Chapters 10–18

10

Carrying the soul and embracing the One,
can you keep them from parting?
Concentrating the breath until it is soft,
can you be like an infant?
Cleansing the mysterious mirror,
can you leave it without a flaw?
Loving the people and governing the state,
can you do it without cunning?
When the gates of heaven open and close,
can you play the part of the female?
Clear and bright, reaching in all directions,
can you remain without action?
It gives them life and rears them;
gives life but does not possess,
acts but does not presume,
leads but does not dominate:
this is called mysterious Virtue.

11

Thirty spokes share one hub;
it is the empty space that makes the cart useful.
Clay is moulded into a vessel;
it is the empty space that makes the vessel useful.
Doors and windows are cut to make a room;
it is the empty space that makes the room useful.
So being gives benefit,
and non-being gives use.

12

The five colours blind the eye;
the five notes deafen the ear;
the five flavours dull the palate;
racing and hunting madden the heart;
goods that are hard to get lead conduct astray.
Therefore the sage cares for the belly and not for the eye;
he lets go of that and takes this.

13

Favour and disgrace alike are alarming;
value great trouble as you value your own body.
What does it mean, that favour and disgrace alike are alarming?
Favour is lowly:
to gain it is alarming, to lose it is alarming.
That is what it means, that favour and disgrace alike are alarming.
What does it mean, to value great trouble as you value your own body?
The reason I have great trouble
is that I have a body;
if I had no body,
what trouble could I have?
So one who values the world as he values his own body
can be entrusted with the world;
one who loves the world as he loves his own body
can be given the care of the world.

14

Looked at but not seen, it is called the invisible;
listened to but not heard, it is called the inaudible;
grasped at but not held, it is called the intangible.
These three cannot be fathomed,
and so they merge into one.
Above, it is not bright;
below, it is not dark.
Endless, unbroken, it cannot be named;
it returns again to no-thing.
This is called the shape without shape,
the image without substance;
this is called the elusive and evanescent.
Meet it, and you do not see its head;
follow it, and you do not see its back.
Hold fast to the Way of old
to master the things of the present.
To know the ancient beginning
is called the thread of the Way.

15

The best men of old
were subtle, mysterious, profound and penetrating,
too deep to be known.
Just because they cannot be known,
I can only describe them as they appeared:
hesitant, as if crossing a river in winter;
wary, as if fearing their neighbours on every side;
grave, like a guest;
yielding, like ice about to melt;
simple, like the uncarved block;
open, like a valley;
murky, like muddy water.
Who can make muddy water clear by stillness, little by little?
Who can bring stillness to life by long movement, little by little?
One who holds to this Way does not wish to be full.
Just because he is not full,
he can stay worn and need not be made new.

16

Attain the utmost emptiness;
keep to stillness steadfastly.
The ten thousand things arise together,
and I watch them return.
Things flourish in profusion,
and each returns to its root.
Returning to the root is called stillness;
this is called returning to one's destiny.
Returning to one's destiny is called the constant;
knowing the constant is called insight.
Not to know the constant
is to act blindly, and come to harm.
Knowing the constant, one is all-embracing;
all-embracing, one is impartial;
impartial, one is complete;
complete, one is at one with heaven;
at one with heaven, one is at one with the Way;
at one with the Way, one endures,
and to the end of one's life is free from danger.

17

Of the best rulers, the people know only that they exist;
the next they love and praise;
the next they fear;
the next they despise.
When trust is lacking,
there is distrust.
Unhurried, the best rulers prize their words.
When their work is done and their task complete,
the people all say: "It happened of itself."

18

When the great Way is abandoned,
there are humaneness and righteousness;
when cleverness and knowledge appear,
there is great hypocrisy;
when the six relations are not in harmony,¹
there are filial piety and parental love;
when the state is in disorder and confusion,
there are loyal ministers.

The six relations: father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife. ↩