http://www.geocities.com/alex_kew/chinese/taoteching.html .

Tao Te Ching

This book Taoteching is in general form, so different people will
interpret differently.

1. There are ways but the Way is uncharted; there are names but not
nature in words: nameless indeed is the source of creation but things
have a mother and she has a name.
(Tao is just a worldly name for IT.)

The secret waits for the insight of eyes (not blind) unclouded by
longing; those who are bound by desire see only the outward container.
(The secret of Tao is for the simple minded. Others see the outward
features, ie the two eyes.)

These two come paired but distinct by their names. Of all things
profound, say that their pairing is deepest, the gate to the root of
the world.
(When the two eye-balls look inward that is looking at the mark on the
forehead or nasal gaze.)

2. Since the world points up beauty as such, there is ugliness too.
If goodness is taken as goodness, wickedness enters as well.

For is and is-not come together; hard and easy are complimentary;
long and short are relative; high and low are comparative; pitch and
sound make harmony; before and after are a sequence.

Indeed the Wise Man's office is to work by being still; he teaches
not by speech but by accomplishment; he does for everything, neglecting
none; their life he gives to all, possessing none; and what he bring to
pass depends on no one else. As he succeeds, he takes no credit and
just he does not take it, credit never leaves him.

[The Sage's job is to meditate and expound the doctrine of
inaction.]

3. If those who are excellent find no preferment, the people will
cease to contend for promotion. If goods that are hard to obtain are
not favored, the people will cease to turn robbers or bandits. If
things much desired are kept under cover, disturbance will cease in the
minds of the people.

The Wise Man's policy, accordingly, will be to empty people's
hearts and minds, to fill their bellies, weaken their ambition, give
them sturdy frames and always so, to keep them uninformed, without
desire, and knowing ones not venturing to act.
(Wise Man's policy is to do Inaction, not as written.)

Be still while you work and keep full control over all.

4. The Way is a void, used but never filled: an abyss it is, like
an ancestor from which all things come.
(Tao is void, a black hole where energy springs out and can be sucked
back.)

It blunts sharpness, resolves tangles; it tempers light, subdues
turmoil.
(Some uses, spiritually)

A deep pool it is, never to run dry! Whose offspring it may be I do
not know: it is like a preface to God.
(our tears; like Garden of Eden, underneath which rivers flow)

5. Is then the world unkind? And does it treat all things like
straw dogs used in magic rites? The Wise Man too, is he unkind? And
does he treat the folk like straw dogs made to throw away?

Between the earth and sky the space is like a bellows, empty but
unspent. When moved its gift is copious.

Much talk means much exhaustion; better far it is to keep your
thought!

6. The valley spirit is not dead: they say it is the mystic female.
Her gateway is, they further say, the base of earth and heaven.
(The innate spirit is eternal. The mark is the gateway to emptiness.)

Constantly, and so forever, use her without labor.
(By inaction, meditation)

7. The sky is everlasting and the earth is very old. Why so?
Because the world exists not for itself; it can and will live on.

The Wise Man chooses to be last and so becomes the first of all;
denying self, he too is saved. For does he not fulfillment find in
being an unselfish man?

8. The highest goodness, water-like, does good to everything and
goes unmurmuring to places men despise; but so, is close in nature to
the Way.

If the good of the house is from land, or the good of the mind is
its depth, or love is the virtue of friendship, or honesty blesses
one's talk, or in government, goodness is order, or in business, skill
is admired, or the worth of an act lies in timing, then peace is the
goal of the Way by which no one ever goes astray.
(All will be saved.)

9. To take all you want is never as good as to stop when you
should. Scheme and be sharp and you'll not keep it long. One never can
guard his home when it's full of jade and fine gold: wealth, power and
pride bequeath their own doom. When fame and success come to you, then
retire. This is the ordained Way.
(Or others will plot for your downfall.)

10. Can you govern your animal soul, hold to the ONE and never
depart from it? Can you throttle your breath, down to the softness of
breath in a child? Can you purify your mystic vision and wash it until
it is spotless? Can you love all your people, rule over the land
without being known? Can you be like a female, and passively open and
shut heaven's gates? Can you keep clear in your mind the four quarters
of earth and not interfere?

[This is meditation instruction.]

Quicken them, feed them; quicken but do not possess them. Act and
be independent; be the chief but never the lord: this describes the
mystic virtue.

