1

The right way followed

is not the only way.
The right name given
is not the only name.
"Nothing" names where Heaven & Earth begins.
"Being" names the mother of Ten Thousand Things.
Always be empty
and see mysteries.
Always be full
to see results.
The two arise from the same meaning
but they approach it as opposites;
the sameness speaks their mystery.
This mystery opens on a greater mystery;
the gateway to all mysteries.

All under Heaven know beauty qua beauty in things

in this is ugliness already.
All under Heaven know good qua goodness in things
in this is bad already.
Just so Being & Nothing birth the other;
Hard & Easy complete the other;
High & Low rely on the other;
Melody & Speech harmonize the other;
Before & After follow the other.
Just so the sage lives as if he knows nothing
and works as though he does nothing.
So ten thousand things emerge but are not explained;
are built but not kept;
develop but are not forecast;
are done but not dwelled on.
What is not dwelt on
never need be left.

Do not reward the worthy

and so avoid rivalry.
Do not prize the scarce
and so avoid thievery.
Do not flaunt luxury
and so encourage serenity.
Just so the sage governs:
by emptying hearts
& filling bellies;
 by weakening greed
& strengthening the bones
Keep the people free from needs & wants
so even the clever won't find fault and act.
Act by not acting
& order will result.

The way is emptiness

but remains full.
The abyss
Like a parent to the ten thousand things
it is blunt by sharpness;
loose by knots;
in shade of the glaring light;
the same as the world.
No one knows its lineage;
but we imagine it begat divinity.

Heaven & Earth don't care;

the ten thousand things are straw dogs.
The sage doesn't care;
the one hundred families are straw dogs.
The gap between Heaven & Earth
is like a bellows or a flute.
Empty but without limit:
when moved, it creates more.
The sum of all meaning is an outer limit;
better to stay in the middle.

The spirit of the valley is deathless;

call it the Dark Womb.
The gateway of the Dark Womb
is the root of Heaven & Earth.
Endless, continuous, hallucinatory;
in deed it remains easy.
7

Heaven lasts. The Earth lasts.

Their lives are not their own
so they go on living.
The sage goes last
and leads,
ignores himself,
and endures.
Is it not because he has no self-interest
that his self-interest is fulfilled?

Goodness is like water.

Water is good for the ten thousand things
but water does not strive.
It dwells in places held in contempt
and this way is close to the right way.
In dwelling goodness is in the place;
in mind goodness is in the depth;
in relationships goodness is care;
in speech goodness is sincerity;
in government goodness is in organization;
in trade goodness is in skill;
in movement goodness is in timing;
It is only when there is no strife
that there is no resentment.

A surplus of effort
is not as good as restraint.
A cup filled to the brim is easily spilled.
A blade honed too sharply is easily dulled.
A hall filled with coins and jade
is impossible to defend.
Pride in wealth and honors
leads only to bad luck.
If the work is done, retire the body
and so keep to the way of Heaven.
10

Can the shape of the soul be united

without also being separated?
Can the spirit be concentrated
to respond like an infant?
Can a vision of mysteries be wiped clean
without some stain?
Can care and lordship
not interfere?
Can a man work the gates of heaven
as women do?
Can knowledge be made clear & simple
without engaging the milieu?
Give birth with care;
forge and let go;
act without ends;
lead without ruling;
these are the powers of virtue.

11

Thirty spokes meet at an empty hub;

the wheel's use depends on what does not exist.
Clay is molded into an empty vase;
the vessel's use depends on what does not exist.
Cut out doors and windows to make a dwelling;
the dwelling's use depends on what does not exist.
Value requires being;
Use requires nothing.

12

The five colors blind the eye;

the five sounds deafen the ear;
the five flavors jade the tongue.
The vain racer's thrill and vain hunter's sport
inflame the heart with madness.
Rare treasures
obstruct human progress.
This is why the sage
favors the belly but not the eye;
ignores that and chooses this.
13

Praise & blame are equal frights.

Glory in great trouble; it is life.
Praise & blame are equal frights?
praise allows disappointment
to gain praise is a warning.
and to lose praise is a warning.
thus Praise & blame are equal frights.
Great trouble is life?
Great trouble assumes that we are.
if we were not, what trouble could we find?
So to regard as oneself
to the works of the world
means to deserve to live in it.
To attend as oneself
to the works of the world
means to deserve to care for it.

