41.1 When a superior person hears about the Tao, she immediately begins to embody it. When an average person hears about the Tao, he half believes it, half doubts it. When foolish people hear about the Tao, they laugh out loud. If they did not laugh, it would not be Tao.
41.2 That is why it is said: ‘He who understands Tao seems amazed by it.'
41.3 ‘He who advances toward Tao seems to be retreating from it.'
‘The path to serenity seems stormy, the direct path seems long.'
41.4 ‘True power seems weak, true purity seems tarnished, vast goodness seems inadequate, true steadfastness seems changeable, true clarity seems obscure, vast space has no corners, the highest note cannot be heard, the greatest Form can not be seen, the greatest love seems indifferent, the greatest wisdom seems childish.'
41.5 ‘The Tao is nameless and nowhere to be found.88 Yet it nourishes and completes all things.'

42.1 The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things.89
42.2 All things carry Yin and embrace Yang. The two breaths blend and produce harmony.90
42.3 Ordinary people hate solitude and poverty.91 But the master embraces it. Alone but for the company of all in the universes, possessing nothing but all universes, the master is content not to want more.
42.4 Intended benevolence sometimes causes harm, intended violence sometimes causes benefit. Thus in seemingly losing much is gained, and in seemingly gaining, much is lost.
42.5 What others have taught, I also teach: ‘The strong and violent will die an unnatural death', this is my chief lesson.92

43.1 The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.93 That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This, to me, explains the value of non-action.94
43.2 Teaching without words, performing without actions: that is the master's way.

44.1 Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is worse?95
44.2 Desire is bound to cause great expense.
Hoarding is bound to cause great loss.
44.3 The master, having ended the desire, does not look to things or money or other people for happiness.96

45.1 True perfection seems imperfect, its usefulness lasts forever. True fullness seems empty, its usefulness is inexhaustible. True straightness seems crooked. True skill seems easy. True art seems artless.
45.2 Cold overcomes heat.
Non-movement overcomes movement.
45.3 The master allows things to happen. Purity and stillness is the standard of the universes.

46.1 When a people are in harmony with the Tao, vehicles are used for farming, and factories produce trucks. When a people turn against the Tao, vehicles and factories are set for war outside the cities.
46.2 There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater sin than yielding to desires. There is no greater misfortune than not knowing contentment, no fault greater than desiring after wealth.97
46.3 Therefore, know contentment! Whoever can see through all fear will always be content.98

47.1 Without opening your door, one can know the whole world. Without looking out the window, one can know the Way of Heaven.
More advances in knowledge, does not produce more advances in wisdom.
47.2 The master arrives without leaving, sees the light without looking, achieves without doing.99

48.1 In pursuit of knowledge, something is added day by day. In cultivating Tao, something is subtracted day by day.
48.2 Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action.100 Employing non-action, nothing is left undone.
48.3 Therefore she who gains mastery resorts to non-action. Taking to action disqualifies one for mastery.

49.1 The master has no mind of her own. She reflects the mind of the people.
49.2 She is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who are not good. This is how true goodness is realized.10149.3 She shows sincerity to those who are sincere. To those who are insincere, she shows sincerity. This is how true sincerity is realized.
49.4 The master's mind is open, earnestly seeking to reflect the mind of the world upon her inner mirror. People look on in awe, waiting. She treats them like her own children.

50.1 Life and death enter by the same door.
50.2 Forcing life with intense living causes cracks where death starts its process of decay.
50.3 It has been said that one adept at guarding vitality can not be harmed by wild animals or weapons. Why?
50.4 Because such a person has no spot of decay where he can be wounded.102

51.1 Tao produces all things, Wisdom the Mother rears them. Matter shapes them, the environment perfects them.
This is the way of created beings. All recognise the Tao and honour the Mother, not by command but by free will.
51.2 The master knows that all things are produced by the Tao, that the Mother raises and nurtures it, that matter shapes it, that the environment perfects it, that no claim of ownership is made over it.
51.3 To act but not to presume on the result, to lead but not manipulate; this is the mystic's virtue.103

