 The chaos of human consciousness is getting out of hand. So many people are struggling to get by and stay centered on the spiritual path and many don't even know that there is a spiritual path that can be walked. But we are emerging into a new paradigm of being, one in which consciousness is understood as an underlying foundation for existence and beingness. This is the value of the Dao De Ching, which is a guidebook on the underlying reality, illuminating simple truths that can only be understood by going within. As you dive into this video, which explores all 81 verses of the Dao De Ching, translated by us, for you, the modern mind, contemplate the wisdom and hidden meanings, and go deeper into the truth of who you are. The word Dao, which means way, is a way of life that will help you become more balanced, whole, and clear. If after watching this video you're called to go deeper, you are invited to grab a copy of the brand new print edition of this book, called the Dao De Ching, Aquarian Age Edition. This book also includes thorough commentaries to help in understanding and integrating each passage into your life. Use the link in the description to get your own copy, and may this wisdom serve you to make sense of who you are and find your way in life. A Dao you can explain is not the eternal Dao. A name that you can name is not the eternal name. The origin of heaven and earth is inconceivable. It is conceivable only as the mother of all things. Therefore, living without desires, you dwell in its essence. Living with desires, you dwell in its limitations. Both essence and limitation emerge from one, but differ in name. Together they are the mystery of the void. The dark void is the gate of the mysteries. You know that which is beautiful, and in this you grasp the ugly. You know the skill of the skillful, and in this you find the want of the skill. Being and nothingness give birth to each other. Hard and easy complete each other. Length and shortness measure each other. High and low lean toward each other. Music and voice mutually harmonize. Before and after follow each other. In the same way, the wise live without interfering, and practice teaching without words. The myriad creatures arise, yet they do not decline. They emerge, yet they do not possess. They act, yet they do not claim. They accomplish their tasks, and do not dwell on them. And in not dwelling on them, they do not vanish. Not glorifying the exceptional prevents people from competition. Not overvaluing goods hard to obtain prevents acts of robbery. Not displaying desirable things keeps their hearts from confusion. Therefore, the wise governing will alleviate their desires, satisfy their needs, soften their hearts, strengthen their core. Constantly they keep people free of cunning and desire, and stop those with cunning from interfering. When one acts without interfering, nothing is left undone. The Tao is empty, yet it is never exhausted. So vast it seems to be the source of all. It is hidden, it contains everything. It smooths the sharpness, it unravels the knots. It dims the brightness, it mixes the dusts. So indistinguishable from everything, hidden yet everywhere. You may ask where it comes from, but who can say? It is older than time itself. Heaven and Earth are impartial. They hold things as sacred and then let them go. Without attachment, they regard the world as though fluid, moving between states of sacred and mundane. So as the wise are impartial, regarding people in the same way. The space between heaven and earth, is it not like a bellows, pushing and pulling to create life? But after all has been said, too many words get in the way. It cannot compare to going within and knowing yourself. The spirit of the valley is called the divine feminine. The gate of the divine feminine is called the root of heaven and earth. It flows continuously, only perceptible from within. Utilize it, it is never exhausted. Heaven seems constant, earth seems enduring. Therefore heaven and earth can be constant and stable. It is because they do not exist for themselves, that they may last forever. Therefore the wise put themselves last and end up ahead. They renounce their self-concerns and are held dear by all. Can you see it is because of their selflessness? This is how they can achieve anything. Supreme goodness resembles water. It nourishes all things and gives without competition. It dwells even in places that people disdain. Hence it is close to the Tao. In dwelling it seeks the lowest. In heart and mind with great depth. In giving with tenderness. In speaking with sincerity. In administrating with order. In business with competence. In acting with graceful timing. Because it gives without competition there can be no resentment. Maintaining and overdoing things is not as good as letting them end. Over sharpen a blade and it cannot protect you for long. Nobody can protect palaces filled with gold and jewels. For the wealthy and honored yet arrogant, they surrender to their own calamity. Retreat back once your work is done. This is the way of nature. In preserving the spirit and the soul and keeping their unity, can you be unsplit and whole? In focusing your vital energy and becoming soft and tender, can you be like a newborn baby? In clarifying your mind from dark views and perceptions, can you become clear and immaculate? In loving the people and guiding a country, can you do so without cunning? Like the gates of heaven opening and closing, can you act in that yielding feminine way? To reach a balanced understanding of everything. Can you do it with no cunning or deception at all? To create something and care for it. To produce something yet not possess