Tao Te Ching
Page 3
Thus sacrificial offerings made by sons and grandsons
will never end.
Cultivated in the person, integrity is true.
Cultivated in the family, integrity is ample.
Cultivated in the village, integrity lasts long.
Cultivated in the state, integrity is abundant.
Cultivated everywhere under heaven, integrity is vast.
Observe other persons through your own person.
Observe other families through your own family.
Observe other villages through your own village.
Observe other states through your own state.
Observe all under heaven through all under heaven.
How do I know the nature of all under heaven?
Through this.
18
(55)
He who embodies the fullness of integrity
is like a ruddy infant.
Wasps, spiders, scorpions, and snakes
will not sting or bite him;
Rapacious birds and fierce beasts
will not seize him.
His bones are weak and his sinews soft,
yet his grip is tight.
He knows not the joining of male and female,
yet his penis is aroused.
His essence has reached a peak.
He screams the whole day without becoming hoarse;
His harmony has reached perfection.
Harmony implies constancy;
Constancy requires insight.
Striving to increase one’s life is ominous;
To control the vital breath with one’s mind entails force.
Something that grows old while still in its prime
is said to be not in accord with the Way;
Not being in accord with the Way
leads to an early demise.
19
(56)
One who knows does not speak;
One who speaks does not know.
He
Stopples the openings of his heart,
Closes his doors,
Diffuses the light,
Mingles with the dust,
Files away his sharp points,
Unravels his tangles.
This is called “mysterious identity.”
Therefore,
Neither can one attain intimacy with him,
Nor can one remain distant from him;
Neither can one profit from him,
Nor can one be harmed by him;
Neither can one achieve honor through him,
Nor can one be debased by him.
Therefore,
He is esteemed by all under heaven.
20
(57)
Rule the state with uprightness,
Deploy your troops with craft,
Gain all under heaven with noninterference.
How do I know this is actually so?
Now,
The more taboos under heaven,
the poorer the people;
The more clever devices people have,
the more confused the state and ruling house;
The more knowledge people have,
the more strange things spring up;
The more legal affairs are given prominence,
the more numerous bandits and thieves.
For this reason,
The sage has a saying:
“I take no action,
yet the people transform themselves;
I am fond of stillness,
yet the people correct themselves;
I do not interfere in affairs,
yet the people enrich themselves;
I desire not to desire,
yet the people of themselves become
simple as unhewn logs.”
21
(58)
When government is anarchic,
the people are honest;
When government is meddlesome,
the state is lacking.
Disaster is that whereon good fortune depends,
Good fortune is that wherein disaster lurks.
Who knows their limits?
When there is no uprightness,
correct reverts to crafty,
good reverts to gruesome.
The delusion of mankind,
How long have been its days!
For this reason, be
Square but not cutting,
Angular but not prickly,
Straight but not arrogant,
Bright but not dazzling.
22
(59)
To rule men and serve heaven,
there is nothing like thrift.
Now,
Only through thrift
can one be prepared;
Being prepared
means having a heavy store of integrity;
With a heavy store of integrity,
he can overcome everything.
Able to overcome everything,
no one knows his limits;
If no one knows his limits,
he can have the kingdom;
Having the mother of the kingdom,
he can long endure.
This is called “sinking roots firm and deep,
the Way of long life and lasting vision.”
23
(60)
Ruling a big kingdom is like cooking a small fish.
If one oversees all under heaven in accord with the Way,
demons have no spirit.
It is not that the demons have no spirit,
but that their spirits do not harm people.
It is not merely that their spirits do not harm people,
but that the sage also does not harm them.
Now,
When neither harms the other,
integrity accrues to both.
24
(61)
A large state is like a low-lying estuary,
the female of all under heaven.
In the congress of all under heaven,
the female always conquers the male through her stillness.
Because she is still,
it is fitting for her to lie low.
By lying beneath a small state,
a large state can take over a small state.
By lying beneath a large state,
a small state can be taken over by a large state.
Therefore,
One may either take over or be taken over by lying low.
Therefore,
The large state wishes only to annex and nurture others;
The small state wants only to join with and serve others.
Now,
Since both get what they want,
It is fitting for the large state to lie low.
25
(62)
The Way is the cistern of the myriad creatures;
It is the treasure of the good man,
And that which is treasured by the bad man.
Beautiful words can be traded,
Noble deeds can be used as gifts for others.
Why should we reject even what is bad about men?
Therefore,
When the son of heaven is enthroned
or the three ministers are installed,
Although they may have large jade disks
And be preceded by teams of four horses,
It would be better for them to sit down
and make progress in this.
What was the reason for the ancients
to value this so highly?
Did they not say:
“Seek and thou shalt receive;
Sin and thou shalt be forgiven”?
Therefore,
It is valued by all under heaven.
26
(63)
Act through nonaction,
Handle affairs through noninterference,
Taste what has no taste,
Regard the small as great, the few as many,
Repay resentment with integrity.
Undertake difficult tasks
by approaching what is easy in them;
Do great deeds
by focusing on their minute aspects.
All difficulties under heaven arise from what is easy,
All great things under heaven arise from what is minute.
For this reason,
The sage never strives to do what is great.
Therefore,
He can achieve greatness.
One who lightly assents
will seldom be believed;
One who thinks everything is easy
will encounter much difficulty.
For this reason,
Even the sage considers things difficult.
Therefore,
In the end he is without difficulty.
27
(64)
What is secure is easily grasped,
What has no omens is easily forestalled,
What is brittle is easily split,
What is minuscule is easily dispersed.
Act before there is a problem;
Bring order before there is disorder.
A tree that fills the arms’ embrace
is born from a downy shoot;
A terrace nine layers high
starts from a basketful of earth;
An ascent of a hundred strides
begins beneath one’s foot.
Who acts fails;
Who grasps loses.
For this reason,
The sage does not act.
Therefore,
He does not fail.
He does not grasp.
Therefore,
He does not lose.
In pursuing their affairs,
people often fail when they are close to success.
Therefore,
If one is as cautious at the end as at the beginning,
there will be no failures.
For this reason,
The sage desires to be without desire
and does not prize goods that are hard to obtain;
He learns not to learn
and reverts to what the masses pass by.
Thus, he can help the myriad creatures be natural,
but dares not act.
28
(65)
The ancients who practiced the Way
did not enlighten the people with it;
They used it, rather, to stupefy them.
The people are hard to rule
because they have too much knowledge.
Therefore,
Ruling a state through knowledge is to rob the state;
Ruling a state through ignorance
brings integrity to the state.
One who is always mindful of these two types
grasps a paradigm;
Mindfulness of this paradigm is called “mysterious integrity.”
Deep and distant is this mysterious integrity!
It runs counter to things
until it reaches the great confluence.
29
(66)
The river and sea can be kings of
the hundred valley streams
because they are good at lying below them.
For this reason,
They can be kings of the hundred valley streams.
For this reason, too,
If the sage wants to be above the people,
in his words, he must put himself below them;
If he wishes to be before the people,
in his person, he must stand behind them.
/> Therefore,
He is situated in front of the people,
but they are not offended;
He is situated above the people,
but they do not consider him a burden.
All under heaven happily push him forward without
wearying.
Is this not because he is without contention?
Therefore,
No one under heaven can contend with him.
30
(80)
Let there be a small state with few people,
where military devices find no use;
Let the people look solemnly upon death,
and banish the thought of moving elsewhere.
They may have carts and boats,
but there is no reason to ride them;
They may have armor and weapons,
but they have no reason to display them.
Let the people go back to tying knots
to keep records.
Let their food be savory,