11. Thirty spokes will converge in the hub of a wheel; but the use
of the cart will depend on the part of the hub that is void.

With a wall all around a clay bowl is mould; but the use of the
bowl will depend on the part of the bowl that is void.

Cut out windows and doors in the house as you build; but the use of
the house will depend on the space in the walls that is void.

So advantage is had from whatever is there; but usefulness rises
from whatever is not.

12. The five colors darken the eye; the five sounds will deaden the
ear; the five flavors weary the taste; chasing the beasts of the field
will drive a man mad. The goods that are hard to procure are hobbles
that slow walking feet.
(Desires beget troubles.)

So the Wise Man will do what his belly dictates and never the sight
of his eyes. Thus he will choose this but not that.
(Wise Man has less desire.)

13. "Favor, like disgrace brings trouble with it; high rank, like
self, involves acute distress."

What does that mean, to say that "favor, like disgrace brings
trouble with it"? When favor is bestowed on one of low degree, trouble
will come with it. The loss of favor too means trouble for that man.
This, then, is what is meant by "favor, like disgrace brings trouble
with it." What does it mean, to say that "rank, like self, involves
acute distress"? I suffer most because of me and selfishness. If I were
selfless, then what suffering would I bear?

In governing the world, let rule entrusted be to him who treats his
rank as if it were his soul; world sovereignty can be committed to that
man who loves all people as he loves himself.
(The man who preserves his soul and maintains a pure mind and body is
fit to rule the world.)

14. They call it elusive, and say that one looks but it never
appears. They say that indeed it is rare, since one listens, but never
a sound. Subtle, they call it, and say that one grasps it but never
gets hold. These three complaints amount to only one, which is beyond
all resolution.

At rising, it does not illumine; at setting, no darkness ensures;
it stretches far back to that nameless estate which existed before the
creation.

Describe it as form yet unformed; as shape that is still without
shape; or say it is vagueness confused: one meets it and it has no
front; one follows and there is no rear.
(Can you describe the mark on the forehead?)

If you hold ever fast to that most ancient Way, you may govern
today. Call truly that knowledge of primal beginning the clue to the
Way.

15. The excellent masters of old, subtle, mysterious, mystic,
acute, were much too profound for their times. Since they were not then
understood, it is better to tell how they looked.

Like men crossing streams in the winter, how cautious! As if all
around there were danger, how watchful! As if they were guests on every
occasion, how dignified! Like ice just beginning to melt,
self-effacing! Like a valley awaiting a guest, how receptive! Like a
torrent that rushes along, and so turbid!
(also mentioned in I-Ching.)

Who, running dirty, comes clean like still waters? Who, being
quiet, moves others to fullness of life? It is he who, embracing the
Way, is not greedy; who endures wear and tear without needing renewal.
(The Wise Man)

16. Touch ultimate emptiness, hold steady and still. (this is
meditation instruction) All things work together: I have watched them
reverting, and have seen how they flourish and return again, each to
his roots. This, I say, is the stillness: (meditation) a retreat to
one's roots; or better yet, return to the will of God, (certain people
are enlightened by the will of God) which is, I say, to constancy. The
knowledge of constancy I call enlightenment and say that not to know it
is blindness that works evil. (those not called to God yet) But when
you know what eternality is so, you have stature and stature means
righteousness, and righteousness is kingly and kingliness divine, and
divinity is the Way which is final. Then, though you die, you shall not
perish. (your soul is eternal)

17. As for him who is highest, the people just know he is there.
His deputy's cherished and praised; of the third, they are frightened;
the fourth, they despise and revile. If you trust people less than
enough, some of them never trust you.

He is aloof, as if his talk were priced beyond the purchasing; but
once his project is contrived, the folk will want to say of it: "Of
course! We did it by ourselves!"

18. The mighty Way declined among the folk, and then came kindness
and morality. When wisdom and intelligence appeared, they brought with
them a great hypocrisy. The six relations were no more at peace, so
codes were made to regulate our homes. The fatherland grew dark,
confused by strife: official loyalty became the style.
(There is a similar written work by Chuang Tzu. If you refer to the Old
Testament, when the Jews had no kings, they can still live happily
whenever they obeyed God. Once they are distracted by idols and pagan
praying, troubles came to harm them, but the people are still intact
and cohesive. After the introduction of kingship, the Jews were
separated into two countries after King Solomon died. Kingship did not
help the Jews but instead destroyed the Jews and the Holy Temple. So
the old ways of no king is better when the people know the True God.
The more we know the more we sin. The number of knowledge now in the
world is so vast, but yet they can not solve the basic problems of
human being. So you see, the powerful enact rules and regulations in
order to rule over the weak. This is decline in morality.)

