# The Dao De Jing Full Unabridged Reading

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 6 Oct 2026, 1 h 01 min.

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Journey into one of the most influential philosophical works of ancient China with this full, unabridged reading of the Dao De Jing. Traditionally attributed to Laozi, this timeless collection of verses explores the Dao, simplicity, humility, naturalness, leadership, virtue, knowledge, desire, and the art of living in harmony with the world. Listen through the complete text and encounter the enigmatic teachings that have shaped Taoist philosophy for more than two thousand years. Rather than presenting the work as a conventional narrative, this reading allows the verses to unfold at their own pace, giving listeners space to reflect on their meaning and return to passages that invite deeper contemplation. Explore the central idea of the Dao, often translated as "the Way," and the profound concept of wu wei, or effortless action. Discover the text's reflections on simplicity, non-attachment, compassion, moderation, humility, and the limitations of human knowledge. Its short, poetic chapters offer observations on both personal life and the responsibilities of rulers and societies. The Dao De Jing is filled with paradoxes: strength through softness, knowledge through recognizing what we do not know, achievement through restraint, and influence through allowing things to follow their natural course. This reading provides an opportunity to experience these ideas directly without interrupting the flow of the original work with extensive commentary. Traditionally associated with Laozi and the early development of Taoism, the text has been interpreted in countless ways across centuries and cultures. Its precise origins and historical development remain subjects of scholarly debate, making the Dao De Jing not only a philosophical classic but also one of the great mysteries of ancient Chinese intellectual history. Whether you are studying Chinese philosophy, exploring Taoism, interested in ancient wisdom, or simply looking for a peaceful listening experience, this complete reading offers an immersive way to spend time with one of antiquity's most enduring texts. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this full-length reading is perfect for philosophy enthusiasts, students of Taoism, ancient history lovers, meditation, reflection, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Settle in, slow down, and experience the complete Dao De Jing from beginning to end.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu Translated by Robert
[0:06] Speaker 1: Eno A link to the original text is provided in
[0:09] Speaker 1: the description. Like and subscribe if you enjoy this content,
[0:14] Speaker 1: and let us begin. The Tao Te Ching A Tao
[0:22] Speaker 1: that may be spoken is not the enduring Tao. A
[0:25] Speaker 1: name that may be named is not an enduring name.
[0:30] Speaker 1: No names. This is the beginning of heaven and earth.
[0:34] Speaker 1: Having names, this is the mother of the things of
[0:36] Speaker 1: the world. Make freedom from desire your constant norm. Thereby
[0:42] Speaker 1: you will see what is subtle. Make having desires your
[0:47] Speaker 1: constant norm. Thereby you will see what is manifest. These
[0:52] Speaker 1: two arise from the same source, but have different names.
[0:56] Speaker 1: Together they may be termed the Mysterious. Mystery, and more mystery,
[1:04] Speaker 1: the gate of all that is subtle. All in the
[1:07] Speaker 1: world deem the beautiful to be beautiful. It is ugly.
[1:12] Speaker 1: All deem the good to be good. It is bad.
[1:17] Speaker 1: What is and what is not give birth to one another.
[1:22] Speaker 1: What is difficult and what is easy complement one another.
[1:26] Speaker 1: Long and short complement one another, High and low incline
[1:30] Speaker 1: towards one another, Note and noise harmonize with one another,
[1:36] Speaker 1: Before and after follow one another. Therefore the sage dwells
[1:42] Speaker 1: In the midst of non-action and practices The wordless teaching.
[1:50] Speaker 1: Herein arise the things of the world, It does not
[1:54] Speaker 1: turn from them. What it gives birth to, it does
[1:57] Speaker 1: not possess. What it does, it does not retain. The
[2:02] Speaker 1: achievement's complete. It makes no claim to them. Because it
[2:06] Speaker 1: makes no claim to them, they never leave it. Do
[2:10] Speaker 1: not honour the worthy. This will keep the people from contention.
[2:15] Speaker 1: Do not prize rare things. This will keep the people
[2:19] Speaker 1: from becoming thieves. Do not display the desirable. The hearts
[2:24] Speaker 1: of the people will not be turbulent. Hence the governance
[2:29] Speaker 1: of the sage. Empty their minds and fill their bellies.
[2:34] Speaker 1: Weaken their wills and strengthen their bones. Always render the
[2:40] Speaker 1: people free of knowledge and desire. Ensure that the clever
[2:44] Speaker 1: do not dare act. Engage in non-action. Wu Wei. and
[2:51] Speaker 1: nothing will go unruled. The Tao is empty, yet you
[2:58] Speaker 1: may keep drawing from it, as though it could never
[3:01] Speaker 1: fill your need. It is an abyss, like the ancestor
[3:05] Speaker 1: of the world of things. Blunt the point, undo the tangle,
[3:11] Speaker 1: soften the glare, join the dust. Dim it seems almost
[3:15] Speaker 1: to exist. I know not whose child it may be,
[3:20] Speaker 1: It seems to the forerunner of the Lord. Heaven and
[3:25] Speaker 1: earth are not ren. They treat the things of the
[3:29] Speaker 1: world as straw dogs. The sage is not ren. He
[3:34] Speaker 1: treats the people as straw dogs. All between heaven and
[3:38] Speaker 1: earth is like great bellows, empty, yet it does not collapse.
[3:43] Speaker 1: The more it is moved, the more it issues forth.
[3:48] Speaker 1: Many words are soon exhausted, Better to preserve the central.
[3:53] Speaker 1: The spirit of the ravine is undying. It is called
[3:57] Speaker 1: the dark font. The gateway of the dark font is
[4:01] Speaker 1: called the root of the world. Stretching further and further,
[4:07] Speaker 1: as though always there, use it effortless. Heaven endures, earth
[4:14] Speaker 1: long abides. Heaven endures and earth long abides because they
[4:19] Speaker 1: do not give birth to themselves. Hence they are long lived.
[4:24] Speaker 1: Hence the sage places his person last and it comes first.
[4:29] Speaker 1: He treats it as something external to him and it endures.
[4:35] Speaker 1: Does he not employ selfishness? Hence he attains his self-regarding ends.
[4:43] Speaker 1: Highest good is like water. Water benefits the things of
[4:48] Speaker 1: the world and does not contend, Dwells in places that
[4:52] Speaker 1: masses of men despise. It is better to stop pouring
[4:57] Speaker 1: than to grasp it until it is full. A blade
[5:00] Speaker 1: forged to full sharpness will not last long. Holes filled
[5:05] Speaker 1: with gold and jade can never really be secured. Pride
[5:10] Speaker 1: in wealth and rank brings disaster upon itself. The work
[5:17] Speaker 1: being done. Step out of view. That is the Tao
[5:22] Speaker 1: of Heaven. The end. As you carry your bodily soul
[5:28] Speaker 1: embracing oneness, can you never depart from it? As you
[5:32] Speaker 1: concentrate your chi and extend your suppleness, can you be
[5:36] Speaker 1: as new-born a babe? As you polish the dust from
[5:40] Speaker 1: your mysterious mirror, can you render it free of all blemishes?
