beck

Results of Process
When the government is relaxed, people are happy.
When the government is strict, people are anxious.
Good fortune leans on bad fortune;
bad fortune hides behind good fortune.
Who knows the results of process?
Is there no justice?
When the just become unjust, goodness becomes evil.
People have been deluded for a long time.
Therefore the wise are square but not cornered,
sharp but not cutting, straight but not strained,
brilliant but not dazzling.

blakney

Wise Men hear and see ...

Listlessly govern:
Happy your people;
Govern exactingly:
Restless your people.

"Bad fortune will
Promote the good;
Good fortune, too,
Gives rise to the bad."

But who can know to what that leads?
For it is wrong and would assign
To right the strangest derivations
And would mean that goodness
Is produced by magic means!
Has man thus been so long astray?

Accordingly, the Wise Man
Is square but not sharp,
Honest but not malign,
Straight but not severe,
Bright but not dazzling.

byrn

When the government is non-discriminative, lazy and dull, the people are contented and not spoiled, but quite generous. When the ruler looks sullen or depressed, the people will be happy and satisfied;
When the government is efficient and smart, searching and discriminative, the people are discontented, disappointed and contentious. Even if the ruler looks lively and self-assured the people will be carping and discontented.

Good fortune leans on bad fortune and bad fortune could rest on good fortune. Latent calamity is happiness, and sound happiness depends on some calamity. Fortune's route is a disaster; fortune is hidden disaster.
Who knows when the limit will be reached? Who would be able to know the ultimate results of good fortune?
They may be:
The normal will (in time) revert to deceitful.
There will hardly be any correctness (used to govern the world) any more.
The old correct will become the perverse again.
Some of the good we know of will again turn evil.
Few know it, but the people have been deluded for a long time.

Anyhow, there's a bourn where there's neither right nor wrong. It's in a realm where every straight is doubled by a crooked and every good by an ill. Surely mankind has gone long enough astray?

Therefore the wise man has firm, square principles. He is at times as pointed as a square, but hardly cuts or pierces.
His integrity is as acute as a knife but hardly cuts, hardly hurts (innocent others), so "he shapes the corners without lopping",
He is indeed straight, but doesn't extend his sway. He reaches his [most cherished] ends.
He is far from high-handed, he can be bright, but refrains from dazzling.

feng

When the country is ruled with a light hand
The people are simple.
When the country is ruled with severity,
The people are cunning.

Happiness is rooted in misery.
Misery lurks beneath happiness.
Who knows what the future holds?
There is no honesty.
Honesty becomes dishonest.
Goodness becomes witchcraft.
Man's bewitchment lasts for a long time.

Therefore the sage is sharp but not cutting,
Pointed but not piercing,
Straightforward but not unrestrained,
Brilliant but not blinding.

ganson

To Govern, Be Gentle

Govern passively, the people are happy.
Govern precisely, the people are restless.

Happiness arises from unhappiness;
unhappiness lies beneath happiness.
Who knows what is best?

When the state is self-righteous,
self-righteousness becomes strategy
and good becomes evil.
Man has long been misguided.

The truly wise are:
square (sharp-cornered) but not cutting;
angled (wedge-like) but not interfering;
straight (pointed) but not domineering;
bright (enlightened) but not binding.

gnl

No End
When government is lazy and informal
The people are kind and honest;
When government is efficient and severe
The people are discontented and deceitful.

Good fortune follows upon disaster;
Disaster lurks within good fortune;
Who can say how things will end?
Perhaps there is no end.

Honesty is ever deceived;
Kindness is ever seduced;
Men have been like this for a long time.

