Tao te ching_ annotated & explained - Derek Lin [16]
Not the tool of honorable gentlemen
When using it out of necessity
Calm detachment should be above all
Victorious but without glory3
Those who glorify
Are delighting in the killing
Those who delight in killing
Cannot achieve their ambitions upon the world4
Auspicious events favor the left
Inauspicious events favor the right
The lieutenant general is positioned to the left
The major general is positioned to the right5
We say that they are treated as if in a funeral
Those who have been killed
Should be mourned with sadness
Victory in war should be treated as a funeral6
32
The Tao, eternally nameless1
Its simplicity, although imperceptible
Cannot be treated by the world as subservient
If the sovereign can hold on to it
All will follow by themselves2
Heaven and Earth, together in harmony
Will rain sweet dew3
People will not need to force it; it will adjust by itself
In the beginning, there were names
Names came to exist everywhere
One should know when to stop
Knowing when to stop, thus avoiding danger4
The existence of the Tao in the world
Is like streams in the valley flow into rivers and the ocean5
33
Those who understand others are intelligent
Those who understand themselves are enlightened1
Those who overcome others have strength
Those who overcome themselves are powerful2
Those who know contentment are wealthy
Those who proceed vigorously have willpower3
Those who do not lose their base endure4
Those who die but do not perish have longevity5
34
The great Tao is like a flood
It can flow to the left or to the right1
The myriad things depend on it for life, but it never stops
It achieves its work, but does not take credit
It clothes and feeds myriad things, but does not rule over them2
Ever desiring nothing
It can be named insignificant
Myriad things return to it but it does not rule over them
It can be named great3
Even in the end, it does not regard itself as great
That is how it can achieve its greatness4
35
Hold the great image
All under heaven will come1
They come without harm, in harmonious peace
Music and food, passing travelers stop
The Tao that is spoken out of the mouth
Is bland and without flavor2
Look at it, it cannot be seen
Listen to it, it cannot be heard
Use it, it cannot be exhausted3
36
If one wishes to shrink it
One must first expand it
If one wishes to weaken it
One must first strengthen it1
If one wishes to discard it
One must first promote it2
If one wishes to seize it
One must first give it3
This is called subtle clarity4
The soft and weak overcome the tough and strong
Fish cannot leave the depths
The sharp instruments of the state
Cannot be shown to the people5
37
The Tao is constant in nonaction
Yet there is nothing it does not do1
If the sovereign can hold on to this
All things shall transform themselves2
Transformed, yet wishing to achieve3
I shall restrain them with the simplicity of the nameless
The simplicity of the nameless
They shall be without desire
Without desire, using stillness
The world shall steady itself4
38
High virtue is not virtuous
Therefore it has virtue
Low virtue never loses virtue
Therefore it has no virtue
High virtue takes no contrived action
And acts without agenda
Low virtue takes contrived action
And acts with agenda1
High benevolence takes contrived action
And acts without agenda
High righteousness takes contrived action
And acts with agenda2
High etiquette takes contrived action
And upon encountering no response
Uses arms to pull others3
Therefore, the Tao is lost, and then virtue
Virtue is lost, and then benevolence
Benevolence is lost, and then righteousness
Righteousness is lost, and then etiquette
Those who have etiquette
are a thin shell of loyalty and sincerity
And the beginning of chaos
Those with foreknowledge
Are the flowers of the Tao
And the beginning of ignorance4
Therefore the great person:
Abides in substance, and does not dwell on the thin shell
Abides in the real, and