[5:46] Speaker 1: As you cherish the people and order the state, can
[5:50] Speaker 1: you do so without awareness? As heaven's gate swings open
[5:55] Speaker 1: and shut, can you keep to the female? As your
[6:01] Speaker 1: brilliant awareness penetrates everywhere, can you refrain from employing it
[6:05] Speaker 1: in action? You give birth to it, you nurture it,
[6:11] Speaker 1: yet in giving birth you do not possess it. In
[6:15] Speaker 1: doing it, you do not retain it. In leading it,
[6:19] Speaker 1: you employ no authority. This is called mysterious power. Duh!
[6:29] Speaker 1: Thirty spokes share a single hub. Grasp the nothingness at
[6:33] Speaker 1: its centre to get the use of the wheel. Clay
[6:36] Speaker 1: is fashioned to make a vessel. Grasp the nothingness at
[6:39] Speaker 1: the centre to get the use of the vessel. Bore
[6:42] Speaker 1: windows and doors to create a room. Grasp the nothingness
[6:47] Speaker 1: of the interior to get use of the room. That
[6:52] Speaker 1: which it constitutes what is valuable, but that which is
[6:56] Speaker 1: not constitutes what is of use. The five colours blind
[7:02] Speaker 1: men's eyes, the five tones deafen men's ears, the five
[7:07] Speaker 1: flavours numb men's mouths. racing at a galloping pursuit, of
[7:12] Speaker 1: the hunt maddens the minds of men, rare objects obstruct
[7:17] Speaker 1: men's conduct, therefore the sage is for the belly, and
[7:22] Speaker 1: not for the eye, therefore he discards the one, and
[7:26] Speaker 1: selects the other, great favour and disgrace startle alike, great
[7:33] Speaker 1: prize troubles as you do your body, What do I
[7:37] Speaker 1: mean by great favour and great disgrace startle alike? When
[7:41] Speaker 1: an inferior receives a superior's favour, he is startled when
[7:46] Speaker 1: he gets it, and startled when he loses it. That
[7:51] Speaker 1: is the meaning of great favour and disgrace startle alike.
[7:58] Speaker 1: What do I mean by prize great troubles, as you
[8:01] Speaker 1: do your body? The only reason I have great troubles
[8:06] Speaker 1: is because I have a body. If I had no body,
[8:11] Speaker 1: what troubles would I have? Therefore, he who prizes his body,
[8:17] Speaker 1: as if it were the world, can be given charge
[8:19] Speaker 1: of the world. He who loves his body, as if
[8:23] Speaker 1: it were the world, can be entrusted with the world.
[8:28] Speaker 1: What you look at but cannot see is called transparent.
[8:33] Speaker 1: What you listen to but cannot hear Is called rarified.
[8:38] Speaker 1: What you grab at, but cannot grasp, Is called minute.
[8:43] Speaker 1: These three cannot be probed through, Thus they are conflated
[8:48] Speaker 1: to one. The top is unshining, Its bottom not darkened, endless,
[8:55] Speaker 1: It cannot be named. Return to a state without things,
[9:02] Speaker 1: It is called the form of no form. The image
[9:05] Speaker 1: of no things, it is called the indistinct. Encountering it,
[9:11] Speaker 1: you do not see its head. Pursuing it, you do
[9:14] Speaker 1: not see its back. Grasp the Tao of the past
[9:18] Speaker 1: to steer what there is today. To be able to
[9:22] Speaker 1: know the beginning of the past is called the guideline
[9:25] Speaker 1: of the Tao. In the past, those who were good
[9:30] Speaker 1: at being gentlemen were subtle. Marvelous, mysterious, penetrating, so deep
[9:37] Speaker 1: they could not be fathomed. Just because they cannot be fathomed,
[9:42] Speaker 1: I strain to describe their appearance. Hesitant, as though crossing
[9:48] Speaker 1: a winter stream. Timid, as though fearing all nearby. Reverent
[9:55] Speaker 1: like a guest, rent like river ice soon to melt, solidly.
[10:00] Speaker 1: an uncarved block, vacant like a valley, turbid like muddied water.
[10:08] Speaker 1: Who can be turbid, yet settling slowly clear? Who can
[10:13] Speaker 1: be at rest, yet moving slowly come to life? One
[10:18] Speaker 1: who protects this, Tao does not wish to become full.
[10:23] Speaker 1: It is precisely because he is not full that he
[10:27] Speaker 1: can be tattered, yet new made. Reaching the ultimate of emptiness,
[10:35] Speaker 1: deeply guarding stillness, the things of the world arise together.
[10:40] Speaker 1: Thereby do I watch their return. The things of the
[10:44] Speaker 1: world burst out everywhere, and each returns to its own root.
[10:49] Speaker 1: Returning to the root is called stillness. This is called
[10:55] Speaker 1: returning to destiny. Returning to destiny is called constant. Knowing
[11:00] Speaker 1: the constant is called enlightenment. Not knowing the constant, one
[11:05] Speaker 1: acts blindly and ill-omened. Knowing the constant, one can accommodate.
[11:11] Speaker 1: Accommodation leads to impartiality. Impartiality leads to kingliness. Kingliness leads
[11:19] Speaker 1: to heaven, heaven leads to the Tao. With the Tao
[11:24] Speaker 1: one may endure, and to the end of life one
[11:27] Speaker 1: will not be in danger. The best, those who below
[11:35] Speaker 1: are aware he is there. Next best, they love and
[11:39] Speaker 1: praise him. Next best, they fear him. Next best, they
[11:46] Speaker 1: insult him. insufficient faith above, unfaithfulness below. Far off he speaks,
[11:54] Speaker 1: but rarely. When the work is accomplished, and the task
[11:58] Speaker 1: is complete, the people all say, we did it of ourselves.
[12:04] Speaker 1: When the great Tao was discarded, only then came Ren
[12:08] Speaker 1: and Right. When wisdom and insight emerged, only then came
[12:14] Speaker 1: the great Artifice. When the six kinship classes fell out
[12:19] Speaker 1: of harmony, only then came filiality and parental kindness. When
[12:23] Speaker 1: the state is darkened with chaos, only then do the
[12:27] Speaker 1: loyal ministers appear. Cut off sagehood. Cast out wisdom. The
[12:34] Speaker 1: people will benefit a hundredfold. Cut off ren. Cast out right.
[12:40] Speaker 1: The people will return to filiality and parental kindness. Cut
[12:45] Speaker 1: off cleverness. Cast out profit, brigands and thieves will nowhere
[12:50] Speaker 1: be found. As patterns, these three are sufficiently only to
[12:54] Speaker 1: make the people seek to add to them. Exhibit the
[12:59] Speaker 1: plainness of undyed cloth. Embrace the uncarved block. Be little self-regarding,
[13:07] Speaker 1: and make your desires few. To assent and to object.
[13:16] Speaker 1: How different are they? Beauty and ugliness. What is the
[13:20] Speaker 1: distinction between them? What others fear, one must fear too.
[13:27] Speaker 1: How baseless, far off the mark. How joyous the mass
[13:32] Speaker 1: of people are, as if banqueting on the sacrificed ox,
[13:36] Speaker 1: as if mounting a tower in spring. I am alone still,
[13:42] Speaker 1: without visible sign. Like a new-born baby yet to smile,
[13:47] Speaker 1: All listless, like one with no home. The mass of
[13:52] Speaker 1: people have more than enough. I alone appear bereft, I
[13:58] Speaker 1: with the mind of adult, so slow. Ordinary men are brilliant,
[14:03] Speaker 1: I am dim. Ordinary men are perceptive, I am closed.
