Verse 61

A great country is like the low lands
where all the streams unite.

In all things under heaven
the female overcomes the male by her stillness,
and because she is still she lies below.

Hence, if the great country will take the low place
it will win over the little country.
If the little country will take the low place
it will win over the great country.
Thus, the one gets below and prospers
and the other remains below and prospers.

All that the great country wants is more people.
All that the little country wants is a place
for its people to go and to be employed.

If each is to get what it wants
it is necessary for the great country
to take the low place.


Verse 62

The Tao is to the ten thousand things
what the shrine is in the home.
It is the treasure of the virtuous
and the protection of the wrongdoer.

Good words are appreciated.
Good deeds are accepted as gifts.

Even the wrongdoers are not abandoned.
Hence, on the day an Emperor is installed
and appoints the three ducal ministers.
remain where you are and make an offering of the Tao.

It will be preferable to a gift of jade discs
followed by a team of four horses.
Why did the ancients value the Tao?

Was it not because through it
you can find what you seek,
and because of it
you can escape what is hounding you?

Therefore, it is the most valuable thing under heaven.


Verse 63

Act without striving.
Work without interfering.
Find the flavour in what is flavourless.

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 as small things.

Therefore, the True Person never attempts anything great,
and accomplishes great things.

Lightly made promises inspire little faith.
Trying to make things easy results in great difficulties.

Therefore, the True Person regards everything as difficult,
and is never overcome by difficulties.


Verse 64

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 shoot.
A terrace nine stories high rises from a shovelful of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles begins under your feet.

A person who interferes does harm, and those who grasp lose their hold.
Therefore, the True Person acts without striving and does no harm,
avoids grabbing and never loses hold.

People often ruin their ventures when they are on the verge of success.
So, be as careful at the end as at the beginning,
and your work will not be ruined.

Therefore, the True Person seeks freedom from desire,
does not value things that are hard to come by,
learns without scholarship,
brings people back to what they have passed by,
and assists the ten thousand things to find their own natures;
all without daring to interfere.


Verse 65

The ancients who practised the Tao
did not use it to enlighten the people,
but rather to assist them in gaining simplicity.

The reason people are difficult to govern
is because they are too clever.
Hence, a person who attempts to govern a country
by cleverness will injure it.

Those who govern without cleverness will be a blessing to the land.
These are the two models.

Knowing these models is called the Mystic Virtue.
The Mystic Virtue is deep and so far-reaching
that it can lead all things back toward great harmony.


Verse 66

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.

When they lead the people they stand behind the people.
When True Persons are given places above the people
they do not crush the people with their weight.

When they take their place ahead of the people
they do not obstruct the people’s progress.

That is why everything under heaven supports them gladly
and does not tire of them.

Because they strive with no one,
no one can ever strive with them.


Verse 67

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 hold fast.
The first is gentleness,
the second is simplicity,
the third is daring not to be first
among all things under heaven.

Because of gentleness I am able to be courageous.
Because of simplicity I am able to be generous.
Because of daring not to be first
I am able to lead.

If people forsake gentleness and attempt to be courageous,
forsake simplicity and attempt to be generous,
forsake the last place and attempt to get the first place,
this is certain death.

Gentleness conquers in battle and protects in defence.
What heaven guards, it arms with the gift of gentleness.


Verse 68

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.
This is known as being united with heaven as it was in ancient times.


Verse 69

The master soldiers have a saying:

I dare not be the host but prefer to be the guest.
I dare not advance an inch but prefer to retreat a foot.

This is called marching without moving,
rolling up a sleeve without baring an arm,
capturing a foe without a battlefront,
arming yourself without weapons.

There is no disaster greater than attacking and finding no enemy.
Doing so will cost you your treasure.

Thus it is that when opposing forces meet,
victory will go to those who take no delight in the situation.


Verse 70

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.
Those who follow me should be respected.

Therefore, the True Person wears homespun clothes
and carries jade in the heart.

...........Neelanjan