XLI
THE UNREALITY OF APPEARANCE
The superior scholar when he considers Tao earnestly practices it; an average scholar listening to Tao sometimes follows it and sometimes loses it; an inferior scholar listening to Tao ridicules it. Were it not thus ridiculed it could not be regarded as Tao.
Therefore the writer says: Those who are most illumined by Tao are the most obscure. Those advanced in Tao are most retiring. Those best guided by Tao are the least prepossessing.
The high in virtue (teh) resemble a lowly valley; the whitest are most likely to be put to shame; the broadest in virtue resemble the inefficient. The most firmly established in virtue resemble the remiss. The simplest chastity resembles the fickle, the greatest square has no corner, the largest vessel is never filled. The greatest sound is void of speech, the greatest form has no shape. Tao is obscure and without name, and yet it is precisely this Tao that alone can give and complete.
XLII
THE TRANSFORMATION OF TAO
Tao produces unity; unity produces duality; duality produces trinity; trinity produces all things. All things bear the negative principle (yin) and embrace the positive principle (yang). Immaterial vitality, the third principle (chi), makes them harmonious.
Those things which are detested by the common people, namely to be called orphans, inferiors, and unworthies, are the very things kings and lords take for titles. There are some things which it is a gain to lose, and a loss to gain.
I am teaching the same things which are taught by others. But the strong and aggressive: ones do not obtain a natural death (i.e., self-confident teachers do not succeed). I alone expound the basis of the doctrine of the Tao.
XLIII
THE FUNCTION OF THE UNIVERSAL
The most tender things of creation race over the hardest.
A non-material existence enters into the most impenetrable.
I therefore recognize an advantage in the doctrine of not doing (wu wei) and not speaking. But there are few in the world who obtain the advantage of non-assertion (wu wei) and silence.
XLIV
PRECEPTS
Which is nearer, a name or a person? Which is more, personality or treasure? Is it more painful to gain or to suffer loss?
Extreme indulgence certainly greatly wastes. Much hoarding certainly invites severe loss.
A contented person is not despised. One who knows when to stop is not endangered; he will be able therefore to continue.
XLV
THE VIRTUE (TEH) OF GREATNESS
Extreme perfection seems imperfect, its function is not exhausted. Extreme fullness appears empty, its function is not exercised.
Extreme straightness appears crooked; great skill, clumsy; great eloquence, stammering. Motion conquers cold, quietude conquers heat. Not greatness but purity and clearness are the world's standard.
XLVI
LIMITATION OF DESIRE
When the world yields to Tao, race horses will be used to haul manure. When the world ignores Tao war horses are pastured on the public common.
There is no sin greater than desire. There is no misfortune greater than discontent. There is no calamity greater than acquisitiveness.
Therefore to know extreme contentment is simply to be content.
XLVII
SEEING THE DISTANT
Not going out of the door I have knowledge of the world. Not peeping through the window I perceive heaven's Tao. The more one wanders to a distance the less he knows.
Therefore the wise man does not wander about but he understands, he does not see things but he defines them, he does not labor yet he completes.
XLVIII
TO FORGET KNOWLEDGE
He who attends daily to learning increases in learning. He who practices Tao daily diminishes. Again and again he humbles himself. Thus he attains to non-doing (wu wei). He practices non-doing and yet there is nothing left undone.
To command the empire one must not employ craft. If one uses craft he is not fit to command the empire.
XLIX
THE VIRTUE (TEH) OF TRUST
The wise man has no fixed heart; in the hearts of the people he finds his own. The good he treats p. 36 with goodness; the not-good he also treats with goodness, for teh is goodness. The faithful ones he treats with good faith; the unfaithful he also treats with good faith, for teh is good faith.
The wise man lives in the world but he lives cautiously, dealing with the world cautiously. He universalizes his heart; the people give him their eyes and ears, but he treats them as his children.
L
ESTEEM LIFE
Life is a going forth; death is a returning home. Of ten, three are seeking life, three are seeking death, and three are dying. What is the reason? Because they live in life's experience. (Only one is immortal.)
I hear it said that the sage when he travels is never attacked by rhinoceros or tiger, and when coming among soldiers does not fear their weapons. The rhinoceros would find no place to horn him, nor the tiger a place for his claws, nor could soldiers wound him. What is the reason? Because he is invulnerable.
LI
TEH AS A NURSE
Tao gives life to all creatures; teh feeds them; materiality shapes them; energy completes them. Therefore among all things there is none that does not honor Tao and esteem teh. Honor for Tao and esteem for teh is never compelled, it is always spontaneous. Therefore Tao gives life to them, but teh nurses them, raises them, nurtures, completes, matures, rears, protects them.
Tao gives life to them but makes no claim of ownership; teh forms them but makes no claim upon them, raises them but does not rule them. This is profound vitality (teh).
LII
RETURN TO ORIGIN
When creation began, Tao became the world's mother. When one knows one's mother he will in turn know that he is her son. When he recognizes his sonship, he will in turn keep to his mother and to the end of life will be free from danger.
He who closes his mouth and shuts his sense gates will be free from trouble to the end of life. He who opens his mouth and meddles with affairs cannot be free from trouble even to the end of life.
To recognize one's insignificance is called enlightenment. To keep one's sympathy is called strength. He who uses Tao's light returns to Tao's enlightenment and does not surrender his person to perdition. This is called practicing the eternal.