[14:09] Speaker 1: Like the sea, like a tempest, as though endless, the
[14:14] Speaker 1: mass of people all have their means. I am obstinate, uncouth.
[14:23] Speaker 1: I alone wish to be different from others, and value
[14:26] Speaker 1: feeding from the mother. The bearing of abundant virtue is
[14:32] Speaker 1: to follow the Tao alone. As a thing, the Tao
[14:37] Speaker 1: is shadowed. Obscured, shadowed, obscured, a thing lies within. Obscured, shadowed,
[14:45] Speaker 1: an image lies within. Dark, dim, an essence lies within.
[14:50] Speaker 1: So sound is the essence, full concord lies within. From
[14:56] Speaker 1: the past to the present, its name has never left it,
[15:00] Speaker 1: and hence it has pleased by the multitude of elders.
[15:03] Speaker 1: How do I know this multitude of elders? By means
[15:07] Speaker 1: of this. a fragment thus whole, bent thus straight, hollow
[15:14] Speaker 1: thus full, worn thus new, few thus gaining, many thus confused.
[15:20] Speaker 1: Therefore the sage embraces one and is of standard for
[15:23] Speaker 1: the world, not revealing himself thus bright, not asserting himself
[15:28] Speaker 1: thus shining, not praising himself thus meritorious, not boasting of
[15:33] Speaker 1: himself thus enduring. He does not contend. thus none can
[15:39] Speaker 1: contend with him. An old saying, a fragment, thus whole.
[15:47] Speaker 1: How could it be empty words? Truly, it will return
[15:51] Speaker 1: whole in the end. To be sparse in speech is
[15:57] Speaker 1: to be spontaneous. Thus wind squalls do not outlast the morning,
[16:03] Speaker 1: and teeming rain does not outlast the day. What causes these?
[16:08] Speaker 1: heaven and earth. Even heaven and earth cannot long persist thus.
[16:13] Speaker 1: How much less can man? Those who follow the Tao
[16:17] Speaker 1: are alike in Tao with others who follow the Tao,
[16:21] Speaker 1: are alike in virtue with others who have virtue, are
[16:24] Speaker 1: alike is loss with others who have loss, alike in
[16:28] Speaker 1: Tao with others who follow the Tao. He delights indeed
[16:31] Speaker 1: in grasping the Tao, alike in virtue with others who
[16:35] Speaker 1: have virtue. he delights indeed in having virtue, alike in
[16:40] Speaker 1: loss others who have loss, he delights indeed in having loss.
[16:47] Speaker 1: Where faithfulness is insufficient, there is unfaithfulness. One on tiptoe
[16:55] Speaker 1: cannot stand, one whose legs are spread cannot walk, one
[17:00] Speaker 1: who shows himself cannot be bright, one who asserts himself
[17:03] Speaker 1: cannot shine. One who praises himself can be meritorious. One
[17:09] Speaker 1: who boasts of himself cannot endure. For the Tao, these
[17:15] Speaker 1: are called excess, store and superfluous acts. Things detest them. Therefore,
[17:24] Speaker 1: the man of the Tao does not abide in them.
[17:29] Speaker 1: There is a thing formed from confession and born before
[17:33] Speaker 1: heaven and earth. Silent, solitary, alone and unchanging. It revolves everywhere,
[17:40] Speaker 1: and is never in danger. It can be the mother
[17:44] Speaker 1: of all under heaven. I do not know its name,
[17:48] Speaker 1: but I style it, the Tao. If forced to give
[17:53] Speaker 1: it a name, I call if the great. The great
[17:58] Speaker 1: I call receding, receding I call distant, distant I call reversing. Thus,
[18:05] Speaker 1: the Tao is great, heaven is great, earth is great,
[18:10] Speaker 1: and the king is great as well. Within the realm
[18:15] Speaker 1: there are four great ones, and the king sits as
[18:19] Speaker 1: one among them. Men emulate earth, earth emulates heaven, heaven
[18:26] Speaker 1: emulates the Tao, and the Tao emulates spontaneity. Heaviness is
[18:32] Speaker 1: the root of lightness. Tranquillity is the lord of haste. Therefore,
[18:38] Speaker 1: to the day's end, the travelling sage never leaves his
[18:40] Speaker 1: laden carts. Though beside lavish towers, he stays by them
[18:47] Speaker 1: all aloof. How could the ruler of a thousand chariots'
[18:51] Speaker 1: state take his own body as of lesser weight than
[18:54] Speaker 1: of the world? To be light is to lose the root.
[18:58] Speaker 1: To be hasty is to lose one's lord. Good travelling
[19:03] Speaker 1: leaves no wheel ruts. Good talking makes no slips. Good
[19:08] Speaker 1: counting uses no counters. Good shutting uses no bolts, yet
[19:14] Speaker 1: cannot be opened. Good tying uses no cords, yet cannot
[19:19] Speaker 1: be undone. Therefore the sage is always good at rescuing people.
[19:26] Speaker 1: Thus he never abandons any person. He is always good
[19:30] Speaker 1: at rescuing affairs, thus he never abandons any affair. This
[19:35] Speaker 1: is called stretching enlightenment. Thus the good person is the
[19:41] Speaker 1: teacher of those who are not good, and those who
[19:44] Speaker 1: are not good ones are grist to the good person.
[19:50] Speaker 1: Not to honour one's teacher, not to cherish one's grist,
[19:55] Speaker 1: though one may be clever, this is to be lost adrift.
[20:00] Speaker 1: This is called the pivotal mystery. One who knows the
[20:06] Speaker 1: male knows but preserves the female becomes a ravine to
[20:09] Speaker 1: the world. Such a one never swerves from constant virtue
[20:13] Speaker 1: and returns again to be a newborn baby. One who
[20:18] Speaker 1: knows white, but preserves black, becomes a standard for the world.
[20:25] Speaker 1: Such a one never deviates from constant virtue and returns
[20:28] Speaker 1: again to being limitless. One who knows glory, but preserves shame,
[20:34] Speaker 1: becomes a valley to the world. such a one is
[20:37] Speaker 1: always supplied with constant virtue and returns again to be
[20:42] Speaker 1: an uncarved block when the uncarved block is dispersed vessels
[20:49] Speaker 1: are made from it the sage uses these to become
[20:52] Speaker 1: the leader of the officers of the state thus the
[20:55] Speaker 1: greatest carving never cuts the wish to grasp the world
[21:00] Speaker 1: and control it I see its futility the world is
[21:05] Speaker 1: a spirit-like vessel It cannot be controlled. One who would
[21:09] Speaker 1: control it would ruin it. One who would grasp it
[21:13] Speaker 1: would lose it. Thus things may lead or follow, blow
[21:17] Speaker 1: hot or cold, be strong or weak, sustain or destroy.
[21:21] Speaker 1: Therefore the sage discards the excessive, the extravagant, the overbearing.
[21:30] Speaker 1: He who assists a ruler by means of the Tao
[21:33] Speaker 1: does not coerce the world by means of alms. consequences
[21:37] Speaker 1: come back around like a ring, where troops encamp, brambles grow,
[21:42] Speaker 1: after great armies crops always fail. The good man is
[21:48] Speaker 1: simply resolute, he never employs coercion. Be resolute without boast,
[21:55] Speaker 1: resolute without threat, resolute without pride, resolute from necessity, be
[22:01] Speaker 1: resolute without coercion. When things in their prime grow old,
[22:07] Speaker 1: they are called contrary to the Tao. What is contrary
[22:12] Speaker 1: to the Tao comes to an early end. Weapons are
[22:20] Speaker 1: ill-fortune tools. Things may detest them. Hence, the man of
[22:26] Speaker 1: the Tao does not rely on them. When a gentleman
[22:31] Speaker 1: is at leisure, He honours what is at his left.
