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Chapter 2  
     
31.
  
1.
 Now arms, however beautiful, are instruments of evil omen, hateful, it may be said, to all creatures.
2.
 Therefore they who have the Tao do not like to employ them.
3.
 The superior man ordinarily considers the left hand the most honourable place, but in time of war the right hand.
4.
 Those sharp weapons are instruments of evil omen, and not the instruments of the superior man;--
5.
 he uses them only on the compulsion of necessity.
6.
 Calm and repose are what he prizes; victory (by force of arms) is to him undesirable.
7.
 To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men;
8.
 and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.
9.
 On occasions of festivity to be on the left hand is the prized position;
10.
 on occasions of mourning, the right hand.
11.
 The second in command of the army has his place on the left;
12.
 the general commanding in chief has his on the right;--
13.
 his place, that is, is assigned to him as in the rites of mourning.
14.
 He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief;
15.
 and the victor in battle has his place (rightly) according to those rites.
 
32.
  
1.
 The Tao, considered as unchanging, has no name.
2.
 Though in its primordial simplicity it may be small, the whole world dares not deal with (one embodying) it as a minister.
3.
 If a feudal prince or the king could guard and hold it, all would spontaneously submit themselves to him.
4.
 Heaven and Earth (under its guidance) unite together and send down the sweet dew,
5.
 which, without the directions of men, reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord.
6.
 As soon as it proceeds to action, it has a name.
7.
 When it once has that name, (men) can know to rest in it.
8.
 When they know to rest in it, they can be free from all risk of failure and error.
9.
 The relation of the Tao to all the world is like that of the great rivers and seas to the streams from the valleys.
 
33.
  
1.
 He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent.
2.
 He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes
himself is mighty. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who
goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.
3.
 He who does not fail in the requirements of his position, continues
long; he who dies and yet does not perish, has longevity.
 
34.
  
1.
 All-pervading is the Great Tao! It may be found on the left hand and on the right.
2.
 All things depend on it for their production, which it gives to them, not one refusing obedience to it.
3.
 When its work is accomplished, it does not claim the name of having done it.
4.
 It clothes all things as with a garment, and makes no assumption of being their lord;--
5.
 it may be named in the smallest things.
6.
 All things return (to their root and disappear),
7.
 and do not know that it is it which presides over their doing so;--
8.
 it may be named in the greatest things.
9.
 Hence the sage is able (in the same way) to accomplish his great achievements.
10.
 It is through his not making himself great that he can accomplish them.
 
35.
  
1.
 To him who holds in his hands the Great Image (of the invisible Tao), the whole world repairs.
2.
 Men resort to him, and receive no hurt, but (find) rest, peace, and the feeling of ease.
3.
 Music and dainties will make the passing guest stop (for a time).
4.
 But though the Tao as it comes from the mouth, seems insipid and has no flavour,
5.
 though it seems not worth being looked at or listened to, the use of it is inexhaustible.
 
36.
  
1.
 When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration;
2.
 when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him;
3.
 when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up;
4.
 when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made gifts to him:--
5.
 this is called 'Hiding the light (of his procedure).'
6.
 The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
7.
 Fishes should not be taken from the deep;
8.
 instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.
 
37.
  
1.
 The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do.
2.
 If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
3.
 If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.
4.
 Simplicity without a name Is free from all external aim.
5.
 With no desire, at rest and still, All things go right as of their will.
 