19. Get rid of the wise men! Put out the professors! Then people
will profit a hundredfold over. Away with the kind ones; those
righteous men too! and let people return to the graces of home. Root
out the artisans; banish the profiteers! and bandits and robbers will
not come to plunder. But if these three prove not enough to satisfy the
mind and heart, more relevant, then, let there be a visible simplicity
of life, embracing unpretentious ways, and small self-interest and
poverty of coveting.
(This poem is true in a sense but not practical. The writer is trying
to say that the so called wise men are not wise but idiots. Because of
them, we have so many social problems.)

20. Be done with rote learning and its attendant vexations; for is
there distinction of a 'yes' from a 'yea' comparable now to the gulf
between evil and good? "What all men fear, I too must fear' --How
barren and pointless a thought!

The reveling of multitudes at the feast of Great Sacrifice, or up
on the terrace at carnival in spring, leave me, alas, unmoved, alone,
like a child that has never smiled.

Lazily, I drift as though I had no home. All others have enough to
spare; I am the one left out. I have the mind of a fool, muddled and
confused! When common people scintillate I alone make shadows. Vulgar
folks are sharp and knowing: only I am melancholy. Restless like the
ocean, blown about, I cannot stop. Other men can find employment, but I
am stubborn; I am mean.

Alone I am and different, because I prize and seek my sustenance
from the Mother!
(A true Taoist behaves like this, anti-tradition, seek no high post and
live as poor as a church mouse.)

21. The omnipresent Virtue will take shape according only to the
Way. The Way itself is like some thing seen in a dream, elusive,
evading one. In it are images, elusive, evading one. In it are things
like shadows in twilight. In it are essences, subtle but real, embedded
in truth.
(You can experience them in meditation.)

From of old until now, under names without end, the First, the
Beginning is seen. How do I know the beginning of all, what its nature
may be? By these!
[By looking at the nose tip. The Virtue inside us will develop
according to the Way; all already planned beforehand. In meditation,
you can be in a dream stage, an illusionary stage etc. In Buddhist 42
sections Sutra's 42nd section has a saying: I look upon Nirvana as upon
waking at daybreak from a night's sleep. I look upon dhyana meditation
as upon the pillar of Mount Sumeru (our nose)].

22. The crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain;
the pools shall be filled and the worn renewed; the needy shall receive
and the rich shall be perplexed.

So the Wise Man cherishes the One, as a standard to the world: not
displaying himself, he is famous; not asserting himself, he is
distinguished; not boasting his powers, he is effective; taking no
pride in himself, he is chief.

Because he is no competitor, no one in all the world can compete
with him. The saying of the men of old is not in vain: "The crooked
shall be made straight--" To be perfect, return to it.
(Tao)

23. Sparing indeed is nature of its talk; the whirlwind will not
last the morning out; the cloudburst ends before the day is done. What
is it that behaves itself like this? The earth and sky! And if it be
that these cut short their speech, how much more yet should man!

If you work by the Way, you will be of the Way; if you work through
its virtue you will be given the virtue; abandon either one and both
abandon you.

Gladly then the Way receives those who choose to walk in it; gladly
too its power upholds those who choose to use it well; gladly will
abandon greet those who to abandon drift.

Little faith is put in them whose faith is small.

24. On tiptoe your stance is unsteady; long strides make your
progress unsure; show off and you get no attention; your boasting will
mean you have failed; asserting yourself brings no credit; be proud and
you never will lead.

To persons of the Way, these traits can only bring distrust; they
seem like extra food for parasites. So those who choose the Way, will
never give them place.
(In Taoist context yes, but on the whole, no. How to expound the
4-lines stanza? Be quiet?)

25. Something there is, whose veiled creation was before the earth
or sky began to be; so silent, so aloof and so alone. It changes not,
nor falls, but touches all: conceive it as the mother of the world.

I do not know its name; a name for it is Tao; pressed for
designation, I call it Great. Great means outgoing, outgoing,
far-reaching, far-reaching, return.

