Individual Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Introductory note
The Tao is a text that lends itself to continual adaptation. If you read translations of this ancient Chinese text, you will perceive three things:
1. This is a document of transcendent wisdom and perception.
2. Some of its premises are out of date.
3. Some of its language is incomprehensible or confusing.
My goal in a new and radical adaptation of the Tao is to deal with the second and third points. The text I am creating does not seek to instruct sage rulers. It does not seek to be faithful to an incomprehensible sentence if the meaning can be conveyed more simply. It seeks to apply the Tao to a world where rule is something that each person on earth needs to internalize. It seeks to make the Tao applicable to a time when responsibility comes down to each person.
Here is a chapter from the Tao as translated by James Legge (the version I am adapting).
30
He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Tao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms. Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return.Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.
A skilful (commander) strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare (by continuing his operations) to assert and complete his mastery. He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery.
When things have attained their strong maturity they become old. This may be said to be not in accordance with the Tao: and what is not in accordance with it soon comes to an end.
Here is my abridged and revised version of the same chapter:
One who would be one with the Tao
Will not depend on force of arms
The way of arms is filled with briars and thorns
And brings defeat no matter what the force
The skillful strikes decisively and stops
Not daring to assert a mastery
One strikes the blow because one must
Rejecting vanity and boastful consequence
It is a matter of necessity
There is no wish to dominate or rule
When things become mature we call them old
And say the way of Tao is not that way
To not be in that way portends an end
In general I have eliminated language which would imply an application to one or another gender, condensed into new metrical language the entire text and eliminated what I see as archaic or inapplicable to our secularizing world.
The result is in no way claimed to be the Tao in any authoritative sense, any more than the original is the Tao. It is clear from either text that the Tao cannot be named or directly described and that the very word itself is a removal from the essence that it points to. Nor does it claim to be faithful to the meanings in the Legge translations. Mine is my own sense of the Tao alone and has all the defects inherent in that admission.
Below Find The Entire Adapted Text
The TAO TE-CHING of Lao-Tse based on the translation of James Legge.
Adapted and Abridged
The TAO TE-CHING of Lao-Tse translated by James Legge. Adapted and Abridged by Stephen C. Rose.
PART ONE
The Tao that we would tread is not the Tao
Beyond all power of human speech to name
The Tao that we can name is not the Tao
Beyond all causes happenings and claims
The nameless one exists past every realm
The Tao we name is mother of us all
Desire cannot enable us to find
What is ineffably beyond a mystery
Desire will only blind us to the truth
An outer fringe is all that we shall see
Yet after all the two are still the same
Though as we move a difference we may see
Together we call them the Mystery
Whose depths contain such wondrous subtlety
All know the beauty of the beautiful
And knowing this they know the ugly too
All know the skill of those whose work is skilled
And likewise know the lack of skill as well
Existence brings the nonexistent forth
The easy brings the hard the short the long
From all that is an opposite is born
Yet notes in opposition form sweet harmony
And followers close ranks with those who lead
How does the sage conduct such leadership
Without the need to do a single thing
The sage conveys instructions speechlessly
And things spring up and no decline is seen
No claim of ownership is ever made
There is no expectation of reward
No rest as though great things had been achieved
The work is done but how no one can see
It’s this that makes the power not cease to be
When value is not placed on worthy ones
Their “lessers” are less likely to contend
When value is not placed on treasures rare
The “needy” are less likely to be thieves
To be protected from disorder’s blows
Conceal all things that would excite desire
Such precepts are to those who govern giv’n
Empty their minds and keep their bellies full
Weaken their wills while strengthening their bones
Keep knowledge and desire to gain at bay
And stop the actions of the ones who who know
For abstinence from action is the key
To keeping order universally
The Tao is like a vessel’s emptiness
To grasp it we must let all fullness go
The Tao cannot be fathomed it is deep
As if the honored ancestor of all
Therefore we should be blunting our sharp points
Unraveling the complicated things
Tempering brightness until we agree
To join with others in obscurity
How pure and still the Tao we seek to know
As if it ever would continue so
I do not know whose progeny it was
It might appear to have been before God.
