Tao Te Ching (Translated by Sam Hamill) - Lao Tzu [6]
24.
One can’t stand long on tiptoe,
nor can one straddle the way.
Showing off does not reveal enlightenment.
Boasting won’t produce accomplishment.
Self-infatuation is no way to lead.
Aligning with the Tao,
gluttony and superfluous activity
are avoided.
Therefore: one who follows the way
cannot be deterred.
25.
There was some undifferentiated
something here
before heaven and earth.
Silent, yes; formless, yes.
It stands, solitary and unchanging,
all-pervasive, inexhaustible.
This is the mother
of everything under heaven.
I don’t know its name.
I call it great.
Great is boundless;
boundless is eternally flowing;
ever-flowing, it is constantly returning.
Thus the way is great.
Heaven is great. Earth is great.
People are great.
In this world, there are four great things,
and people are one of them.
We follow the earth;
earth follows heaven;
heaven follows the Tao.
Tao follows its own true nature.
Ti (“Earth”): This character also means “soil,” “place,” “territory,” “locale,” or “position.”
26.
The serious creates the frivolous.
Tranquility masters agitation.
Therefore the enlightened may travel all day
without departing from the luggage cart,
and even when confronted by splendor
remain detached, composed.
When a master
takes this world too lightly,
the root is lost;
too much haste,
and mastery itself is lost.
27.
Skillful travelers leave no tracks.
Skillful speech leaves no doubt.
Good accounting needs no abacus.
Good doors may neither bolt nor bar,
and yet cannot be opened.
A good knot needs neither rope nor thread,
and yet cannot be untied.
Thus the sage always rescues people
for a reason, rejecting none,
extending compassion to all life,
rejecting none.
This is enlightened practice.
Therefore the one who lacks no goodness
is fit to lead those who lack,
and those who lack
are themselves a resource.
“Esteem for no master,
no love for the student,”
perplexes even the wise.
Call this the essential mystery.
28.
Know the strength of the masculine
while abiding in feminine nurturing,
and be a servant of the world.
Be a servant of the way
of ancient, ever-lasting power,
never faltering, from innocence to knowledge,
conscious of the white
while maintaining the black.
Be the world’s exemplar,
never deviating, perpetually returning
to boundless consciousness.
One who understands splendor
while holding to humility
acts in accord with eternal power.
Return to simplicity.
The uncarved block is made into useful tools.
The sage employs these means.
Therefore the enduring master carves,
but never hacks.
29.
Trying to take the world in hand?
I see you can’t hold it long.
Everything under heaven is a sacred vessel
and cannot be controlled.
Trying to control leads to ruin.
Trying to grasp, we lose.
Some move forward, some follow.
Some sigh, some draw a deep breath.
Some grow stronger, some weaken.
Some destroy and some are destroyed.
The sage rejects extremes,
shuns extravagance,
avoids arrogant pride.
30.
With Tao, help those who rule
oppose rule by arms,
to which the whole world returns.
Thorns and brambles grow between the barracks.
After each battle, famine.
Skilled command attains,
then stops, rejecting force.
Achieve without arrogance.
Attain without pride.
Achieve without opposition,
without violence.
Things nourish and decay.
This is called not-Tao.
Not-Tao won’t last long.
Pu (“Not”): Composed of a one-horizontal-stroke radical, meaning “one” or “unity,” with three strokes below, which is the negative “no,” or “not.” It can also mean “neither” or “to oppose.” When written following the character for “person,” for instance, it translates as “nobody.” There is no positive without a negative, no light without darkness.
31.
Of all things,
weapons are least auspicious,
despised by people.
The sage spurns arms.
At home, inhabit the feminine.
At war, the masculine needs weapons.
Arms serve evil.
They are the tools of those who oppose wise