it. To act upon yet without relying upon. To conduct yet without commanding. This is called the deep inner power. Thirty spokes join on the hub of a wheel, but the emptiness of the hub is the chariot's usability. Clay is used to form a cup. Equally, its emptiness is the cup's usability. Create a room with doors and windows and form a living space. Once more, in its emptiness, the room's usability is found. Therefore, where form brings about advantages, formlessness brings about usability. Too many colors blind the eye. Too many sounds deafen the ear. Too many flavors dull the palate. Racing and hunting make the human heart go mad. Chasing treasures hard to get blocks the unfoldment of the human story. In this way, wise men care for needs and not for desires. This is how they choose one thing over another. Honor and disgrace are equally frightening. High social status is troubling to our center. What is meant by honor and disgrace are equally frightening. Honor works in a degrading way. To gain it and lose it is frightening. Gaining success leads to fear of its loss. This is what it means. What is meant by high social status is troubling to our center. It is because I am selfish that I have worries. If I reached selflessness, what worries would I have? Therefore, they who act with love from their center for the world, who love to act from their center for the world, they seem to be the ones who can be entrusted with the world. Look for it and it cannot be seen. Its name is invisible. Listen for it and it cannot be heard. Its name is inaudible. Reach for it and it cannot be grasped. Its name is intangible. These three cannot be understood further. Hence, they form a unity. It is neither bright above nor dark below. It is boundless and nameless and always returns to non-beingness. It is the form of the formless, the shape of the shapeless, the imageless image. This is called the undifferentiated and seamless. When you approach it, its beginning cannot be seen. When you follow it, its end cannot be found. Hold on to the ancient Tao and master the present moment. If you understood the origin of antiquity, you would perceive the Tao's golden thread. The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, and deeply profound. Within them, a depth impossible to comprehend. There is no way to describe their presence, but we can know them by their appearance. They were careful like men wading across a frozen river. Alert like a warrior in enemy territory. Respectful like a guest. Yielding like ice at the point of melting. Genuine and pure like an uncarved block of wood. Open were they like a great valley. And opaque like muddy water. Who can clear the murky by the caution of stillness? Who can create peace by the care of enduring movement? The wise preserve this state by never desiring for excess. Those who don't seek or expect fulfillment become present and can welcome all things. The wise achieve emptiness in the ultimate, keeping calm and peaceful in their center. The myriad things are always in flux, always in motion and turmoil. Contemplate the return of all creatures coming back to their roots. Returning to the roots means serenity. It's known as the return to destiny. Coming home to destiny brings you into eternity. Awareness of eternity is enlightenment. Not knowing the eternal recklessly brings misery upon you. Not realizing the source, you stumble in confusion. But to know the eternal, you become all-encompassing. Being all-encompassing leads to justice. Justice leads to kingliness. Kingliness leads to heavenliness. Heavenliness leads to the Tao. Tao leads to longevity everlasting, where even death is no threat to your well-being. The wisest leaders among humanity are barely known. Next comes those who are loved and praised. Next are those whom people fear. And next, after that, those who are despised. If leaders are not trusting, then trust cannot be placed in them. But those leaders who are calm, thoughtfully valuing their words, accomplishing their tasks and settling their matters, their people will say, we did it ourselves naturally. When the great Tao is abandoned, kindness and righteousness appear. When shrewdness and deception arise, there is great hypocrisy. When close relatives are not harmonizing, responsible children and benevolent fathers arise. When the country and people are in confusion and chaos, loyal patriots appear. Abandoned sagesliness, discard clever knowledge, and the people will benefit a hundredfold. Abandoned benevolence, discard righteousness, and the people will always do the right thing. Abandoned craftiness, discard lust for profit, and robbers and thieves will cease to exist. These three examples are still insufficient, so practice centeredness, appear plain and simple. Reduce selfishness and diminish desires. Abandon scholarship, and you will worry no more. Over-thinking and you will end all your problems. In the difference between heartfelt and pandering, how much are they mutually apart? In the difference between good and evil, are they not mutually alike in their distance? When people fear something, they cannot escape that fear. This desolation is unending indeed. But do the wise fear what others fear? Do they fear darkness when there is light everywhere? Many people today are steeped in their merrymaking as if enjoying a great feast or watching a view in springtime. But I alone am content to be quiet and uninvolved, like an infant child before it learns to smile. I am alone as if without a place to go. Most people seem to have abundance, yet only I seem left behind. I carry a simpleton's heart. Where common people are bright and clear, I alone am dim. Where common people are