Benevolence is not creation’s way
Creation can unloose the dogs of greed
Benevolence is not the rulers’ way
Rulers tend to grasp what rulers’ need
The area between heaven and earth
May to a bellows be compared
It blows us back and forth with constant power
Pray that the power of Tao be bared
Much speech to swift exhaustion leads
But silently the Tao our spirit feeds
The valley spirit lives always the same
The female mystery that is its name
The gate through which at first we issued forth
The root from which emerged both heaven and earth
Long and unbroken does this power remain
A gentle force whose touch brings us no pain
Heaven and earth continue on and on
It is no mystery why they endure
They do not live of by or for themselves
They live for us and so their course is sure
So too good rulers put their own selves last
Though they are often in the foremost place
They seem to care not for their very being
But by their selflessness they win the race
The highest excellence is waterlike
Water occupies the lowest space
Yet benefits all things with no display
Water’s way is like that of the Tao
Excellence of residence is place
Excellence of mind is being still
Excellence of relationships is
Associating with the virtuous
Excellence of government is
Maintaining good order
Excellence in business is ability
Excellence in starting out is timeliness
Those with highest excellence
Do not complain about their low position
No one finds fault with them
Better to leave a vessel empty
Than try to carry it when it is full
Better to not feel a sharpened point
Than dull it with continual touching
When gold and jade are displayed in a hall
Their owner cannot keep them safe
When wealth and honors lead to arrogance
A penalty for evil will ensue
When work is done and one’s name is raised high
The way of heaven is obscurity
A soul that’s animate intelligent
And settles on the vital breath
Achieves the pliancy of tender babes
Whose minds are not bound by false mysteries
Whose practice unfolds flawlessly
To love the people and to rule the state
Does one eschew all active purposes
To open and shut heaven’s gate
Does not one do so as a female bird
While one’s intelligence moves everywhere
Does not one seem to know nothing
The Tao produces all nourishes all
And does not claim all as its own
The Tao does all and yet it does not boast
Presiding over all controlling not
This is the mystery of the Tao
Thirty spokes united in one hub
But if no axle fills the empty space
The wheel cannot be used
Clay fashioned into many vessels bright
But if there is no hollowness within
The vessels have no use
Apartments formed with walls windows and doors
But still it is the emptiness within
That makes a place of use
Things that exist adapt profitably
But use depends upon the emptiness
Our eyes are dazzled by all colors’ hues
Our ears are deafened by all music’s notes
Abundant flavors do our palates sate
We speed we hunt we lay the whole world waste
Our minds are ever maddened by what’s strange
And thus our conduct does to evil change
Better the belly’s needs to satisfy
Than gratify the longings of our eyes
Fear equally both favor and disgrace
Calamity and honor are the same
Disgrace arrives when favor is no more
Possess a favor and you fear its loss
Calamity and honor are the same
These seeming opposites would have no life
If I did not possess this body called myself
We’re well equipped to manage our domains
If we love them and love ourselves the same
Call looking but not seeing Equable
Listening but not hearing Inaudable
Reaching out and grasping not call Subtle
These are the three words that describe the One
There is no bright above nor mist below
It moves yet it remains unnameable
It can return its form to nothingness
Form of the formless indeterminable
Semblance of invisible fleeting
We meet it yet we cannot see its front
We follow it yet cannot see its back
When we can lay hold of the Tao of old
To comprehend the happenings of now
When we can know it as it was of old
We can unwind what’s called the clue of Tao
The skillful masters of the Tao of old
Plumbed the depths with stellar subtlety
And many mysteries did comprehend
Escaping public notice all the while
Though they were unknown this is how they seemed
Shrinking as those wading in cold water
Irresolute as those who live in fear
As grave as furtive guests of haughty hosts
As evanescent as the melting ice
As unpretentious as an uncut log
As vacant as a valley stretching far
As dull as muddy water in a pond
Yet even muddy water becomes clear
If left to stand in stillness for a while
So too a restful state can be achieved
By moving as one wills till rest arrives
Preservers of the method of the Tao
Have no desire to be full of themselves
They do not mind appearing tired and worn
They have no need to seem complete or new
Seek beyond everything a state of vacancy
Cherish its stillness with each breath you take
Life is a varied wild cacophony
A veritable luxury of growth
But finally it comes back to its root
We call this coming back the stillness state
Existence has fulfilled its destined end
This process is a rule that does not change
To know it is to be intelligent
Not to know it will to evil lead
Forbearance is the gift this knowledge brings
It opens a connection to all things
From this we see a royal sense arise
And when it does one becomes heaven like
And in this likeness will possess the Tao.