The Way is great, the sky is great, the earth is great, the king
also is great. Within the realm these four are great; the king but
stands for one of them.
(A king, the Wise Man, will bring peace to the world.)

Man conforms to the earth; the earth conforms to the sky; the sky
conforms to the Way; the Way conforms to its own nature.

26. The heavy is foundation for the light; so quietness is master
of the deed.

The Wise Man, though he travel all the day, will not be separated
from his goods. So even if the scene is glorious to view, he keeps his
place, at peace, above it all.

For how can one who rules ten thousand chariots give up to lighter
moods as all the world may do? If he is trivial, his ministers are
lost; if he is strenuous, there is no master then.

27. A good runner leaves no tracks. A good speech has no flaws to
censure. A good computer uses no tallies. A good door is well shut
without bolts and cannot be opened. A good knot is tied without rope
and cannot be loosed.

The Wise Man is always good at helping people, so that none are
cast out; he is always good at saving things, so that none are thrown
away. This is called applied intelligence.

Surely the good is the bad man's teacher; and the bad man is the
good man's business. If the one does not respect his teacher, or the
other doesn't love his business, his error is very great. This is
indeed an important secret.

28. Be aware of your masculine nature; but by keeping the feminine
way, you shall be to the world like a canyon, where the Virtue eternal
abides, and go back to become as a child.

Be aware of the white all around you; but remembering the black
that is there, you shall be to the world like a tester, whom the Virtue
eternal, unerring, redirects to the infinite past.

Be aware of your glory and honor; but in never relinquishing shame,
you shall be to the world like a valley, where Virtue eternal,
sufficient, sends you back to the Virginal Block.

When the Virginal Block is asunder, and is made into several tools,
to the ends of the Wise Man directed, they become then his chief
officers: for "The Master himself does not carve."
(The poem is like directed to me only.)

29. As for those who would take the whole world to tinker it as
they see fit, I observe that they never succeed: for the world is a
sacred vessel not made to be altered by man. The tinker will spoil it;
usurpers will lose it.

For indeed there are things that must move ahead, while others must
lag; and some that feel hot, whole others feel cold; and some that are
strong, while others are weak; and vigorous ones, with others worn out.

So the Wise Man discards extreme inclinations to make sweeping
judgments, or to a life of excess.
(This poem is also for me. Everything is fated. The Great Plan.)

30. To those who would help the ruler of men by means of the Way:
let him not with his militant might try to conquer the world; this
tactic is like to recoil. For where armies have marched, there do
briars spring up; where great hosts are impressed, years of hunger and
evil ensure.

The good man's purpose once attained, he stops at that; he will not
press for victory. His point once made, he does not boast, or celebrate
the goal he gained, or proudly indicate the spoils. He won the day
because he must; but not by force or violence.

That things with age decline in strength, you well may say, suits
not the Way; and not to suit the Way is early death.
(To achieve world peace, I need not have to resort to violence. My
weapons are the scriptures' secret. By revealing the secret, any attack
on me will be re-bounced and subdues the attackers. Even your thought
in your mind to attack me will be re-bounced, because the One that
punishes you is inside you.)

31. Weapons at best are tools of bad omen, loathed and avoided by
those of the Way. In the usage of men of good breeding, honour is had
at the left; good omens belong on the left; bad omens belong on the
right and warriors press to the right! When the general stands at the
right his lieutenant is placed at the left. So the usage of men of
great power follows that of the funeral rite.

Weapons are tools of bad omen, by gentlemen not to be used; but
when it cannot be avoided, they use them with calm and restraint. Even
in victory's hour these tools are unlovely to see; for those who admire
them truly are men who in murder delight.
(The PAP government spends so much on defence, is this correct?)

As for those who delight to do murder, it is certain they never can
get from the world what they sought when ambition urged them to power
and rule. A multitude slain!--and their death is a matter for grief and
for tears; the victory after a conflict is a theme for a funeral rite.

32. The Way eternal has no name, a block of wood un-tooled, though
small, may still excel the world. And if the king and nobles could
retain its potency for good, then everything would freely give
allegiance to their rule.

The earth and sky would then conspire to bring the sweet dew down;
and evenly it would be given to folk without constraining power.

Creatures came to be with order's birth, and once they had
appeared, came also knowledge of repose, and with that was security.

