1. All things are produced by the Tâo, and nourished by its outflowing operation. They receive their forms according to the nature of each, and are completed according to the circumstances of their condition. Therefore all things without exception honour the Tâo, and exalt its outflowing operation.

道生之，德畜之，物形之，勢成之。是以萬物莫不尊道而貴德。

2. This honouring of the Tâo and exalting of its operation is not the result of any ordination, but always a spontaneous tribute.

道之尊，德之貴，夫莫之命常自然。

3. Thus it is that the Tâo produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them. 

故道生之，德畜之；長之育之；亭之毒之；養之覆之。

4. It produces them and makes no claim to the possession of them; it carries them through their processes and does not vaunt its ability in doing so; it brings them to maturity and exercises no control over them;-this is called its mysterious operation.

生而不有，為而不恃，長而不宰，是謂玄德。

養德, 'The Operation (of the Tâo) in Nourishing Things.' The subject of the chapter is the quiet passionless operation of the Tâo in nature, in the production and nourishing of things throughout the seasons of the year; a theme dwelt on by Lâo-dze, in II, 4, X, 3, and other places.

The Tâo is the subject of all the predicates in par. 1, and what seem the subjects in all but the first member should be construed adverbially.

On par. 2 Wû Khäng says that the honour of the Son of Heaven is derived from his appointment by God, and that then the nobility of the feudal princes is derived from him; but in the honour given to the Tâo and the nobility ascribed to its operation, we are not to think of any external ordination. There is a strange reading of two of the members of par. 3 in Wang Pî, viz.  亭之毒之for 成之熟之. This is quoted and predicated of 'Heaven,' in the Nestorian Monument of Hsî-an in the eighth century.

1. Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die.

出生入死。

2. Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three are ministers of death.

生之徒，十有三；死之徒，十有三； 

3. There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose movements tend to the land (or place) of death. And for what reason? Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.

人之生，動之死地，十有三。夫何故？以其生，生之厚。

4. But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason? Because there is in him no place of death.

蓋聞善攝生者，陸行不遇兕虎，入軍不被甲兵；兕無所投其角，虎無所措其爪，兵無所容其刃。夫何故？以其無死地。

1. The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.

聖人無常心，以百姓心為心。

2. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be sincere. 

善者，吾善之；不善者，吾亦善之；德善。信者，吾信之；不信者，吾亦信之；德信。

3. The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his children.

聖人在天下，歙歙為天下渾其心，百姓皆注其耳目，聖人皆孩之。

任德, 'The Quality of Indulgence.' The chapter shows how that quality enters largely into the dealing of the sage with other men, and exercises over them a transforming influence, dominated as it is in him by the Tâo.

My version of par. 1 is taken from Dr. Chalmers. A good commentary on it was given by the last emperor but one of the earlier of the two great Sung dynasties, in the period A. D. 1111-1117:--'The mind of the sage is free from preoccupation and able to receive; still, and able to respond.'

In par. 2 I adopt the reading of to get 得 ('to get') instead of the more common 德 ('virtue' or 'quality'). There is a passage in Han Ying (IX, 3 b, 4 a), the style of which, most readers will probably agree with me in thinking, was moulded on the text before us, though nothing is said of any connexion between it and the saying of Lâo-dze. I must regard it as a sequel to the conversation between Confucius and some of his disciples about the principle (Lâo's principle) that 'Injury should be recompensed with Kindness,' as recorded in the Con. Ana., XIV, 36. We read:--'Dze-lû said, "When men are good to me, I will also be good to them; when they are not good to me, I will also be not good to them." Dze-kung said, "When men are good to me, I will also be good to them; when they are not good to me, I will simply lead them on, forwards it may be or backwards." Yen Hui said, When men are good to me, I will also be good to them when they are not good to me, I will still be good to them." The views of the three disciples being thus different, they referred the point to the Master, who said, "The words of Dze-lû are such as might be expected among the (wild tribes of) the Man and the Mo; those of Dze-kung, such as might be expected among friends; those of Hui, such as might be expected among relatives and near connexions."' This is all. The Master was still far from Lâo-dze's standpoint, and that of his own favourite disciple, Yen Hui.

為學日益，為道日損。

2. He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do.

損之又損，以至於無為。無為而無不為。

3. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.

取天下常以無事，及其有事，不足以取天下。

忘知, 'Forgetting Knowledge;’ the contrast between Learning and the Tâo. It is only by the Tâo that the world can be won.

Ziâo Hung commences his quotations of commentary on this chapter with the following from Kumâragîva on the second par.:--'He carries on the process of diminishing till there is nothing coarse about him which is not put away. He puts it away till he has forgotten all that was bad in it. He then puts away all that is fine about him. He does so till he has forgotten all that was good in it. But the bad was wrong, and the good is right. Having diminished the wrong, and also diminished the right, the process is carried on till they are both forgotten. Passion and desire are both cut off; and his virtue and the Tâo are in such union that he does nothing; but though he does nothing, he allows all things to do their own doing, and all things are done.' Such is a Buddhistic view of the passage, not very intelligible, and which I do not endorse.

1. Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tâo of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.

不出戶知天下；不闚牖見天道。其出彌遠，其知彌少。

2. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.

是以聖人不行而知，不見而名，不為而成。

 鑒遠, 'Surveying what is Far-off.' The chapter is a lesson to men to judge of things according to their internal conviction of similar things in their own experience. Short as the chapter is, it is somewhat mystical. The phrase, 'The Tâo' or way of Heaven, occurs in it for the first time; and it is difficult to lay down its precise meaning. Lâo-dze would seem to teach that man is a microcosm; and that, if he understand the movements of his own mind, he can understand the movements of all other minds. There are various readings, of which it is not necessary to speak.

