4
The Tao washes away and drinks them, possibly never getting full.
An abyss?it seems to be the ancestor of the ten-thousand things
Blunting their sharpness
Loosening their tangles
Harmonizing their lights
Equating their dust
Deep? it seems as though possibly alive.
The child of I-don抰-know-who.
It shaped the foremost among the gods.
5
Heaven and Earth are not humane
For the ten-thousand things are taken to be straw dogs.
Sages are not humane
For the hundred clans are taken to be straw dogs.
The space between Heaven and Earth?br> Its similarity to bellows and flutes?
Empty but not exhausted.
Use it and more and more is produced.
With too many words and ideas is distress.
This is not as good as staying in the middle.
6
The valley spirit un-dying
Is called the mystic female.
The opening of the mystic female
Is called the root of Heaven and Earth.
It endlessly, ceaselessly seems to exist.
Use it inattentively.
7
Heaven is long-lasting; the Earth is old.
Heaven and Earth are placed
By that which can last long and be old.
Because they do not live for themselves
Is the reason they can live long.
Therefore, the sages
Put their bodies behind
And yet their bodies go forward.
Are outside their bodies
And yet their bodies exist.
Do not consider this selflessness to be wrong
For it is the reason they can complete their 搒elves.?br>
8
The highest good is like unto water.
Water is good at benefiting the ten-thousand things
And does not contend.
It dwells in the places the masses of people detest?br> For which reason a few compare [it] with the Tao.
Dwellings are perfected by the earth.
The heart is perfected by depth.
Giving is perfected by benevolence.
Speaking is perfected by sincerity.
Uprightness is perfected by governance.
Function is perfected by ability.
Change is perfected by time.
Only because one does not contend
Is the reason one is without reproach.
9
Grasping and filling梩hese are not as good as one抯 own self.
Calculations and vigorousness梩hese cannot defend for long.
Gold and jewels that fill a hall梟one can guard them.
The wealthy are high-ranking but arrogant.
Abandoning themselves is their downfall.
Achievement: Escape the body, withdraw [to]
The Way of Heaven.
10
Filling and operating Life, embracing the One
Can one be without departing [from it]?
Focusing ch抜, bringing about softness
Can one be like a newborn child?
Washing away divisions, mystically perceiving
Can one be flawless?
Loving the kingdom, governing the people
Can one do it without 揹oing?it?
The Heavenly Door opens, closes
Can one be receptive?
Brightening, purifying the four intelligences
Can one be without knowing?
Give birth to them. Rear them.
Giving birth [to them] but not possessing [them]
Acting [with them] but not presuming [them]
Excelling [with them] but not dominating [with them]?br>
This is called Mystic Virtue.
11
Thirty spokes joining together at one hub of a wheel:
Accepting its emptiness
There is the use of the cart.
Shaping clay in order to make a vessel:
Accepting its emptiness
There is the use of the vessel.
Chiseling doors and windows in order to make a room:
Accepting its emptiness
There is the use of the room.
Therefore, having them is considered as being beneficial.
Lacking them is considered as being useful.
12
The five colors make people抯 eyes blind.
The five tones make people抯 ears deaf.
The five flavors make people抯 mouths lose [their tasting ability].
Hurrying, rushing, hunting, and chasing
Make people抯 minds issue forth insanity.
Goods that are hard to get cause people抯 doings to harm.
Therefore, the sages
Act by the insides, not by the eyes.
Therefore, let go of that
And take up this.
13
Favor and disgrace seem like a surprise.
Value great suffering as you would [keeping] your own body.
What is the meaning of 揊avor and disgrace seem like a surprise?
Favor [eventually] declines.
Getting it is like a surprise.
Losing it is like a surprise.
This is the meaning of 揊avor and disgrace seem like a surprise.?br>
What is the meaning of
揤alue great suffering as you would [keeping] you own body?
Our place, according to those who have great suffering,
Is our having a body.
When we lack bodies
What suffering do we have?
