Tao te ching_ annotated & explained - Derek Lin [15]
Those who flaunt themselves are not clear
Those who presume themselves are not distinguished
Those who praise themselves have no merit
Those who boast about themselves do not last
Those with the Tao call such things leftover food or tumors
They despise them
Thus, those who possesses the Tao do not engage in them3
25
There is something formlessly created
Born before Heaven and Earth
So silent! So ethereal!
Independent and changeless
Circulating and ceaseless
It can be regarded as the mother of the world1
I do not know its name
Identifying it, I call it Tao
Forced to describe it, I call it great
Great means passing
Passing means receding
Receding means returning2
Therefore the Tao is great
Heaven is great
Earth is great
The sovereign is also great3
There are four greats in the universe
And the sovereign occupies one of them
Humans follow the laws of Earth
Earth follows the laws of Heaven
Heaven follows the laws of Tao
Tao follows the laws of nature4
26
Heaviness is the root of lightness
Quietness is the master of restlessness1
Therefore the sages travel the entire day
Without leaving the heavy supplies
Even though there are luxurious sights
They are composed and transcend beyond2
How can the lords of ten thousand chariots
Apply themselves lightly to the world?
To be light is to lose one’s root
To be restless is to lose one’s mastery3
27
Good traveling does not leave tracks
Good speech does not seek faults1
Good reckoning does not use counters
Good closure needs no bar and yet cannot be opened
Good knot needs no rope and yet cannot be untied2
Therefore sages often save others
And so do not abandon anyone3
They often save things
And so do not abandon anything
This is called following enlightenment4
Therefore the good person is the teacher of the bad person
The bad person is the resource of the good person
Those who do not value their teachers
And do not love their resources
Although intelligent, they are greatly confused5
This is called the essential wonder
28
Know the masculine, hold to the feminine1
Be the watercourse of the world
Being the watercourse of the world
The eternal virtue does not depart2
Return to the state of the infant3
Know the white, hold to the black4
Be the standard of the world
Being the standard of the world
The eternal virtue does not deviate
Return to the state of the boundless5
Know the honor, hold to the humility
Be the valley of the world6
Being the valley of the world
The eternal virtue shall be sufficient
Return to the state of plain wood
Plain wood splits, then becomes tools7
The sages utilize them
And then become leaders
Thus the greater whole is undivided
29
Those who wish to take the world and control it
I see that they cannot succeed
The world is a sacred instrument
One cannot control it
The one who controls it will fail
The one who grasps it will lose1
Because all things:
Either lead or follow
Either blow hot or cold
Either have strength or weakness2
Either have ownership or take by force3
Therefore the sage:
Eliminates extremes
Eliminates excess
Eliminates arrogance4
30
The one who uses the Tao to advise the ruler
Does not dominate the world with soldiers
Such methods tend to be returned1
The place where the troops camp
Thistles and thorns grow2
Following the great army
There must be an inauspicious year
A good commander achieves result, then stops
And does not dare to reach for domination
Achieves result but does not brag
Achieves result but does not flaunt
Achieves result but is not arrogant
Achieves result but only out of necessity
Achieves result but does not dominate3
Things become strong and then get old
This is called contrary to the Tao
That which is contrary to the Tao soon ends4
31
A strong military, a tool of misfortune
All things detest it1
Therefore, those who possess the Tao avoid it
Honorable gentlemen, while at home, value the left
When deploying the military, value the right2
The military is a tool