Beautiful words can be bought and sold;
Honored deeds can be presented to others as gifts;
Even with things that people regard as no good—will they be rejected?
Therefore, when the Son of Heaven is being enthroned or the Three Ministers installed,
Though you might salute them with disks of jade preceded by teams of four horses,
That’s not so good as sitting still and offering this.
The reason why the ancients valued this—what was it?
Did they not say, “Those who seek, with this will attain, and those who commit offenses, with this will escape”?!
Therefore, it’s the most valued thing in the world.
[CHAPTER 63]
Act without acting;
Serve without concern for affairs;
Find flavor in what has no flavor.
Regard the small as large and the few as many,
And repay resentment with kindness.
Plan for the difficult while it is easy;
Act on the large while it’s minute.
The most difficult things in the world begin as things that are easy;
The largest things in the world arise from the minute.
Therefore the Sage, to the end does not strive to do the great,
And as a result, he is able to accomplish the great;
Those who too lightly agree will necessarily be trusted by few;
And those who regard many things as easy will necessarily end up with many difficulties.
Therefore, even the Sage regards things as difficult,
And as a result, in the end he has no difficulty.
[CHAPTER 64]
What is at rest is easy to hold;
What has not yet given a sign is easy to plan for;
The brittle is easily shattered;
The minute is easily scattered;
Act on it before it comes into being;
Order it before it turns into chaos.
A tree so big that it takes both arms to surround starts out as the tiniest shoot;
A nine-story terrace rises up from a basket of dirt.
A high place one hundred, one thousand feet high begins from under your feet.
Those who act on it ruin it;
Those who hold on to it lose it.
Therefore the Sage does not act,
And as a result, he doesn’t ruin things;
He does not hold on to things,
And as a result, he doesn’t lose things;
In people’s handling of affairs, they always ruin things when they’re right at the point of completion.
Therefore we say, “If you’re as careful at the end as you were at the beginning, you’ll have no failures.”
Therefore the Sage desires not to desire and doesn’t value goods that are hard to obtain;
He learns not to learn and returns to what the masses pass by;
He could help all things to be natural, yet he dare not do it.
[CHAPTER 65]
Those who practiced the Way in antiquity,
Did not use it to enlighten the people.
Rather, they used it to make them dumb.
Now the reason why people are difficult to rule is because of their knowledge;
As a result, to use knowledge to rule the state
Is thievery of the state;
To use ignorance to rule the state
Is kindness to the state.
One who constantly understands these two,
Also understands the principle.
To constantly understand the principle—
This is called Profound Virtue.
Profound Virtue is deep, is far-reaching,
And together with things it returns.
Thus we arrive at the Great Accord.
[CHAPTER 66]
The reason why rivers and oceans are able to be the kings of the one hundred valleys is that they are good at being below them.
For this reason they are able to be the kings of the one hundred valleys.
Therefore in the Sage’s desire to be above the people,
He must in his speech be below them.
And in his desire to be at the front of the people,
He must in his person be behind them.
Thus he dwells above, yet the people do not regard him as heavy;
And he dwells in front, yet the people do not see him as posing a threat.
The whole world delights in his praise and never tires of him.
Is it not because he is not contentious,
That, as a result, no one in the world can contend with him?!
[CHAPTER 80]
Let the states be small and people few—
Bring it about that there are weapons for “tens” and “hundreds,” yet let no one use them;
Have the people regard death gravely and put migrating far from their minds.
Though they might have boats and carriages, no one will ride them;
Though they might have armor and spears, no one will display them.
Have the people return to knotting cords and using them.
They will relish their food,
Regard their clothing as beautiful,
Delight in their customs,
And feel safe and secure in their homes.
Neighboring states might overlook one another,
And the sounds of chickens and dogs might be overheard,
Yet the people will arrive at old age and death with no comings and goings between them.
[CHAPTER 81]
Sincere words are not showy;
Showy words are not sincere.
Those who know are not “widely learned”;
Those “widely learned” do not know.
The good do not have a lot;
Those with a lot are not good.
The Sage accumulates nothing.
Having used what he had for others,
He has even more.