14

Look but do not see; say it's invisible

Listen but do not hear; say it's inaudible.
Reach but do not grasp; say it's intangible.
These three evade description
so they are confused for a singularity.
The way is bright in high places.
It is dark in low places.
The thread from high to low
and from bright to dark is continuous.
There is no line of division.
A form without edges,
a blank picture,
a silent name.
Encounter it and it has no head.
Follow it and it has no tail.
The way was in the past so it is now.
Grasp the ancient beginning of the way
and maybe you can follow it to the end.
15

The sages of the past

were like the way that they followed;
difficult to grasp and subtle in their acts.
This is only how they appeared:
cautious as one crossing a river on slippery stones;
paranoid as a soldier in enemy lands;
polite as guests of the world.
They flowed like a melting glacier,
authentic like uncut wood,
broad like a mountain water shed,
seamless like a river and its mud flats.
Who is able like cloudy water so to become
progressively clear by degrees?
Who is able to remain at rest so to move
spontaneously with permanent vigor?

Only one who does not long for fullness is full;

Not expecting, the sage is present and lives;
Remaining obscure, he welcomes all things.

16

Be empty
and find peace.
Ten thousand things arise together
and in this we see the return
of the multitude as it comes
to rest at its roots.
Serenity is the return to roots;
the higher order of decay and renewal.
In this is endurance.
In contemplating that which endures
the sage finds greater clarity in love.
In love he becomes fair;
in fairness he becomes a gift
as a gift he embraces the gift of the world
and joining the world is the way
of heaven then continuous.
In this the death of the self is nothing to fear.
17

The sage leader is little known.

The next to him is loved and praised.
The next is feared.
The next is hated.
Trust without a root
is no trust.
The work of the sage leader
is the work of the people.

18.

The way not followed

gives way to goodness.
In this the failing intellect
gives way to hypocrisy.

The relations of family unbalanced

give way to duty.
The nation in turmoil
gives way to patriotism.

19

Get rid of holiness and wisdom

and people will be much happier.
Don't worry about doing the greatest good
and people will do the right thing.
Get rid of profit and wealth
and people will never be thieves.
These might make things better
but they are not healthy ball of roots.
There needs to be a purpose to grow from:
Look to the ordinary and stay out of the way
the rest will take care of itself.

20

Execute the scholars and with them go their problems.

There is no distance between yes and no.
The good is not distinct from the bad
A value demands unecessary awe.
There is no end to argument.
It's nonsense.

Others grow excited

as though this were a holiday.
I alone am unmoved
my face like an infant
before it learns to smile.

Others grow fat on the surplus

as though famine will never come.
I alone have nothing;
I drift on my feet like a man
with no home to return to;
an idiot, empty of thoughts.

Others are in the sunlight

I alone abide in gloom.
Others are sharp,
I alone am dull.
Others know their purposes,
I alone am ignorant.
I drift like a wave on the sea.
I blow like a leaf on the wind.

Everyone else is busy,

full of reasons to be here or there.
I alone am other than them
suckling the breast of the world.

21.

The true sage's bearing

is simply the right way.
If you look at the way
it is only vague and shapeless.
yet at the center it has shape
the seed of being in the arcane.
The seed is real, its center is truth.

Before anything, before anytime was the way

beyond Being and Nothing.
How do I know this?
It is there.

22.

Become whole
by being a part.
Become straight
by being bent.
Become new
by being worn.
Become full
by being empty.
Become reborn
by being dead.
Have everything
by forsaking everything.

The sage lives in the single way

a model for all things.
Hidden so that he may be seen.
Distinguished in modesty.
Trusted because he has nothing to prove.
Unknown and so recognized in oneself.
It is only by not struggling
that nothing struggles against you.
The ancient sages said: "If you want everything, give everything up."
These were not empty words.
Only when the way lives you may you live the way.

23. The world doesn't talk a lot.

Blowing winds will still
and a heavy rain soon goes quiet.
If the world talks little, people should as well.

Watch the way.

Be the way to follow the way.
Be wisdom to learn wisdom.
Be loss to accept loss.

Where there is no basic truth

there is no truth at all.

24.

One who stands on tip toe is not grounded well.

