# De Jing — Matthew L. Tyler Reading

English line-by-line reading by Matthew L. Tyler.

## Chapter 38
Highest virtue does not make a show of virtue; therefore it has virtue.
Lower virtue never lets go of virtue; therefore it has no virtue.
Highest virtue acts without contrivance and without motive.
Lower virtue acts, and has a motive for acting.
Highest benevolence acts, yet without motive.
Highest righteousness acts, and has a motive for acting.
Highest ritual acts, and when no one responds, it bares its arms and pulls them along.
Thus, when the Way is lost, there is virtue; when virtue is lost, there is benevolence; when benevolence is lost, there is righteousness; when righteousness is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the thinning of loyalty and trust, and the beginning of disorder.
Foreknowledge is the flower of the Way, and the beginning of folly.
Therefore the great person dwells in the thick, not in the thin.
Dwells in the real, not in the flower.
Therefore he leaves that and takes this.

## Chapter 39
Those of old who attained the One:
Heaven attained the One and became clear.
Earth attained the One and became still.
Spirit attained the One and became numinous.
The valley attained the One and became full.
The ten thousand things attained the One and were born.
Lords and kings attained the One and became upright under heaven.
Carried to the limit: if heaven were not clear, it would fear splitting.
If earth were not still, it would fear erupting.
If spirit were not numinous, it would fear exhaustion.
If the valley were not full, it would fear depletion.
If the ten thousand things were not born, they would fear extinction.
If lords and kings were not noble and high, they would fear collapse.
Therefore the noble takes the lowly as its root; the high takes the low as its foundation.
For this reason lords and kings call themselves orphaned, solitary, and unworthy.
Is this not taking the lowly as the root?
Is it not?
Thus, seeking many praises brings no praise.
Do not wish to glitter like jade; be rough and solid like stone.

## Chapter 40
Reversal is the movement of the Way.
Weakness is the use of the Way.
All things under heaven are born from being; being is born from nonbeing.

## Chapter 41
When the highest kind of scholar hears the Way, he practices it diligently.
When the middle kind of scholar hears the Way, it seems present and seems absent.
When the lowest kind of scholar hears the Way, he laughs loudly at it.
If it were not laughed at, it would not be enough to be the Way.
Thus established sayings have it:
The bright Way seems dim.
Advancing in the Way seems like retreat.
The level Way seems uneven.
Highest virtue seems like a valley.
Great whiteness seems stained.
Broad virtue seems insufficient.
Established virtue seems slack.
Plain truth seems changeable.
The great square has no corners.
The great vessel is completed late.
The great sound is rarely heard.
The great image has no form.
The Way is hidden and nameless.
Only the Way is good at lending and completing.

## Chapter 42
The Way gives birth to one.
One gives birth to two.
Two gives birth to three.
Three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang; through blending breath they make harmony.
What people dislike are “orphaned,” “solitary,” and “unworthy,” yet kings and lords use these as their titles.
Thus things may be diminished and yet increased, or increased and yet diminished.
What others teach, I also teach:
The violent and overbearing do not die their natural death.
I will take this as the father of my teaching.

## Chapter 43
The softest thing under heaven gallops through the hardest thing under heaven.
What has no being enters where there is no gap.
By this I know the benefit of nonaction.
The teaching without words, the benefit of nonaction: few under heaven reach it.

## Chapter 44
Name or body: which is nearer?
Body or possessions: which is more?
Gain or loss: which is the greater illness?
Therefore excessive love must bring great cost.
Much storing up must bring heavy loss.
Know contentment and you will not be disgraced; know when to stop and you will not be endangered.
Thus you can last long.

## Chapter 45
Great completion seems incomplete, yet its use is not worn out.
Great fullness seems empty, yet its use is inexhaustible.
Great straightness seems bent.
Great skill seems clumsy.
Great eloquence seems hesitant.
Restlessness overcomes cold; stillness overcomes heat.
Clear stillness is the right order under heaven.

## Chapter 46
When the world has the Way, racing horses are retired to fertilize the fields.
When the world lacks the Way, war-horses are bred in the suburbs.
No disaster is greater than not knowing contentment.
No fault is greater than desire for gain.
Therefore the contentment of knowing contentment is lasting contentment.

## Chapter 47
Without going out the door, one knows the world.
Without peering through the window, one sees the Way of heaven.
The farther one goes out, the less one knows.
Therefore the sage knows without traveling, names without seeing, and completes without acting.

## Chapter 48
In pursuing learning, one increases daily.
In pursuing the Way, one decreases daily.
Decrease and decrease again, until one reaches nonaction.
Through nonaction, nothing is left undone.
To take the world, always use noninterference.
When one has business and schemes, one is not enough to take the world.

