Passage I
The Eternal Tao
Verse 1
道可道，非常道。
名可名，非常名。
無名天地之始；
有名萬物之母。
故常無，欲以觀其妙；
常有，欲以觀其徼。
此兩者，同出而異名，
同謂之玄。
玄之又玄，
衆妙之門。
The Way that can be walked is not the eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of all things.
Free from desire, you see the mystery.
Full of desire, you see the manifestations.
These two have the same origin
but differ in name.
That is the secret,
the secret of secrets,
the gate to all mysteries.
The Way that can be walked is not the eternal Way.
The refusal that opens the book. Every verse after this one is, in a way, a footnote to this one — and every translation is an apology for disobeying its first line.
Passage II
The Unity of Opposites
Verse 2
天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已。
皆知善之為善，斯不善已。
故有無相生，
難易相成，
長短相形，
高下相傾，
音聲相和，
前後相隨。
是以聖人處無為之事，
行不言之教。
萬物作焉而不辭，
生而不有，
為而不恃，
功成而弗居。
夫唯弗居，是以不去。
When everyone in the world sees beauty,
then ugly exists.
When everyone sees good,
then bad exists.
What is and what is not create each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Tall and short shape each other.
High and low rest on each other.
Voice and tone blend with each other.
First and last follow each other.
So the sage acts by doing nothing,
teaches without speaking,
attends all things without making claim on them,
works for them without making them dependent,
demands no honor for his deed.
Because he demands no honor,
he will never be dishonored.
Because he demands no honor, he will never be dishonored.
This is why the book can't be argued with. Any counter-claim is already inside it, paired with its opposite, nodding at its reflection.
上善若水。
水善利萬物而不爭，
處衆人之所惡，
故幾於道。
居善地，
心善淵，
與善仁，
言善信，
政善治，
事善能，
動善時。
夫唯不爭，故無尤。
Supreme good is like water.
Water greatly benefits all things, without conflict.
It flows through places that people loathe.
Thereby it is close to the Way.
A good dwelling is on the ground.
A good mind is deep.
A good gift is kind.
A good word is sincere.
A good ruler is just.
A good worker is able.
A good deed is timely.
Where there is no conflict, there is no fault.
Supreme good is like water.
The verse most often quoted, and most often misread as a soft thing. Water also drowns — and the Tao, when it is ignored long enough, drowns the one who ignored it.
Passage IV
The Use of Nothing
Verse 11
三十輻共一轂，
當其無，有車之用。
埏埴以為器，
當其無，有器之用。
鑿戶牖以為室，
當其無，有室之用。
故有之以為利，
無之以為用。
Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub.
The hole in the middle makes it useful.
Mold clay into a bowl.
The empty space makes it useful.
Cut out doors and windows for the house.
The holes make it useful.
Therefore, the value comes from what is there,
but the use comes from what is not there.
The value comes from what is there, but the use comes from what is not there.
Bauhaus architects kept this pinned above their drafting tables. It is the verse that made negative space a discipline, and it is still the reason a good room feels larger than its measurements.
Passage V
The Flexible
Verse 22
曲則全，
枉則直，
窪則盈，
敝則新，
少則得，
多則惑。
是以聖人抱一為天下式。
不自見，故明；
不自是，故彰；
不自伐，故有功；
不自矜，故長。
夫唯不爭，
故天下莫能與之爭。
Yield and remain whole.
Bend and remain straight.
Empty out and be filled.
Wear down and be renewed.
Reduce and gain.
Excess confuses.
Therefore the sage embraces the One
and is an example to the world.
He does not show off, therefore he shines.
He does not justify himself, therefore he is revered.
He does not boast, therefore he is honored.
He does not praise himself, therefore he remains.
Because he opposes no one,
no one in the world can oppose him.
Because he opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.
If you have ever been told to stop pushing, this is the older version of that advice. The yielding described here is not passivity — it is the kind of patience that outlasts what it refuses to fight.
Passage VI
Before the Universe
Verse 25
有物混成，先天地生。
寂兮寥兮，
獨立而不改，
周行而不殆，
可以為天下母。
吾不知其名，
字之曰道，
強為之名曰大。
大曰逝，
逝曰遠，
遠曰反。
故道大，天大，
地大，人亦大。
域中有四大，
而人居其一焉。
人法地，
地法天，
天法道，
道法自然。
There was something that finished chaos,
born before heaven and earth.
So silent and still!
So pure and deep!
It stands alone and immutable,
ever-present and inexhaustible.
It can be called the mother of the whole world.
I do not know its name.
I call it the Way.
For lack of better words I call it great.
Great means constant flow.
Constant flow means far-reaching.
Far-reaching means returning.
The Way is great.
Heaven is great.
Earth is great.
Man is also great.
In the world there are four greats,
and man is one of them.
Man is ruled by earth.
Earth is ruled by heaven.
Heaven is ruled by the Way.
The Way is ruled by itself.
There was something that finished chaos, born before heaven and earth.
The theology of the Tao in twelve lines. Four greats — and man comes last, on purpose, because the book is uninterested in reassuring its reader.
Passage VII
Knowing Yourself
Verse 33
知人者智，
自知者明。
勝人者有力，
自勝者強。
知足者富。
強行者有志。
不失其所者久。
死而不亡者壽。
Those who understand others are clever.
Those who understand themselves are wise.
Those who defeat others are strong.
Those who defeat themselves are mighty.