Therefore, value the 搒elf?that抯 considered as being the world
As though you are able to be entrusted with the world.
Love the 搒elf?that抯 considered as being the world
As though you are able to rely on the world.
14
Inspect it and you will not see it.
Its name is said to be 揟he Obscure.?br> Listen for it and you will not hear it.
Its name is said to be 揃ecoming Silent.?br> Roll it around in your hands and you will not obtain it.
Its name is said to be 揟he Subtle.?br>
Those who are not able to achieve these three ask?br> This is the reason they are blended and handled as one:
At its ascending, not bright.
At its descending, not dark.
The measure of measure, it cannot be named.
Repeatedly returning to 搉o-thing-ness?br> It is called 揟he Form of No-Form?br> 揟he Shape of No-thing-ness.?br>
It is called
揟he Indistinct?br> 揟he Unclear?br>
Greet it and you will not see its face.
Follow it and you will not see its back.
Hold to the Tao of the Ancients
In order to tame the existence of present times.
One can know the ancient beginning.
It is called the 揟ao Epoch.?br>
15
Those of old who were good at being warriors
Were subtly, wonderfully, mystically in communication
With profundities that can抰 be fathomed.
Precisely because [the ancient warriors] can抰 be fathomed
Is the reason one is forced to take them by appearances:
Cautious?as if in winter, crossing a stream
Strategizing?as if they feared their own four neighbors.
Dignified?they seemed forgiving.
Scattered?like ice floes about to break apart.
Honest?they seemed plain and simple.
Free from worries and petty ideas?they seemed [as open] as a valley.
[Apparently] acting without a plan?they seemed muddled.
Calm?they seemed like the ocean.
Like wind in the mountains?they seemed to be without stagnation.
Who can, in muddiness, use the gradual purification of stillness?
Who can, in serenity, use the gradual arising of movement?
They who hold to this Tao do not desire to overflow.
It抯 only by not overflowing
That one can therefore be shielded
And newly made.
16
Bring about emptiness to the extreme.
Guard true stillness.
The ten-thousand things rise together.
I therefore observe their return:
Those ten-thousand plants梕ach plant梤eturns
Going back to its root.
Going back to the root is said to be stillness.
This is called returning to life.
Returning to life is called the Constant.
Understanding the Constant is called clarity.
Not understanding the Constant:
Reckless actions梞isfortune.
Understanding the Constant, forgive.
Forgive, then be unbiased.
Be unbiased, then be whole.
Be whole, then be Heaven.
Be Heaven, then be Tao.
Be Tao, then be eternal.
Not having a body, there is no danger.
17
The highest superiors?br> People below them [merely] know they have them.
The next highest梡eople below them love and praise them.
The next highest梡eople below them fear them.
The next highest梡eople below them insult them.
Where trust is insufficient
There is distrust.
So gentle, [the sage] values their words.
[And so when] their achievements are completed
And their work is successful
The hundred clans all proclaim
揥e are naturally like this!?br>
18
When the great Tao is abandoned
There exists humaneness and righteousness.
When intelligence and wit go forth
There exists greatness and deception.
When the six familial relationships are not in harmony
There exists obedience and charity.
When kingdoms and households are in darkness and chaos
There exists loyalty and subjugation.
19
Get rid of sagacity, abandon wisdom:
The people benefit a hundred-fold.
Get rid of humanitarianism, abandon righteousness:
The people recover filial piety and motherly love.
Get rid of cleverness, abandon profit:
Robbers and thieves do not exist.
Those who [understand] these three things
Therefore take [mere] civility to be insufficient.
Therefore, this directive has a place it belongs to:
See the plain.
Embrace simplicity.
Diminish selfishness.
Desire little.
20
Get rid of erudition; do not fret.
The saying of 搚es?or 搃ndubitably敆
They are removed from each other by how much?
In what way?
The imparting of 揼ood?or 揺vil敆
In what way do they seem to differ from each other?
But that which the people fear
Is not suited to be disrespected.
Wild indeed, those not yet centered!