sharp and focused, I alone am dull. I surge like the ocean, drifting freely without a destination. Most people have clear motives, but I alone am different from them. I stay outside and honor the nurturing mother. The purest of inner powers follows only the Tao. In its acting as an entity, the Tao is elusive and indistinct. Shapeless and unbound, within it there are forms. Vague and diffuse, within it there are beings. Secluded and unfathomable, within it there are essences. All things within it are genuine. All things within it are truthful. From ancient times until today, its name has never been lost. Through it one perceives all beings primordial beginning. How do I know the beginning of all beings? Intuitively, from within. The Tao brings resolution. Through it the partial becomes complete. The distorted becomes straight. The empty becomes filled. The worn out renewed. Having little is followed by attaining plenty. Gain too much and flow back into confusion. Hence the wise keep to the oneness and set an example for the whole world. They do not show off and thus become bright. They are not self-righteous and thus are prominent. They do not brag and thus receive great merit. They are not self-admiring and thus have lasting greatness. Because they do not compete, nobody can compete with them. The ancients say, being fragmentary is followed by wholeness. How could this be an empty phrase? Once whole and complete, then one returns to the Tao. It is natural to speak little, just as fierce winds don't last all morning, nor do great downpours last all day. Where do these things come from? Heaven and earth, of course. But not even heaven and earth can sustain these things. So what chance do humans have of doing it? Therefore, the way of the wise is to follow the Tao. Become one with the Tao. Those who follow inner power embody their inner power. Those who follow losing find loss in all things. Living as one with the Tao, one is received by the Tao. Living as one with inner power, one is received by inner power. Living as one with loss, one is received by loss. If you do not trust, then you will not be trusted. Standing on tiptoes, you lose your solid footing. With overly long steps, you cannot walk far. Those who show off do not attain enlightenment. Those who boast do not accomplish results. Those who are self-righteous are not respected. Those who brag will not last long. As such, with regard to the Tao, whether excess food or reckless behavior, those who live naturally can see the truth and do not linger there. The true source is nebulous and perfect, born before heaven and earth, silent and void, unique and unchanging, cosmically circulating, yet inexhaustible and endless. It might be regarded as the primal mother of creation. I do not know its name. To designate it, I call it Tao. If compelled to give it a name, I call it Great. Great means traveling. Traveling means far-reaching. Far-reaching means returning. In this way, the Tao is great. Heaven is great. Earth is great. And the King is great also. All creation has these four greats, and the King resides among one of those, indeed. Humankind follows the earth. The earth follows heaven. Heaven follows the Tao. And the Tao follows its own nature. The heavy serves as the root of the light, and calmness is the master of restlessness. In this way, the wise walk all day, not leaving behind their heavy baggage. Although they have brilliant prospects, they stay balanced and unmoving in their center, transcending their activities. How could a leader with a vast empire tread lightly upon the world? To be light is to lose one's roots. To be restless is to lose one's sovereignty. The wise traveler leaves neither track nor trace. Good speakers make no faults or flaws. Good analysts keep track without tallies or equipment. Good locksmiths need neither locks nor bolts, but none can open what they shut. Good binders use neither rope nor knots, but their work cannot be loosened. The wise are always good at protecting and never abandoning anyone, always good at saving creatures, and never abandoning any of them. This is called following enlightenment. Hence, a good man is a bad man's teacher. A bad man is a good man's challenge. If one does not honor their teacher or love their challenge, even if they have great knowledge, they still have great delusion. This is the essential mystery. Know the strength of your masculine, but keep to the care of your feminine. Become a riverbed for the whole world. Become the world's riverbed, and the constant inner power will not depart you. Return home to being like a child. Know the white, keep to the black, and become a model for the world. Become a model for the world, and constant inner power will not deviate. May you return home to limitlessness. Know your favor, keep your disfavor. Become a foundation for the world. Do this, and constant inner power is abundant. May you return home to simplicity. Simplicity, like the uncarved block, becomes a tool when it is carved. When used, it is developed for leaders and elders. For as it is said, great carvings arise without shavings. If you intend to seize the world and remake it your way, surely you will not succeed. The world is a spiritual vessel and cannot be interfered with. Interfering will cause destruction, and grasping at it will cause you to lose it. Every being has its place. While some beings advance, others will follow. Some will be strong, others will be weak. Some will destroy, others will be destroyed. The wise see all things in divine order. Therefore, they avoid extravagances, exaggerations, and excess. A leader guided by the Tao does not use weapons to attack the world. In his affairs, he