Those who know when they have enough are rich.
Those who are unswerving have resolve.
Those who stay where they are will endure.
Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.
Those who understand others are clever. Those who understand themselves are wise.
A sentence so famous it has stopped being a sentence. Try reading it as if you had never heard it before — the distinction between knowing others and knowing oneself is more embarrassing in private than in quotation.
Passage VIII
The Birth of All Things
Verse 42
道生一，
一生二，
二生三，
三生萬物。
萬物負陰而抱陽，
沖氣以為和。
人之所惡，
唯孤、寡、不穀，
而王公以為稱。
故物或損之而益，
或益之而損。
人之所教，我亦教之：
強梁者不得其死，
吾將以為教父。
The Way gave birth to one.
One gave birth to two.
Two gave birth to three.
Three gave birth to all things.
All things carry yin and embrace yang.
They reach harmony by blending with the vital breath.
What people loathe the most
is to be orphaned, desolate, unworthy.
But this is what princes and kings call themselves.
Sometimes gain comes from losing,
and sometimes loss comes from gaining.
What others have taught, I also teach:
the forceful and violent will not die from natural causes.
This will be my chief doctrine.
The Way gave birth to one. One gave birth to two. Two gave birth to three. Three gave birth to all things.
Three things everyone remembers from the Tao — water, the valley, and this. One, two, three, ten thousand — a cosmology small enough to fit on a postcard and wide enough to keep physicists honest.
Passage IX
The Thousand-Mile Journey
Verse 64
其安易持，
其未兆易謀。
其脆易泮，
其微易散。
為之於未有，
治之於未亂。
合抱之木，生於毫末；
九層之臺，起於累土；
千里之行，始於足下。
為者敗之，
執者失之。
是以聖人無為故無敗，
無執故無失。
民之從事，
常於幾成而敗之。
慎終如始，
則無敗事。
是以聖人欲不欲，
不貴難得之貨；
學不學，
復衆人之所過。
以輔萬物之自然，
而不敢為。
Stillness is easy to maintain.
What has not yet emerged is easy to prevent.
The brittle is easy to shatter.
The small is easy to scatter.
Solve it before it happens.
Order it before chaos emerges.
A tree as wide as a man's embrace
grows from a tiny shoot.
A tower of nine stories
starts with a pile of dirt.
A climb of a thousand miles
starts where the foot stands.
Those who act will fail.
Those who seize will lose.
The sage does not act and therefore does not fail,
does not seize and therefore does not lose.
People fail at the threshold of success.
Be as cautious at the end as at the beginning.
Then there will be no failure.
Therefore the sage desires no desire,
does not value rare treasures,
learns without learning,
recovers what people have left behind.
He wants all things to follow their own nature,
but dares not act.
A climb of a thousand miles starts where the foot stands.
The most stolen sentence in all of Chinese literature. Return it to its paragraph — it is quieter than the poster version, and the whole point is that the long journey does not announce itself at step one.
Passage X
The Soft and the Hard
Verse 76
人之生也柔弱，
其死也堅強。
草木之生也柔脆，
其死也枯槁。
故堅強者死之徒，
柔弱者生之徒。
是以兵強則滅，
木強則折。
強大處下，
柔弱處上。
People are born soft and weak.
They die hard and stiff.
All things, such as grass and trees,
are soft and supple in life.
At their death they are withered and dry.
The hard and stiff are death's companions.
The soft and weak are life's companions.
Therefore the unyielding army will not win.
The rigid tree will be felled.
The rigid and great belong below.
The soft and weak belong above.
The soft and weak are life's companions.
Hesse was reading the Tao the year he finished Siddhartha. You will hear the river in this verse, and you will hear Vasudeva in the silence after it.
Passage XI
Nothing Softer Than Water
Verse 78
天下莫柔弱於水，
而攻堅強者莫之能勝，
以其無以易之。
弱之勝強，
柔之勝剛，
天下莫不知，
莫能行。
是以聖人云：
受國之垢，
是謂社稷主；
受國不祥，
是為天下王。
正言若反。
Nothing in the world
is softer and weaker than water.
Yet to attack the hard and strong,
nothing surpasses it.
Nothing can take its place.
The weak overcomes the strong.
The soft overcomes the hard.
Everybody in the world knows this,
still nobody makes use of it.
Therefore the sage says:
To bear the country's disgrace
is to rule the shrines of soil and grain.
To bear the country's misfortunes
is to be the king of the world.
True words seem false.
Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water. Yet to attack the hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.
The book returns to water here, on purpose. So do we — because the Tao is short enough to reread, and the same image, struck twice, is the whole lesson.
Passage XII
True Words
Verse 81
信言不美，
美言不信。
善者不辯，
辯者不善。
知者不博，
博者不知。
聖人不積，
既以為人己愈有，
既以與人己愈多。
天之道，利而不害；
聖人之道，為而不爭。
True words are not pleasing.
Pleasing words are not true.
Those who are right do not argue.
Those who argue are not right.
Those who know are not learned.
Those who are learned do not know.
The sage does not hoard.
The more he does for others,
the more he has.
The more he gives to others,
the ever more he gets.
Heaven's Way
is to benefit and not to harm.
The sage's Way
is to act and not to contend.
True words are not pleasing. Pleasing words are not true.
The last verse sits against the first. Silence is where the book began, and where it ends — and the verses between turn out to have been one long, patient invitation to return to it.