[22:37] Speaker 1: Use of weapons honours his right. The weapons are not
[22:41] Speaker 1: the tools of a Jinza. Weapons are ill-fortune tools. They
[22:47] Speaker 1: must be used only from necessity. It is best to
[22:51] Speaker 1: use them without gusto. To prevail without relish, to relish victory,
[22:56] Speaker 1: is to take joy in killing men. The man who
[22:59] Speaker 1: takes joy in killing Will never retain his ambition in
[23:03] Speaker 1: the world. Affairs of good fortune honour the left. Affairs
[23:10] Speaker 1: of ill fortune honour the right. The lieutenant's place is
[23:13] Speaker 1: to be left. The commander's place is to the right.
[23:18] Speaker 1: This means that mourning rights are the model. When the
[23:23] Speaker 1: masses of another lord are killed, One should mourn them
[23:27] Speaker 1: with wailing. For victory in battle, mourning rites of the model.
[23:34] Speaker 1: The Tao is ever nameless. Though the uncarved block be small,
[23:40] Speaker 1: it cannot be made the subordinate of any in the world.
[23:45] Speaker 1: If a king or lord could preserve it, the things
[23:49] Speaker 1: of the world would come to him themselves, as heaven
[23:53] Speaker 1: and earth conjoin to send down sweet dew. The people
[23:57] Speaker 1: will sell themselves, though none so decrees. As soon as
[24:02] Speaker 1: it is cut, then there are names. Once there are names,
[24:07] Speaker 1: one must know it is time to stop. Knowing to
[24:12] Speaker 1: stop is the only way to avoid danger. The Tao
[24:17] Speaker 1: is to the world as the Yangtze and sea are
[24:22] Speaker 1: to streams and brooks. He who knows men is wise.
[24:28] Speaker 1: He who knows himself is enlightened. He who conquers men
[24:32] Speaker 1: has strength. He who conquers himself is strong. He who
[24:37] Speaker 1: knows when he has enough is wealthy. He who preserves
[24:44] Speaker 1: has strong will. He who does not lose his place
[24:49] Speaker 1: is lasting. He who lasts beyond his death is long-lived.
[24:55] Speaker 1: The great Tao, it flows everywhere. At our every right
[24:59] Speaker 1: and left, relying upon it, the things of the world
[25:03] Speaker 1: are born. Yet it remains wordless. Its work done, it
[25:07] Speaker 1: takes no name as the doer. Clothing and nourishing the
[25:12] Speaker 1: things of the world, it never acts as their lord.
[25:16] Speaker 1: Constant without desire, it may be termed small. The things
[25:22] Speaker 1: of the world return to it, but it never acts
[25:25] Speaker 1: as their lord. It may be termed great. because it
[25:29] Speaker 1: never takes itself to be great, it is able to
[25:32] Speaker 1: complete its greatness. Grasp the great image, and the world
[25:38] Speaker 1: will come, coming and encountering no harm, it will settle
[25:43] Speaker 1: in great peace. Where there is music and food, travellers stop.
[25:51] Speaker 1: When the Tao is spoken as words, how thin it
[25:54] Speaker 1: is without taste, look at it. and it cannot be seen,
[26:00] Speaker 1: listen to it, it cannot be heard, but use it,
[26:06] Speaker 1: and it cannot be exhausted, to shrink it, you must
[26:12] Speaker 1: stretch it, to weaken it, you must strengthen it, to
[26:16] Speaker 1: discard it, you must raise it up, to seize it,
[26:20] Speaker 1: you must bestow it, this is called subtle discernment, the
[26:24] Speaker 1: weak and subtle overcomes the strong and hard, Fish must
[26:29] Speaker 1: not emerge from the deeps. The vital tools of a
[26:32] Speaker 1: state must not be revealed. The Tao is ever non-acting,
[26:41] Speaker 1: Wu Wei. Yet nothing is undone. If a lord or
[26:47] Speaker 1: king can preserve these things of the world, will of
[26:50] Speaker 1: themselves be transformed. Transformed should desire arise, I will press
[26:56] Speaker 1: it down with the uncarved block of namelessness. The uncarved
[27:01] Speaker 1: block of namelessness, surely, then shall they be without desire.
[27:07] Speaker 1: Without desire, and thus still, so will the world be
[27:11] Speaker 1: settled of itself. The highest virtue, dur, is without virtue,
[27:18] Speaker 1: hence it has virtue. The lowest virtue never deviates from virtue,
[27:23] Speaker 1: hence it lacks it. The highest virtue does not act,
[27:29] Speaker 1: and has no reason to act. The lowest virtue acts
[27:33] Speaker 1: and has reason to act. The highest dun acts without
[27:37] Speaker 1: any reason to act. The highest right ye acts and
[27:42] Speaker 1: has reason to act. The highest li acts, and if
[27:47] Speaker 1: no persons respond, rolls up its sleeves and twists their arms. Hence,
[27:55] Speaker 1: only after the Dao is lost is there virtue. Only
[28:00] Speaker 1: after the virtue is lost there be Ren. Only after
[28:04] Speaker 1: Ren is lost there is Right. Only after Right is
[28:07] Speaker 1: lost there is Li. Li is the thinning of loyalty
[28:12] Speaker 1: and faithfulness. When chaos first raises its head, For knowledge
[28:17] Speaker 1: is the blossom of the Tao where ignorance first begins.
[28:21] Speaker 1: Therefore the great man dwells in the thick, not in
[28:24] Speaker 1: the thin, abides in the fruit, not in the blossom.
[28:29] Speaker 1: Thus he discards the one and grasps the other. Those
[28:35] Speaker 1: of old that gained the one, the heavens gained the
[28:40] Speaker 1: one and was thus clear, earth gained the one and
[28:44] Speaker 1: was thus calm. The spirits gained the one, and were
[28:48] Speaker 1: thus potent. The valley gained the one, and was thus full.
[28:53] Speaker 1: The kings of the world gained the one, and were
[28:55] Speaker 1: thus born. The kings and lords gained the one, and
[29:00] Speaker 1: were morals to the world. This is what the one
[29:03] Speaker 1: brought about. Without what makes it clear, the sky would
[29:08] Speaker 1: likely split. Without what makes it calm, the earth would
[29:13] Speaker 1: likely collapse. Without what makes them potent, the spirits would
[29:18] Speaker 1: likely dissipate. Without what makes it full, the valley would
[29:23] Speaker 1: likely run dry. Without what gives them birth, the world
[29:28] Speaker 1: of things would likely be extinguished. Without what makes them honoured,
[29:33] Speaker 1: kings and lords will likely topple. Therefore, the honoured takes
[29:41] Speaker 1: the lowliest root, high takes lowest foundation. For this reason,
[29:47] Speaker 1: kings and lords refer to themselves as the orphan, the widow,
[29:52] Speaker 1: the unemployed. Does this take the lowliest root, or does
[29:57] Speaker 1: it not? Hence the utmost renown is to be unknown.