prefers the retreat. After a battle, thorns and thistles follow troop encampments. After great wars, years of famine will certainly follow. Wise souls achieve results, then gracefully stop, not daring to seize more, not daring to seize more through violence. They achieve results without needing to brag or boast. They achieve results without arrogance or violence. That which doesn't follow the Tao is sure to end prematurely. The finest weapons are tools of violence. The average people detest them, where followers of the Tao will not touch them. At home, the noblemen value the left side. Using weapons, they then may value the right. Weapons are ill omens and not fit for good people. If they must be used, use them as a last resort, for peace and quiet are far better for a person's soul. If you must fight, win, but do not enjoy it, and take no delight in the killing of others. For those who delight in killing others cannot find fulfillment on earth. It is very good when a person's higher nature comes forth. It is not good when a person's lower nature comes forth. With the slaughter of many, there is grief and sorrow. Every victory is a funeral, and even when you win the battle, you celebrate by mourning. The Tao, forever without a name, simple and eternal, and smaller than anyone can find. If world leaders could hold to the Tao and people of the world behaved as though guests, heaven and earth would naturally come together, and all of humanity would be blessed. The people would exist under nobody's rule, and yet would naturally live in harmony with each other. There would be no need to force things, and society would adjust itself. In the beginning, all things were one. When the whole was divided, the parts needed names. Names came to exist everywhere. Now there are enough names, and to continue dividing is unnecessary. One should know when to stop. In this way, you avoid danger. The presence of Tao in the world is like streams in the valley, becoming rivers and oceans, always returning back to oneness and wholeness. If you know others, you are intelligent. If you know yourself, you are enlightened. If you overcome others, you are using force. If you overcome yourself, you are using strength. Knowing when you have enough, you are wealthy. Advancing forward with vigor, you have willpower. Without losing your place, you have endurance. Dying without doom, surely you live forever. The great Tao, all overflowing, is able to be everywhere. All creatures depend on it. From the Tao all things were born, and from it all things are given. Its achievements are completed, but never claimed as possessions. The Tao clothes and nourishes all beings, but does not become their lord and master. Constantly without desire, it can be named small. All creatures return to it, and so it can be named great. But because the Tao does not consider itself as great, its greatness is effortlessly achieved. Keep to the great image, and all the world will come to you. Yet you will suffer no harm, remaining safe, secure, and supremely peaceful. Music and alluring food will surely cause people to stop. But the Tao's speech, in contrast, seems bland and tasteless. Look at it, and it is invisible. Listen to it, and it is inaudible. But use it, and it is inexhaustible. Should you intend to make something smaller, you must first allow it to expand. Should you intend to weaken something, you must first strengthen it. Should you wish to abolish something, you must first let it flourish. Should you intend to take away from something, you must first give to it. This is called the wisdom of subtle insight. The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong. Fish should never be taken out from the depths, and accordingly, a state's weapons should never be displayed. The Tao constantly acts without interfering, yet nothing remains undone. If leaders would hold to this, all beings would develop naturally. As they develop, their desires would grow also, and I would calm them down by their natural simplicity of the Nameless Tao. In the simplicity of the Nameless, beings become desireless. Without desire, things become calm, and all the world becomes self-regulating. The highest inner power does not reveal inner power, so it has inner power. The lowest inner power does not conceal inner power, so it is without inner power. The highest inner power acts without interfering, and also without intentional acting. The lowest inner power acts without interfering, but with intentional acting. The highest humanity acts with interference, yet without intentional action. The highest justice acts with interference and also with intentional acting. The highest morality acts with interference, yet if nobody conforms to it, then they roll up their sleeves and enforce it. Hence, lose the Tao and it is followed by inner power. Lose inner power and it is followed by humanity. Lose humanity and it is followed by justice. Lose justice and it is followed by morality. Truly, this morality is the thinning out of loyalty and sincerity. It is the beginning of confusion. Prophets are the embellishment of the Tao, but also the folly of beginning. Therefore, great respected masters reside in the profundity of the Tao, not merely staying on its surface. They reside in its substance rather than staying in its embellishment, hence deciding what to choose and what to reject. All things emerged from oneness. When heaven attained oneness, there was clarity. When earth attained oneness, there was peace. When spirits attained oneness, there was impact. When valleys attained oneness, there was abundance. When all of the creatures attained oneness, there was liveliness. When the leaders of