## Chapter 49
The sage has no constant mind; he takes the minds of the people as his mind.
To the good, I am good.
To the not-good, I am also good.
This is the goodness of virtue.
To the trustworthy, I am trustworthy.
To the untrustworthy, I am also trustworthy.
This is the trust of virtue.
The sage in the world gathers all into one heart; the people all fix their eyes and ears on him, and the sage treats them all as children.

## Chapter 50
Going out is life; entering is death.
Followers of life are three in ten.
Followers of death are three in ten.
People who live but move toward the place of death are also three in ten.
Why is this?
Because they thicken life too much.
I have heard that one who is good at preserving life travels on land and does not meet rhinoceros or tiger, enters an army and is not struck by weapons.
The rhinoceros has nowhere to thrust its horn; the tiger has nowhere to place its claws; the weapon has nowhere to admit its blade.
Why is this?
Because he has no place of death.

## Chapter 51
The Way gives them birth; virtue nourishes them.
Matter gives them form; circumstance completes them.
Therefore the ten thousand things all honor the Way and value virtue.
The honor of the Way and the value of virtue are not commanded; they are always naturally so.
Thus the Way gives them birth and virtue nourishes them.
It grows them, raises them, settles them, matures them, feeds them, and shelters them.
It gives birth but does not possess; acts but does not rely on it; leads but does not rule.
This is called mysterious virtue.

## Chapter 52
The world has a beginning; it is the mother of the world.
Having found the mother, one knows the children.
Having known the children, return to guard the mother, and to the end of the body there is no danger.
Block the openings, close the doors, and to the end of life there is no toil.
Open the openings and multiply affairs, and to the end of life there is no rescue.
Seeing the small is called clarity; guarding softness is called strength.
Use its light, return again to its clarity, and leave no calamity for the body; this is practicing constancy.

## Chapter 53
If I had even the smallest knowledge, I would walk on the great Way and fear only straying.
The great Way is very level, yet the people love bypaths.
The court is swept clean, while the fields are overgrown and the granaries empty.
They wear patterned silks, carry sharp swords, gorge on food and drink, and have wealth in excess.
This is called robbery and boasting.
It is not the Way.

## Chapter 54
What is well planted is not uprooted.
What is well embraced does not slip away.
Descendants will offer sacrifices without interruption.
Cultivate it in the body, and its virtue is true.
Cultivate it in the family, and its virtue is abundant.
Cultivate it in the village, and its virtue grows.
Cultivate it in the state, and its virtue is rich.
Cultivate it under heaven, and its virtue is universal.
Therefore observe body by body, family by family, village by village, state by state, and the world by the world.
How do I know the world is so? By this.

## Chapter 55
One who contains virtue in thickness is like a newborn child.
Wasps, scorpions, snakes, and vipers do not sting him; fierce beasts do not seize him; birds of prey do not strike him.
His bones are weak and his sinews soft, yet his grip is firm.
He does not yet know the joining of male and female, yet his potency is whole; this is the utmost of essence.
He cries all day and does not become hoarse; this is the utmost of harmony.
Knowing harmony is called constancy; knowing constancy is called clarity.
Increasing life is called auspicious excess; the heart forcing the breath is called strength.
When things are strong, they grow old; this is called contrary to the Way, and what is contrary to the Way ends early.

## Chapter 56
Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.
Block the openings, close the doors, blunt the sharpness, untangle the knots.
Soften the light, become one with the dust.
This is called mysterious sameness.
Therefore it cannot be obtained by closeness or distance, by benefit or harm, by honor or lowliness.
Therefore it is honored under heaven.

## Chapter 57
Govern the state with uprightness.
Use surprise in warfare.
Take the world through noninterference.
How do I know this is so? By this:
The more prohibitions under heaven, the poorer the people become.
The more sharp tools the people have, the more confused the state becomes.
The more clever skills people have, the more strange things arise.
The more laws and commands are displayed, the more thieves and bandits there are.
Therefore the sage says: I practice nonaction, and the people transform themselves.
I love stillness, and the people correct themselves.
I have no affairs, and the people enrich themselves.
I have no desires, and the people become simple of themselves.

## Chapter 58
When government is dull and restrained, the people are simple and honest.
When government is sharp and searching, the people are deficient and divided.
Misfortune is where fortune leans; fortune is where misfortune hides.
Who knows their limit?
There is no fixed correctness.
Correctness returns to become strangeness; goodness returns to become the uncanny.
The confusion of people has indeed lasted a long time.
Therefore the sage is square but does not cut, sharp but does not wound, straight but does not indulge, bright but does not dazzle.

