by Lao Tzu
their clothes beautiful,
their customs pleasurable,
their dwellings secure.
Though they may gaze across at a neighboring state,
and hear the sounds of its dogs and chickens,
The people will never travel back and forth,
till they die of old age.
31
(81)
Sincere words are not beautiful,
Beautiful words are not sincere.
He who knows is not learned,
He who is learned does not know.
He who is good does not have much,
He who has much is not good.
The sage does not hoard.
The more he does for others,
the more he has himself;
The more he gives to others,
the more his own bounty increases.
Therefore,
The Way of heaven benefits but does not harm,
The Way of man acts but does not contend.
32
(67)
All under heaven say that I am great,
great but unconventional.
Now,
Precisely because I am unconventional,
I can be great;
If I were conventional,
I would long since have become a trifle.
I have always possessed three treasures
that I guard and cherish.
The first is compassion,
The second is frugality,
The third is not daring to be ahead of all under heaven.
Now,
Because I am compassionate,
I can be brave;
Because I am frugal,
I can be magnanimous;
Because I dare not be ahead of all under heaven,
I can be a leader in the completion of affairs.
If, today, I were to
Be courageous while forsaking compassion,
Be magnanimous while forsaking frugality,
Get ahead while forsaking the hindmost,
that would be death!
For compassion
In war brings victory,
In defense brings invulnerability.
Whomsoever heaven would establish,
It surrounds with a bulwark of compassion.
33
(68)
A good warrior is not bellicose,
A good fighter does not anger,
A good conqueror does not contest his enemy,
One who is good at using others puts himself below them.
This is called “integrity without competition,”
This is called “using others,”
This is called “parity with heaven,”
—the pinnacle of the ancients.
34
(69)
The strategists have a saying:
“I dare not be host,
but would rather be guest;
I advance not an inch,
but instead retreat a foot.”
This is called
Marching without ranks,
Bearing nonexistent arms,
Flourishing nonexistent weapons,
Driving back nonexistent enemies.
There is no greater misfortune
than not having a worthy foe;
Once I believe there are no worthy foes,
I have well-nigh forfeited my treasures.
Therefore,
When opposing forces are evenly matched,
The one who is saddened will be victorious.
35
(70)
My words are
very easy to understand,
very easy to practice.
But no one is able to understand them,
And no one is able to practice them.
Words have authority.
Affairs have an ancestry.
It is simply because of their ignorance,
that they do not understand me;
Those who understand me are few,
thus I am ennobled.
For this reason,
The sage wears coarse clothing over his shoulders,
but carries jade within his bosom.
36
(71)
To realize that you do not understand is a virtue;
Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
The reason why
The sage has no defects,
Is because he treats defects as defects.
Thus,
He has no defects.
37
(72)
When the people do not fear the majestic,
Great majesty will soon visit them.
Do not limit their dwellings,
Do not suppress their livelihood.
Simply because you do not suppress them,
they will not grow weary of you.
For this reason,
The sage is self-aware,
but does not flaunt himself;
He is self-devoted,
but does not glorify himself.
Therefore,
He rejects the one and adopts the other.
38
(73)
He who is brave in daring will be killed,
He who is brave in not daring will survive.
One of these two courses is beneficial,
The other is harmful.
Who knows the reason for heaven’s dislikes?
The Way of heaven
does not war
yet is good at conquering,
does not speak
yet is good at answering,
is not summoned
yet comes of itself,
is relaxed
yet good at making plans.
Heaven’s net is vast;
Though its meshes are wide,
nothing escapes.
39
(74)
If the people never fear death,
what is the purpose of threatening to kill them?
If the people ever fear death,
and I were to capture and kill those who are devious,
who would dare to be so?
If the people must be ever fearful of death,
then there will always be an executioner.
Now,
To kill in place of the executioner
Is like
Hewing wood in place of the master carpenter;
Few indeed will escape cutting their own hands!
40
(75)
Human hunger
is the result of overtaxation.
For this reason,
There is hunger.
The common people are not governable
because of their superiors’ actions.
For this reason,
They are not governable.
The people make light of death
because of too much emphasis on the quest for life.
For this reason,
They make light of death.
Now,
Only she who acts not for the sake of life
Is wiser than those who value life highly.
41
(76)
Human beings are
soft and supple when alive,
stiff and straight when dead.
The myriad creatures, the grasses and trees are
soft and fragile when alive,
dry and withered when dead.
Therefore, it is said:
The rigid person is a disciple of death;
The soft, supple, and delicate are lovers of life.
An army that is inflexible will not conquer;
A tree that is inflexible will snap.
The unyielding and mighty shall be brought low;
The soft, supple, and delicate will be set above.
42
(77)
The Way of heaven is like the bending of a bow—
the upper part is pressed down,
the lower part is raised up,
the part that has too much is reduced,
the part that has too little is increased.
Therefore,
The Way of heaven
reduces surplus to make up for scarcity;
The Way of man
reduces scarcity and pays tribute to surplus.
Who is there that can have a surplus
and take from it to pay tribute to heaven?
Surely only one who has the Way!
For this reason,
The sage
acts but does not possess,
completes his work but does not dwell on it.
In this fashion,
he has no desire to display his worth.
43
(78)
Nothing under heaven is softer or weaker than water,
and yet nothing is better
for attacking what is hard and strong,
because of its immutability.
The defeat of the hard by the soft,
The defeat of the strong by the weak—
this is known to all under heaven,
yet no one is able to practice it.
Therefore, in the words of the sage, it is said:
“He who bears abuse directed against the state
is called ‘lord of the altars for the gods of soil and grain’;
He who bears the misfortunes of the state
is called the ‘king of all under heaven.’ ”
True words seem contradictory.
44
(79)
Compromise with great resentment
will surely yield lingering resentment;
How can this be seen as good?
For this reason,
The sage holds the debtor’s side of a contract
and does not make claims upon others.
Therefore,
The man of integrity attends to his debts;
The man without integrity attends to his exactions.
The Way of heaven is impartial,
yet is always with the good person.
THE WAY
45
(1)
The ways that can be walked are not the eternal Way;
The names that can be named are not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of the myriad creatures;
The named is the mother of the myriad creatures.
Therefore,
Always be without desire
in order to observe its wondrous subtleties;
Always have desire
so that you may observe its manifestations.
Both of these derive from the same source;
They have different names but the same designation.
Mystery of mysteries,
The gate of all wonders!
46
(2)
When all under heaven know beauty as beauty,
already there is ugliness;
When everyone knows goodness,
this accounts for badness.
Being and nonbeing give birth to each other,
Difficult and easy complete each other,
Long and short form each other,
High and low fulfill each other,
Tone and voice harmonize with each other,
Front and back follow each other—
it is ever thus.
For these reasons,
The sage
dwells in affairs of nonaction,
carries out a doctrine without words.
He lets the myriad creatures rise up
but does not instigate them;
He acts
but does not presume;
He completes his work
but does not dwell on it.
Now,
Simply because he does not dwell on them,
his accomplishments never leave him.
47
(3)
Not exalting men of worth
prevents the people from competing;
Not putting high value on rare goods
prevents the people from being bandits;
Not displaying objects of desire
prevents the people from being disorderly.
For these reasons,