the world attained oneness, they made oneness the standard. All this came from the one. Heaven without clarity will surely tear apart. Earth without peacefulness will surely split in two. Spirits without effect will surely exhaust themselves. Valleys without abundance will surely dry out. All of the creatures without liveliness will surely die out. The leaders of the world without unity will fear their fall. Hence, the honored use the lowly as a root. The higher use the lower as a foundation. Thus, wise leaders call themselves alone, lacking and unworthy. Is this not using the lowly as a root? In this way, reaching great fame is not what it seems. Do not desire to glitter and glisten like a gem. It is far wiser to be raw and rough like memorial stones. The Tao moves through returning. The Tao is used through yielding. All things are born of being. Being is born of non-being. Greater scholars hear of the Tao and endeavor to practice it. Middling scholars hear of the Tao and sometimes they have it and sometimes not. Lesser scholars hear of the Tao and they laugh at it greatly. But without that laughter, it wouldn't be the Tao. Therefore, a saying is established. The enlightened way appears unclear. The advancing way appears to retreat. Smooth way appears bumpy. The highest inner power seems common. Great purity seems stained. Inner strength seems weak. Steadfast inner power seems elusive. Pure truth seems changeable. The greatest square seems without corners. The greatest talents mature late. The greatest music is heard in the silence. The greatest form remains without contour. Only Tao, so hidden and nameless, provides and brings all things to fulfillment. The Tao created oneness. Oneness created tuness. Tuness created threeness. Threeness created all things. All living creatures carry yin and embrace yang. The flow of these vital forces together determines their harmony. In principle, people detest being lonely, orphaned and worthless. However, wise leaders born thereof made for themselves names of honor. In this way, sometimes beings will lose something, and in this they win. Sometimes they will win something, and in this they lose. What others teach, I teach as well. Those who are violent will not have a natural death. This is the starting point of my teachings. The softest things in the world swiftly get through the hardest. Non-beingness may enter where there are no openings. Therein, I realize the benefit of acting without interfering. Teaching without words, effortless action, free of attachment. This is the way of the wise, but few seldom realize this wisdom. What is more dear to you, fame or yourself? What is more valuable, yourself or your belongings? What is worse, gain or loss? Truly, craving too much certainly leads to great costs, and hoarding too much will surely lead to great losses. Knowing enough helps you avoid disgrace. Knowing when to stop helps you avoid danger. In this way, you shall endure long and lasting. The greatest perfection seems insufficient, but its use is never reduced. The greatest fullness seems empty, but its use is never exhausted. The greatest straightness seems warped, the greatest skill seems clumsy, the greatest eloquence seems inarticulate. Movement overcomes cold, stillness overcomes heat. Purity and stillness are guides for all under heaven. When the world has the dow, race horses are returned to work the fields. When the world loses the dow, war horses are bred in the countryside. There is no offense greater than greed, no bigger calamity than discontentment, no worse fault than constant desire for profit. And so, in knowing what is enough, the satisfaction of contentment will bring everlasting peace. Without leaving your home, you can realize the whole world. Without looking out your window, you can behold the heavenly dow. Those who travel far away realize less than those who go within. Hence, the wise do not travel, yet have great knowing. They do not inspect, yet describe the truth. They do not act, yet complete all things. If every day you practice learning, you accumulate more each day. If every day you practice dow, you release more each day. Release more and more every day, and you come to know action through non-action. Act without interfering, and nothing is left undone. In letting go of the hustle and bustle, you receive the whole world. To attempt attainment through hustle and bustle is insufficient to receive the world. The wise are without everlasting heartfelt wishes. Therefore, they make other people's ambitions their own heartfelt wish. To good people, the wise are good. To bad people, the wise are also good, for true inner power is purely benevolent. To people who are true, the wise are true. To people who are false, the wise are true as well, for authentic inner power is truth. For the wise in the world, quietly and humbly acting, float through their hearts calling gracefully. Those around them cannot help but listen and watch, for the wise act and live just like children. In the space between birth and death, three out of ten are followers of life. Three out of ten are followers of death. Those simply passing from birth to death also number three in ten. For what reason? Because they cling to the pleasures and abundance of life. But the one out of ten remaining moves in a different way. They travel through the country, not meeting a dangerous fate. They cross battlefields without wearing a shield or sword. In them, buffaloes find no place to thrust their horns. Tigers find no place to strike with their claws. And swords find no place to insert their blade. What is the reason? Because they dwell in the place beyond death. The Tao creates them. The inner