A THREAD THROUGH THE TEXT
Everyday living
Water, an empty bowl, a modest home. Ordinary images open questions about desire, sufficiency, generosity, and how to live with others.
Like water
上善若水。
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…
Read chapterKnowing when to stop
持而盈之，不如其已。
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…
Read chapterThe usefulness of emptiness
三十辐共一毂，当其无，有车之用。
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;…
Read chapterFew words
希言自然。
Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a sudden rain does not…
Read chapterThe softest overcomes
天下之至柔，驰骋天下之至坚。
The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I…
Read chapterKnowing what is enough
名与身孰亲？身与货孰多？得与亡孰病？是故甚爱必大费，多藏必厚亡，知足不辱，知止不殆，可以长久。
44. Or fame or life, Which do you hold more dear? Or life or wealth, To which would you adhere? Keep life and lose those other things; Keep them and lose…
Read chapterEnough is enough
天下有道，却走马以粪。
When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses…
Read chapterReturning to the source
天下有始，以为天下母。
(The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be.…
Read chapterA refuge for all
道者万物之奥。
62. Tao has of all things the most honoured place. No treasures give good men so rich a grace; Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface. (Its)…
Read chapterBegin with the small
为无为，事无事，味无味。
(It is the way of the Tao) to act without (thinking of) acting; to conduct affairs without (feeling the) trouble of them; to taste without discerning any…
Read chapterA journey of a thousand miles
其安易持，其未兆易谋。
That which is at rest is easily kept hold of; before a thing has given indications of its presence, it is easy to take measures against it; that which is…
Read chapterThe three treasures
天下皆谓我道大，似不肖。
All the world says that, while my Tao is great, it yet appears to be inferior (to other systems of teaching). Now it is just its greatness that makes it…
Read chapterAfter the quarrel
和大怨，必有余怨，安可以为善？是以圣人执左契，而不责于人。
When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind of the one who was…
Read chapterTrue words
信言不美，美言不信。
Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in…
Read chapter