[30:02] Speaker 1: Have no wish. Be glossy like jades. Rather be hard
[30:07] Speaker 1: like stone. Reversal is the motion of the Tao. Weakness
[30:14] Speaker 1: is the method of the Tao. These things of the
[30:17] Speaker 1: world are born from being, and being is born of nothing.
[30:23] Speaker 1: When the best gentlemen hear the Tao, they practice it assiduously.
[30:28] Speaker 1: When middling gentlemen hear the Dow, sometimes they seem to
[30:33] Speaker 1: have it, sometimes they seem to have lost it. When
[30:37] Speaker 1: least of gentlemen hear the Dow, they laugh out loud.
[30:42] Speaker 1: If they did not laugh out loud, it would not
[30:46] Speaker 1: be the Dow. Thus, the standard saying says, the bright
[30:54] Speaker 1: Dow seems dark, The advancing dull seems to retreat. The
[30:59] Speaker 1: level dull seems steep. Highest virtue seems a valley. Greatest
[31:07] Speaker 1: white seems sullied. Broad virtue seems inadequate. Vigorous virtue seems
[31:13] Speaker 1: to shirk. Plain virtue seems soiled. The great square is cornerless.
[31:20] Speaker 1: The great vessel is last complete. The great note is
[31:25] Speaker 1: a rarefied sound. The great image has no form. The
[31:32] Speaker 1: Tao hides in wordlessness. Only the Tao is well begun
[31:37] Speaker 1: and well completed. The Tao gives birth to one. One
[31:42] Speaker 1: gives birth to two. Two gives birth to three. Three
[31:47] Speaker 1: gives birth to ten thousand things. The things of the
[31:52] Speaker 1: world bear a yin on their and embrace the young.
[31:57] Speaker 1: They exhaust their chi and harmony. People detest being orphaned
[32:02] Speaker 1: or widowed or unemployed, yet these are the terms kings
[32:06] Speaker 1: and lords use to refer to themselves. One may detract
[32:11] Speaker 1: from a thing and its enhance thereby, or enhance it
[32:15] Speaker 1: so detract from it. The most pliant thing in the
[32:19] Speaker 1: world will ride roughshod over the hardest. what comes out
[32:23] Speaker 1: from where nothing enters into what no apertures. Hence, I
[32:29] Speaker 1: know the advantage of non-action, the wordless teaching, and the
[32:36] Speaker 1: advantage of non-action, few in the world attain to these.
[32:43] Speaker 1: One's reputation or one's body, which is dearer? One's body
[32:48] Speaker 1: or one's goods, which is worth more? Gaining or losing,
[32:55] Speaker 1: what is worse? Therefore miserliness leads to great expense, Hoarding
[33:01] Speaker 1: leads to deep loss. Know what is enough to escape shame,
[33:05] Speaker 1: Know when to stop and escape danger, Thus can one
[33:10] Speaker 1: long endure. Great perfection appears defective, So use can never
[33:16] Speaker 1: make it worn, Great fullness seems vacant, So use can
[33:21] Speaker 1: never make it empty. Great straightness seems bent. Great skill
[33:26] Speaker 1: seems clumsy. Great eloquence inarticulate. Haste overcomes cold. Tranquility overcomes heat.
[33:35] Speaker 1: Clear and tranquil be a standard to the world. When
[33:43] Speaker 1: the dull prevails in the world, Fast horses are corralled
[33:47] Speaker 1: for manure. When the Tao does not prevail in the world,
[33:51] Speaker 1: steeds of war are born in city pastures. There is
[33:56] Speaker 1: no calamity greater than not knowing what is sufficient. This
[34:01] Speaker 1: is no fault greater than wishing to acquire. Thus the
[34:06] Speaker 1: sufficiency of knowing what is sufficient is eternal sufficiency. Without
[34:13] Speaker 1: going out your door, know the world. without looking out
[34:17] Speaker 1: the window, know the Tao of Heaven. The further you travel,
[34:22] Speaker 1: the less you know. Hence the sage knows without going
[34:26] Speaker 1: to it, names it without seeing, does nothing, and is achieved.
[34:33] Speaker 1: He who studies is daily enlarged. He who follows the
[34:37] Speaker 1: Tao is daily diminished, diminished, and then diminished yet more.
[34:44] Speaker 1: At last attaining non-action, Wu Wei, Never acting, nothing is undone.
[34:53] Speaker 1: To control the world, you undertake nothing. Once you undertake
[34:58] Speaker 1: to do anything, You are unfit to control the world.
[35:03] Speaker 1: The sage has no constant mind, He takes the mind
[35:06] Speaker 1: of the people as his mind. When I treat the
[35:09] Speaker 1: good as good, and I also treat those who are
[35:12] Speaker 1: not as good as virtue, virtue is good. When I
[35:18] Speaker 1: treat my faithful as faithful, and I also treat the
[35:22] Speaker 1: unfaithful as faithful, my virtue is faithful. The sage appears
[35:28] Speaker 1: shut to the world, and towards the world he blanks
[35:32] Speaker 1: his mind in a daze. The people all entrust their
[35:36] Speaker 1: eyes and ears to him, He treats them as children.
[35:41] Speaker 1: Coming we are born. Going we die. Three in ten
[35:46] Speaker 1: are followers of life. Three in ten are followers of death.
[35:50] Speaker 1: At birth, begun to move towards the death. These two
[35:55] Speaker 1: are three in ten. Why is this? Because they treat
[36:00] Speaker 1: life as life. I have heard. that one good at
[36:05] Speaker 1: protecting his life walks in the hills but never encounters
[36:09] Speaker 1: rhinoceros or tiger, charges against enemies and is never touched
[36:14] Speaker 1: by weapon or armor. The rhinoceros finds no place to
[36:18] Speaker 1: thrust its horn. The tiger finds no place to grip
[36:22] Speaker 1: its claws. Weapons find no place to drive their blades.
[36:27] Speaker 1: Why is this? Because he has no death place in him.
[36:34] Speaker 1: The Tao gives birth to them. Virtue rears them. Things
[36:40] Speaker 1: give them form. Circumstances complete them. Thus all things in
[36:45] Speaker 1: the world revere Tao and honour virtue. That the Tao
[36:51] Speaker 1: is revered and virtue honoured is ordained by no one.
[36:55] Speaker 1: It is ever so of itself. Thus the Tao gives
[36:59] Speaker 1: birth to them, and virtue rears them, fosters them, nurtures them,
[37:03] Speaker 1: settles them, completes them, nourishes them, covers them. To live,
[37:12] Speaker 1: but not possess, to act but depend on nothing, to
[37:17] Speaker 1: lead without directing, this is called mysterious virtue. The world
[37:25] Speaker 1: has a beginning, Take it to the mother of the world.
[37:30] Speaker 1: Having grasped the mother, you can know the child. Having
[37:34] Speaker 1: grasped the child, return to preserve the mother, and you
[37:39] Speaker 1: will live out your life without danger. Block the portals
[37:43] Speaker 1: and shut the gate. You will live out your days
[37:47] Speaker 1: and never be troubled. Open the portals and turn to tasks.
[37:52] Speaker 1: They will live out your days and never be rescued.