Possess the Tao and one will endure long
Until the body dies free of decay
In oldest times the rulers were unknown
The next age rulers were were both loved and praised
The next age they were feared and then despised
And then the rulers lost faith in the Tao
Which meant the people’s faith was lost as well
The earliest appeared irresolute
But reticence concealed great gravity
Which meant their work achieved complete success
And people said. We’re as we are, ourselves.
Renounce sageness and discard wisdom
And better people’s lives a hundredfold
Renounce benevolence and righteousness
And life will become filial and kind
Renounce contrivance and the quest for gain
And thieves and robbers soon will disappear
The practitioners of these several wiles
Replaced the old ways with their elegance
Then hid their lack of worth behind its veil
Still simple views and courses plain and true
Will selfish ends and many lusts eschew
Renounce learning and many troubles cease
You know the ready yes the flattering aye
Small are the differences displayed
But mark the consequences good and ill
And ask what space the gulfs between them fill
What we all fear is indeed to be feared
How wide and endless do the questions range
The multitude look satisfied and pleased
As if enjoying some great feast
As if atop some tower in spring
I alone seem listless still and dumb
The longings of my heart go unperceived
I’m like an infant who has not yet smiled
I seem dejected like a homeless one
The multitude have ever more to spare
I alone seem to have lost all
My mind seems stupid and my life chaos
Ordinary folk are bright amd smart
I alone appear to be benighted
They can all discriminate with ease
I alone appear dull and confused
I seem to be tossed as upon the sea
Then drifting as if I could find no rest
All people have their chosen spheres of life
While I alone seem klutzy rude confused
Yet I am different from these others
I value the nursing-mother
I value the Tao
The grandest forms of force come from the Tao
Who can perceive the nature of the Tao
The Tao eludes our touch our sight as well
Within it hides all forms of everything
The semblances profound dark and obscure
The essences of all things there endure
These essences the truth enfold
Of what when seen shall then be told
Now it is so just as it was of old
Its name is one which passes not away
And there in their most beautiful array
Things form and never know decay
I know the source of all things beautiful
I know the nature of the Tao
Partial becomes complete and crooked straight
The worn out new the empty full
The one with few desires desires receives
The one with many goes astray
Thus wisdom will embrace humility
And manifest it thus to all the world
Free from self-display wisdom will shine
Free from self-assertion seen as such
Free from selfish boasting high in rank
Free from self-complacency the best
For wisdom free from striving strives with none
Partial becomes complete the ancients say
The saying was not spoke in vain
It comprehends all honest completion
Silence is obedience always
Nature calms a violent wind by noon
Nature halts a sudden rain by night
Earth and heaven obey naturally
If they do not sustain chaos should we
One who is on tiptoes can’t stand firm
One who stretches legs does not walk well
One who flaunts display can hardly shine
Assert your views and respect vanishes
Vaunt yourself and honor flies away
Engage in self-conceit and lose your soul
Such states seen from the viewpoint of the Tao
Are like diseases everyone abhors
One who pursues the Tao rejects them all
Something undefined and yet complete
Existed before heaven before earth.
