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THE TAO TE CHING,
OR
THE TAO AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
by Lao Tzu
translated by James Legge
(Edited by Zee Sing*)
Selection 3
How irresolute did those earliest rulers appear,
showing by
their reticence the importance which they set upon their words!
Their work was done and their undertakings were successful, while
the
people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'
When the Great Tao Way or Method ceased to be observed,
benevolence and righteousness came into vogue. Then appeared wisdom
and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.
When harmony no longer prevailed throughout the
six kinships,
filial sons found their manifestation; when the states and clans
fell
into disorder, loyal ministers appeared.
If we could renounce our sageness and discard our
wisdom, it
would be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce
our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people would
again
become filial and kindly. If we could renounce our artful
contrivances and discard our scheming for gain, there would be no
thieves nor robbers.
Those three methods of government
Thought olden ways in elegance did fail
And made these names their want of worth to veil;
But simple views, and courses plain and true
Would selfish ends and many lusts eschew.
When we renounce learning we have no troubles.
The ready 'yes,' and flattering 'yea;'--
Small is the difference they display.
But mark their issues, good and ill;--
What space the gulf between shall fill?
What all people fear is indeed to be feared; but
how wide and without end
is the range of questions asking to be discussed!
The multitude of people look satisfied and pleased;
as if enjoying a
full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem
listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication
of
their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I
look
dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude
of
men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost
everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of
chaos.
Ordinary people look bright and intelligent, while
I alone seem to be
benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull
and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting
as
if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action,
while
I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. Thus I alone
am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother the
Tao.
The grandest forms of active force
From Tao come, their only source.
Who can of Tao the nature tell?
Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
Eluding sight, eluding touch,
The forms of things all in it crouch;
Eluding touch, eluding sight,
There are their semblances, all right.
Profound it is, dark and obscure;
Things' essences all there endure.
Those essences the truth enfold
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
Now it is so; 'twas so of old.
Its name--what passes not away;
So, in their beautiful array,
Things form and never know decay.
How know I that it is so with all the beauties
of existing things? By
this nature of the Tao.
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight;
the empty,
full; the worn out, new. He whose desires are few gets them; he
whose desires are many goes astray.
Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one
thing (of
humility), and manifests it to all the world. The sage is free from
self-
display, and therefore shines; from self-assertion, and therefore
is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore merit is
acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefore acquires
superiority. It is because of being free from striving that
therefore no one in the world is able to strive with the sage.
That saying of the ancients that 'the partial becomes
complete' was
not vainly spoken:--all real completion is comprehended under it.
Abstaining from speech marks one who is obeying
the spontaneity
of nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a
sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that
these
two things are owing? To Heaven and Earth. If Heaven and Earth
cannot make such spasmodic actings last long, how much less can
people!
Selection 1, 2,
3, 4,
5, 6,
7, 8,
9, 10,
11, 12,
13, 14,
15
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*Because the Legge translation is
rather old, it has been edited slightly to update the language to
a more contemporary standard.
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