52.1 Every being in the universe is an expression of the Mother.104, 105 One can know about the Mother by studying her children. Knowing the Mother, cling to her closely and you will survive the disappearance of the body.106
52.2 Stop up the opening of the vessel, shut the doors, and you will be steady all your life.
52.3 Open up the vessel and fulfill your carnal desires, and you will be beyond salvation all your life.
52.4 To see the cosmos in the molecule is called good vision. To be able to remain docile in chaos is called supreme power. How is this? Use the Light, draw it inward. Cause no injury.
52.5 This is what I call ‘Abiding in the Immutable”107

53.1 My only fear may be that I stray from the Way. The Way is easy and broad, yet people prefer the side paths.108
53.2 To remain on the Way I stay centred within the Tao, taking caution not to stray to extremes, not to do, and to flow with It.
53.3 When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn - all this robbery brings along with it other robberies.
53.4 It is not in keeping with the Tao.109

54.1 Whoever is practised in being established in the Tao will not be rooted up. Whoever is adept in embracing the Tao will tire and lose their grip. Such a master will be held in honour from generation to generation.
54.2 Let the Tao be present in your life and you will become genuine. Let it be present in your family and your family will flourish. Let it be present in your people and your people will be an example to all people in the world. Let it be present in the universe and the universe will sing.
54.3 Therefore by cultivating Tao in oneself one benefits a family, which benefits a village, which benefits a nation, which benefits the universes.54.4 How do I know this is true? By looking at the pattern of the Tao inside.110

55.1 He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child. It seems protected. Insects and animals and atrocities miraculously inflict almost no harm to it. Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak, but its grip is powerful.
55.2 It does not know about sexual union, or about male and female, yet its penis can stand powerfully erect, so intense is its vital power. It can scream all day, yet it never becomes hoarse, so complete is its harmony.
55.3 To be in harmony with the One brings about enlightenment, enlightenment ends decay because it brings breath control and healing.
55.4 The Master's power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. Never expecting results; thus never disappointed, the master continuos day by day, the spirit not getting weary.111
55.5 Decay is contrary to the Tao. Whatever disregards Tao soon perishes.

56.1 Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know.
56.2 Close your mouth, block off your senses,112 blunt your sharpness, untie your knotted loose ends, soften your glare, merge with the dust,113 harmonise with the Light. This is the mystic's assimilation of primal identity.
56.3 Like the Tao; these masters are above holding some near and others far, they are above self gain and self impoverishment, and above being held high and being disgraced. Giving themselves up continually, they endure forever.

57.1 If you want to be a great leader let go of fixed plans and concepts, stop trying to control114 use justice and the world will govern itself.
57.2 How do I know this is true, by this:
The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be.
57.3 The more weapons you have, the less secure people will be.
57.4 The more subsidies you have, the less self-reliant people will be.
57.5 Therefore the master says: I let go of the law 115, and people become honest. I let go of economics, and people become prosperous. I love mysticism and let go of religion116, and people become serene. I let go of all desire117 for the common good, and the good becomes common as grass.

58.1 When a government is run with tolerance, the people are simple and honest.118 When a government is critical and officious, the people are depressed and disgusted.
58.2 When the need for power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.
58.3 Thus the master is content to serve as an example and not to impose her will.
58.4 Full of integrity but not offensive. She is squarely set but does not box people in. Straightforward, but supple. Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

59.1 For governing a people and serving Heaven well there is nothing better than simplicity. Simplicity means early preparation.
59.2 Early preparation means early accumulation of virtue. Further accumulation of virtue leads to the power to subdue all things. The subtle power to subdue all things knows no end.
59.3 Going to all ends to subdue all things leads to acquisition of Kingdom. Possessing Kingdom along with the Mother endures forever.
59.4 This is called ‘deeply rooted and flourishing growth.' This is the vision of eternal life.119

60.1 Ruling a large country is like frying a small fish.120
60.2 Approach the world in the Tao and evil will have no power.
60.3 Not that evil has no power, but its power will not harm people. And not that evil does not harm, but that its harm is made harmless.
60.4 The master causes no harm. Even the evil she does not harm. Flowing in the Tao, all power meets and is made into virtue.