Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching Read Online Free PDF

wood—here
likened to the human soul—the uncut, uncarved ,
unshaped, unpolished, native, natural stuff is better than anything that can be
made out of it. Anything done to it deforms and lessens it. Its potentiality is
infinite. Its uses are trivial.

 
58 - Living with change
    When the government’s dull and confused ,
the people are placid.
When the government’s sharp and keen ,
the people are discontented.
Alas! misery lies under happiness,
and happiness sits on misery, alas!
Who knows where it will end?
Nothing is certain.
    The normal changes into the monstrous ,
the fortunate into the unfortunate,
and our bewilderment
goes on and on.
    And so the wise
shape without cutting ,
square without sawing,
true without forcing.
They are the light that does not shine.
    ----
    In the first verse,
the words “dull and confused” and “sharp and keen” are, as Waley points out, the words used in chapter 20 to describe the Taoist and the
non-Taoists.
    In the last verse most
translators say the Taoist is square but doesn’t cut, shines but doesn’t dazzle. Waley says that this
misses the point. The point is that Taoists gain their ends without the use
of means. That is indeed a light that does
not shine—an idea that must be pondered and brooded over. A
small dark light.
     
     

 
59 - Staying on the way
    In looking after your life and following the way ,
gather spirit.
Gather spirit early ,
and so redouble power,
and so become invulnerable.
    Invulnerable, unlimited ,
you can do what you like with material things.
But only if you hold to the Mother of things
will you do it for long.
Have deep roots, a strong trunk.
Live long by looking long.

60 - Staying put
    Rule a big country
the way you cook a small fish.
    If you keep control by following the Way ,
troubled spirits won’t act up.
They won’t lose their immaterial strength ,
but they won’t harm people with it,
nor will wise souls come to harm.
And so, neither harming the other ,
these powers will come together in unity.
    ----
    Thomas Jefferson would
have liked the first stanza.
    “Troubled spirits” are kwei , ghosts, not bad in themselves but dangerous if they possess you. Waley reads the second stanza as a warning to believers in Realpolitik: a ruler “possessed” by power harms both the
people and his own soul. Taking it as counsel to the individual, it might mean
that wise souls neither indulge nor repress the troubled spirits that may haunt
them; rather, they let those spiritual energies be part of the power they find
along the way.

 
61 - Lying low
    The polity of greatness
runs downhill like a river to the sea ,
joining with everything,
woman to everything.
    By stillness the woman
may always dominate the man ,
lying quiet underneath him.
    So a great country
submitting to small ones, dominates them ;
so small countries,
submitting to a great one, dominate it.
    Lie low to be on top ,
be on top by lying low.

62 - The gift of the way
    The way is the hearth and home
of the ten thousand things.
Good souls treasure it ,
lost souls find shelter in it.
    Fine words are for sale ,
fine deeds go cheap;
even worthless people can get them.
    So, at the coronation of the Son of Heaven
when the Three Ministers take office ,
you might race out in a four-horse chariot
to offer a jade screen;
but wouldn’t it be better to sit still
and let the Way be your offering?
    Why was the Way honored
in the old days?
Wasn’t it said :
Seek, you’ll find it.
Hide, it will shelter you.
So it was honored under heaven.
    ----
    I think the line of
thought throughout the poem has to do with true reward as opposed to
dishonorable gain, true giving as opposed to fake goods.

63 - Consider beginnings
    Do without doing.
Act without action.
Savor the flavorless.
Treat the small as large ,
the few as many.
    Meet injury
with the power of goodness.
    Study the hard while it’s easy.
Do big things while they’re small.
The hardest jobs in the world start out easy ,
the great