The GNL Tao Te Ching. Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
Peter A. Merel. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published
by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope
that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a
copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not,
write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA
02139, USA. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991 Copyright (C)
1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139,
USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed. Preamble The licenses
for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change
it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee
your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software
is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of
the Free Software Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors
commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered
by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
your programs, too. When we speak of free software, we are referring to
freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure
that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge
for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in
new free programs; and that you know you can do these things. To protect
your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you
these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate
to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software,
or if you modify it. For example, if you distribute copies of such a program,
whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights
that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2)
offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute
and/or modify the software. Also, for each author's protection and ours,
we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty
for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and
passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the
original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on
the original authors' reputations. Finally, any free program is threatened
constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors
of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making
the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification
follow. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION
AND MODIFICATION 0. This License applies to any program or other work which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program",
below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the
Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright
law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either
verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
(Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".)
Each licensee is addressed as "you". Activities other than copying,
distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are
outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and
the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a
work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the
Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does. 1. You
may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as
you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately
publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty;
keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence
of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of
this License along with the Program. You may charge a fee for the physical
act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection
in exchange for a fee. 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program
or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy
and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above,
provided that you also meet all of these conditions: a) You must cause the
modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files
and the date of any change. b) You must cause any work that you distribute
or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program
or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
parties under the terms of this License. c) If the modified program normally
reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running
for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that
there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that
users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the
user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself
is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your work
based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.) These requirements
apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that
work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered
independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its
terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate
works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which
is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on
the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend
to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote
it. Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise
the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works
based on the Program. In addition, mere aggregation of another work not
based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program)
on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
work under the scope of this License. 3. You may copy and distribute the
Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable
form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do
one of the following: a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and
2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, b) Accompany
it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third
party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source
distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source
code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or, c) Accompany it with the
information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source
code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and
only if you received the program in object code or executable form with
such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) The source code for a
work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it.
For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for
all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files,
plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable.
However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include
anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form)
with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating
system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies
the executable. If distribution of executable or object code is made by
offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution
of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy
the source along with the object code. 4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense,
or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License.
Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program
is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties
remain in full compliance. 5. You are not required to accept this License,
since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission
to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions
are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying
or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program), you indicate
your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions
for copying, distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program),
the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor
to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions.
You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise
of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance
by third parties to this License. 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment
or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited
to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License,
they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License
and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute
the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free
redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or
indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and
this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any
particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply
and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents
or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims;
this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free
software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices.
Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software
distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of
that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose
that choice. This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed
to be a consequence of the rest of this License. 8. If the distribution
and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents
or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the
Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution
limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted
only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License
incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License. 9.
The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of
the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be
similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address
new problems or concerns. Each version is given a distinguishing version
number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License which
applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of
following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not
specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever
published by the Free Software Foundation. 10. If you wish to incorporate
parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions
are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which
is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software
Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be
guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives
of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software
generally. NO WARRANTY 11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE,
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH
YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE
LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY
WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES
SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE
WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Return to Start of Tao Te Ching
This document attempts to draw the texts of several popular English translations
of Lao Tse into a consistent and accessible context. It is based on the
translations of Robert G. Henricks, Lin Yutang, D.C. Lau, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu
Feng & Jane English, Richard Wilhelm and Aleister Crowley.
This work is not a translation, but an interpolation. It does not represent
the original text; the original, if there was an original, has been jumbled,
mistranscribed and reinterpreted many times over many thousands of years,
and is here cast into a language that is incapable of presenting its poetic
structure and philological connections.
Even an original text, translated as faithfully as possible, might remain
inaccessible to the modern reader unable to place it within its original
context. The intention of this work is to construct a document that closely
corresponds with the best modern translations of Lao Tse, but which is blunt,
easy and useful to read within a modern context.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Version Notes: | Copyright
Info
The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not real.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.
To experience without abstraction is to sense the world;
To experience with abstraction is to know the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.
Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.
When beauty is abstracted
Then ugliness has been implied;
When good is abstracted
Then evil has been implied.
So alive and dead are abstracted from nature,
Difficult and easy abstracted from progress,
Long and short abstracted from contrast,
High and low abstracted from depth,
Song and speech abstracted from melody,
After and before abstracted from sequence.
The sage experiences without abstraction,
And accomplishes without action;
He accepts the ebb and flow of things,
Nurtures them, but does not own them,
And lives, but does not dwell.
Not praising the worthy prevents contention,
Not esteeming the valuable prevents theft,
Not displaying the beautiful prevents desire.
In this manner the sage governs people:
Emptying their minds,
Filling their bellies,
Weakening their ambitions,
And strengthening their bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire
Then they can not act;
If no action is taken
Harmony remains.
The Way is a limitless vessel;
Used by the self, it is not filled by the world;
It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
I don't know where it comes from;
It comes before nature.
Nature is not kind;
It treats all things impartially.
The Sage is not kind,
And treats all people impartially.