power nourishes them. Matter shapes them and circumstance completes them. Therefore, all creatures cannot help but honor the Tao and likewise value the inner power. Without anyone's command, this happens naturally on its own. Hence, the Tao creates, the inner power nourishes. It lets everything grow and brings them up, shelters them and completes them, nurses them and covers them. It produces without possessing. It deals out but does not depend on. It conducts but does not command. This is called the deep inner power. The world had an origin. It is known accordingly as the primordial mother. Once you know your mother, you may begin to understand her children. Once you understand her children, it is wise to return and keep to your mother. Close your openings, block your doors, and all of your life will be free of troubles. Open your mouth, increase your busyness, and life will be beyond hope. Perceiving the small is called clarity. Staying yielding and flexible is called strength. Use this insight to return home to enlightenment. Practice this wisdom constantly and you avoid inner chaos and calamity. If I only possessed a single grain of knowledge, I would walk on the great Tao and my only fear would be straying. The Tao is a straight and narrow path but people tend to prefer to meander. This is why the courts may appear splendid but the fields are overgrown with weeds and the granaries are empty. Their clothes are colorfully embroidered and they are belted with sharp swords, overly saturated with food and drink and their property and possessions exist in surplus. They do not know what to do with it. This is like the bragging of a robber after a looting and it couldn't be farther from the Tao. Those well anchored will not be uprooted. Those who hold on do not go astray. In the same way, children and grandchildren worshiping their ancestors will not be interrupted or stopped. Cultivate the Tao within and your inner power becomes genuine. Cultivate the Tao in a family and your inner power becomes plentiful. Cultivate the Tao in your community and your inner power becomes enduring. Cultivate the Tao in your country and your inner power becomes overflowing. Cultivate the Tao in all the world and your inner power is all encompassing. To see the Tao, consider it according to yourself. Consider yourself according to your family. Consider your family according to the community. Consider the community according to the country. Consider the country according to the world. How do you know the Tao within the whole world? By going within, of course. Being in harmony with your inner power is like being a newborn child. Deadly insects will not bite you. Wild beasts will not attack you and birds of prey will not claw at you. While the bones are feeble and muscles are soft, a newborn's grip is strong. The child does not yet know the union of masculine and feminine, but they are already whole and their vital forces are strong. They might cry all day long, but not become horse. This is known as harmony. Knowing harmony means knowing the eternal. Knowing the eternal means being enlightened. Overacting in life is called ominous. Engaging ambition with our breath is called violence. Things that are forced grow for a while, then they wither away. This is called not in Tao. That which is not in Tao ends prematurely. Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. Close your openings, shut your doors, smooth your sharpness, untie your knots, moderate your radiance, become one with the dust of the earth. This is what it means to be in the mysterious oneness. Unattainable by approach, neither by alienation. Unattainable by advantage, neither by disadvantage. Unattainable by appreciation, neither by degradation. But those who attain it become honored by the world. Lead others by following righteousness. Be strange when engaging an opponent and master the world without striving at all. How do I know this is the way? The more the world avoids taboos and follows rules, the poorer the people become. The sharper the people's weapons are, the more confused the people become. The more people grow clever and crafty, the more strange things seem to happen. The more laws and regulations that are announced, the more robbers and thieves arise naturally. Therefore, wise men say this, I act without intervening and the people are transformed by themselves. I prefer stillness and the people naturally gain integrity. I act without hustle and bustle and the people naturally become enriched. I am without desire and yet the people by themselves become simple. When the government is restrained and unobtrusive, its people are genuine and pure. When the government is controlling and spies on its people, the people grow devious and divided. Bad luck is what good fortune leans upon. Good luck is the hiding place for misfortune. Those who understand the highest are without rigid guidelines. Principles, once distorted, become strange. Goodness, once distorted, becomes evil. The days of delusional people have certainly existed for a long time. Therefore, the wise are outspoken without offending, pointed without piercing, direct without disrupting, and brilliant without dazzling. In leading people and serving heaven, nothing compares like conservation and moderation. The sign of a moderate person is one who applies timely forethought. This leads to the accumulation of inner power. With inner power, there is nothing that one cannot overcome. This is because when one's limits are unknown, one can possess true sovereignty. When you lead by this mothering principle of power, you and your creations can be everlasting. This is called deep roots and firm foundation, the