Still and formless it stood all alone
It underwent no change and embraced all
It never was in danger of relapse
We say this is the Mother of all things
I do not know its name I designate
It as the Tao the Way or Course
A further name would be the Great
The Great moves on in constant flow
It passes on and then becomes remote
But just as it seems gone it will return
And so the Tao is great
Heaven is great
And Earth is great
As are sage rulers too
In all the universe these four are great
We take our law from Earth
Earth takes its law from Heaven
Heaven takes its law from the Tao
The law of the Tao is
Its being what it is
From gravity comes lightness stillness peace
Let gravity rule every move we make
Let one with wisdom who strives every day
Remain close to familiar things
Let one who has great prospects of success
Remain indifferent to the wandering urge
Act lightly in the hold of gravity
Peace will not be obtained aggressively
A skillful traveler leaves neither track nor trace
A skillful speaker gives no cause for blame
A skillful reckoner succeeds with mind alone
A skillful builder needs no bolts or bars
None opens what has thus been closed
A skillful binder needs no strings or knots
None can unloose what’s bound this way
Likewise the wise are skilled at saving lives
And thus the wise will cast no one away
By hiding their procedures skilled ones rule
When unskilled persons venerate the skilled
They enhance reputations with their praise
And help unknowing watchers to perceive
What otherwise might seem a mystery
If you would never violence employ
Here is a vessel that will bring great joy
In each of us the male and female dwells
What happens when they are no longer twain
A flow of constant excellence and then
A simple child emerges free of stain
What happens when the black and white unite
A comely balance is revealed
Likewise when love and glory are combined
The praise of all is unconcealed
Unchanging excellence completes this tale
A simple infant found in all we hail
Who would control their own domain
Believing it depends upon their deeds
Must be aware that they will not succeed
To master a domain is spirit-like
No victory will come from active doing
Who would win will but destroy
Who would grasp will but lose hold
This is the course and nature of all things
What was ahead is now behind
What once gave warmth gives only coldness now
What once was strong by weakness is brought down
What once was built with toil now lies in ruins
Hence wise ones shun the trappings of resolve
No will to win will any challenge solve
One who would be one with the Tao
Will not depend on force of arms
The way of arms is filled with briars and thorns
And brings defeat no matter what the force
The skillful strikes decisively and stops
Not daring to assert a mastery
One strikes the blow because one must
Rejecting vanity and boastful consequence
It is a matter of necessity
There is no wish to dominate or rule
When things become mature we call them old
And say the way of Tao is not that way
To not be in that way portends an end
Armaments are evil instruments
Armaments are hateful to all souls
Who goes with the Tao recoils from arms
Weapons that are sharp bode only ill
Necessity alone requires force
Calm and repose are ever to be prized
Never seek victory by arms
The slaughterer deserves no praise
One who kills multitudes
Should weep for them
In bitter throes of grief
The Tao unchanging has no name
Though in its origins it may seem small
One who embodies it has untold power
If states could own it all would fall in line
Heaven and Earth under the Tao send dew
Sweet dew it falls where’er it will
As the Tao acts so it is named
When named some know and rest in it
Free from error failure or risk
The Tao relates to all the world
As seas and rivers do to valley streams
One who knows others is discerning
One who knows oneself intelligent
One who overcomes others is strong
One who overcomes oneself mighty
One satisfied with one’s lot is rich
One who goes on acting energetically strong-willed
One who meets requirements continues long
One who dies yet does not perish has longevity
The Great Tao
All-pervading
On the left and on the right
All things are made by it
Accept it as a gift
Obey it totally
The Great Tao makes no claims
It clothes all things
It does not say I am the lord
The Tao is present in the small
All things return from whence they grew
They disappear
Not realizing who presides
This is among the greatest things of all
Wherefore the wise one does great things
Amd by not being great succeeds
When the great image of the invisible Tao
Is in one’s hands the whole world comes to it
And all can sense release from hurt
And find instead ease rest and peace
Music and fragrant food can stop a passer by
But even if the the spoken Tao seems flavorless
And not worth looking at or listening to
The use of it is inexhaustible
Your breathing in follows your breathing out
Your weakening follows your being strong
Your overthrow comes after rising up
This is the procedure of life
Soft overcoming hard
Weak wresting power from strong
It is not wise to take fish from the deep
It is not wise to show a profit’s source
Chapter 37
The Tao does nothing for the sake of doing it
So there is nothing which it does not do
If those in charge could do the same
All things would transformed
If this became an object of desire
It would be called nameless simplicity
Nameless simplicity is free from all external aim
With no desire
At rest
All things go right
As if they had been willed
PART II.
