A THREAD THROUGH THE TEXT
Paradox
Fullness can look empty; strength can emerge from yielding. Follow the reversals that make the Tao Te Ching both unsettling and illuminating.
Beyond opposites
天下皆知美之为美，斯恶已。
All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill of the skilful, and…
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 chapterYield and remain whole
曲则全，枉则直，洼则盈，敝则新，少则得，多则惑。
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new. He whose (desires) are few gets them; he whose (desires) are many…
Read chapterThe strength of softness
将欲歙之，必固张之。
When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him;…
Read chapterReturn and reversal
反者道之动，弱者道之用。
40. The movement of the Tao By contraries proceeds; And weakness marks the course Of Tao's mighty deeds. All things under heaven sprang from It as…
Read chapterHearing the way
上士闻道，勤而行之。
Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, earnestly carry it into practice. Scholars of the middle class, when they have heard about…
Read chapterOne, two, three
道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。
The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have…
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 chapterGreat fullness seems empty
大成若缺，其用不弊。
45. Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do…
Read chapterFortune and misfortune
其政闷闷，其民淳淳。
58. The government that seems the most unwise, Oft goodness to the people best supplies; That which is meddling, touching everything, Will work but ill,…
Read chapterLiving things are soft
人之生也柔弱，其死也坚强。
Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and…
Read chapterThe bow of heaven
天之道，其犹张弓与？高者抑之，下者举之。
May not the Way (or Tao) of Heaven be compared to the (method of) bending a bow? The (part of the bow) which was high is brought low, and what was low is…
Read chapterNothing is softer than water
天下莫柔弱于水，而攻坚强者，莫之能胜，其无以易之。
There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take…
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