Having given what he had to others,
What he has is even greater.
Therefore, the Way of Heaven is to benefit and not cause any harm;
The Way of Man is to act on behalf of others and not to compete with them.
[CHAPTER 67]
Chapters 67, 68, and 69 should be read together as a unit.
The whole world says, I’m Great;
Great, yet unlike everyone else.
But it’s precisely because I’m unlike everyone else, that I’m therefore able to be Great.
Were I like everyone else, for a long time now I’d have seemed insignificant and small.
I constantly have three treasures;
Hold on to them and treasure them.
The first is compassion;
The second is frugality;
And the third is not presuming to be at the forefront in the world.
Now, it’s because I’m compassionate that I therefore can be courageous;
And it’s because I’m frugal that I therefore can be magnanimous;
And it’s because I don’t presume to be at the forefront in the world that I therefore can be the head of those with complete talent.
Now, if you abandon this compassion and yet try to be courageous,
And if you abandon this frugality and yet try to be magnanimous,
And if you abandon this staying behind and yet go to the fore,
Then you will die.
If with compassion you attack, then you’ll win;
If you defend, then you’ll stand firm.
When Heaven’s about to establish him,
It’s as though he surrounds him with the protective wall of compassion.
[CHAPTER 68]
Chapters 67, 68, and 69 should be read together as a unit.
Therefore, one who is good at being a warrior doesn’t make a show of his might;
One who is good in battle doesn’t get angry;
One who is good at defeating the enemy doesn’t engage him.
An
d one who is good at using men places himself below them.
This is called the virtue of not competing;
This is called correctly using men;
This is called matching Heaven. It’s the high point of the past.
[CHAPTER 69]
Chapters 67, 68, and 69 should be read together as a unit.
Those who use weapons have a saying which goes:
“I don’t presume to act like the host, and instead play the part of the guest;
I don’t advance an inch, but rather retreat a foot.”
This is called moving forward without moving forward—
Rolling up one’s sleeves without baring one’s arms—
Grasping firmly without holding a weapon—
And enticing to fight when there’s no opponent.
Of disasters, none is greater than thinking you have no rival.
To think you have no rival is to come close to losing my treasures.
Therefore, when weapons are raised and the opponents are fairly well matched,
Then it’s the one who feels grief that will win.
[CHAPTER 70]
My words are easy to understand,
And easy to put into practice.
Yet no one in the world can understand them,
And no one can put them into practice.
Now my words have an ancestor, and my deeds have a lord,
And it’s simply because people have no understanding of them, that they therefore don’t understand me.
But when those who understand me are few, then I’m of great value.
Therefore the Sage wears coarse woolen cloth, but inside it he holds on to jade.
[CHAPTER 71]
To know you don’t know is best.
Not to know you don’t know is a flaw.
Therefore, the Sage’s not being flawed
Stems from his recognizing a flaw as a flaw.
Therefore, he is flawless.
[CHAPTER 72]
When the people don’t respect those in power, then what they greatly fear is about to arrive.
Don’t narrow the size of the places in which they live;
Don’t oppress them in their means of livelihood.
It’s simply because you do not oppress them, that they therefore will not be fed up.
Therefore the Sage knows himself but doesn’t show himself;
He cherishes himself but doesn’t value himself.
For this reason, he rejects that and takes this.
[CHAPTER 73]
If you’re brave in being daring, you’ll be killed;
If you’re brave in not being daring, you’ll live.
With these two things, in one case there’s profit, in the other there’s harm.
The things Heaven hates—who knows why?
The Way of Heaven is not to fight yet to be good at winning—
Not to speak yet skillfully respond—
No one summons it, yet it comes on its own—
To be at ease yet carefully plan.
Heaven’s net is large and vast;
Its mesh may be coarse yet nothing slips through.
[CHAPTER 74]
If the people were constant in their behavior and yet did not fear death,
How could you use execution to intimidate them?
If you brought it about that the people were constant in their behavior and moreover feared death, and we took those who behaved in abnormal ways and killed them—who would dare act in this way?!
If the people are constant and moreover necessarily fear death, then we constantly have the one in charge of executions.