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).
2.
 (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).
3.
 (Those who) possessed in the highest degree those attributes did nothing (with a purpose), and had no need to do anything.
4.
 (Those who) possessed them in a lower degree were (always) doing, and had need to be so doing.
5.
 (Those who) possessed the highest benevolence were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had no need to be doing so.
6.
 (Those who) possessed the highest righteousness were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had need to be so doing.
7.
 (Those who) possessed the highest (sense of) propriety were (always seeking) to show it,
8.
 and when men did not respond to it, they bared the arm and marched up to them.
9.
 Thus it was that when the Tao was lost, its attributes appeared;
10.
 when its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared;
11.
 when benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared;
12.
 and when righteousness was lost, the proprieties appeared.
13.
 Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good faith, and is also the commencement of disorder;
14.
 swift apprehension is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.
15.
 Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews what is flimsy;
16.
 dwells with the fruit and not with the flower.
17.
 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--
2.
 Heaven which by it is bright and pure;
3.
 Earth rendered thereby firm and sure;
4.
 Spirits with powers by it supplied;
5.
 Valleys kept full throughout their void
6.
 All creatures which through it do live
7.
 Princes and kings who from it get The model which to all they give.
8.
 All these are the results of the One (Tao).
9.
 If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend;
10.
 If earth were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend;
11.
 Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail;
12.
 If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale;
13.
 Without that life, creatures would pass away;
14.
 Princes and kings, without that moral sway,
15.
 However grand and high, would all decay.
16.
 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).
17.
 Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,' 'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without a nave.'
18.
 Is not this an acknowledgment that in their considering themselves mean they see the foundation of their dignity?
19.
 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.
20.
 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;
2.
 And weakness marks the course Of Tao's mighty deeds.
3.
 All things under heaven sprang from It as existing (and named);
4.
 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.
2.
 Scholars of the middle class, when they have heard about it, seem now to keep it and now to lose it.
3.
 Scholars of the lowest class, when they have heard about it, laugh greatly at it.
4.
 If it were not (thus) laughed at, it would not be fit to be the Tao.
5.
 Therefore the sentence-makers have thus expressed themselves:--
6.
 'The Tao, when brightest seen, seems light to lack;
7.
 Who progress in it makes, seems drawing back;
8.
 Its even way is like a rugged track.
9.
 Its highest virtue from the vale doth rise;
10.
 Its greatest beauty seems to offend the eyes;
11.
 And he has most whose lot the least supplies.
12.
 Its firmest virtue seems but poor and low;
13.
 Its solid truth seems change to undergo;
14.
 Its largest square doth yet no corner show
15.
 A vessel great, it is the slowest made;
16.
 Loud is its sound, but never word it said;
17.
 A semblance great, the shadow of a shade.'
18.
 The Tao is hidden, and has no name;
19.
 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.
2.
 All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come),
3.
 and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged),
4.
 while they are harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy.
5.
 What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves;
6.
 and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves.
7.
 So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased.
8.
 What other men (thus) teach, I also teach.
9.
 The violent and strong do not die their natural death.
10.
 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.
2.
 I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).
3.
 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?
2.
 Or life or wealth, To which would you adhere?
3.
 Keep life and lose those other things;
4.
 Keep them and lose your life:--
5.
 which brings Sorrow and pain more near?
6.
 Thus we may see, Who cleaves to fame Rejects what is more great;
7.
 Who loves large stores Gives up the richer state.
8.
 Who is content Needs fear no shame.
9.
 Who knows to stop Incurs no blame.
10.
 From danger free Long live shall he.
 
45.
  
1.
 Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure.
2.
 Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.
3.
 Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;
4.
 Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream.
5.
 Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat.
6.
 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.
2.
 When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
3.
 There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition;
4.
 no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot;
5.
 no fault greater than the wish to be getting.
6.
 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;
2.
 without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven.
3.
 The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.
4.
 Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling;
5.
 Gave their (right) names to things without seeing them;
6.
 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);
2.
 he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
3.
 He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing (on purpose).
4.
 Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do.
5.
 He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself no trouble (with that end).
6.
 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;
3.
 and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;--
4.
 and thus (all) get to be good.
5.
 To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere;
6.
 and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--
7.
 and thus (all) get to be sincere.
8.
 The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all.
9.
 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);
3.
 and three are ministers of death.
4.
 There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose movements tend to the land (or place) of death.
5.
 And for what reason?
6.
 Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.
7.
 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.
8.
 The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn,
9.
 nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws,
10.
 nor the weapon a place to admit its point.
11.
 And for what reason?
12.
 Because there is in him no place of death.
 
51.
  
1.
 All things are produced by the Tao, and nourished by its outflowing operation.
2.
 They receive their forms according to the nature of each, and are completed according to the circumstances of their condition.
3.
 Therefore all things without exception honour the Tao, and exalt its outflowing operation.
4.
 This honouring of the Tao and exalting of its operation is not the result of any ordination, but always a spontaneous tribute.
5.
 Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them.
6.
 It produces them and makes no claim to the possession of them;
7.
 It carries them through their processes and does not vaunt its ability
8.
 In doing so; it brings them to maturity and exercises no control over
them;--this is called its mysterious operation.
 
52.
  
1.
 (The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all.
2.
 When the mother is found, we know what her children should be.
3.
 When one knows that he is his mother's child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother that belong to him,
4.
 to the end of his life he will be free from all peril.
5.
 Let him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his nostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion.
6.
 Let him keep his mouth open, and (spend his breath) in the promotion of his affairs, and all his life there will be no safety for him.
7.
 The perception of what is small is (the secret of clear- sightedness; the guarding of what is soft and tender is (the secret of) strength.
8.
 Who uses well his light, Reverting to its (source so) bright,
9.
 Will from his body ward all blight, And hides the unchanging from men's sight.
 
53.
  