Chapter 38
The masters of the Tao eschewed display
And so possessed it to the full
Those who possessed in part tried to hold on
But lost it on the way
The masters of the Tao willed not a thing
And had no need to act
Those who possessed in part were always acting
And there was no need
Practitioners of benevolence worked constantly
Unnecessarily
Practitioners of righteousness worked incessantly
Needlessly
Then came propriety
When it was not received
Its practitioners became enraged
When the Tao was lost
Its attributes appeared and then were lost
Benevolence appeared and then was lost
Righteousness appeared and then was lost
Then came propriety a debased faith
Beware the flower of the Tao
Beware the fragrance of stupidity
The great cleave to the solid
And eschew what is not
They choose the fruit and not the flower
Chapter 39
Essentials of the One
The Tao of old
Heaven bright and pure
Earth firm and sure
Spirits with their powers
Valleys ever filled
Every being alive
Without the Tao
Heaven would rend
Earth break and bend
Spirits fail
And drought would surely parch each vale
Life would pass away
As would moral sway
Nothing nothing but decay
Dignity from meanness
Lofty from low
Inside from out
Kings from foundlings
Large from small
From roughest stone
The majesty of jade
Chapter 40
The Tao makes all its moves by contraries
Weakness marks the Tao’s most mighty deeds
When all things that exist and are named sprang from it
They were non-existent and unnamed
Chapter 41
The wisest scholars heed the Tao
The less wise partly heed
The least wise look at it and laugh
If it were not laugned at
It would not be fit to be the Tao
Wordsmiths have expressed themselves
The Tao when bright lacks light
Ones who progress recede
The highest from the bottom come
An even pace a rocky path
Beauty ugliness
The most the least
Wealthiest most poor
Finality change
A square no corner to be seen
A vessel great the slowest made
A loud sound no word said
A semblance great shadow of shade
The Tao is hidden
The Tao has no name
But it is skilled and gives to all
All things required to make all lives complete
Chapter 42
The Tao produced One
One produced Two
Two produced Three
Three produced All things
All things leave behind them
The Obscurity from which they came
They go forward and embrace the Brightness
Into which they have emerged
And they are harmonised
By the Breath of Vacancy
We dislike being orphans
Having little virtue
Being like cars with no axles
Still the wise describe themselves so
Some things increase when diminished
Others diminish when increased
What others teach I teach as well
The violent and powerful do not die a natural death
That is the basis of what I teach
Chapter 43
the softest thing in the world
dashes against
and overcomes
the hardest
that which has no substantial existence
enters where there is no crevice
I know thereby what advantage belongs
to doing nothing with a purpose
there are few in the world
who attain to
the teaching without words
and the advantage arising from
non-action
Chapter 44
Life or fame
Life or wealth
Keep life lose these things
Keep fame and wealth lose your life
Which choice brings pain and sorrow
Can you say
One who cleaves to fame rejects the great
One who cleaves to wealth a better state
One who is content need fear no shame
One who knows to stop incurs no blame
Past these dangers a long life remains
Chapter 45
View the best attempts as poor
And your strength endures
See the full as empty
And your power prevails
Esteem the straight as crooked
The great as stupid
Stammering as eloquence
Constant action vanquishes the cold
Constant stillness overcomes the heat
Be pure
Be still
This is heaven’s law
Chapter 46
When the Tao prevails
The greatest serve the least
When the Tao is disregarded
The great prepare for war
Ambition is the greatest guilt
Complaint the worst of fates
The greatest fault the wish to have
Sufficiency of contentment endures
It does not change
Chapter 47
The one close to one’s self knows all
Without going anywhere
Without going out the door
Or looking out the window
For this one sees the Tao
The farther one goes from oneself
The less one knows
The sages got their knowledge without travelling
They gave things proper names without seeing them
They achieved their ends without any purpose of doing so
Chapter 48
Learners seek increase of knowledge always
Tao devotees seek always to diminish doing
Diminishing ’till one does nothing on purpose
At which point
There is nothing one does not do
One who gets all under heaven
Gives oneself no trouble with that end
If one take trouble with that end
One is not equal to it
Chapter 49.