Now, killing people in place of the one in charge of executions, this is like cutting wood in place of the head carpenter.
And of those who cut wood in place of the head carpenter, very few do not hurt their hands!
[CHAPTER 75]
The reason why people starve,
Is because they take so much in tax-grain.
Therefore they starve.
The reason why the common people cannot be ruled,
Is because their superiors have their reasons for acting.
Therefore they cannot be ruled.
The reason why people take death lightly,
Is because they so avidly seek after life.
Therefore they take death lightly.
Only those who do not act for the purpose of living—
Only these are superior to those who value life.
[CHAPTER 76]
When people are born, they’re supple and soft;
When they die, they end up stretched out firm and rigid;
When the ten thousand things and grasses and trees are alive, they’re supple and pliant;
When they’re dead, they’re withered and dried out.
Therefore we say that the firm and rigid are companions of death,
While the supple, the soft, the weak, and the delicate are companions of life.
If a soldier is rigid, he won’t win;
If a tree is rigid, it will come to its end.
Rigidity and power occupy the inferior position;
Suppleness, softness, weakness, and delicateness occupy the superior position.
[CHAPTER 77]
The Way of Heaven is like the flexing of a bow.
The high it presses down; the low it raises up.
From those with a surplus it takes away; to those without enough it adds on.
Therefore the Way of Heaven—
Is to reduce the excessive and increase the insufficient;
The Way of Man—
Is to reduce the insufficient and offer more to the excessive.
Now, who is able to have a surplus and use it to offer to Heaven?
Clearly, it’s only the one who possesses the Way.
Therefore the Sage—
Takes actions but does not possess them;
Accomplishes his tasks but does not dwell on them.
Like this, is his desire not to make a display of his worthiness.
[CHAPTER 78]
In the whole world, nothing is softer and weaker than water.
And yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can beat it,
Because there is nothing you can use to replace it.
That water can defeat the unyielding—
That the weak can defeat the strong—
There is no one in the whole world who doesn’t know it,
And yet there is no one who can put it into practice.
For this reason, the words of the Sage say:
To take on yourself the disgrace of the state—this is called being the lord of the altars of earth and grain;
To assume responsibility for all ill-omened events in the state—this is called being the king of the world.
Correct words seem to say the reverse of what you expect them to say.
[CHAPTER 79]
To make peace where there has been great resentment, there is bound to be resentment left over.
How could this be regarded as good?
Therefore the Sage holds the right tally yet makes no demands of others.
For this reason, those who have virtue are in charge of the tally;
Those without virtue are in charge of the taxes.
The Way of Heaven has no favorites,
It’s always with the good man.
Virtue—3,041 characters
TAO
(THE WAY)
[CHAPTER 1]
As for the Way, the Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way;
As for names, the name that can be named is not the constant name.
The nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things;
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Therefore, those constantly without desires, by this means will perceive its subtlety.
Those constantly with desires, by this means will see only that which they yearn for and seek.
These two together eme
rge;
They have different names yet they’re called the same;
That which is even more profound than the profound—
The gateway of all subtleties.
[CHAPTER 2]
When everyone in the world knows the beautiful as beautiful, ugliness comes into being;
When everyone knows the good, then the not good comes to be.
The mutual production of being and nonbeing,
The mutual completion of difficult and easy,
The mutual formation of long and short,
The mutual filling of high and low,
The mutual harmony of tone and voice,
The mutual following of front and back—
These are all constants.
Therefore the Sage dwells in nonactive affairs and practices the wordless teaching.
The ten thousand things arise, but he doesn’t begin them;
He acts on their behalf, but he doesn’t make them dependent;
He accomplishes his tasks, but he doesn’t dwell on them;
It is only because he doesn’t dwell on them that they therefore do not leave him.
[CHAPTER 3]
By not elevating the worthy, you bring it about that people will not compete.
By not valuing goods that are hard to obtain, you bring it about that people will not act like thieves.
By not displaying the desirable you bring it about that people will not be confused.
Therefore, in the government of the Sage:
He empties their minds,
Lao-Tzu- Te-Tao Ching Page 5