## Chapter 59
In governing people and serving heaven, nothing is like frugality.
Only frugality is called early submission.
Early submission is called heavy accumulation of virtue.
With heavy accumulation of virtue, nothing cannot be overcome.
When nothing cannot be overcome, no one knows the limit.
When no one knows the limit, one can possess the state.
Possessing the mother of the state, one can endure long.
This is called deep roots and a firm base, the Way of long life and lasting vision.

## Chapter 60
Governing a great state is like cooking a small fish.
When one approaches the world with the Way, its spirits are not uncanny.
It is not that its spirits are not uncanny; their uncanniness does not harm people.
It is not only that their spirits do not harm people; the sage also does not harm people.
When the two do not harm each other, virtue returns and gathers there.

## Chapter 61
A great state is the lower stream.
It is the meeting place of the world, the female of the world.
The female always overcomes the male by stillness; through stillness she takes the lower place.
Therefore, if a great state lowers itself before a small state, it takes the small state.
If a small state lowers itself before a great state, it is taken by the great state.
Thus some lower themselves in order to take, and some lower themselves and are taken.
The great state wants no more than to gather and nourish people; the small state wants no more than to enter and serve people.
When both obtain what they want, the greater should be below.

## Chapter 62
The Way is the hidden storehouse of the ten thousand things.
It is the treasure of good people and the protection of people who are not good.
Beautiful words can buy honor; honored conduct can add to a person.
As for people who are not good, why abandon them?
Therefore, when the Son of Heaven is enthroned and the three ministers are appointed, though one may have jade disks presented before four-horse teams, it is better to sit and advance this Way.
Why did the ancients value this Way?
Did they not say: those who seek may obtain, and those with guilt may be spared?
Therefore it is honored under heaven.

## Chapter 63
Act through nonaction.
Manage affairs through noninterference.
Taste what has no taste.
Make the small great and the few many.
Repay resentment with virtue.
Plan the difficult while it is easy; do the great while it is small.
The difficult affairs under heaven must begin in what is easy; the great affairs under heaven must begin in what is small.
Therefore the sage never acts as great, and so can accomplish greatness.
Light promises must have little trust; much ease must have much difficulty.
Therefore the sage treats things as difficult, and so in the end has no difficulty.

## Chapter 64
What is at rest is easy to hold.
What has not yet shown signs is easy to plan for.
What is brittle is easy to dissolve.
What is minute is easy to scatter.
Act before it exists; govern before there is disorder.
A tree that fills the arms grows from a tiny sprout.
A nine-story terrace rises from heaps of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles begins beneath the feet.
Those who contrive it ruin it; those who grasp it lose it.
Therefore the sage does not contrive, and so has no ruin; does not grasp, and so has no loss.
People, in pursuing affairs, often ruin them when they are almost complete.
Be careful at the end as at the beginning, and there will be no ruined affairs.
Therefore the sage desires not to desire and does not value goods hard to obtain; learns not to learn and returns to what the masses have passed by, assisting the naturalness of the ten thousand things without daring to interfere.

## Chapter 65
Those of old who were good at practicing the Way did not use it to enlighten the people, but to keep them simple.
The people are hard to govern because they have much cleverness.
Therefore to govern a state with cleverness is the thief of the state.
Not to govern a state with cleverness is the blessing of the state.
Knowing these two is also a model.
Always knowing the model is called mysterious virtue.
Mysterious virtue is deep, far-reaching, and returns with things; only then does it arrive at great accord.

## Chapter 66
Rivers and seas can be kings of the hundred valleys because they are good at staying below them; therefore they can be kings of the hundred valleys.
Thus, if the sage wants to be above the people, he must speak as though below them.
If he wants to be before the people, he must place himself behind them.
Therefore the sage dwells above, yet the people do not feel burdened; dwells before, yet the people do not feel harmed.
Therefore all under heaven gladly support him and do not tire of him.
Because he does not contend, no one under heaven can contend with him.

## Chapter 67
Everyone under heaven says my Way is great, yet seems unlike anything.
Precisely because it is great, it seems unlike anything.
If it resembled something, it would long ago have become small.
I have three treasures, which I hold and protect.
The first is compassion.
The second is frugality.
The third is not daring to be first under heaven.
Because of compassion, one can be brave.
Because of frugality, one can be broad.
Because of not daring to be first under heaven, one can become chief of all vessels.
Now, to abandon compassion and yet be brave, to abandon frugality and yet be broad, to abandon being behind and yet put oneself first: this is death.
With compassion in battle, one wins.
With compassion in defense, one is firm.
When heaven is about to save someone, it protects him with compassion.

## Chapter 68
One good at being a warrior is not martial.
One good at fighting is not angry.
One good at defeating an enemy does not engage him.
One good at using people places himself below them.
This is called the virtue of not contending; this is called the strength of using people; this is called matching heaven, the ancient utmost.