I have translated par. 2 in the past tense, and perhaps the first should also be translated so. Most of it is found in Han Ying, preceded by 'formerly' or 'anciently.'

1. When the Tâo prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tâo is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.

天下有道，卻走馬以糞。天下無道，戎馬生於郊。

2. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.

禍莫大於不知足；咎莫大於欲得。故知足之足，常足矣。

儉欲, 'The Moderating of Desire or Ambition.' The chapter shows how the practice of the Tâo must conduce to contentment and happiness.

In translating par. 1 I have, after Wû Khäng, admitted a 車 after the 糞, his chief authority for doing so being that it is so found in a poetical piece by Kang Häng (A. D. 78-139). Kû Hsî also adopted this reading (朱子大全, XVIII, 7 a). In par. 2 Han Ying has a tempting variation of 多欲 for 可欲, but I have not adopted it because the same phrase occurs elsewhere.

1. Who thinks his great achievements poor

Shall find his vigour long endure.

Of greatest fulness, deemed a void,

Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.

Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;

Thy greatest art still stupid seem,

And eloquence a stammering scream.

大成若缺，其用不弊。大盈若沖，其用不窮。大直若屈，大巧若拙，大辯若訥。

2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

躁勝寒靜勝熱。清靜為天下正。

 洪德, 'Great or Overflowing Virtue.' The chapter is another illustration of the working of the Tâo by contraries. According to Wû Khäng, the action which overcomes cold is that of the Yang element in the developing primordial ether; and the stillness which overcomes heat is that of the contrary Yin element. These may have been in Lâo-dze's mind, but the statements are so simple as hardly to need any comment. Wû further says that the purity and stillness are descriptive of the condition of non-action.

    Which do you hold more dear?

Or life or wealth,

    To which would you adhere?

Keep life and lose those other things;

Keep them and lose your life:--which brings

    Sorrow and pain more near? 

名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？ 

2. Thus we may see,

    Who cleaves to fame

    Rejects what is more great;

Who loves large stores

    Gives up the richer state. 

是故甚愛必大費；多藏必厚亡。

3. Who is content 

Needs fear no shame.

Who knows to stop

Incurs no blame.

From danger free

Long live shall he. 

知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。

立戒, 'Cautions.' The chapter warns men to let nothing come into competition with the value which they set on the Tâo. The Tâo is not named, indeed, but the idea of it was evidently in the writer's mind.

The whole chapter rhymes after a somewhat peculiar fashion; familiar enough, however, to one who is acquainted with the old rhymes of the Book of Poetry.

1. The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).

天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅。無有入無間，吾是以知無為之有益。

2. There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

 不言之教，無為之益，天下希及之。

徧用, 'The Universal Use (of the action in weakness of the Tâo).' The chapter takes us back to the lines of ch. 40, that

'Weakness marks the course

Of Tâo's mighty deeds.'

By 'the softest thing in the world' it is agreed that we are to understand 'water,' which will wear away the hardest rocks. 'Dashing against and overcoming' is a metaphor taken from hunting. Ho-shang Kung says that 'what has no existence' is the Tâo; it is better to understand by it the unsubstantial air ( 氣) which penetrates everywhere, we cannot see how.

Compare par. 2 with ch. 2, par. 3.

道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物。萬物負陰而抱陽，沖氣以為和。

2. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased. 

人之所惡，唯孤、寡、不穀，而王公以為稱。故物或損之而益，或益之而損。人之所教，我亦教之。強梁者不得其死，吾將以為教父。

3. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my teaching.

道化, 'The Transformations of the Tâo.' In par. 2 we have the case of the depreciating epithets given to themselves by kings and princes, which we found before in ch. 39, and a similar lesson is drawn from it. Such depreciation leads to exaltation, and the contrary course of self-exaltation leads to abasement. This latter case is stated emphatically in par. 3, and Lâo-dze says that it was the basis of his teaching. So far therefore we have in this chapter a repetition of the lesson that the movement of the Tâo is by contraries,' and that its weakness is the sure precursor of strength. But the connexion between this lesson and what he says in par. 1 it is difficult to trace. Up to this time at least it has baffled myself. The passage seems to give us a cosmogony. 'The Tâo produced One.' We have already seen that the Tâo is 'The One.' Are we to understand here that the Tâo, and the One were one and the same? In this case what would be the significance of the 生 ('produced')?--that the Tâo which had been previously 'non-existent' now became 'existent,' or capable of being named? This seems to be the view of Sze-mâ Kwang (A.D. 1009-1086).

The most singular form which this view assumes is in one of the treatises on our King, attributed to the Tâoist patriarch Lü (呂祖道德經解), that 'the One is Heaven, which was formed by the congealing of the Tâo.' According to another treatise, also assigned to the same Lü (道德真經合解) the One was 'the primordial ether;' the Two, 'the separation of that into its Yin and Yang constituents;' and the Three, 'the production of heaven, earth, and man by these.' In quoting the paragraph Hwâi-nan dze omits 道生一, and commences with一生二, and his glossarist, Kâo Yû, makes out the One to be the Tâo, the Two to be Spiritual Intelligences (神明), and the Three to be the Harmonising Breath. From the mention of the Yin and Yang that follows, I believe that Lâo-dze intended by the Two these two qualities or elements in the primordial ether, which would be 'the One.' I dare not hazard a guess as to what 'the Three' were.