When government is subdued and light,
people are simple and pure.
When government is sharp and prying,
people are cunning and mean.
It is on misfortune that good fortune rests;
it is in good fortune that misfortune hides.
Who knows the turning point, or where the standard lies?
The normal changes into abnormality;
the good changes into monstrosity.
Long indeed have people been confused.
Those who are enlightened
have sharp edges but do not cut,
have corners but do not jab,
are straight and true but do not over-reach,
shine radiantly but do not blind.
59
In governing the people and in serving heaven,
nothing surpasses moderation.
To be moderate
is to follow the DAO from early on;
to follow the DAO from early on
is to be filled to the brim with DE;
to be filled to the brim with DE
is to overcome all things;
to overcome all things
is to know all things are possible.
Whoever knows all things are possible
is fit to rule a country;
whoever guards a country as a mother would
will long endure.
This is called the DAO of deep roots and firm foundations,
a vision that is everlasting.
60
Governing a nation is like frying a small fish.
If the nation is governed according to the DAO,
dark spirits lose their power.
Not that the spirits lose their power
but that they do not harm the people.
Not only that they do not harm the people
but that those who are enlightened do not harm them either. *
If neither of them harms the other,
the DE in them will be united and restored.
* sheng ren yi bu shang ren: those who are enlightened do not harm them either
a problematic rendering, since it raises the question, 憌hy should those who are enlightened ever be considered to harm people in the first place The difficulty of answering this point has led some translators to follow 憈hose who are enlightened?with a passive rather than an active voice: 憈hose who are enlightened are not harmed either or are protected also? Why such a statement should be made at this point, though, is equally unclear.
61
A great country is like low-lying land
into which all rivers flow.
It is the meeting place of everything upon the earth,
the female of the world.
The female can always overcome the male by stillness,
by taking up a lower place.
And so by taking up a lower place,
a great country can win over a smaller one.
By taking up a lower place,
a small country can win over a greater one.
The one wins by becoming low,
the other wins by remaining low.
A great country wants nothing more
than to unite and feed its people.
A small country wants nothing more
than to come and serve its people.
Both get what they desire,
but it is fitting that the greater should abase itself.
62
The DAO is the hidden source of everything,
a treasure for the good,
a refuge for the bad.
Beautiful words can be marketed,
and honourable deeds can gain respect.
Even if people wander from goodness,
that is no reason to abandon them.
When an emperor is enthroned
or the three ministers installed, *
let others offer precious jade
and teams of horses.
This cannot equal sitting still
and offering the DAO.
Why was the DAO so valued from on old?
Was it not because, in the DAO,
those who seek will find,
and those who sin will be forgiven?
That is why it is the treasure of the world.
* zhi san gong: the three ministers installed
the three ministers, according to Star [see Further Reading and Links section], were the grand tutor, the grand preceptor, and the grand protector.
63
Act without acting;
do without doing;
taste without tasting.
Make the small big;
make the few many;
repay hatred with goodness.
Prepare for the difficult while it is still easy;
take care of the great while it is still small.
The difficult things in the world arise from the easy;
the great things in the world arise from the small.
And so, by never attempting great things,
those who are enlightened accomplish them.
Those who make rash promises rarely keep their word;
those who think things easy always find them hard.
That is why those who are enlightened treat everything as difficult,
so never meet with problems in the end.
64
It is easy to hold on to things at rest;
it is easy to plan for things not yet seen;
it is easy to shatter things that are fragile;
it is easy to scatter things that are small.
Deal with things before they arise;
set things in order before they are troubled.
A tree as big as one's embrace grows from a tiny shoot;
a tower nine storeys high rises from a heap of earth;
a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
Act, and you will ruin it;
seize hold of it, and you will lose it.
Those who are enlightened never act and therefore ruin nothing;
they never try to seize and therefore lose nothing.
In handling their affairs, people often fail just before success;
be as careful at the end as at the start, and there will be no failure.
Those who are enlightened
desire to be without desire,
do not value precious things,
learn to unlearn their learning,
redeem their fellow beings' faults.
And so they help all living things find their true selves,
without presuming to interfere.
65
In days gone by, those who knew how to follow the DAO
did not seem enlightened but ignorant.
The reason why people are hard to govern
is because they know too much. *
And so to use knowledge to govern a country
is to be its curse.
Not to use knowledge to govern a country
is to be its blessing.
There are two primal principles,
and to understand them always brings the deepest DE.
How hidden, deep and far-reaching DE is.
It makes all things return to their source
and so attain oneness.
* qi zhi duo: because they know too much
zhi here has the sense of formal, mental, academic knowledge, rather than knowledge derived from the emotions or from life itself.
66
The reason why the sea
is king of all the valleys and the streams
is because it lies beneath them,
and so can act as king.
So anyone who wants to rule the people
must speak humbly to them;
Anyone who wants to lead the people
must follow them as if behind.
Those who are enlightened stand above the people,
and yet the people do not feel weighed down.
Those who are enlightened stand in front of the people,
and yet the people do not feel obstructed.
The whole world joyfully supports those who are enlightened
and never tires of doing so.
Because those who are enlightened contend with no one,
no one contends with them.
67
The whole world says my DAO
is vast and seems like nothing else.
It is its very vastness
that makes it seem like nothing else.
If it had seemed like something,
it long ago would have disappeared.
I have three treasures to hold and guard:
the first is love;
the second moderation;
the third humility.