## Chapter 69
In using troops there is a saying:
I do not dare act as host, but act as guest.
I do not dare advance an inch, but retreat a foot.
This is called marching without marching, baring arms without arms, throwing down without an enemy, holding weapons without weapons.
No disaster is greater than taking the enemy lightly.
Taking the enemy lightly nearly loses my treasure.
Therefore, when opposing armies meet, the one who grieves wins.

## Chapter 70
My words are very easy to know and very easy to practice.
Yet no one under heaven can know them, and no one can practice them.
Words have an ancestor; affairs have a ruler.
It is precisely because people do not know this that they do not know me.
Those who know me are few; those who follow me are honored.
Therefore the sage wears coarse cloth and holds jade within.

## Chapter 71
To know that one does not know is highest.
Not to know, yet think one knows, is sickness.
Only by being sick of sickness is one not sick.
The sage is not sick because he is sick of sickness; therefore he is not sick.

## Chapter 72
When the people do not fear awe, great awe arrives.
Do not crowd their dwelling places.
Do not weary them in their lives.
Only because you do not weary them are they not weary of you.
Therefore the sage knows himself but does not display himself.
He loves himself but does not exalt himself.
Therefore he leaves that and takes this.

## Chapter 73
Bravery in daring leads to killing.
Bravery in not daring leads to life.
Of these two, one may benefit and one may harm.
What heaven hates, who knows the reason?
Therefore even the sage finds it difficult.
The Way of heaven does not contend and yet is good at winning; does not speak and yet is good at answering; is not summoned and yet comes of itself; is spacious and yet good at planning.
Heaven's net is vast and wide; sparse, yet it loses nothing.

## Chapter 74
If the people do not fear death, how can death be used to frighten them?
If the people were always made to fear death, and those who acted strangely could be seized and killed, who would dare?
There is always an executioner who kills.
To kill in place of the executioner is like chopping in place of the master carpenter.
Those who chop in place of the master carpenter rarely avoid injuring their own hands.

## Chapter 75
The people are hungry because those above eat too much in taxes; therefore they are hungry.
The people are hard to govern because those above are too active; therefore they are hard to govern.
The people take death lightly because they seek life too thickly; therefore they take death lightly.
Only those who do not act for the sake of life are wiser than those who value life.

## Chapter 76
When people are alive, they are soft and weak; when they die, they are stiff and strong.
When grasses and trees are alive, they are soft and tender; when they die, they are dry and withered.
Therefore the stiff and strong are followers of death; the soft and weak are followers of life.
Thus a strong army does not win; a strong tree is cut down.
The strong and great occupy the lower place; the soft and weak occupy the higher place.

## Chapter 77
The Way of heaven is like drawing a bow.
What is high is pressed down; what is low is raised up.
What has excess is diminished; what is insufficient is supplemented.
The Way of heaven diminishes excess and supplements insufficiency.
The way of people is not so: it diminishes insufficiency to offer to excess.
Who can have excess and offer it to the world? Only one who has the Way.
Therefore the sage acts without relying on it, completes the work without dwelling on it, and does not wish to display worthiness.

## Chapter 78
Nothing under heaven is softer and weaker than water.
Yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can surpass it; nothing can replace it.
The weak overcomes the strong; the soft overcomes the hard.
No one under heaven fails to know this, yet no one can practice it.
Therefore the sage says: One who receives the state's filth is called lord of the soil and grain; one who receives the state's misfortune is called king under heaven.
Straight words seem reversed.

## Chapter 79
When a great resentment is reconciled, some resentment must remain.
How can this be considered good?
Therefore the sage holds the left-hand tally and does not demand payment from others.
One with virtue attends to the tally; one without virtue attends to collection.
The Way of heaven has no favorites; it is always with the good person.

## Chapter 80
Let the state be small and the people few.
Though there are tools tenfold and hundredfold, let them not be used.
Let the people value death and not migrate far.
Though there are boats and carriages, there is nowhere to ride them.
Though there are armor and weapons, there is nowhere to display them.
Let the people return to knotting cords and using them.
Let them find their food sweet, their clothing beautiful, their homes peaceful, and their customs joyful.
Neighboring states can see one another; the sounds of roosters and dogs can be heard across the border.
Yet the people grow old and die without visiting one another.

## Chapter 81
Trustworthy words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not trustworthy.
The good do not argue; those who argue are not good.
Those who know are not broadly learned; the broadly learned do not know.
The sage does not accumulate.
Having used what he has for others, he has still more himself.
Having given what he has to others, he has still more himself.
The Way of heaven benefits and does not harm.
The Way of the sage acts and does not contend.