longevity and lasting vision of the Tao. When leading a large number of people, do so like frying a small fish. Don't spoil it with too much poking. Use the Tao to manage the whole world, and evil spirits will lose their power. Not only will evil lose its power, but no harm will be done to anyone. If the leaders and the people learn not to harm each other, then inner power will return to all. A great country is like a lowland where all rivers and streams flow into. It is like a reservoir under heaven, the receptive feminine principle of the world. Constant femininity by her peace of mind prevails over the masculine due to her calm acting from below. Hence, great countries accordingly go below smaller countries. They humble themselves and gain trust and allies. If a small country does the same to a great country, they too will win the trust and ally of the great country. In this way, some go below in order to win, others go below and are one. Great countries desire nothing more than to unite and bring more people together. Smaller countries desire nothing more than to join and serve the people. For each of them to get what they want, the great countries should act from below. The Tao is the source of all beings' inspiration. It is the treasure of good people and the protection of the bad. Don't reject the existence of those who are not good, but nurture them with your warm deeds and awaken them with your words. Hence, if you are supporting a new leader, do not inspire them with wealth or expertise, but help them to understand the principle of the way. Why did the ancients find the Tao so valuable? Is it not said, those who seek shall find and those who have guilt will be forgiven? In this way, the Tao acts as the most noble thing in the world. Doing without agitation, completing business without busyness, finding taste in the tasteless, being greatness in the small, seeing the many in the few. Answer resentment with inner power. Plan difficult things while being easy going. Do great things while they are still small. All of the world's greatest affairs certainly arise from easy tasks. So, the wise tackle no great challenges and thus they themselves become great. Those who make promises lightly deserve little trust and one who sees easy tasks will encounter much difficulty. When wise people treat things as difficult, they never encounter difficulties at all. What is calm and gentle is easy to hold. What has not yet happened is easy to forestall. The brittle is easily shattered. The tiny is easily scattered. Handle things before they are established. Organize them before they reach disorder. Remember, a mighty tree grew from a tiny seed. A nine-story building arose from a small plot of land. A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step. Interfering in life destroys the progress. Cling too hard and you will lose it. Therefore, the wise act without destroying and grasp without losing. Most people self-sabotage, failing on the verge of success. So be careful at the end as well as the beginning and you will never ruin your life's work. Hence, the wise desire not to desire nor strive to attain rare goods that are hard to get. They learn not to learn like others and return to places most people pass by. In this way, they support all creatures finding their natural way, yet do not dare to interfere. The ancients who practiced the Tao did not use it to enlighten people, but wished thereby to keep them simple-hearted. For people are hard to rule when they have grown shrewd and cold. Hence, to use cleverness and cunning to govern people is like a plague. Not use cleverness and cunning to govern people is bliss. It is wise to understand this well, which brings you to the mystic inner power. Mystic inner power is profound and far-reaching. In its use, it offers all creatures a return and they attain great harmony at last. Why can rivers and seas act as the lord of a hundred valleys? Because they lie below them. Humility gives them their power. So wise people, wishing to be above people, must humble themselves below others. Wishing to be ahead of people, they must put themselves behind others. In this way, the wise stand above all, yet the people are unburdened. The wise stay ahead, yet people are unhurt. The wise stay low, and so all the world joyfully supports them. The wise person remains a servant, so the world never tires of making them its leader. Because the wise do not compete with anyone, nobody is able to compete with them. In all the world, everyone calls my Tao great, as if it was beyond comparison. It is only because of its greatness that it seems beyond compare, for if it could be compared, it would be long since insignificant. I have three treasures to which I hold dear. The first is called compassion. The second is called frugality. And the third is called humility. With compassion, I can be courageous. With frugality, I can be generous. With humility, I can be a good leader. But nowadays, most people reject compassion and lose their courage. They reject frugality and lose their generosity. They reject humility and lose their leadership qualities. To lose all three is deadly indeed. For compassion, when used in fighting, always wins and is the most impenetrable defense. When heaven wishes to save you, it protects you with compassion. Great generals are not warlike. Good fighters do not get angry. Those good at defeating enemies do not engage them. And those good at leading act subordinate themselves. This is known as non-competitiveness. It is the inner power of great leadership. It resembles the way of heaven, the most ancient of cosmic principles. On the subject of weapons, there is a saying that goes