The masses of people are boisterous and exuberant
As if enjoying the greatest sacrificial feast.
As if in Spring, climbing onto the lookouts.
I alone am tranquil and quiet indeed, not yet showing these signs?br> Like an infant babying those who are not yet children.
Weary, weary, as if no place to belong to!
The masses of people all have surplus
And I alone seem to be missing something.
Mine is the heart of a fool, besides!
Turbid and chaotic indeed, the ordinary people, bright and eminent!
I alone am muddled and confused.
Ordinary people study, survey, and scrutinize.
I alone am bored and uninterested.
The masses of people all have instrumentality
But I alone am both ignorant and lowly.
I alone differ from people
And value the nourishing Mother.
21
The forming of exceeding virtue?br> Only the Tao indeed manages [to do].
The functioning 搒ubstance?of the Tao is only indistinct, only vague.
So vague! So indistinct! Within it exists shape.
So indistinct! So vague! Within it exists the physical world.
So obscure! So profound! Within it exists essence.
Its essence is exceedingly real?br> Within it exists the evidence [for this].
From ancient times even unto the present day
Its name has not departed.
Thereby inspect the many beginnings.
How do I thereby know the form of the many beginnings?
With this.
22
Crookedness follows perfection.
Bending follows straightness.
Emptiness follows fullness.
Brokenness follows newness.
Lack follows gain.
Excess follows confusion.
Therefore, the sages embrace the One
Becoming examples for the world:
They do not show themselves, and so are radiant.
Do not affirm themselves, and so are made known.
Do not brag about themselves, and so have merit.
Do not throw their weight around, and so are leaders.
Precisely because they do not contend
Is the reason the world cannot contend with them.
That which is said of old:
揟hat which is crooked follows perfection敆
How can it be an empty saying?
Truly perfect and return to it.
23
Sparse speech is by nature.
Therefore, whirling winds do not last the morning.
Sudden rain does not last the day.
Who are they who do this? Heaven and Earth.
Even Heaven and Earth are not able to [make it] last?br> And [what are] people
Compared to [them]?
Therefore, those who manage affairs with the Tao
Are together with the Tao.
Those who are virtuous are together with Virtue.
Those who err are together with error.
Those who are with the Tao梩he Tao is likewise glad to gain them.
Those who are with Virtue梀irtue is likewise glad to gain them.
Those who are with error?br> Error梐las!梚s glad to gain them.
Where belief is insufficient
There exists disbelief.
24
Those on tiptoe do not stand.
Those who straddle do not walk.
Those who show themselves do not shine.
Those who affirm themselves are not made known.
Those who brag about themselves are without merit.
Those who throw their weight around are not leaders.
Those who are with the Tao also say:
揝urplus food, useless forms?br> Nature perhaps detests them.?br>
Therefore, those who have the Tao do not reside [in such things].
25
There was a thing disordered but complete
Before Heaven and Earth were born.
Tranquil?empty?alone standing unchanging.
Swirling and not tiring.
It can be considered as being to the world a mother.
I do not know its name.
Forced to verbalize it, I call it 揟ao.?br> Forced to describe it, I call it 揋reat.?br>
Great, it is said to leave.
Leaving, it is said to be distant.
Distant, it is said to return.
Therefore, the Tao is great.
Heaven is great.
The Earth is great.
Humankind is also great.
In the middle realm, there are four greatnesses
And humankind then dwells in this Completeness:
Humankind is ruled by the Earth
The Earth is ruled by Heaven
Heaven is ruled by the Tao
The Tao is ruled by its own nature.
26
Heaviness acts as the foundation to lightness.
Stillness acts as a sovereign to restlessness.
Therefore, sovereign masters travel all day
And do not depart from [their] 搇ight?heaviness:
Even though there are luxurious sights, comforts, and places?br> They rightly rise above [such things].
How does the lord of ten thousand chariots endure
And yet consider himself to be unimportant in the world?
Frivolous laws lose [one抯] foundation.
Rash laws lose [one抯] sovereignty.