1.
 If I were suddenly to become known, and (put into a position to) conduct (a government) according to the Great Tao, what I should be most afraid of would be a boastful display.
2.
 The great Tao (or way) is very level and easy; but people love the by-ways.
3.
 Their court(-yards and buildings) shall be well kept, but their fields shall be ill-cultivated, and their granaries very empty.
4.
 They shall wear elegant and ornamented robes, carry a sharp sword at their girdle, pamper themselves in eating and drinking, and have a superabundance of property and wealth;--
5.
 such (princes) may be called robbers and boasters.
6.
 This is contrary to the Tao surely!
 
54.
  
1.
 What (Tao's) skilful planter plants Can never be uptorn;
2.
 What his skilful arms enfold, From him can ne'er be borne.
3.
 Sons shall bring in lengthening line, Sacrifices to his shrine.
4.
 Tao when nursed within one's self, His vigour will make true;
5.
 And where the family it rules What riches will accrue!
6.
 The neighbourhood where it prevails In thriving will abound;
7.
 And when 'tis seen throughout the state, Good fortune will be found.
8.
 Employ it the kingdom o'er, And men thrive all around.
9.
 In this way the effect will be seen in the person, by the observation of different cases;
10.
 in the family;
11.
 in the neighbourhood;
12.
 in the state; and in the kingdom.
13.
 How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the sky?
14.
 By this (method of observation).
 
55.
  
1.
 He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao) is like an infant.
2.
 Poisonous insects will not sting him;
3.
 fierce beasts will not seize him;
4.
 birds of prey will not strike him.
5.
 (The infant's) bones are weak and its sinews soft, but yet its grasp is firm.
6.
 It knows not yet the union of male and female, and yet its virile member may be excited;-
7.
 -showing the perfection of its physical essence.
8.
 All day long it will cry without its throat becoming hoarse;--
9.
 showing the harmony (in its constitution).
10.
 To him by whom this harmony is known, (The secret of) the unchanging (Tao) is shown,
11.
 And in the knowledge wisdom finds its throne.
12.
 All life-increasing arts to evil turn;
13.
 Where the mind makes the vital breath to burn,
14.
 (False) is the strength, (and o'er it we should mourn.)
15.
 When things have become strong, they (then) become old, which may be said to be contrary to the Tao.
16.
 Whatever is contrary to the Tao soon ends.
 
56.
  
1.
 He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it);
2.
 He who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.
3.
 He (who knows it) will keep his mouth shut and close the portals (of his nostrils).
4.
 He will blunt his sharp points and unravel the complications of things;
5.
 he will attemper his brightness, and bring himself into agreement with the obscurity (of others).
6.
 This is called 'the Mysterious Agreement.'
7.
 (Such an one) cannot be treated familiarly or distantly;
8.
 he is beyond all consideration of profit or injury; of nobility or
meanness:-
9.
 he is the noblest man under heaven.
 
57.
  
1.
 A state may be ruled by (measures of) correction;
2.
 weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity;
3.
 (but) the kingdom is made one's own (only) by freedom from action and purpose.
4.
 How do I know that it is so?
5.
 By these facts:--
6.
 In the kingdom the multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the
people;
7.
 the more implements to add to their profit that the people have, the greater disorder is there in the state and clan;
8.
 the more acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange contrivances appear;
9.
 the more display there is of legislation, the more thieves and robbers there are.
10.
 Therefore a sage has said, 'I will do nothing (of purpose), and the people will be transformed of themselves;
11.
 I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.
12.
 I will take no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich;
13.
 I will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to the primitive simplicity.'
 
58.
  
1.
 The government that seems the most unwise, Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
2.
 That which is meddling, touching everything, Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.
3.
 Misery!--happiness is to be found by its side!
4.
 Happiness!—misery lurks beneath it!
5.
 Who knows what either will come to in the end?
6.
 Shall we then dispense with correction?
7.
 The (method of) correction shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn become evil.
8.
 The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed subsisted for a long time.
9.
 Therefore the sage is (like) a square which cuts no one (with its angles);
10.
 (like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).
11.
 He is straightforward, but allows himself no license; he is bright, but does not dazzle.
 
59.
  
1.
 For regulating the human (in our constitution) and rendering the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like moderation.
2.
 It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early return (to man's normal state).
3.
 That early return is what I call the repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Tao).
4.
 With that repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation (of every obstacle to such return).
5.
 Of this subjugation we know not what shall be the limit;
6.
 and when one knows not what the limit shall be, he may be the ruler of a state.
7.
 He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long.
8.
 His case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm:--
9.
 this is the way to secure that its enduring life shall long be seen.
 
60.
  
1.
 Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.
2.
 Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao,
3.
 and the manes of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy.
4.
 It is not that those manes have not that spiritual energy, but it will not be employed to hurt men.
5.
 It is not that it could not hurt men, but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.
6.
 When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good influences converge in the virtue (of the Tao).
 

 
 
 

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