[37:56] Speaker 1: To see the small is called enlightenment. To preserve the
[37:59] Speaker 1: pilant is called strength. Use the gleam to return to
[38:04] Speaker 1: enlightenment without bringing calamity upon oneself. This is to make
[38:08] Speaker 1: the constant your habit. Had I the least wisdom, I
[38:15] Speaker 1: would walk the Great Tao. I would fear only side paths.
[38:20] Speaker 1: The Great Tao is so level, yet people prefer shortcuts.
[38:24] Speaker 1: The court is so tainted, the field so overgrown, the
[38:28] Speaker 1: granary so empty, robes gleaming with patterned belts, hung with swords,
[38:35] Speaker 1: sated with food and drink, goods in excess, such as
[38:39] Speaker 1: to rob the destitute. Robbing the destitute is not the Tao.
[38:46] Speaker 1: What is firmly planted cannot be uprooted. What is tightly
[38:50] Speaker 1: embraced cannot be stripped away. Descendants will thereby sacrifice without cease.
[38:56] Speaker 1: Cultivate in yourself and your virtue will be authentic. Cultivate
[39:01] Speaker 1: it in your family and it will have virtue in abundance.
[39:05] Speaker 1: Cultivate it in the village and its virtue will endure.
[39:09] Speaker 1: Cultivate it in the state and its virtue will be
[39:12] Speaker 1: very rich. Cultivate it through the world and its virtue
[39:16] Speaker 1: will spread everywhere. Hence, see people through oneself. See families
[39:24] Speaker 1: through your family. See villages through your village. See states
[39:28] Speaker 1: through your state. see the world through your world. How
[39:34] Speaker 1: do I know the world is thus? By means of this.
[39:42] Speaker 1: One who possesses virtue in abundance may be compared to
[39:46] Speaker 1: a newborn child, Wasps and scorpions, poisonous snakes, none will
[39:51] Speaker 1: bite him. Fierce beasts will not maul him. Predatory birds
[39:56] Speaker 1: will not swoop down upon him. His bones are weak,
[40:00] Speaker 1: muscles pliable, and yet his grasp is firm. He knows
[40:05] Speaker 1: nothing of the female and the male, yet his male
[40:08] Speaker 1: organ stirs. His essence is at its most pure. He
[40:13] Speaker 1: can scream all day and not become hoarse. This is
[40:17] Speaker 1: harmony at its height. Knowing harmony is called constant. Knowing
[40:24] Speaker 1: constant is called enlightened. To increase one's nature is called inauspicious.
[40:30] Speaker 1: When the mind directs the chi, it is called self-coercion.
[40:36] Speaker 1: When things in their prime grow old, they are called
[40:39] Speaker 1: contrary to the Tao. What is contrary to the Tao
[40:44] Speaker 1: is comes to an early end. Those who do not speak,
[40:51] Speaker 1: those who speak do not know. Blunt the point, undo
[40:56] Speaker 1: the tangle, soften the glare, join the dusk. This is
[41:00] Speaker 1: called the dark joining. Hence, one cannot become close to it.
[41:07] Speaker 1: One cannot become distant from it. One cannot profit from it.
[41:11] Speaker 1: One cannot harm it. One cannot honour it. one cannot
[41:15] Speaker 1: disdain it, thus it is honoured by the world. To
[41:20] Speaker 1: order a state, use uprightness, to lead troops, use stratagems,
[41:26] Speaker 1: to control the world, undertake nothing. How do I notice so?
[41:32] Speaker 1: By means of this. As the world is filled with
[41:36] Speaker 1: more taboos, and people grow poorer, as the people possess
[41:40] Speaker 1: more sharp weapons, and the state grows benighted, As men
[41:45] Speaker 1: use more crafty skills, strange goods increasingly appear. As laws
[41:50] Speaker 1: are proclaimed with increasingly clarity, bandits become more common. Hence,
[41:56] Speaker 1: the sage says, If I take no action, the people
[42:01] Speaker 1: will transform of themselves. If I love tranquility, the people
[42:06] Speaker 1: will be upright of themselves. If I undertake nothing, the
[42:11] Speaker 1: people will create wealth for themselves. If I have no desires,
[42:16] Speaker 1: the people will of themselves become uncarved blocks. When the
[42:21] Speaker 1: government is narrow and dull, the people are simple and pure.
[42:26] Speaker 1: When the government is clear and acute, the people are
[42:29] Speaker 1: sharp and crafty. Disaster, good fortune adheres therein. Good fortune,
[42:36] Speaker 1: disaster lurks therein. Who knows its limit? It possesses no
[42:42] Speaker 1: settled norm. The norm turns into anomaly, The good turns
[42:48] Speaker 1: into monstrous. It has been long, indeed, That men have
[42:54] Speaker 1: lost their way. Hence, the sage is like a square
[43:00] Speaker 1: That does not cut, A corner that is not sharp,
[43:04] Speaker 1: A straight line that cannot align, A light that does
[43:07] Speaker 1: not shine. In governing people and serving heaven, There is
[43:13] Speaker 1: nothing like parsimony. Parsimony may be called submitting in advance.
[43:20] Speaker 1: Submitting in advance may be called piling up virtue. If
[43:24] Speaker 1: you pile up virtue, there is nothing you cannot overcome.
[43:28] Speaker 1: And if there is nothing you cannot overcome, the limit
[43:32] Speaker 1: of it cannot be known. When the limit cannot be known,
[43:37] Speaker 1: you may possess the state If you possess the mother
[43:40] Speaker 1: of the state, you may long endure. This is called
[43:44] Speaker 1: the deep root and the solid trunk. It is the
[43:48] Speaker 1: Tao of long gazing upon an enduring life. Governing a
[43:53] Speaker 1: large state is like cooking a small fish. When one
[43:58] Speaker 1: approaches governing the world by means of the Tao, ghosts
[44:02] Speaker 1: will have no potency. It is not that they have
[44:05] Speaker 1: no potency, but their potency will not harm people. It
[44:09] Speaker 1: is not that their potency will not harm people, but
[44:11] Speaker 1: the sage, too, will not harm people. These two will
[44:16] Speaker 1: do no mutual harm, and therein will virtue commingle and return.
[44:22] Speaker 1: A large state lies downstream. It is the female of
[44:27] Speaker 1: the world. In intercourse, the female becomes the male by
[44:31] Speaker 1: means of stillness, because stillness lies below. Thus, when the
[44:36] Speaker 1: large state takes the lower position. It controls the small state.
[44:43] Speaker 1: When the small state takes the lower position, it places
[44:46] Speaker 1: itself under control of the large state. In the one case,
[44:51] Speaker 1: the state takes the lower position to control, and in
[44:54] Speaker 1: the other, it takes the lower position to place itself
[44:58] Speaker 1: under control. Large states wish no more than to annex
[45:03] Speaker 1: and nurture people, Small states wish no more than to
[45:07] Speaker 1: enter into service. Both gain what they wish. It is
[45:12] Speaker 1: appropriate that the large dwell below. The Tao is the
[45:16] Speaker 1: altar of the things of the world. It is the
[45:19] Speaker 1: treasure of the good person, and the protection of the
[45:22] Speaker 1: bad person. Fine words can be marketed. Honourable conduct can
[45:29] Speaker 1: add to one's rank. As for the bad person, how
[45:33] Speaker 1: can they be abandoned? Hence, when the Son of Heaven
[45:37] Speaker 1: assumes the throne, in appointing the three high ministers, he
[45:42] Speaker 1: who bears the jade disc of court and presents a
[45:44] Speaker 1: team of horses, is not esteemed so much as he
[45:48] Speaker 1: who sits in place and offers this dow. Why was
[45:52] Speaker 1: this dow so esteemed in the past? It is not
[45:55] Speaker 1: said by means of it. One will get what they seek,
[45:59] Speaker 1: and transgressors will evade punishment. Hence it was esteemed by
[46:05] Speaker 1: the world. Engage in non-action. Undertake having no undertakings. Taste
[46:13] Speaker 1: the tasteless. Enlarge the small. Increase the few. Requite hostility
[46:18] Speaker 1: with virtue. Plan for the difficult on the basis of
[46:22] Speaker 1: the simple. Do great things on the basis of details.
