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Laozi

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上德不德,是以有德; 下德不失德,是以無德。 上德無為而無以為; 下德無為而有以為。 上仁為之而無以為; 上義為之而有以為; 上禮為之而莫之應, 則攘臂而扔之。 故失道而後德, 失德而後仁, 失仁而後義, 失義而後禮。 夫禮者,忠信之薄, 而亂之首。 前識者,道之華, 而愚之始。 是以大丈夫處其厚, 不居其薄;處其實, 不居其華。故去彼取此。

Continue from this chapter in the full classical Chinese text.

James Legge

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(Those who) possessed in highest degree the attributes (of the Tao) did not (seek) to show them, and therefore they possessed them (in fullest measure). (Those who) possessed in a lower degree those attributes (sought how) not to lose them, and therefore they did not possess them (in fullest measure).

(Those who) possessed in the highest degree those attributes did nothing (with a purpose), and had no need to do anything. (Those who) possessed them in a lower degree were (always) doing, and had need to be so doing.

(Those who) possessed the highest benevolence were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had no need to be doing so. (Those who) possessed the highest righteousness were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had need to be so doing.

(Those who) possessed the highest (sense of) propriety were (always seeking) to show it, and when men did not respond to it, they bared the arm and marched up to them.

Thus it was that when the Tao was lost, its attributes appeared; when its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared; when benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared; and when righteousness was lost, the proprieties appeared.

Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity.

Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.

Continue from this chapter in the full James Legge translation.

Victor H. Mair

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The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity; For this reason, he has integrity. The person of inferior integrity never loses sight of his integrity; For this reason, he lacks integrity. The person of superior integrity takes no action, nor has he a purpose for acting. The person of superior humaneness takes action, but has no purpose for acting. The person of superior righteousness takes action, and has a purpose for acting. The person of superior etiquette takes action, but others do not respond to him; Whereupon he rolls up his sleeves and coerces them. Therefore, When the Way is lost, afterward comes integrity. When integrity is lost, afterward comes humaneness. When humaneness is lost, afterward comes righteousness. When righteousness is lost, afterward comes etiquette. Now, Etiquette is the attenuation of trustworthiness, and the source of disorder. Foreknowledge is but the blossomy ornament of the Way, and the source of ignorance. For this reason, The great man resides in substance, not in attenuation. He resides in fruitful reality, not in blossomy ornament. Therefore, He rejects the one and adopts the other.

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C. Spurgeon Medhurst

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Superior energy is non-action, hence it is energy. [^1]

Inferior energy will not resign action; hence, it is not energy. [^2]

Superior energy is actionless because motiveless. [^3]

Inferior energy acts from motive.

Superior magnanimity is active but motiveless.

Superior equity is active from motive.

Superior propriety [^4] is active; [^5] it bares its arm and asserts itself when it meets with no response. [^6]

Thus as the Tao recedes there are energies; as the energies recede there is magnanimity; as magnanimity recedes there is equity; as equity recedes there is propriety. [^7]

Inasmuch as propriety is the attenuation of conscientiousness it is the origin of disorder.

The beginnings of consciousness are flowers of the Tao, but the commencement of delusion.

Therefore the men who are great [^8] live with that which is substantial, they do not stay with that which is superficial; they abide with realities, they do not remain with what is showy. The one they discard, the other they hold.

The highest energy appears as inaction. To pray the Father in secret is more effective than shouting to the unresponsive crowd. A realization of the “mystery” of the Kingdom, and an understanding of the “riches of the glory” of Christ in the heart is a higher experience than conscious effort to “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” or even than earnest strife to produce “the fruit of the Spirit.” These are excellencies which are indispensable, but they arc lights which cast shadows; that which is highest—superior energy—is shadowless. The higher will always result in the lower, but all attempts to build up the lower without the spiritual backing of the higher works as much evil as good. Rudyard Kipling somewhere says, “Good work has nothing to do with, doesn’t belong to, the person who does it. It is put into him or her from the outside.” Jesus said the same when He declared the kingdom of God to be composed of those who are unconscious of self—“Suffer the little children … such is the kingdom of heaven.” “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”

[^1] In this chapter, as elsewhere, though Lao-tzu employs conventional terms, he suggests rather than expresses. “Unto them that are without all things are done in parables.” (Mark iv. 11.)

[^2] It is the shadow of the infinite in the finite. Superior energy is a ray from the Name which cannot be named; inferior energy a ray from the Tao which can be expressed. (Cp. ch. 1.) vid. Chinese Buddhism, by Joseph Edkins, D.D., pp. 371-379.

[^3] The old Roman ideal—“honestas.”

[^4] Magnanimity represents Energy in manifestation. Elsewhere the character here translated “magnanimity” has been rendered “benevolence."

"Equity” stands for the first differentiation of manifested Energy.

”Propriety” represents a still further differentiation, e. g., when the processes of evolution have separated the bird from the fish.

[^5] Nothing is said about the inferior qualities because the magnanimity, equity and propriety mentioned in the text, being themselves but reflections, anything inferior would be shadows of shadows.

[^6] Facilis descensus Avernus.

[^7] Observe the difference between Lao-tzu the Mystic, and Confucius the Moralist. Confucius taught that Magnanimity and Equity were the essentials. Confucius made much of Propriety. Men, he said, would attain perfection by pursuing these. Lao-tzu taught that these are but subtle forms of selfishness, and therefore productive of evil, useless shells when the life which they preserved has departed.

The whole chapter, says Dr. Paul Carus, “undoubtedly criticizes the Confucian method of preaching ethical culture without taking into consideration the religious emotions.”—Lao-tsze’s Tao-teh-king, p. 306.

[^8] “To dwell in the wide house of the world, to stand in the correct seat of the world, and to walk in the great path of the world; when he obtains his desire for office, to practice his principles for the good of the people; and when that desire is disappointed, to practice them alone; to be above the power of riches and honors to make dissipated, of poverty and mean condition to make swerve from principle, and of power and force to make bend—these characteristics constitute the great man.”—Mencius. (Legge’s translation.)

Continue from this chapter in the full C. Spurgeon Medhurst translation.

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Great power, not clinging to power, has true power. Lesser power, clinging to power, lacks true power. Great power, doing nothing, has nothing to do Lesser power, doing nothing, has an end in view.

The good the truly good do has no end in view. The right the very righteous do has an end in view. And those who act in true obedience to law roll up their sleeves and make the disobedient obey.

So: when we lose the Way we find power; losing power we find goodness; losing goodness we find righteousness; losing righteousness we’re left with obedience.

Obedience to law is the dry husk of loyalty and good faith. Opinion is the barren flower of the Way, the beginning of ignorance.

So great-minded people abide in the kernel not the husk, in the fruit not the flower, letting the one go, keeping the other.

Note UKLG: A vast, dense argument in a minimum of words, this poem lays out the Taoist values in steeply descending order: the Way and its power; goodness (humane feeling); righteousness (morality); and — a very distance last — obedience (law and order). The word I render as “opinion” can be read as “knowing too soon”: the mind obeying orders, judging before the evidence is in, closed to fruitful perception and learning.

Continue from this chapter in the full Ursula K. Le Guin translation.