The wise have no fixed mind of their own
The mind of the people is their mind
To those good to me I am good
To those not good to me I am good
Thus all get to be good
To those sincere with me I am sincere
To those not sincere with me I am sincere
Thus all get to be sincere
The wise appear to be indecisive
Indifferent to all
The people see and listen
Treat them as your children
Chapter 50
We come forth and live
We go back and die
Of every ten
Three serve life
Three serve death
Three aim to live
But tend toward death
Because of their relentless urge to live
Then there is one
Who is most skilled at life
Who travels without fear of enemies
Who walks through danger zones untouched
Indeed invulnerable
And why
Within this one there is no place of death
Chapter 51
All things are produced by the Tao
Nourished by its flow
Things formed according to their many natures
Complete according to their varied forms
All things giving honor to the Tao
Exulting in the flow
This honoring is not demanded
Not prescribed
It is spontaneous
And so it happens that the Tao
Produces all
Nourishes all
Brings all to their fullest growth
Nurses them
Completes them
Matures them
Maintains them
Overspreading all
Producing them
The Tao claims no possession
Carrying them
The Tao no credit claims
It brings them to maturity
But exercises no control
Mysterious
The way of the Tao
Chapter 52
The Tao originated all beneath the sky
It’s said to be the mother of them all
When a mother’s qualities are found
We know who her children are
When one knows who one’s mother is
And holds well to her qualities
Living is free from peril
When one keeps one’s mouth closed
And also closes one’s nostrils
Laborious exertions disappear
When one keeps one’s mouth open
And only promotes one’s affairs,
Security is is lost
Awareness of the small
The secret of clear-sight
Guarding the soft and tender
The secret of strength
Who uses well their light
Holds to the bright
And from the body wards off blight
And hides what does not change
From human sight
Chapter 53
The great Tao is a simple way
But people love distraction
Beware of rulers who reject the Tao
They care more for the fancy
Than the needs of every day
For stylish dress ans manners
For niceties of food
For property
For signs of wealth
They become
Robbers
Boasters
Their ways are all
Contrary to the Tao
Chapter 54
The Tao once planted cannot be dislodged
The Tao held close cannot be borne away
For this we offer endless thanks
Nurse the Tao within and vigor rises
Let the Tao rule family wealth follows
Let the Tao rule neighborhood it thrives
Let the Tao be seen throughout the state
Good fortune comes
Where Tao rules people thrive
You know this by observing
In family in neighborhood in state
How do I know that this is sure
I see it so
Chapter 55
Steeped in the Tao one is an infant child
Not prey to nature’s ravages
Weak of bone with sinews soft
Yet with a grasp that’s firm
The union of the sexes yet unknown
Still capable of being aroused
Crying but never knowing a sore throat
In all harmoniously composed
One not so steeped has not this harmony
And may descend to evil over time
A breath once vital can turn into smoke
A strength once vibrant turns funereal
When things are strong
They become old
And this is inconsistent with the Tao
The inconsistent soon will end
Chapter 56
One who knows the Tao speaks not of it
The one who speaks of it lacks knowledge
Close mouth and sontrils
Blunt sharp points
See the complexity of things
Find your own brightness
Accept the same obscurity that others have
This is the Mysterious Agreement
Such a person cannot be treated familiarly or distantly
Such a person one is beyond all profit or injury
All nobility or meanness
This person is aready noblest under heaven
Chapter 57
A state may take corrective measures
A state may use the tools of war
The best refrain from these
Some actions lead to poverty
Some choices lead to more chaos
Disorder moves unchecked through state and clan
Beware when arch contrivance rules
The more laws displayed
The more crime reigns
Wherewith I say
Show no purpose
And people are transformed
Keep still
And people are correct
Make no effort
And people prosper more
Show no ambition
Amd people will succeed
A primitive simplicity is won
Chapter 58
The government that seems the most unwise
Often the best supplies
The government that is most meddling
Will only disappointment bring