[46:27] Speaker 1: The difficult undertakings of the world are all the rise
[46:29] Speaker 1: from simple situations. and the greatest undertakings in the world,
[46:34] Speaker 1: all arise from small details. Hence, the sage never does
[46:40] Speaker 1: a great act, and is thus able to complete his greatness.
[46:45] Speaker 1: Thoughtless ascent always brings little trust. Many easy acts always
[46:51] Speaker 1: lead to many difficulties. Therefore, the sage seems to treat
[46:55] Speaker 1: them as difficult, and thus never has difficulties. When things
[47:01] Speaker 1: are at rest, They are easy to maintain. When situations
[47:05] Speaker 1: have not yet emerged, they are easy to plan for.
[47:09] Speaker 1: When brittle, things are easy to split. When minute, things
[47:15] Speaker 1: are easy to disperse. Deal with things before they occur.
[47:20] Speaker 1: Order things before they are disordered. A tree trunk, several
[47:24] Speaker 1: arm spans round, was born of the tiniest seed. towers
[47:30] Speaker 1: nine stories high from its foundations of piled earth, a
[47:34] Speaker 1: journey of a thousand li begins with the first footfall.
[47:40] Speaker 1: He who acts falls, he who grasps loses. Therefore the
[47:47] Speaker 1: sage takes no action, and hence has no failure, does
[47:51] Speaker 1: no grasping, and hence takes no loss. When people pursue
[47:56] Speaker 1: an undertaking, It is always at the point of success
[47:59] Speaker 1: that they ruin it. Attend at the end, as you
[48:03] Speaker 1: did at the start, and you will have no failures. Therefore,
[48:08] Speaker 1: the sage desires not to desire, and does not value
[48:12] Speaker 1: goods hard to come by. He learns not to learn,
[48:16] Speaker 1: and redeems the errors of the masses, assisting the things
[48:19] Speaker 1: of the world. Be as that they are in themselves,
[48:22] Speaker 1: he dares not act. Men of the past, who were
[48:28] Speaker 1: good at following the Tao, did not use it to
[48:30] Speaker 1: enlighten the people. They used it to make them ignorant.
[48:35] Speaker 1: People are difficult to govern when they have too much knowledge. Hence,
[48:41] Speaker 1: one who governs by means of knowledge blunders the state.
[48:45] Speaker 1: One who does not govern by means of knowledge brings
[48:48] Speaker 1: fortune to the state. Indeed, these two constitute the standard
[48:53] Speaker 1: to always be aware of. The standard is called dark virtue.
[48:59] Speaker 1: Dark virtue is profound, far-reaching. It revolves together with things.
[49:05] Speaker 1: Only then does it attain great compliance. The reason that
[49:11] Speaker 1: the Yangtze and the sea rule as kings over hundreds
[49:15] Speaker 1: of river valleys because they know well how to take
[49:18] Speaker 1: the lower position, that is, why they rule as kings
[49:22] Speaker 1: over hundreds of rivers and valleys. Hence, if you wish
[49:26] Speaker 1: to rule above the people, you must employ words to
[49:29] Speaker 1: take the lower position. If you wish to lead people,
[49:32] Speaker 1: you must place yourself behind them. Therefore, the sage dwells above,
[49:40] Speaker 1: and the people don't consider him heavy. He stands ahead
[49:43] Speaker 1: of them, and they do not consider it an injury
[49:46] Speaker 1: to them. Hence the world delights in supporting him untiringly,
[49:51] Speaker 1: because he does not contend. No one in the world
[49:54] Speaker 1: can contend with him. All in the world say my
[49:59] Speaker 1: Tao is huge, but appears to be worthless. It is
[50:04] Speaker 1: indeed because it is huge that it appears to be worthless.
[50:08] Speaker 1: If it were worthy, would it not long since have
[50:11] Speaker 1: become small? I possess three treasures. I protect them in
[50:16] Speaker 1: my grasp. One is compassion, the second frugality, and the third.
[50:21] Speaker 1: I dare not take the lead in the world. Compassionate,
[50:27] Speaker 1: thus I can have valour. frugal, lest I can extend
[50:30] Speaker 1: my territory, unwilling to take the lead in the world,
[50:34] Speaker 1: thus my works endure. Now were I to discard compassion
[50:39] Speaker 1: in favour of valour, frugality in favour of territory, taking
[50:43] Speaker 1: my place behind the favour of leading, I would die.
[50:48] Speaker 1: He who goes to battle with compassion prevails, who defends
[50:51] Speaker 1: his state with compassion will be impregnable. He whom heaven
[50:56] Speaker 1: wishes to save it, protects by means of compassion. A
[51:01] Speaker 1: good warrior does not act fearsome. One good at battle
[51:06] Speaker 1: does not become angry. One good at defeating the enemy
[51:10] Speaker 1: does not contest. One good at directing people takes the
[51:14] Speaker 1: lower position. This is the virtue of not contenting. This
[51:20] Speaker 1: is called directing the strength of others. This is called
[51:25] Speaker 1: companion to heaven. the utmost limit of the past. Military
[51:32] Speaker 1: strategists have a saying, I dare not act as the host,
[51:37] Speaker 1: but rather as the guest. I dare not advance an inch,
[51:40] Speaker 1: but rather retreat a foot. This is called walking when
[51:45] Speaker 1: there is no road, rolling up the sleeve where there
[51:48] Speaker 1: is no arm, grasping where there is no weapon, struggling
[51:53] Speaker 1: where there is no enemy. There is no greater calamity
[51:57] Speaker 1: than having no enemy. Without an enemy I have lost
[52:01] Speaker 1: almost all my treasure. Thus when two matched armies contest,
[52:06] Speaker 1: it is the victor that mourns. My words are so
[52:13] Speaker 1: easy to understand, and so easy to put in practice.