So the sage is firm but not cutting,
Pointed but not piercing,
Straight but not rigid,
Bright but not blinding.

hansen

Political Reversal
Its regime is torpid
its people are guileless.
Its government is critically discriminating
its people are deficient.
Calamity! The ground of fortuity.
Fortuity! The obverse of calamity.
Who knows its pivot?
It lacks a 'correct'
The 'correct' returns to be deemed unorthodox.
Worthiness returns to be deemed an apparition.
Human superstition
a truly old story.
Using this: Sages
square things without carving
Are fair without punishing.
Are straight without being arbitrary.
Are bright without dazzling us.

legge

The government that seems the most unwise,
Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
That which is meddling, touching everything,
Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.

Misery!--happiness is to be found by its side! Happiness!--misery
lurks beneath it! Who knows what either will come to in the end?

Shall we then dispense with correction? The (method of) correction
shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn
become evil. The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed
subsisted for a long time.

Therefore the sage is (like) a square which cuts no one (with its
angles); (like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).
He is straightforward, but allows himself no license; he is bright,
but does not dazzle.

mccarroll

When the government is unseen
the people are simple and happy.
When the government is lively
the people are cunning and discontented.

On misery perches happiness.
Beneath happiness crouches misery.

Who knows when this will cease?
The straight changes into the crooked.
The good becomes the ominous.
Surely the people
have been confused for a long time.

Therefore, the True Person squares without cutting,
carves without hacking,
straightens without dislocating,
gives forth light without blinding.

mcdonald

If a government is unobtrusive,
the people become whole.
If a government is repressive,
the people become treacherous.

Good fortune has its roots in disaster,
and disaster lurks with good fortune.
Who knows why these things happen,
or when this cycle will end?
Good things seem to change into bad,
and bad things often turn out for good.
These things have always been hard to comprehend.

Thus the Master makes things change
without interfering.
She is probing yet causes no harm.
Straightforward, yet does not impose her will.
Radiant, and easy on the eye.

merel

Be Forgiving

When government is lazy and blunt
The people are kind and honest;
When government is efficient and severe
The people are discontented and deceitful.

Misery may yield happiness;
Happiness may conceal misery.
Who can say which will be for the best?
Nothing is straightforward.
Honesty is ever corrupted;
Kindness is ever seduced;
Men have been like this for a long time.

So the sage is firm but not cutting,
Pointed but not piercing,
Straight but not inflexible,
Brilliant but not blinding.

merel2

No End
When government is lazy and informal
The people are kind and honest;
When government is efficient and severe
The people are discontented and deceitful.
Good fortune follows upon disaster;
Disaster lurks within good fortune;
Who can say how things will end?
Perhaps there is no end.
Honesty is ever deceived;
Kindness is ever seduced;
Men have been like this for a long time.
So the sage is firm but not cutting,
Pointed but not piercing,
Straight but not rigid,
Bright but not blinding.

mitchell

If a country is governed with tolerance,
the people are comfortable and honest.
If a country is governed with repression,
the people are depressed and crafty.

When the will to power is in charge,
the higher the ideals, the lower the results.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.

Thus the Master is content
to serve as an example
and not to impose her will.
She is pointed, but doesn't pierce.
Straightforward, but supple.
Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

muller

When the government is laid back
The people are relaxed.
When the government is nitpicking
The people have anxiety.
Misfortune depends upon fortune.
Fortune conceals misfortune.
What has a definite delimitation?
Or abnormality?
The normal reverts to strangeness.
Goodness reverts to perversion.

People certainly have been confused for a long time.

Therefore the sage squares things without cutting.
Edges without separating.
Straightens without lining up.

Shines but does not glare.

rosenthal

TRANSFORMATIONS ACCORDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES
When the hand of the ruler is light,
the people do not contrive,
but when the country is severely ruled,
the people grow in cunning.

The actions of the sage are sharp,
but they are never cutting,
they are pointed, though never piercing,
they are straightforward, not contrived,
and not without restraint,
brilliant but not blinding.
This is the action of the sage,
because he is aware
that where happiness exists,
there is also misery and strife;
that where honesty may be found,
there is occasion for dishonesty,
and that men may be beguiled.

The sage knows that no-one can foretell
just what the future holds.