Nature is like a bellows,
Empty, yet never ceasing its supply.
The more it moves, the more it yields;
So the sage draws upon experience
And cannot be exhausted.
Experience is a riverbed,
Its source hidden, forever flowing:
Its entrance, the root of the world,
The Way moves within it:
Draw upon it; it will not run dry.
Nature is complete because it does not serve itself.
The sage places himself after and finds himself before,
Ignores his desire and finds himself content.
He is complete because he does not serve himself.
The best of man is like water,
Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
Which flows in places that others disdain,
Where it is in harmony with the Way.
So the sage:
Lives within nature,
Thinks within the deep,
Gives within impartiality,
Speaks within trust,
Governs within order,
Crafts within ability,
Acts within opportunity.
He does not contend, and none contend against him.
Fill a cup to its brim and it is easily spilled;
Temper a sword to its hardest and it is easily broken;
Amass the greatest treasure and it is easily stolen;
Claim credit and honour and you easily fall;
Retire once your purpose is achieved - this is natural.
Embracing the Way, you become embraced;
Breathing gently, you become newborn;
Clearing your mind, you become clear;
Nurturing your children, you become impartial;
Opening your heart, you become accepted;
Accepting the world, you embrace the Way.
Bearing and nurturing,
Creating but not owning,
Giving without demanding,
This is harmony.
Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
Clay is moulded into a vessel;
Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
Walls are built around a hearth;
Because of the doors we may use the house.
Thus tools come from what exists,
But use from what does not.
Too much colour blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much play maddens the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.
In this manner the sage cares for people:
He provides for the belly, not for the senses;
He ignores abstraction and holds fast to substance.
Both praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self -
For, without self, to whom may fortune and disaster occur?
Therefore,
Who distinguishes himself from the world may be given the world,
But who regards himself as the world may accept the world.
Looked at but cannot be seen - it is beneath form;
Listened to but cannot be heard - it is beneath sound;
Held but cannot be touched - it is beneath feeling;
These depthless things evade definition,
And blend into a single mystery.
In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond description,
Lining what does not exist;
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name silence;
Follow it, it has no back,
Meet it, it has no face.
Attend the present to deal with the past;
Thus you grasp the continuity of the Way,
Which is its essence.
The enlightened possess understanding
So profound they can not be understood.
Because they cannot be understood
I can only describe their appearance:
Cautious as one crossing thin ice,
Undecided as one surrounded by danger,
Modest as one who is a guest,
Unbounded as melting ice,
Genuine as unshaped wood,
Broad as a valley,
Seamless as muddy water.
Who stills the water that the mud may settle,
Who seeks to stop that he may travel on,
Who desires less than what may transpire,
Decays, but will not renew.
Empty the self completely;
Embrace perfect peace.
The world will rise and move;
Watch it return to rest.
All the flourishing things
Will return to their source.
This return is peaceful;
It is the flow of nature,
An eternal decay and renewal.
Accepting this brings enlightenment,
Ignoring this brings misery.
Who accepts nature's flow becomes all-cherishing;
Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
Being magnanimous he becomes natural;
Being natural he becomes one with the Way;
Being one with the Way he becomes immortal:
Though his body will decay, the Way will not.
The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
The next best are loved and praised;
The next are feared;
The next despised:
They have no faith in their people,
And their people become unfaithful to them.
When the best rulers achieve their purpose
Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
When the Way is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.
When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion arise;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
If we could discard knowledge and wisdom
Then people would profit a hundredfold;
If we could discard duty and justice
Then harmonious relationships would form;
If we could discard artifice and profit
Then waste and theft would disappear.
Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
And so they are inadequate.
People need personal remedies:
Reveal your naked self and embrace your original nature;
Bind your self-interest and control your ambition;
Forget your habits and simplify your affairs.
What is the difference between assent and denial?
What is the difference between beautiful and ugly?
What is the difference between fearsome and afraid?
The people are merry as if at a magnificent party
Or playing in the park at springtime,
But I am tranquil and wandering,
Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
Alone, with no true home.
The people have enough and to spare,
Where I have nothing,
And my heart is foolish,
Muddled and cloudy.
The people are bright and certain,
Where I am dim and confused;
The people are clever and wise,
Where I am dull and ignorant;
Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
Attached to nothing.
The people are busy with purpose,
Where I am impractical and rough;
I do not share the peoples' cares
But I am fed at nature's breast.
Harmony is only in following the Way.
The Way is without form or quality,
But expresses all forms and qualities;
The Way is hidden and implicate,
But expresses all of nature;
The Way is unchanging,
But expresses all motion.
Beneath sensation and memory
The Way is the source of all the world.
How can I understand the source of the world?
By accepting.
Accept and you become whole,
Bend and you straighten,
Empty and you fill,
Decay and you renew,
Want and you acquire,
Fulfill and you become confused.
The sage accepts the world
As the world accepts the Way;
He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
Does not justify himself, so is recognized,
Does not boast, so is credited,
Does not pride himself, so endures,
Does not contend, so none contend against him.
The ancients said, "Accept and you become whole",
Once whole, the world is as your home.
Nature says only a few words:
High wind does not last long,
Nor does heavy rain.