In this world, compare those of the Way to torrents that flow into
river and sea.
(Tao is the name to signifies the Way, which is nameless. Although an
unseen dot on us, It covers the world. So wise king making use of it
will bring world peace. The rain will fall and the 4 seasons orderly.
The Tao can be said as to go back to its source, the ocean. Tao in us
are gods, Tao in ocean is like God, so we are going back to the Origin,
which is no different from us as water in rain drop will merge with the
water in the ocean. Where then can you find the rain drops in the
ocean?)

33. It is wisdom to know others; it is enlightenment to know one's
self. The conqueror of men is powerful; the master of himself is
strong. It is wealth to be content; it is willful to force one's way on
others. Endurance is to keep one's place; long life it is to die and
not perish.
(Conquer yourself in order to conquer the world. This is not destroying
your oppositions in order to consolidate you rule like the PAP and Lee
Kuan Yew. Our souls will never die, but we need to go back to the
source, the black hole of human world, the mark on the forehead.)

34. O the great Way o'er-flows and spreads on every sides! All
being comes from it; no creature is denied. But having called them
forth, it calls not one its own. It feeds and clothes them all and will
not be their lord.

Without desire always, it seems of slight import. Yet, nonetheless,
in this its greatness still appears: when they return to it, no
creature meets a lord.

The Wise Man, therefore, while he is alive, will never make a show
of being great: and that is how his greatness is achieved.

35. Once grasp the great Form without form, and you roam where you
will with no evil to fear, calm, peaceful, at ease. At music and viands
the wayfarer stops. But the Way, when declared, seems thin and so
flavorless! It is nothing to look at and nothing to hear; but used, it
will prove inexhaustible.

36. What is to be shrunken is first stretched out; what is to be
weakened is first made strong; what will be thrown over is first raised
up; what will be withdrawn is first bestowed.

This indeed is subtle Light; the gentle way will overcome the hard
and strong. As fish should not get out of pools, the realm's edged
tools should not be shown to anybody. (I can only)

37. The Way is always still, at rest, and yet does everything
that's done. If then the king and nobles could retain its potency for
good, the creatures all would be transformed.

But if, the change once made in them, they still inclined to do
their work, I should restrain them then by means of that unique
Original simplicity found in the Virgin Block, which brings
disinterest, with stillness in its train and so, an ordered world.
(Tao is inaction, but every things are created. So only king and
government leaders can make us of it, the country can be transformed. I
can restrain the human beings by meditating upon the One, so an ordered
world will be in place, but I have to be in the king's position to
accomplish this task.)

38. A man of highest virtue will not display it as his own; his
virtue then is real. Low virtue makes one miss no chance to show his
virtue off; his virtue then is nought. High virtue is at rest; it knows
no need to act, low virtue is a busyness pretending to accomplishment.

Compassion at its best consists in honest deeds; morality at best
is something done, aforethought; high etiquette, when acted out without
response from others, constrains a man to bare his arms and make them
do their duty!

Truly, once the Way is lost, there comes then virtue; virtue lost,
comes then compassion; after that morality; and when that's lost,
there's etiquette, the husk of all good faith, the rising point of
anarchy.

Foreknowledge is, they say, the Doctrine come to flower; but better
yet, it is the starting point of silliness. So once full-grown, a man
will take the meat and not the husk, the fruit and not the flower.
Rejecting one, he takes the other.

39. These things in ancient times received the One: the sky
obtained it and was clarified; the earth received it and was settled
firm; the spirits got it and were energized; the valleys had it, filled
to overflow; all things, as they partook it (the PLAN) came alive; the
nobles and the king imbibed the One in order that the realm might
upright be; such things were then accomplished by the One.

Without its clarity the sky might break; except it were set firm,
the earth might shake; without their energy the gods would pass; unless
kept full, the valleys might go dry; except for life, all things would
pass away; unless the One did lift and hold them high, the nobles and
the king might trip and fall.

The humble folk support the mighty ones; they are base on which the
highest rest. The nobles and the king speak of themselves as "orphans,"
"desolate" and "needy ones". Does this not indicate that they depend
upon the lowly people for support?

Truly, a cart is more than the sum of its parts. Better to rumble
like rocks (ordinary) than to tinkle like jade.

40. The movement of the Way is a return; in weakness lies its major
usefulness. From What-is all the world of things was born but What-is
sprang in turn from What-is-not.
(Cultivating Tao is to return to Tao. Inaction looks weak in appearance
but major transformations are at work. From Tao all things are born but
Tao is a void or a black hole.)