Tao of the Day

In a small country with few people: Though there are machines that would increase production ten to a hundred miles they are not used. The people take death seriously and do not travel about.Though they have boats and carriages no one uses them...

Even though a truce is made between great enemies,some enmity is bound to remain.How can this be beneficial?Therefore, the True Personundertakes the obligations of the agreementbut makes no claim upon others.The person who has Virtue shares with others.The person who lacks Virtue takes from...

Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water. Yet it has no equal for attacking things that are hard and stiff. Nothing can withstand it.Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff, and the soft overcomes the hard...

The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow. The high end is pulled down and the low end is raised up. The excessive is diminished and the deficient is supplemented.It is the way of heaven to take where there is too much in order to give where there is not enough. The way of people is otherwise...

At birth you are supple and soft. At death you are stiff and hard. Grass and trees are pliant and tender when living, but they are dry and brittle when dead. Therefore, the stiff and hard are attendants of death, the supple and soft are attendants of life.Thus, the hard weapon will be broken...

Why are the people starving? Because their leaders eat up too much of the tax-grain; that is why the people are starving. Why are thc people difficult to govern? Because their leaders interfere; that is why the people are difficult to govern. Why do the people treat death lightly...

When the people do not fear death, of what use is it to threaten them with death? If the people were always afraid of death and if those who did wrong would always be arrested and put to death, who would do wrong?There is always a Lord of Execution whose duty it is to kill...

A person whose courage lies in daring will meet death. A person whose courage lies in not daring will encounter life. Of the two courses, either may be beneficial or harmful.Heaven dislikes what it dislikes. Who knows the reason why...

When the people lack a sense of awedisaster will descend upon them.Do not constrict their living space.Do not harass them in their work.If you do not oppress them, they will not weary of you.Therefore, True Persons know themselvesbut make no show of themselves.They know their valuebut do not exalt...

It is well to know that you do not know. To think you know when you do not is sickness.When you are sick of sickness you will no longer be sick. True Persons are not sick because they are sick of sickness; this is the way to health.

My words are easy to understand and easy to put into practice. Yet no one under heaven understands them or puts them into practice.My words have an ancestor. My actions are governed.Because people do not understand this they do not understand me. Those who understand me are few...

The master soldiers have a saying: I dare not be the host but prefer to be the guest...

A skilled warrior does not rush ahead of others A skilled fighter does not make a show of anger. A skilled victor does not seek revenge. A skilled employer does not act superior.This is known as the virtue of not competing. This is known as making use of the abilities of others...

Everyone under heaven says my Tao is great and resembles nothing else. It is because it is great that it seems different. If it were like anything on earth it would have been small from the beginning.I have three treasures that I cherish and hald fast...

How did the sea gain kingship of a hundred streams? Because it takes the lower position. Hence, it is king of a hundred streams.Therefore, when True Persons are over the people they put themselves below the people by their speech...

The ancients who practiced the Taodid not use it to enlighten the people,but rather to assist them in gaining simplicity.The reason people are difficult to governis because they are too clever.Hence, a person who attemptsto govern a country by cleverness will injure it.Those who govern without...

Peace is easily maintained while things are still at rest.Trouble is easily handled before it starts.What is brittle is easily broken.What is minute is easily scattered.Handle a problem before it appears.Secure order before confusion begins.A tree as big as a person's embrace begins as a tiny...

Act without striving.Work without interfering.Find the flavor in what is flavorless.Enlarge the small, increase the few.Heal injury with goodness.Handle the difficult while it is still easy.Cultivate the great while it is still small.All difficult things begin as easy things.All great things begin...

The Tao is to the ten thousand thingswhat the shrine is in the home.It is the treasure of the virtuousand the protection of the wrongdoer.Good words are appreciated.Good deeds deeds accepted as gifts.Even the wrongdoers are not abandoned.Hence, on the day an Emperor is installedand appoints the...

A great country is like the low landswhere all the streams unite.In all things under heaventhe female overcomes the male by her stillness,and because she is still she lies below.Hence, if the great country will take the low placeit will win over the little country.If the little country will take...

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish.Let all under heaven be governed in accordance with the Tao, and demons will not manifest their power. It is not that they lack power but rather they will not use their power to harm the people...

For governing others and serving heaventhere is nothing better than moderation.A person who is moderate returns to the path.Returning to the path brings an abundance of Virtue.This good store of Virtue cannot be conquered.Virtue that cannot be conquered knows no limit.Only a person who has...

When the government is unseenthe people are simple and happy.When the government is livelythe people are cunning and discontented.On misery perches happiness.Beneath happiness crouches misery.Who knows when this will cease?The straight changes into the crooked.The good becomes the ominous.Surely...

Govern the country by being straightforward.Wage war by being crafty.Win all under heaven by not meddling.How do I know that this is so?By what is within me.The more restrictions there are,the poorer are the people.The more pointed the people's weapons,the more disorder there is in the country.The...

Those who know do not speak.Those who speak do not know.Block the passages!Shut the doors!Blunt the sharpness!Untangle the knots!Soften the glare!Settle with the dust!This is the Mystery of Evenness.Those who have achieved this cannot be enclosednor kept at a distance;they cannot be benefited nor...

A person who is filled with Virtueis like a newborn child.Poisonous insects will not sting,wild animals will not pounce,birds of prey will not swoop down.Although bones are soft and sinews weak,a child's grip is firm.The union of man and woman is not known,yet there is completeness,because a...

What is well rooted cannot be pulled up.What is firmly grasped will not slip loose.It will be honored from generation to generation.When cultivated in your person, Virtue will be real.When cultivated in your household, Virtue will be plentiful.When cultivated in your village, Virtue will...

If I have even little sense,I will walk upon the great path of Taoand only fear straying from it.This Great Way is straight and smoothyet people often prefer the side roads.The courtyard is well keptbut the fields are full of weeds,and the granaries stand empty.Still, there are those of uswho wear...

All things under heaven had a common beginning,and that beginning could be consideredthe Mother of all things.When you know the Motheryou will also know the children.Know the children, yet hold fast to the Mother,and to the end of your daysyou will be free from danger.Block the passages!Shut the...

The Tao gives life to all things,and its Virtue nourishes them,forms each according to its natureand gives to each its inner strength.Therefore, the ten thousand things all venerate the Taoand honor its Virtue.It has never been decreed that the Tao be veneratedand its Virtue be honored;they have...