With love, you can be courageous;
with moderation, you can open wide your arms;
with humility, you can be leader of the world.
Yet to be courageous without love,
to open wide one's arms without moderation,
to lead without humility -
is sure to end in death.
So fight in love, and you will win the battle;
defend in love, and you will keep your strength.
Heaven will protect all those
who show such love.
68
A skilled soldier never is aggressive;
a skilled fighter never is enraged.
A skilled conqueror is never vengeful;
a skilled manager is never proud.
This is called the DE of non-contention;
this is called employing others' strengths;
this is called a harmony with the highest point of heaven.
69
Among soldiers, there is a saying:
do not be the one to first attack, *
but rather take up the defence.
Do not advance an inch,
but rather withdraw a foot.
This is known as stepping forward without moving,
seizing without bearing arms,
confronting without direct attack,
carrying arms without a weapon.
There is no disaster greater than to underestimate your enemy;
underestimate your enemy and you may lose your treasure.
Yet when opposing armies meet in battle,
it is the one which yields that wins.
* wu bu gan wei zhu er wei ke: do not be the one to first attack, / but rather take up the defence
the basic meaning of zhu and ke in these lines is 慼ost?and 慻uest? The sense of a 慼ost?as active and energising, and of a 慻uest?as passive and receiving, leads by extension of meaning to the contrast between attacker and defender.
70
My words are very easy to understand,
and very easy to practise.
Yet no one in the world can understand them
or put them into practice.
My words have an ancient source;
my actions have a master.
It is because they do not know these things
that people do not understand me.
Those who do understand are rare;
but those who follow me I treasure.
Those who are enlightened dress in rough clothes,
but hide precious jade beneath.
71
Far better to know, yet think one does not know;
to think one knows, and not to know, is a disease.
You must become sick of your sickness
before you cease to be sick.
Those who are enlightened are not sick.
It is because they are sick of their sickness
that they are not sick.
72
When people cease to fear mere worldly power,
a greater power will come.
Do not confine the homes where people live *
or place burdens on their livelihood.
Only when you do not burden them
will they not be wearied by your burden.
Those who are enlightened
know, but do not flaunt, themselves;
love, but do not exalt, themselves.
They choose what is within, not without.
* wu xia qi suo ju: do not confine the homes where people live
often interpreted as political advice to a ruler, these lines have also been construed figuratively, either as a metaphor for the body (i.e. 慸o not limit your identity to your mere physicality? or for the heart (i.e. 慸o not limit your heart? 慸o not withhold your humanity from others?.
73
Reckless bravery leads to death;
careful bravery leads to life.
One leads to good, the other harm.
Heaven hates what it hates:
who knows the reason?
Not even those who are enlightened know why.
The DAO of heaven
does not contend yet overcomes with ease,
does not speak yet communicates with ease,
does not summon yet attracts things naturally,
seems unhurried yet plans with ease.
The net of Heaven is vast.
Its meshes may be wide,
but not a thing slips through.
74
If people are not afraid of death,
how can they be threatened by it?
But if they always live in fear of death,
and still continue in their lawlessness,
we can arrest and kill them.
Who then would dare?
And yet there is a Lord of Death whose charge it is to kill.
To take his place and kill would be
like carving wood in place of the master carpenter.
Few would escape without injuring their hands.
75
Why are the people starving?
Because their rulers devour too much in taxes.
That's why they starve.
Why are the people rebellious?
Because their rulers can't stop interfering.
That's why they rebel.
Why do the people make light of death?
Because they are intent on life.
That's why they make light of death.
Yet those who do not strive to live
are wiser than those who value life.
76
We are born soft and weak;
we die stiff and hard.
All things - the grass, the trees -
are soft and delicate in life,
but dried and withered when they die.
And so the stiff and hard are friends of Death;
the soft and weak are friends of Life.
An army that cannot yield will be destroyed.
A tree that cannot bend will crack and fall.
And so the mighty and unyielding will be laid low;
the soft and weak will overcome.
77
The DAO of heaven is like the stretching of a bow.
If it is too high, it is pulled down;
if too low, it is raised up.
If it overshoots, it is cut back;
if it undershoots, it is made longer.
The DAO of heaven takes away from what is overmuch
and gives to what is not enough.
The way of humankind is different:
they take away from those who do not have enough
and offer it to those who have too much.
Who could offer to the world all that they have, and more?
Only a follower of DAO.
Those who are enlightened
act but do not expect reward,
complete the task but do not stop there,
have no wish to flaunt their worthiness.
78
There is nothing in the world
as soft and weak as water.
But to erode the hard and strong,
nothing can surpass it;
nothing can be a substitute.
The weak can overcome the strong;
the soft can overcome the hard.
There is no-one in the world who does not know this,
but there is no-one who can put it into practice.
Those who are enlightened say:
those who bear a nation's disgrace
will become lords of its shrines to earth and grain; *
those who bear a nation's misfortune
will become kings under heaven.
True words often seem a paradox. **
* she ji zhu: lords of its shrines to earth and grain
the phrase she ji zhu has been variously phrased by translators (憀ord of the community? 慻ods of millet and earth? 慚aster of the Altar of Soil and Grain? 憀ord of its soil shrines? 憀ord of the earth抯 sacrifices? 憀ord of every offering?. The version here seeks to evoke both the religious (憇hrine? and the physical (慹arth?and 慻rain? aspects of the position.