[52:18] Speaker 1: None in the world can understand or practice them. Words
[52:22] Speaker 1: have a governing meaning, affairs have a ruling actor. It
[52:26] Speaker 1: is because they have no knowledge that they do not
[52:30] Speaker 1: understand me. Those who understand me are few. Those who
[52:35] Speaker 1: emulate me are esteemed. Therefore, the sage wears coarse clothes
[52:42] Speaker 1: and conceals in them a precious jade. To know you
[52:47] Speaker 1: do not know is best. Not to know that one
[52:51] Speaker 1: does not know is to be floored. One who sees
[52:56] Speaker 1: his flaws as flaws is therefore not flawed. The sage
[53:02] Speaker 1: is flawless. He sees his flaws as flaws, therefore he
[53:07] Speaker 1: is flawless. When the people do not hold the awesome
[53:12] Speaker 1: in awe, awful events occur. Do not narrow their living
[53:19] Speaker 1: space nor crush their means of livelihood, because you do
[53:22] Speaker 1: not crush them. They will not view you as a
[53:25] Speaker 1: crushing burden. Therefore the sage knows himself, but does not
[53:30] Speaker 1: display himself, cherishes himself, but does not honour himself. Thus
[53:35] Speaker 1: he discards the one and takes the other. One who
[53:39] Speaker 1: is valiant in being daring will be killed. One who
[53:43] Speaker 1: is valiant in being timid will live. Of these two,
[53:47] Speaker 1: one is profitable, one is harmful. Who knows why Tian
[53:51] Speaker 1: hates what it hates? Even the sage takes this to
[53:55] Speaker 1: be difficult. The Tao of Heaven excels at prevailing, though
[54:00] Speaker 1: it does not contend. It excels at responding, though it
[54:03] Speaker 1: does not speak. Things come of themselves, though it does
[54:07] Speaker 1: not summon. It excels at planning, though it is flexible.
[54:12] Speaker 1: The net of Heaven is vast, though the mesh is
[54:15] Speaker 1: broadly spaced. Nothing gets through. If the people do not
[54:22] Speaker 1: fear death what good is threatening them with death? If
[54:27] Speaker 1: you make the people ever fearful to death and threaten
[54:30] Speaker 1: to execute any who innovate new things, who will dare
[54:32] Speaker 1: to do so? Always have an executioner whose charge it
[54:38] Speaker 1: is to kill. One who takes the place of an
[54:41] Speaker 1: executioner is like the one who takes the carpenter's place
[54:44] Speaker 1: in hewing wood. Few who take the carpenter's place fail
[54:49] Speaker 1: to wound their hands. When the people starve, It is
[54:54] Speaker 1: because their ruler extracts too much in taxes. That is
[54:59] Speaker 1: why they starve. When the people are hard to govern,
[55:03] Speaker 1: it is because their ruler takes action. That is why
[55:06] Speaker 1: they are hard to govern. When the people regard death
[55:09] Speaker 1: as unimportant, it is because they seek life too assiduously.
[55:15] Speaker 1: That is why they regard death as unimportant. It is
[55:18] Speaker 1: precisely doing nothing for the sake of life that makes
[55:21] Speaker 1: one worthier than those who value life. When born, people
[55:27] Speaker 1: are pliant and weak. When they die, they are stiff
[55:30] Speaker 1: and strong. The things of the world, such as trees
[55:34] Speaker 1: and grasses, are born pliant and fragile. They die shriveled
[55:40] Speaker 1: and dry. Thus, the hard and strong are the followers
[55:44] Speaker 1: of death. The pliant and weak are followers of life. Therefore,
[55:52] Speaker 1: when a weapon is strong, it cannot conquer. When a
[55:55] Speaker 1: tree is strong, it is put to the axe. The
[55:58] Speaker 1: strong and great dwell below, the pliant and weak above.
[56:04] Speaker 1: The Tao of Heaven is like the stretching of a bow.
[56:07] Speaker 1: The high is brought down and the low is raised up.
[56:12] Speaker 1: It takes from what has abundance and supplies what is wanting.
[56:16] Speaker 1: The Tao of Heaven takes from what has abundance and
[56:19] Speaker 1: supplies what is wanting, but the Tao of Man is
[56:21] Speaker 1: not thus. It takes from the wanting in order to
[56:25] Speaker 1: supply what has abundance. Who can serve heaven by means
[56:29] Speaker 1: of abundance? Only one who possesses the Tao. Hence, the
[56:35] Speaker 1: sage acts, but he relies on nothing. His task accomplished.
[56:40] Speaker 1: He does not take the credit. He does not wish
[56:43] Speaker 1: to manifest his worth. Nothing in the world is more
[56:47] Speaker 1: weak and soft than water. Yet nothing surpasses it in
[56:52] Speaker 1: conquering the hard and strong. There is nothing that can compare.
[56:59] Speaker 1: All know that weak conquerors are strong, and the soft
[57:03] Speaker 1: conquers hard. But none are able to act on this. Thus,
[57:09] Speaker 1: the sage says that he receives the derision of the
[57:13] Speaker 1: state as the lord of the state alters. He who
[57:16] Speaker 1: receives the misfortune of the state is the king of
[57:19] Speaker 1: the world. Straight words seem to reverse themselves. When making
[57:24] Speaker 1: peace between disputants, there is always some remaining sense of dispute.
[57:30] Speaker 1: How can this constitute a good act? Therefore, the sage
[57:34] Speaker 1: keeps hold of the creditor's tally, but never calls in
[57:37] Speaker 1: the debts that are owed to him. One with virtue
[57:41] Speaker 1: oversees the tally, one without virtue oversees the payment. The
[57:46] Speaker 1: Tao of Heaven has no favourites. It always shifts to
[57:50] Speaker 1: the good person. Make the state small, and the people few.
[57:56] Speaker 1: Let there be arms for troops in tens and hundreds,
[58:00] Speaker 1: but unused. Make the people do death seriously, and not
[58:05] Speaker 1: move to distant places. Though there be boats and carriages,
[58:11] Speaker 1: they shall not be ridden. Though there be armour and weaponry,
[58:16] Speaker 1: they shall not be deployed. Let the people return to
[58:19] Speaker 1: keeping records by knotted rope, their food sweet to them,
[58:25] Speaker 1: their clothes beautiful to them, their homes comfortable to them,
[58:28] Speaker 1: their customs joyful. Through neighbouring states, be in sight of
[58:36] Speaker 1: one another, and the sounds of the roosters and dogs
[58:38] Speaker 1: heard from one to another. The people of one will
[58:41] Speaker 1: never visit the other, even as they grow old and die.
[58:47] Speaker 1: Trustworthy words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not trustworthy.
[58:53] Speaker 1: Good words are not eloquent. Elegant words are not good.
[58:57] Speaker 1: The wise are not broadly learned. The broadly learned are
[59:00] Speaker 1: not wise. The sage does not hoard. Having used what
[59:05] Speaker 1: he has for others, his possessions increase. Having given what
[59:10] Speaker 1: he has to others, he has more and more. The
[59:14] Speaker 1: Tao of heaven benefits, and does not harm. The Tao
[59:18] Speaker 1: of the sage is for others, but does not contend.
[59:26] Speaker 1: End of The Tao Te Ching Thank you very much
[59:31] Speaker 1: for listening. Interesting, wasn't it? Well, if you like more
[59:37] Speaker 1: of this, then like and subscribe to the channel. You
[59:40] Speaker 1: will get more and more. And check out the playlists
[59:43] Speaker 1: or perhaps the Patreon. Now, speaking of the Patreon, I
[59:46] Speaker 1: will thank my top tier supporters both on YouTube and
[59:50] Speaker 1: that platform. Dark, Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Ember, Susan, Cameron, The Gitmers, Gary, Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edneer, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Erin, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[1:00:09] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Stark Factory, Cheryl, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Video Man, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin,
[1:00:18] Speaker 1: The HMSHH, Crystal, and Dalvery. Thank you very much. And
[1:00:25] Speaker 1: I will see you, well, whenever you feel like coming back,
[1:00:29] Speaker 1: I suppose, Good night, everyone. Lots of love to you all.

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