3 - Daoism

THE WAY

The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao.  The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

The Dao produces all things and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them.  This is what is called “The mysterious quality” of the Dao.

When the Great Dao ceased to be observed, benevolence and righteousness came into vogue.  Then appeared wisdom and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.

Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Dao.  The law of the Dao is its being what it is.

All-pervading is the Great Dao!  It may be found on the left and on the right.  All things depend on it for their production, which it gives to them, not one refusing obedience to it.  When its work is accomplished, it does not claim the name of having done it.  It clothes all things as with a garment and makes no assumption of being their lord; -- it may be named in the smallest things;…it may be named in the greatest things.

He who has in himself abundantly the attributes of the Dao is like an infant.

The Dao in its regular course does nothing, for the sake of doing it, and so there is nothing which it does not do.

THE WISE PERSON

When we renounce learning we have no troubles.

If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold.  If we could renounce our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people would again become filial and kindly.  If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard our scheming for gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers.

The sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.

Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing of humility, and manifests it to all the world.  He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines; from self-assertion, and therefor he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefor he acquires superiority.  It is because he is thus free from striving that therefore no one in the world is able to strive with him.

When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe.  When wealth and honors lead to arrogance, this brings its evil on itself.  When the work is done, and one’s name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.

IDEAL GOVERNMENT

A state may be ruled by measures of correction; weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity; but the kingdom is made one’s own only by freedom from action and purpose.

How do I know that is so?  By these facts: -- In the kingdom the multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people have, the greater disorder there is there in the state and clan; the more acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the more thieves and robbers there are.

Therefore a sage has said, “I will do nothing, and the people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct.  I will take no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to the primitive simplicity.” 

Not to value and employ men of superior ability is the way to keep the people from rivalry among themselves; not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves; not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is the way to keep their minds from disorder.

Therefore the sage, in the exercise of this government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones.

He constantly tries to keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act on it.  When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.