Translation Info: beck | blakney | byrn | feng | ganson | gnl | hansen | legge | mccarroll | mcdonald | merel | merel2 | mitchell | muller | rosenthal |
| mitchell Prev Next | Chapter 38 All Translations . beck . blakney . byrn . feng . ganson . gnl . hansen . legge . mccarroll . mcdonald . merel . merel2 . mitchell . muller . rosenthal . | headers Prev Chapter Chapter 38 Next Chapter |


The Master doesn't try to be powerful;
thus he is truly powerful.
The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;
thus he never has enough.

The Master does nothing,
yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things,
yet many more are left to be done.

The kind man does something,
yet something remains undone.
The just man does something,
and leaves many things to be done.
The moral man does something,
and when no one responds
he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.

Therefore the Master concerns himself
with the depths and not the surface,
with the fruit and not the flower.
He has no will of his own.
He dwells in reality,
and lets all illusions go.




010203040506070809
101112131415161718
192021222324252627
282930313233343536
373839404142434445
464748495051525354
555657585960616263
646566676869707172
737475767778798081