Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu

Those who follow the Way desire not excess; and thus without excess they are for ever exempt from change.

Perfect Virtue acquires nothing; therefore it obtains everything. Perfect Virtue does nothing, yet there is nothing which it does not effect. Perfect Charity operates without the need of anything to evoke it. Perfect Duty to one’s neighbor operates, but always needs to be evoked. Perfect Ceremony operates, and calls for no outward response; nevertheless it induces respect.

[Han Fei Tzu explains the passage by pointing out that “Virtue is the achievement of Tao; Charity is the glory of Virtue; Duty is the translation into action of Charity; and Ceremony is the ornamental part of Duty.”] Ceremonies are the outward expression of inward feelings.

He who tries to govern a kingdom by his sagacity is of that kingdom the despoiler; but he who does not govern by sagacity is the kingdom’s blessing. He who understands these two sayings may be regarded as a pattern and a model. To keep this principle constantly before one’s eyes is called Profound Virtue. Profound Virtue is unfathomable, far-reaching, paradoxical at first, but afterwards exhibiting thorough conformity with Nature.

Attain complete vacuity, and sedulously preserve a state of repose.

That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice. Hence I know the advantage of inaction.

Conveying lessons without words, reaping profit without action - there are few in the world who can attain to this! Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat. Purity and stillness are the correct principles for mankind.

The Empire has ever been won by letting things take their course. He who must always be doing is unfit to obtain the Empire.

The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams, is that they know how to keep below them. That is why they are able to reign over all the mountain streams.

The Sage expects no recognition for what he does; he achieves merit but does not take it to himself; he does not wish to display his worth.

I have three precious things, which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle, and you can be bold; be frugal, and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others, and you can

become a leader among men.

The best soldiers are not warlike; the best fighters do not lose their temper. The greatest conquerors are those who overcome their enemies without strife. The greatest directors of men are those who yield place to others. This is called the Virtue of not striving, the capacity for directing mankind; this is being the compeer of Heaven. It was the highest goal of the ancients.

He who knows others is clever, but he who knows himself is enlightened. He who overcomes others is strong, but he who overcomes himself is mightier still. He

Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved. Success is the lurking-place of failure; but who can tell when the turning-point will come?

Only he who does nothing for his life’s sake can truly be said to value his life.

He who embraces unity of soul by subordinating animal instincts to reason will be able to escape dissolution.

He who strives his utmost after tenderness can become even

as a little...

The skilful traveler leaves no tracks; the skilful speaker makes no blunders; the skilful reckoner uses no tallies. He who knows how to shut uses no bolts - yet you cannot open. He who knows how to bind uses no cords - yet you cannot undo.

The good man is the bad man’s teacher; the bad man is the material upon which the good man works. If the one does not value his teacher, if the other does not love his material, then despite their sagacity they must go far

astray. This is a mystery of great import.

Which is nearer to you, fame or life? Which is more to you, life or wealth? Which is the greater malady, gain or loss?

Do not wish to be rare like jade, or common like stone.

The Sage has no hard and fast ideas, but he shares the ideas of the people and makes them his own. Living in the world, he is apprehensive lest his heart be sullied by contact with the world.

I have heard that he who possesses the secret of life, when traveling abroad, will not flee from rhinoceros or tiger; when entering a hostile camp, he will not equip himself with sword or buckler. The rhinoceros finds in him no place to insert its horn; the tiger has nowhere to fasten its claw; the soldier has nowhere to thrust his blade. And why? Because he has no spot where death can enter.

Knowledge in harmony is called constant. Constant knowledge is called wisdom.

The mind directing the body is called strength.

He who always thinks things easy is sure to find them difficult. Therefore the Sage ever anticipates difficulties, and thus it is he never encounters them.

regulate things before disorder has begun.

A great principle cannot be divided; therefore it is that many containers cannot contain it. [That is, a principle which applies to the whole applies also to a part. Because you may divide the containing whole, you are not at liberty to divide the principle.]

Not to know, and yet to affect knowledge, is a vice. If we regard this vice as such, we shall escape it. The Sage has not this vice. It is because he regards it as a vice that he escapes it.

This is the Way of Heaven, which benefits, and injures not. This is the Way of the Sage, in whose actions there is no element of strife.

My words have a clue, my actions have an underlying principle. It is because men do not know the clue that they understand me not.

Thus the Sage wears coarse garments, but carries a jewel in his bosom.

passionless tranquility,

“The truth is that neither consistency of thought nor exact terminology can be looked for in Chinese philosophy as a whole, and least of all, perhaps, in such an abstract system as that of early Taoism.

that subjective is also objective, and objective also subjective.

True wisdom then consists in withdrawing from one’s own individual standpoint and entering into “subjective relation with all things.”

implies vice, and therefore will indirectly be productive of it.

keeping our minds ha, a state of perfect balance, absolutely passive and quiescent,

His whole duty of man is thus summed up and put into a nutshell: “Resolve your mental energy into abstraction, your physical energy into inaction. Allow yourself to fall in with the natural order of phenomena, without admitting the element of self.”

This application of Tao in the humble sphere of the handicraftsman serves to point the way towards the higher regions of abstract contemplation, where it will find its fullest scope.

absence of self-consciousness.

Any attempt to impose fixed standards of morality on the peoples of the earth is to be condemned, because it leaves no room for that spontaneous and unforced accord with nature which is the very salt of human action. Thus, were it feasible, Chuang Tzu would transport mankind back into the golden age which existed before the distinction between right and wrong arose.

Herein lies the explanation of the paradox, on which he is constantly harping, that wisdom, charity, duty to one’s neighbor and so on, are opposed to Tao.

substratum of truth.

“While there should be no action, there should be also no inaction.”

to smooth away the difficulty of reconciling theory and practice. This is what he calls the doctrine of non-angularity and self-adaptation to externals.

but infinite patience and tact. Gentle moral suasion