One who takes long strides does not progress with ease.
One who shows himself off is not seen clearly.
One who raises himself up does not rise high.
One who has pride does not inspire much.
One who clings to glory will not last.

The way does not indulge itself,

keep the way and let go.

25.

In chaos something was perfect

before the world.
Serene and empty.
Alone and unchanging.
It is the mother of the world.
Not knowing what to call it
we call it the way.
To say more we say there is no end
without an end the journey continues.
The journey continues beyond
and once beyond it returns.
This is how the way is beyond limits
Heaven is without limit, the Earth is without limit
and freedom too is without limit.
Between the horizons there are four kinds of limitlessness
and freedom has it's place among these.
People take the earth as law
the Earth takes heaven as law
Heaven takes the way as law
The way takes itself as law.

26.

The heavy roots the light

Stillness is the mastery of haste.
So the sage journeys all day
without leaving home.
Though there are splendid vistas
he sits calmly above it.
So it is that no great leader
acts for no reason.
Frivolity is rootless.
Haste is slavery.

27.

The wanderer who leaves no trace

and follows no map,
The orator who leaves no record
and follows no plan,
The alchemist who leaves no theory
and follows no rule.
The best seal uses no barrier
but does not open with ease.
The best tie uses no knot
but is not easily loosed.

Thus the sage is open to all mankind

and foresakes none.
He is skilled in all things
and wastes no effort in practice.
This is the secret of wisdom.
What is a skill but an ignorant man's example?
What is ignorance but a skilled man's mission?
Forget this and you will be lost
no matter how smart you are.
This is the secret mystery.

28.

Know man
and be woman:
take the world like a babe in arms.
Take the world as it is;
the way will remain
and you will remain a child.

Know brightness
and be dark:
a shadow of the world.
The Shadow of the world;
the way does not waver
and you will be limitless.

Know honor
and be humble:
remain open to the world.
Open to the world;
the way is enough
and you will be real.

The real is divided and made into fetishes

The sage uses such things
and prospers;
just so the wisest divides little.

29.

Improving the world never ends

The world is a vessel of spirit
not suited to “improvement.”

To interfere is to despoil,
to grasp is to lose hold.

And so sometimes leaders sometimes follow

sometimes the hale sometimes tire
sometimes the fit sometimes enfeeble
sometimes the oppressed sometimes revolt
Sages avoid extremes;
superfluous and extravagant.

30.

The way may be used as a rule

without force.
Effort causes resistance.
Violence begets violence.
War is followed by famine.

The sage succeeds

then stops.
He does nothing forceful.
Success is without glory;
success is without aggression;
success is without arrogance;
success is without completion;
success is without dominance.
A strong man grows frail
when he leaves the way
and in leaving is finished.

31.

Even the finest arms remain tools of violence;

they are detested by decent men.
A sage does not linger with them.
The use of weapons is an ill omen;
the sage is loathe to take up arms.
When forced into conflict
the sage is calm and takes no joy in it.
There is no beauty in triumph;
those drawn to victory delight in slaughter.
Those who delight in slaughter
are not fit tools for any end.
Victory comes of slaughter;
in triumph only mourning
and funereal lament.

32.

The way is formless, and void.

Small before time, it is still infinite.
A leader who could contain it
would be unopposed in rule.
In the way Heaven and Earth combine
and send down the sweet dew;
undirected it reaches everything
on its own.
In action it has a name;
named, it can be solace;
in solace, there are no mistakes.
All the world flows from the way
as great seas flow from small mountain streams.

33

He who knows others is smart;

he who knows himself is wise;
he who masters others is strong;
he who masters himself is powerful;
he who is happy with his lot has wealth;
he who moves without effort has purpose;
he who abides in his place endures;
he who dies and yet does not perish has life.

34

The way is a deluge

that floods all things.
Ten thousand things rely on this for life
but seek no explanation.
Its work is without effort, care, or distinction.
In it the ten thousand things are clothed
but it does not demand fealty.
All things return to their roots and vanish
but do not know the way requires this.
Just so is the sage capable of great things
as he avoids greatness altogether.

35

Grasp the way

and go as you please in safety;
be in harmony with the world
even where there is great pain
when you have found inner peace.

The way seems artless and bland,

boorish and disheveled;
but it is endlessly useful.