, like one crossing a frozen stream in winter;
Hesitant, like one fearing his surrounding neighbours;
Reserved, like a polite guest;
Supple, like ice about to melt;
Honest, like a piece of of virgin wood;
Open-minded, like a valley; and
Confused, like muddy water.
Who can get rid of the muddiness?
It gradually clears though stillness.
Who can revitalize it after long stillness?
It gradually returns to life through activities.
A practitioner of Tao has no desire for filling to brim.
Just because of no filling to the brim,
He will not be worn out but be renewed.
16
Attain the utmost emptiness of mind,
Maintain the utmost stillness.
While all things are simultaneously developing,
I can observe their cycles.
Though everything is flourishing, each will return to its root,
Returning to the root means stillness, and
Stillness marks the cycle of life.
The cycle of life is an eternal truth,
Knowing the truth is called enlightenment,
Not knowing the truth and acting blindly results in disaster.
Knowing the truth enhances forbearance,
Forbearance leads to objectivity,
Objectivity becomes the universal rule,
The universal rule is in accord with Nature, and
Nature is in harmony with Tao.
Tao is everlasting, and
Prevails over one抯 lifetime.
17
The best ruler, the people only know of his existence;
The next best, the people praise and want to be near him;
The next, the people fear him;
The last, the people despise him.
If there is not enough faith,
There will be no faith.
The best ruler is so relaxed, he hardly talks.
When he successfully completes his work,
People all say that for us, it is only natural.
18
When the great Tao declines,
Then humanity and justice arise.
When knowledge and cleverness appear,
The great hypocrisy follows.
When the six family relationships are in disharmony,
Then filial piety and parental love strengthen.
When a state is in disorderly crisis,
The loyal ministers stand out.
19
Reject sageness and abandon knowledge,
The people will benefit a hundredfold.
Reject humanity and abandon justice,
The people will return to filial piety and parental love.
Reject cleverness and abandon profit,
Robbers and thieves will disappear.
These three are insufficient to form a doctrine.
Let there be something for the people to commit to:
Be plain and simple, and
Curtail selfishness and desires.
20
Abandon learning, then you will have no worldly concerns.
What difference is there between yes and no? Good and evil?
What people dread, must I also dread?
How confusing! And there is no end to it yet!
The people are merry, like feasting at grand Sacrifices,
Or ascending a ceremonial tower in the Spring.
Uninvolved like an infant yet to giggle;
So weary, like a homeless person!
All the people have enough to spare, I alone seem to be left out;
So unconcerned, as if I have a mind of an ignorant man.
Common folks are clear-minded, I alone seem to be mindless!
Common folks are seriously engaged, I alone seem to be wandering:
Drifting like the vast sea; and
Aimless, like the long wind.
All the people are purposeful, I alone and stubborn and out of step.
I alone differ from others, but do value being sustained by the Mother.
21
Creation of everything in the universe follows only Tao.
The material universe created by Tao seems unclear and blurred:
So blurred and so unclear, yet in it there are images;
So unclear and so blurred, yet in it there are things;
So dim and so invisible, yet in it there is essence.
The essence is very real, and in it there is evidence.
From the beginning until now, the naming has never stopped.
So the beginning of many things may be understood.
How do I know the many situations at the beginning?
Through this.
22
To yield is to be preserved whole,
To be bent is to become straight,
To be low is to be filled,
To be worn is to be renewed,
To have little is to gain,
To have too much is to be confused.
Thus the sage embraces the One,
And becomes a model for the world. He does not:
Insist on his own views, thus he has a clear view;
Justify himself, thus he sees the truth;
Boast of his achievements, thus he is given credit;
Become arrogant, thus grows in stature.
Simply because he is not contentious,
No one in the world can contend against him.
Is the ancient saying to yield is to be preserved whole, empty words?
It is truly perfect and should be preserved.
23
Nature utters few words.
Thus:
Violent winds seldom last for a whole morning,
Pouring rains rarely persist for a full day.
Who is responsible? Heaven and Earth.
Even Heaven and Earth do not persist for long, how should human beings?
Therefore the practitioner of Tao knows that:
He who follows Tao identifies with the follower of Tao;
He who is virtuous identifies with the person of virtue;
He who lost faith identifies with the faithless.
He who is identified with Tao, the follower of Tao is also happy to be with him;
He who is virtuous, the person of virtue is also happy to be with him;
He who is faithless, the faithless person is also happy to be with him.
He who has not enough faith in others commands no faith from others.
24
He who stands on tiptoe to be tall is unstable;
He who straddles to be fast is slow.
He who insists on his own views has no clear view;
He who justifies his own errors sees no truth.
He who boasts of his own achievements harms his credibility;
He who is arrogant experiences no growth in wisdom.
From the point of view of Tao,
They are like spoiled food and acts of nuisance which all detest.
Therefore followers of Tao avoid them.
25
There was a chaotic formation of matter,
Before the existence of Heaven and Earth.
It was so noiseless, so shapeless, all alone and unchanging,
It is moving around endlessly.
It can be the mother of Heaven and Earth.
I do not know its name, but call it Tao.
If I must I name it Great Reality.
Being great means receding,
Receding means going faraway and
Being faraway is followed by returning to the origin.
Therefore,
Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great and Humanity is also great.
There are four great realities in the universe, and
Humanity is one of them.
Humanity follows the Earth;
Earth, Heaven;
Heaven, Tao and
Tao, Nature.
26
Heavy objects provide footing for the lighter ones,
Calm disposition exerts control over restlessness.
The wise ruler travels all day without leaving his heavy supplies.
Even at the magnificent sights, he remain relaxed and unperturbed.
Why than the lord of ten thousand chariots appear light-headed in public?
Being light-headed reflects the loss of footing,
Being restless signifies the loss of control.
27
An excellent walker leaves no track;
An excellent speech contains no flaw;
An excellent reckoner uses no counter;
A well-t door uses no mechanism, yet none can open it;
A well-tied know uses no rope, yet none can untie it.
Similarly,
The sage always excels in saving people, thus there is no useless people.
The sage always excels in saving things, thus there is no abandoned thing.
This is called the innate enlightenment.
It follows that:
A superior person if the teacher of the lesser person, and
The lesser person provides lessons for the superior person.
The person who does not value his teacher, nor care about the lessons,
Is deeply confused despite the person抯 intelligence.
This is an important subtlety.
28
He who knows the male, yet keeps to the female,
Is like the ravine of the world.
Being the ravine of the world,
He never departs from the eternal virtue, and
Returns to the state of harmony with Nature as in infancy.
He who knows the white, yet keeps to the black,
Is the model for the world.
Being the model for the world,
He never deviates from the eternal virtue, and
Returns to the state of selflessness as in primordial times.
He who knows glory, but keeps to humility,
Is like the valley of the world.
Being the valley of the world, he is sufficient in the eternal virtue, and
Returns to the sate of natural goodness like virgin blocks.
When the blocks are dispersed and found useful as tools,
The wise ruler employs them to govern and lead.
Therefore the great leader does not destroy Nature.
29
Whoever intends to conquer the empire through willful actions,
I foresee that he will not succeed.
The empire is a complex organism, no willful action should be taken.