If nature's words do not last
Why should those of man?
Who accepts harmony, becomes harmonious.
Who accepts loss, becomes lost.
For who accepts harmony, the Way harmonizes with him,
And who accepts loss, the Way cannot find.
Straighten yourself and you will not stand steady;
Display yourself and you will not be clearly seen;
Justify yourself and you will not be respected;
Promote yourself and you will not be believed;
Pride yourself and you will not endure.
These behaviours are wasteful, indulgent,
And so they attract disfavour;
Harmony avoids them.
There is a mystery,
Beneath abstraction,
Silent, depthless,
Alone, unchanging,
Ubiquitous and liquid,
The mother of nature.
It has no name, but I call it "the Way";
It has no limit, but I call it "limitless".
Being limitless, it flows away forever;
Flowing away forever, it returns to my self:
The Way is limitless,
So nature is limitless,
So the world is limitless,
And so I am limitless.
For I am abstracted from the world,
The world from nature,
Nature from the Way,
And the Way from what is beneath abstraction.
Gravity is the source of lightness,
Calm, the master of haste.
A lone traveller will journey all day, watching over his belongings;
Only safe in his own bed may he lose them in sleep.
So the captain of a great vessel should not act lightly or hastily.
Acting lightly, he loses sight of the world,
Acting hastily, he loses control of himself.
The captain can not treat his great ship as a small boat;
Rather than glitter like jade
He must stand like stone.
The perfect traveller leaves no trail to be followed;
The perfect speaker leaves no question to be answered;
The perfect accountant leaves no working to be completed;
The perfect container leaves no lock to be closed;
The perfect knot leaves no end to be ravelled.
So the sage nurtures all men
And abandons no one.
He accepts everything
And rejects nothing.
He attends to the smallest details.
For the strong must guide the weak;
The weak are raw material to the strong.
If the guide is not respected,
Or the material is not cared for,
Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
This is the secret of perfection:
When raw wood is carved, it becomes a tool;
When a man is employed, he becomes a tool;
The perfect carpenter leaves no wood to be carved.
Using the male, being female,
Being the entrance of the world,
You embrace harmony
And become as a newborn.
Using strength, being weak,
Being the root of the world,
You complete harmony
And become as unshaped wood.
Using the light, being dark,
Being the world,
You perfect harmony
And return to the Way.
Those who wish to change the world
According with their desire
Cannot succeed.
The world is shaped by the Way;
It cannot be shaped by the self.
Trying to change it, you damage it;
Trying to possess it, you lose it.
So some will lead, while others follow.
Some will be warm, others cold
Some will be strong, others weak.
Some will get where they are going
While others fall by the side of the road.
So the sage will be neither extravagant nor violent.
Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
For violence has a habit of returning;
Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
And lean years follow a great war.
A general is well advised
To achieve nothing more than his orders:
Not to take advantage of his victory.
Nor to glory, boast or pride himself;
To do what is dictated by necessity,
Not by choice.
For even the strongest force will weaken with time,
And then its violence will return, and kill it.
Armies are tools of violence;
They cause men to hate and fear.
The sage will not join them.
His purpose is creation;
Their purpose is destruction.
Weapons are tools of violence,
Not of the sage;
He uses them only when there is no choice,
And then calmly, and with tact,
For he finds no beauty in them.
Whoever finds beauty in weapons
Delights in the slaughter of men;
And who delights in slaughter
Cannot content himself with peace.
So slaughters must be mourned
And conquest celebrated with a funeral.
The Way has no true shape,
And therefore none can control it.
If a ruler could control the Way
All things would follow
In harmony with his desire,
And sweet rain would fall,
Effortlessly slaking every thirst.
The Way is shaped by use,
But then the shape is lost.
Do not hold fast to shapes
But let sensation flow into the world
As a river courses down to the sea.
Who understands the world is learned;
Who understands the self is enlightened.
Who conquers the world has strength;
Who conquers the self has harmony;
Who is determined has purpose.
Who is contented has wealth;
Who defends his home may long endure;
Who surrenders his home may long survive it.
The Way flows and ebbs, creating and destroying,
Implementing all the world, attending to the tiniest details,
Claiming nothing in return.
It nurtures all things,
Though it does not control them;
It has no intention,
So it seems inconsequential.
It is the substance of all things;
Though it does not control them;
It has no exception,
So it seems all-important.
The sage would not control the world;
He is in harmony with the world.
If you offer music and food
Strangers may stop with you;
But if you accord with the Way
All the people of the world will keep you
In safety, health, community, and peace.
The Way lacks art and flavour;
It can neither be seen nor heard,
But its benefit cannot be exhausted.
To reduce someone's influence, first expand it;
To reduce someone's force, first increase it;
To overthrow someone, first exalt them;
To take from someone, first give to them.
This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong:
Fish should not leave their depths,
And swords should not leave their scabbards.
The Way takes no action, but leaves nothing undone.
When you accept this
The world will flourish,
In harmony with nature.
Nature does not possess desire;
Without desire, the heart becomes quiet;
In this manner the whole world is made tranquil.