like this. I don't dare act as a host, but rather play as a guest. I don't dare advance an inch, but rather I retreat a foot. This is called to advance without going forward, to reject without using arms. To throw back without attacking, to capture without using weapons. No calamity is bigger than underestimating one's opponent. Underestimating the opponent will lead to the loss of one's treasure. Hence, when forces face each other in battle, the compassionate ones prevail. My words are very easy to understand, very easy to follow, but so few can truly understand them, even less are able to follow. My words follow rules, my deeds follow a ruler. But people do not understand this, therefore I am not understood. Those who understand me are rare, but in this way I am highly valued. So you must understand, the wise wear plain clothes, but in their hearts they bear jewels. I know that I know nothing. This is the highest knowing. Not knowing that you do not know, this is deficiency. Become deficient of deficiency and you have no more deficiencies. I know that I know nothing. This is the highest knowing. Not knowing that you do not know, this is failing. Become a failure at failing and you have no more failures. The wise have no deficiencies or failures because they have become deficient of deficiencies and failed at failing. When people do not awe at the authorities, then the great authority will become known. When people live without constriction and their way of life is not suppressed, they will not be depressed. Therefore the wise know themselves, but do not make a show of themselves. With self-esteem yet not exalting themselves, they are able to choose what resonates and leave the rest behind. Those with courage rushing into things will lead to death. Those with courage without aggression will lead to life. Of these two, one is beneficial, the other harmful. The way of heaven is winning without competing. It does not speak, but is best at responding. It does not call, but allows all to come by themselves. It is always at ease, yet is best in planning and completes everything on time. Heaven's net is vast and wide. So loose, yet nothing ever slips through. Those who are unafraid of death, how could they be threatened with death? If people are made to fear death constantly, then those who act unlawfully can be captured and killed. Who would then dare act unlawfully? In olden times, there were always official executioners. But if you were to stand in for the official executioner, it would be like standing in for a master carpenter. Those who try and cut like a master carpenter often will hurt their own hands. The people starve when taxes are too great. The people are hard to govern when authorities interfere in their lives. The people take death lightly when authorities strive for life's fullness. When you let go of striving towards life, you receive the fullness of what it means to live. When people are born, they are weak, and when they die, they are hard and rigid. All living beings, including trees, are soft at birth and dry and withered at death. Hence, rigidity and strength are companions of death. Softness and weakness are companions of life. Therefore, when an army is rigid, it will not prevail. When a tree is rigid, it surely will break. That which is rigid and stiff will stay inferior, and the soft and gentle will remain superior. The way of heaven is like drawing a bow, isn't it? It pulls down the high and uplifts the low. It decreases excess and turns lack into gain. The way of heaven reduces that which is having, and supplements that which is lacking. The way of man, however, is different. It decreases insufficiency, thereby offering excess. Who can have so much abundance that they offer it to all the world? Only followers of the Dao. Therefore, the wise act yet do not claim, complete without dwelling on results, and do not strive to appear superior at all. And do not strive to appear superior at all. There is nothing in the world softer or weaker than water, and yet in overcoming the firm and strong, nothing can surpass it. The weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard. In the whole world, anyone can see this, yet few can actually practice it. Therefore, the wise have a saying, those who bear the realm's disaster become the whole world's master. True words sound paradoxical. After a bitter quarrel, some resentment may remain. How can this serve towards resolution? Keep your agreements, but hold firm to your inner power, without your inner power, your foundation is made of demands. Remember, the heavenly Dao is entirely impartial, but gives constantly to those who are good. Imagine a smaller country with fewer inhabitants. They may have many tools, but never need to use them. The people take death seriously and do not travel far. They have boats and carriages, without much need for them, and even have armor and weapons, without cause to display them. Let people return to simplicity, making their own food, designing beautiful clothing, dwelling in peace, and enjoying their customs. Neighboring communities may see each other, hearing the roosters and dogs from across the way, yet go their whole lives without visiting each other, completing their lives in peace. True words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not true. Good people do not argue. Those who argue are not good. Those with knowledge are not always wise. The wise are not always rich with knowledge. The wise do not whore. By doing for others, they themselves have more. By giving to others, they themselves receive abundance. Heaven's way is to benefit and not to harm. The way of the wise is to create and not to argue.