Misery is never without happiness
Happiness is always near to misery
None knows which one will be there at the end
Should we give up correction
It eventually distorts
Its good can turn to evil
Our confidenence in outcomes
Is pervasive
The wise are squares with angles that don’t cut
The wise are corners whose sharpness inflicts no injuries
The wise take no license and are bright
They do not dazzle
Chapter 59
Moderation leads to inner balance
Moderation leads to proper service
Moderation reclaims your normality
This is the greatest access to the Tao
Its attributes can bring all barriers down
Who knows what your attainment can be
When you attain this state of mastery
Roots deep flower stalks firm
Enduring life secured
Chapter 60
Rule on earth is like frying small fish
Care should be according to the Tao
All souls should be manifest on earth
There should be gentle rule and gentle care of souls
The two in harmony
When rule and souls converge
The virtue of the Tao is known
Chapter 61
Great leadership is like a stream that flows
Low-lying humble drawing all to it
Females may understand this best of all
Her stillness may be taken for weakness
And yet in due time still she will overcome
Leadership by condescending gains
Adherents who accept this gain as well
Great leaders nourish all and unify
Adherents are received and serve the cause
There is a leadership that understands
Low-lying and down-flowing gathering
A seeming weakness and the greatest strength
Chapter 62
The Tao of all things is most honored
There is no treasure greater than the Tao
It even guards the bad effacing ill
Its admirable words can honor gain
Its admirable deeds raise up the doer
Even the lesser are not lost
All manner of pomp and circumstance
All circumlocutions of rank and state
Are nothing in comparison
The humble lesson of the Tao prevails
Why did ancients prize the Tao so much
It could be got simply by seeking for it
The guilty could be forgiven by it
For this reason there is nothing that exceeds it in value
Chapter 63
The way of the Tao is action without thinking
Business minus trouble
Tasting without flavor
Seeing small as great,
Counting few as many
The Tao returns kindness for injury
A master anticipates difficulty in the easy
A master makes great things of the small
All difficult feats were once easy
All large achievements rise from what was small
The wise person never doing what is great
Is always able to do the greatest things
Promise lightly and you keep little faith
Call things easy find them difficult
The wise sees difficulty in the easy
And nothing is ever hard
Chapter 64
What is at rest is easily grasped
Before a thing occurs
Protection against it is easy
The brittle is easily broken
The small is easily dispersed
Take action before a thing appears
Secure order before disorder starts
The tree that you embrace grew from a sprout
The tower of nine storeys rose from a heap of earth
A journey of a thousand miles xtarted with a step
Acting with an ulterior motive is harmful
Holding something with an ulterior motive results in losing hold
The wise person has no ulterior motive
And therefore does no harm
The wise person does not hold this way
And therefore does not lose hold
People constantly ruin things
On the eve of success
If they were as careful at the end
As they should be at start
They would succeed
The wise desire what others do not seek
They do not value what is hard to get
The wise learn what others do not learn
They return to things the crowds ignore
It helps the natural development of everything
To act with no ulterior purpose
Chapter 65
In the past skill in rule lay in promoting ignorance
Rulers kept the people simple
Ignorant
The rule was to suppress knowledge
Displays of wisdom were discouraged
Absence of wisdom was seen as a blessing
This was the model and the rule of governance
It was designed to bring all in conformity to the leader
Chapter 66
The wise ruler is like a river
Flowing through a valley
Fed by many mountain streams
By receiving all that is higher
The river like a wise ruler assumes the lower place
And so the people feel no weight upon them
The ruler is the ruler
Yet injures none
Such a leader is exalted in the world
People strive as a team
Chapter 67
Some say the Tao is great
But does not measure up to other ways
The greatness of the Tao
Lies in its lesserness
This is the teaching of the Tao
Three special things are prized
