The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 81 translated by Isabella Mears Faithful words may not be beautiful, Beautiful words may not be faithful. Those who love do not quarrel, Those who quarrel do not love. Those who know are not learned, Those who are learned do not know. The riches of the self-controlled person are in the Inner Life. When one spends for others, one has more for oneself. When one gives to others, one has much more for oneself. Heavenly Tao blesses all and hurts no one. The wa...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 79 translated by Keith H. Seddon When a bad grudge is settled, Some enmity is bound to remain. How can this be considered acceptable? Therefore the Sage keeps to her side of the contract But does not hold the other party to their promise. One who has Virtue will honour the contract, Whilst one who is without Virtue expects others to meet their obligations. It is the Way of Heaven to be impartial; It stays always with the good person Photo by Gus Moretta ...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 77 translated by Anonymous The natural order is like stretching a bow The low bow gets pushed up high And the high tendon pulled downwards Where there is too much, it takes away Where there is not enough, it fills Nature strives for harmony all the time Decreases where there is too much And increases where there is too little But how opposite are the people in their behaviour The poor get poorer while the rich tend to get richer But one who is wise realiz...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 75 translated by Shi Fu Hwang The people suffer from hunger because their superior agencies have imposed a heavy tax, thus they are hungry. The people are difficult to govern because their superior agencies are too fond of meddling, thus they are difficult to govern. The people make lightly of dying because of the excessive costs in seeking the means of living, thus they think lightly of dying. Therefore the benevolent should be those who do not interfere...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 73 translated by Isabella Mears A person with courage and daring is slain, A person with courage and self-restraint lives. Of these two, the one has benefit, the other has injury. Who can tell why one of them should incur Heaven's Wrath? Because of this the self-controlled person has doubt and difficulty. Heavenly Tao strives not, but conquers by love; It speaks not, but responds in Love; It calls not to people, but of themselves they come; It slowly is m...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 71 translated by Hua-Ching Ni One who regards one’s intellectual knowledge as ignorance has deep insight. One who overrates one’s intellectual achievement as definite truth is deeply sick. Only when one is sick of this sickness can one cease to be sick. One who returns one’s mind to the simplicity of the subtle truth is not sick. One knows to break through conceptual knowledge in order to directly reach the subtle truth of the universe. This is the founda...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 69 translated by Bram den Hond Those who use weapons have a saying which goes: "I do not presume to act like the host but instead play the part of the guest; I do not advance an inch but would rather retreat a foot". This is called moving forward without appearing to move - Rolling up one's sleeves without showing one's arms - Grasping firmly, without holding a weapon - And enticing to fight when there is no opponent. Of disasters, there is no greater c...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 67 translated by Ellen Marie Chen All under heaven say that my Tao is great, That it seems useless (pu hsiao). Because it is great, Therefore it seems useless. If it were useful,It would have long been small. I have three treasures (pao), To hold and to keep: The first is motherly love (tz'u), The second is frugality (chien), The third is daring not to be at the world's front. With motherly love one can be courageous, With frugality one can be wide re...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 65 translated by Hua-Ching Ni In ancient times, those who were well-versed in the practice of the subtle Way of the universe did not lead people to disintegrate their minds through intellectual development for the sake of partial achievement. Instead, they dissolved all contradictory concepts and images in order to maintain the natural state of simplicity. Why are people so hard to manage? Because they have become complicated. He who leads others with a c...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 63 translated by James Legge (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 flavour; to consider what is small as great, and a few as many; and to recompense injury with kindness. (The master of it) anticipates things that are difficult while they are easy, and does things that would become great while they are small. All difficult things in the wo...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 61 translated by Lin Yutang A big country (should be like) the delta low-regions, Being the concourse of the world, (And) the Female of the world. The Female overcomes the Male by quietude, And achieves the lowly position by quietude. Therefore if a big country places itself below a small country It absorbs the small country. (And) if a small country places itself below a big country, It absorbs the big...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 59 translated by Herman Ould In the ruling of men and the serving of Heaven nothing equals moderation. For moderations leads to foresight in conserving; Foresight in conserving leads to the storing of treasures of power. The strength of one who has stored such treasures of power cannot be overcome. As nothing can overcome it, its potency is boundless. Because its potency is boundless, Its possessors can attain sovereignty over the whole kingdom. And if, h...

Send us Fan Mail Tao Te Ching Verse 57 translated by Xiaolin Yang When governing a country you must be fair and just; When fighting a battle, you must use tricks; When taking over the world, you must practice WUWEI. How do I know everything in this world? This is how. The more restrictions the government sets, the more people become poor; The more people have dangerous weapons, the more the country falls into chaos; The more people become clever, the more bizarre things happen; The more sev...