Tao Te King (Dao h Ching) | Page 2

own person last, and yet it is found in the
foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet
that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and
private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?
8. 1. The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of
water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without
striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence
(its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
2. The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place; that
of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in their being
with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing good order; that
of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and that of (the initiation of)
any movement is in its timeliness.
3. And when (one with the highest excellence) does not wrangle (about
his low position), no one finds fault with him.
9. 1. It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it
when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the
point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
2. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them
safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on
itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming
distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
10. 1. When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one
embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided
attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of
pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away
the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without

a flaw.
2. In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed without
any (purpose of) action? In the opening and shutting of his gates of
heaven, cannot he do so as a female bird? While his intelligence
reaches in every direction, cannot he (appear to) be without
knowledge?
3. (The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them
and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast
of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them. This is what is
called 'The mysterious Quality' (of the Tao).
11. The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space
(for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into
vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The
door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment;
but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore,
what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and
what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
12. 1. Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take;
Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;
The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste;
The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste
Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,
Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
2. Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not
the (insatiable longing of the) eyes. He puts from him the latter, and
prefers to seek the former.
13. 1. Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour
and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same

kind).
2. What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting that
(favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing it leads
to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is meant by saying
that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared.
And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had not
the body, what great calamity could come to me?
3. Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who
would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person
may be entrusted with it.
14. 1. We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.'
We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we