THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS

THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS

CHARACTERISTICS

71. 1. To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest

(attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease.

2. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this

disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease.

He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he

does not have it.

72. 1. When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which

is their great dread will come on them.

2. Let them not thoughtlessly indulge themselves in their ordinary

life; let them not act as if weary of what that life depends on.

3. It is by avoiding such indulgence that such weariness does not

arise.

4. Therefore the sage knows (these things) of himself, but does not

parade (his knowledge); loves, but does not (appear to set a) value

on, himself. And thus he puts the latter alternative away and makes

choice of the former.

73. 1. He whose boldness appears in his daring (to do wrong, in

defiance of the laws) is put to death; he whose boldness appears in

his not daring (to do so) lives on. Of these two cases the one

appears to be advantageous, and the other to be injurious. But

When Heaven's anger smites a man,

Who the cause shall truly scan?

On this account the sage feels a difficulty (as to what to do in the

former case).

2. It is the way of Heaven not to strive, and yet it skilfully

overcomes; not to speak, and yet it is skilful in (obtaining a reply;

does not call, and yet men come to it of themselves. Its

demonstrations are quiet, and yet its plans are skilful and effective.

The meshes of the net of Heaven are large; far apart, but letting

nothing escape.

74. 1. The people do not fear death; to what purpose is it to (try to)

frighten them with death? If the people were always in awe of death,

and I could always seize those who do wrong, and put them to death,

who would dare to do wrong?

2. There is always One who presides over the infliction death. He

who would inflict death in the room of him who so presides over it may

be described as hewing wood instead of a great carpenter. Seldom

is it that he who undertakes the hewing, instead of the great

carpenter, does not cut his own hands!

75. 1. The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes

consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer

famine.

2. The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive)

agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this

that they are difficult to govern.

3. The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their

labours in seeking for the means of living. It is this which makes

them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of

living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on

it.

76. 1. Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and

strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early

growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.

2. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of

death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.

3. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not

conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms,

(and thereby invites the feller.)

4. Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that

of what is soft and weak is above.

77. 1. May not the Way (or Tao) of Heaven be compared to the

(method of) bending a bow? The (part of the bow) which was high is

brought low, and what was low is raised up. (So Heaven) diminishes

where there is superabundance, and supplements where there is

deficiency.

2. It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to

supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes

away from those who have not enough to add to his own

superabundance.

3. Who can take his own superabundance and therewith serve all

under heaven? Only he who is in possession of the Tao!

4. Therefore the (ruling) sage acts without claiming the results as

his; he achieves his merit and does not rest (arrogantly) in it:--he

does not wish to display his superiority.

78. 1. There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water,

and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing

that can take precedence of it;--for there is nothing (so effectual)

for which it can be changed.

2. Every one in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and

the weak the strong, but no one is able to carry it out in practice.

3. Therefore a sage has said,

'He who accepts his state's reproach,

Is hailed therefore its altars' lord;

To him who bears men's direful woes

They all the name of King accord.'

4. Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical.

79. 1. When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a

great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind

of the one who was wrong). And how can this be beneficial (to the

other)?

2. Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand

portion of the record of the engagement, and does not insist on the

(speedy) fulfilment of it by the other party. (So), he who has the

attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the

engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the

conditions favourable to himself.

3. In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always

on the side of the good man.

80. 1. In a little state with a small population, I would so order it,

that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a

hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make

the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove

elsewhere (to avoid it).

2. Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no

occasion to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp

weapons, they should have no occasion to don or use them.

3. I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead

of the written characters).

4. They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes

beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common

(simple) ways sources of enjoyment.

5. There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices

of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I

would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any

intercourse with it.

81. 1. Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those

who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the

disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not

extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.

2. The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he

expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more

that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.

3. With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with

all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.