The first is gentleness
The second economy
The third not taking precedence
Gentleness enables boldness
Economy enables liberality
Not taking precedence
Eenables one to be a vessel
And in this lies the highest honor
These days gentleness is given up for boldness
Economy is replaced by prodigal display
And everyone seeks precedence
The end of these false ways is death
Gentleness is victorious even in battles
The one who firmly maintains ground is saved
Chapter 68
If one must fight assume no martial port
If one must fight to rage do not resort
The humble application of your art
From enemies sets you apart
We say we don’t contend and there lies our might
We say we do will bend wills to us
And with enemies unite
Chapter 69
Best not start a war
Instead of advancing an inch
Retire a foot
No calamity is greater than a rush to war
To do so loses you
Your precious gentleness
Thus when the conflict comes
One who deplores it wins the day
Chapter 70
The Tao’s words are easy to know and practice
Yet very few can know and practice them
There is in the words
An originating all-comprehending principle
An authoritative law
Most cannot grasp
Ones who know are few
That makes the words more prized
They wear poor garb
In olden days
A signet of jade in one’s bosom
Chapter 71
Knowing and thinking we do not is supreme
Not to know and think we do is a disease
Pain at the thought of the disease preserves us from it
The wise person does not have the disease
One knows the pain that would come with it
And therefore does not have it
Chapter 72
Fear what you ought to fear or dread ensues
Face not the ordinary thoughtlessly
Before life’s basics act not wearily
Who know these things
Their knowledge do not flaunt
The wise can love themselves eschewing pride
With proper fear and and due humility
Chapter 73
Bold daring ‘oft can lead to death
The one who hides one’s daring may live in
Yet heaven counsels such either or
Especially when daring is required
Heaven says strive not yet overcome
Heaven says speak not but get replies
Heaven says call not still answers come
How quietly it gathers its desires
How skillful and effective are its plans
Heaven’s net is large
Nothing escapes
Chapter 74
Why frighten those who have no fear of death
In a death-fearing people one might frighten wrongdoers
And make them dare do no wrong
Someone presides over death
A great carpenter
The one who executes death we may call
A hewer of wood
Seldom does the executioner fail
To cut one’s own hands
Chapter 75
Famine is the result of many burdens
Imposed by those who rule
Excessive acts of governing induce
Excessive difficulty
People make light of dying
Faced with the great burdens of living
The greater the value set on life
The more the burden
Chapter 76
Supple and weak at birth firm and strong at death
All things are thus
A tree or plant that starts off soft
Will end up hard and dry
Which is why strength does not prevail
And trees most grown are felled
And why the strong are always placed below
The weak above
Chapter 77
Heaven diminishes abundance
And supplements deficiency
It is not so with human beings
Who take from those with least
To add to those with most
A sage eschews such arrogance
And hides distinctions
Chapter 78
Water is the softest thing of all
Yet it has power to bring down monoliths
All know that soft will overcome the hard
The weak the strong
All know but do not practice it
Still wisdom is accepting of reproach
And giving ear to the most direful woes
What’s strictly true appears a paradox
Chapter 79
When reconciliation follows rage
Among the wrong a grudge remains
How can this not harm peace
Peace is preserved by careful leadership
That does not force the loser unduly
The way of Tao regards the whole
Others regard only what suits themselves
The way of Heaven
Knows no partiality of love
It only sides with the good
Chapter 80
Simple ways a people undisturbed
Where envy does not roil nor commerce spoil
Neighbors are set far enough away
That none seek change or place or rank display
Chapter 81
Sincere words are not fine
Fine words are not sincere
Tao adepts do not dispute this
The disputatious are not adept
Those who know the Tao are not extensively learned
The extensively learned do not know it
The wise do not gather for themselves
The more one expends for others
The more one has
The Way of Heaven is sharp
But injures not
With all a wise one does
There is no striving
