Lao Zi - Dao De Jing [Tao Te Ching] (english)

Accomplishes without acting.

The follower of knowledge learns as much as he can every day;

The follower of the Way forgets as much as he can every day.

By attrition he reaches a state of inaction

Wherein he does nothing, but nothing remains undone.

To conquer the world, accomplish nothing;

If you must accomplish something,

The world remains beyond conquest.

The sage does not distinguish between himself and the world;

The needs of other people are as his own.

He is good to those who are good;

He is also good to those who are not good,

Thereby he is good.

He trusts those who are trustworthy;

He also trusts those who are not trustworthy,

Thereby he is trustworthy.

The sage lives in harmony with the world,

And his mind is the world's mind.

So he nurtures the worlds of others

As a mother does her children.

Men flow into life, and ebb into death.

Some are filled with life;

Some are empty with death;

Some hold fast to life, and thereby perish,

For life is an abstraction.

Those who are filled with life

Need not fear tigers and rhinos in the wilds,

Nor wear armour and shields in battle;

The rhinoceros finds no place in them for its horn,

The tiger no place for its claw,

The soldier no place for a weapon,

For death finds no place in them.

The Way bears all things;

Harmony nurtures them;

Nature shapes them;

Use completes them.

Each follows the Way and honours harmony,

Not by law,

But by being.

The Way bears, nurtures, shapes, completes,

Shelters, comforts, and makes a home for them.

Bearing without possessing,

Nurturing without taming,

Shaping without forcing,

This is harmony.

The origin of the world is its mother;

Understand the mother, and you understand the child;

Embrace the child, and you embrace the mother,

Who will not perish when you die.

Reserve your judgments and words

And you maintain your influence;

Speak your mind and take positions

And nothing can save you.

As observing detail is clarity,

So maintaining flexibility is strength;

Use the light but shed no light,

So that you do yourself no harm,

But embrace clarity.

With but a small understanding

One may follow the Way like a main road,

Fearing only to leave it;

Following a main road is easy,

Yet people delight in difficult paths.

When palaces are kept up

Fields are left to weeds

And granaries empty;

Wearing fine clothes,

Bearing sharp swords,

Glutting with food and drink,

Hoarding wealth and possessions -

These are the ways of theft,

And far from the Way.

Cultivate harmony within yourself, and harmony becomes real;

Cultivate harmony within your family, and harmony becomes fertile;

Cultivate harmony within your community, and harmony becomes abundant;

Cultivate harmony within your culture, and harmony becomes enduring;

Cultivate harmony within the world, and harmony becomes ubiquitous.

Live with a person to understand that person;

Live with a family to understand that family;

Live with a community to understand that community;

Live with a culture to understand that culture;

Live with the world to understand the world.

How can I live with the world?

By accepting.

Who is filled with harmony is like a newborn.

Wasps and snakes will not bite him;

Hawks and tigers will not claw him.

His bones are soft yet his grasp is sure,

For his flesh is supple;

His mind is innocent yet his body is virile,

For his vigour is plentiful;

His song is long-lasting yet his voice is sweet,

For his grace is perfect.

But knowing harmony creates abstraction,

And following abstraction creates ritual.

Exceeding nature creates calamity,

And controlling nature creates violence.

Who understands does not preach;

Who preaches does not understand.

Reserve your judgments and words;

Smooth differences and forgive disagreements;

Dull your wit and simplify your purpose;

Accept the world.

Then,

Friendship and enmity,

Profit and loss,

Honour and disgrace,

Will not affect you;

The world will accept you.

Do not control the people with laws,

Nor violence nor espionage,

But conquer them with inaction.

For:

The more morals and taboos there are,

The more cruelty afflicts people;

The more guns and knives there are,

The more factions divide people;

The more arts and skills there are,

The more change obsoletes people;

The more laws and taxes there are,

The more theft corrupts people.

Yet take no action, and the people nurture eachother;

Make no laws, and the people deal fairly with eachother;

Own no interest, and the people cooperate with eachother;

Express no desire, and the people harmonize with eachother.

When government is lazy and informal

The people are kind and honest;

When government is efficient and severe

The people are discontented and deceitful.

Good fortune follows upon disaster;

Disaster lurks within good fortune;

Who can say how things will end?

Perhaps there is no end.

Honesty is ever deceived;

Kindness is ever seduced;

Men have been like this for a long time.

So the sage is firm but not cutting,

Pointed but not piercing,

Straight but not rigid,

Bright but not blinding.

Manage a great nation as you would cook a delicate fish.

To govern men in accord with nature

It is best to be restrained;

Restraint makes agreement easy to attain,

And easy agreement builds harmonious relationships;

With sufficient harmony no resistance will arise;

When no resistance arises, then you possess the heart of the nation,

And when you possess the nation's heart, your influence will long endure:

Deeply rooted and firmly established.

This is the method of far sight and long life.

When you use the Way to conquer the world,

Your demons will lose their power to harm.

It is not that they lose their power as such,

But that they will not harm others;

Because they will not harm others,

You will not harm others:

When neither you nor your demons can do harm,

You will be at peace with them.

A nation is like a hierarchy, a marketplace, and a maiden.

A maiden wins her husband by submitting to his advances;

Submission is a means of union.

So when a large country submits to a small country

It will adopt the small country;

When a small country submits to a large country

It will be adopted by the large country;

The one submits and adopts;

The other submits and is adopted.

It is in the interest of a large country to unite and gain service,

And in the interest of a small country to unite and gain patronage;

If both would serve their interests,

Both must submit.