THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS

THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS

CHARACTERISTICS

PART II.

38. 1. (Those who) possessed in highest degree the attributes (of the

Tao) did not (seek) to show them, and therefore they possessed them

(in fullest measure). (Those who) possessed in a lower degree those

attributes (sought how) not to lose them, and therefore they did not

possess them (in fullest measure).

2. (Those who) possessed in the highest degree those attributes did

nothing (with a purpose), and had no need to do anything. (Those

who) possessed them in a lower degree were (always) doing, and

had need to be so doing.

3. (Those who) possessed the highest benevolence were (always

seeking) to carry it out, and had no need to be doing so. (Those who)

possessed the highest righteousness were (always seeking) to carry

it out, and had need to be so doing.

4. (Those who) possessed the highest (sense of) propriety were

(always seeking) to show it, and when men did not respond to it, they

bared the arm and marched up to them.

5. Thus it was that when the Tao was lost, its attributes appeared;

when its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared; when

benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared; and when

righteousness was lost, the proprieties appeared.

6. Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good

faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension

is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.

7. Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews

what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is

thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.

39. 1. The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are--

Heaven which by it is bright and pure;

Earth rendered thereby firm and sure;

Spirits with powers by it supplied;

Valleys kept full throughout their void

All creatures which through it do live

Princes and kings who from it get

The model which to all they give.

All these are the results of the One (Tao).

2. If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend;

If earth were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend;

Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail;

If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale;

Without that life, creatures would pass away;

Princes and kings, without that moral sway,

However grand and high, would all decay.

3. Thus it is that dignity finds its (firm) root in its (previous)

meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness (from

which it rises). Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,'

'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without a nave.' Is not this

an acknowledgment that in their considering themselves mean they

see the foundation of their dignity? So it is that in the enumeration of

the different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it

answer the ends of a carriage. They do not wish to show themselves

elegant-looking as jade, but (prefer) to be coarse-looking as an

(ordinary) stone.

40. 1. The movement of the Tao

By contraries proceeds;

And weakness marks the course

Of Tao's mighty deeds.

2. All things under heaven sprang from It as existing (and named);

that existence sprang from It as non-existent (and not named).

41. 1. Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao,

earnestly carry it into practice. Scholars of the middle class, when

they have heard about it, seem now to keep it and now to lose it.

Scholars of the lowest class, when they have heard about it, laugh

greatly at it. If it were not (thus) laughed at, it would not be fit

to be the Tao.

2. Therefore the sentence-makers have thus expressed themselves:--

'The Tao, when brightest seen, seems light to lack;

Who progress in it makes, seems drawing back;

Its even way is like a rugged track.

Its highest virtue from the vale doth rise;

Its greatest beauty seems to offend the eyes;

And he has most whose lot the least supplies.

Its firmest virtue seems but poor and low;

Its solid truth seems change to undergo;

Its largest square doth yet no corner show

A vessel great, it is the slowest made;

Loud is its sound, but never word it said;

A semblance great, the shadow of a shade.'

3. The Tao is hidden, and has no name; but it is the Tao which is

skilful at imparting (to all things what they need) and making them

complete.

42. 1. The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced

Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the

Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace

the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are

harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy.

2. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as

carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which

kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are

increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being

increased.

3. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong

do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my

teaching.

43. 1. The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes

the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where

there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing

nothing (with a purpose).

2. There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without

words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

44. 1. Or fame or life,

Which do you hold more dear?

Or life or wealth,

To which would you adhere?

Keep life and lose those other things;

Keep them and lose your life:--which brings

Sorrow and pain more near?

2. Thus we may see,

Who cleaves to fame

Rejects what is more great;

Who loves large stores

Gives up the richer state.

3. Who is content

Needs fear no shame.

Who knows to stop

Incurs no blame.

From danger free

Long live shall he.

45. 1. Who thinks his great achievements poor

Shall find his vigour long endure.

Of greatest fulness, deemed a void,

Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.

Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;

Thy greatest art still stupid seem,

And eloquence a stammering scream.

2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity

and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

46. 1. When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift

horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the

world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.

2. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity

greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than

the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is

an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.

47. 1. Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes

place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees

the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the

less he knows.

2. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave

their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished

their ends without any purpose of doing so.

48. 1. He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to

increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks)

from day to day to diminish (his doing).

2. He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing

nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action,

there is nothing which he does not do.

3. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself

no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he

is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.

49. 1. The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind

of the people his mind.

2. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are

not good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To

those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are

not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be

sincere.

3. The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps

his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their

eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his

children.

50. 1. Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die.

2. Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three

are ministers of death.

3. There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose

movements tend to the land (or place) of death. And for what reason?

Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.

4. But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life

entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun

rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff

coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into

which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws,

nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason?

Because there is in him no place of death.