【正文】 fill your house with gold and jade and you invite thieves。 people will not then crave power or status. If scarce good are not valued highly, people will have no need to steal them. If there is nothing available to arouse passion, people will remain content and satisfied. The truly wise lead by instilling humility and openmindedness, by providing for fair livelihoods, by discouraging personal ambition, and by helping people to be upright. The wise avoid evil and radical reform。s Way is to nourish, not to harm. The Sage39。 A foca point for the Earth, the feminine Spirit of the World. The female always overes the male by stillness. Stillness is the lowest position. Therefore a big country, By placing itself below a smaller country Wil win the smaller country. And a smal country, By placing itself below a larger country Wil gain the large country. Therefore, by being humble, one gains And the other, being humble already, also gains. A great country needs to embrace the lowly. The smal country needs to serve others. Thus, both needs are satisfied And each gets what it wants. Remember, the great country should always humble itself. 62 The Tao is the bosom of the Universe It is the good person39。t understand me. And since so few understand me, Then such understanding is rare and valuable indeed. Therefore the Sage wears mon clothes And hides his treasures only in his heart. 71 She who knows that she does not know is the best off. He who pretends to know but doesn39。 reality and fantasy are opposing thoughts。 they are therefore first. They are indifferent to themselves。 the five tastes dull the tongue. Reckless ambition will unbalance the mind。 disturbances (turmoil) are quieted (submerged). It is like a deep, dark pool. I do not know its source. It is like a prelude to nature, a preface to God. 5 Nature is indifferent to life. It realizes everything is as a straw dog. The truly wise are also indifferent to life. They realize humanity is as a straw dog. The universe is like a bellows: empty, yet quite full. As it proceeds, it produces. Much talk, much exhaustion. Keep your thoughts within! 6 The concept of Yin is ever present. It is the Mystic Female from whom the heavens and earth originate. Constantly, continuously, enduring always. Use her! 7 The heavens endure。 named it is the mother of all things. To see Tao the observer must be motiveless. Those with selfish motives see only the surface, not the innermost depths. These two kinds of observers look alike but differ in the insight of their observations. They look alike because they are both human。 To help every being assume its natura way of being, And not dare to force anything. 65 In ancient times those who followed the Tao Did not try to educate the people. They chose to let them be. The reason people bee hard to govern Is that they think they know it all. So, if a leader tries to lead through cleverness, He is nothing but a liability. But if a leader leads, not through cleverness, but through goodness, this is a blessing to all. To be always conscious of the Great Pattern Is a spiritua virtue. Spiritua virtue is awesome and infinite And it leads All things back to their Source. Then there emerges the Great Harmony. 66 Rivers and the sea are able to rule the streams of a hundred valleys. Because they are good at taking the lower position, The streams of a hundred valleys run to them. Therefore, if you want to rule effectively over people You must surely speak as if below them. If you want to lead well, You must surely walk behind them. That way when the Sage takes a position of power The people will not fee oppressed. And when the Sage leads The people will not think he is in the way. Therefore the whole world joyfully praises him and does not tire of him. Because he refuses to pete, The world cannot pete with him. 67 Everyone says this Tao of mine is great and nebulous. So great, in fact, that it is too nebulous To be of any use. I have three treasures that I hold and cherish: One is called passion Another is called moderation And the third is called daring not to pete. With passion, one is able to be brave. With moderation, one has enough to be generous with others. Without petition, one is fit to lead. Nowadays people don39。s refuge. Flattery may buy one39。 but again, it defies accurate translation. Ching means 攂 ook? Legend has it that the Tao Teh Ching was written by Laotse ?which in Chinese would sound like Louis. Laots means 攚 orshipful master?or 攚 ise teacher? When Laotse was niy years old, so the legend goes, he left his work as Keeper of the Archives to go into the hills, there to await death. But the frontier guards would not let him pass until he had written down his wisdom for future generations. Thus, the Tao Teh Ching was written. There is no known original manuscript of The Book of Tao in existence。 it is truly inexhaustible. Like nature, it appears to be the origin of everything. In it, conflicts (sharp edges) are satisfied (rounded)。 provide nourishment。 through it nothing is lost. 9 There is a danger in extremes: pull a bowstring too far and you wish you had let go before。 are positive, not possessive。s Way is to take from what has too much And give it to what does not have enough. This is not the way of men, however, For they take from those who have little To increase the wealth of the rich. So who is it that has too much and offers it to a needy World? Only someone who knows the Tao. Therefore