It’s easy to rule while it’s peaceful
it’s easy to plan for before it appears
it’s easy to break while it’s fragile
it’s easy to disperse while it’s small
act before anything exists
govern before anyone rebels
a giant tree grows from the tiniest shoot
a great tower rises from a basket of dirt
a thousand-mile journey begins at your feet
but to act is to fail
to control is to lose
sages therefore dont act
thus they don’t fail
they don’t control
thus they don’t lose
when people pursue a task
failure occurs near the end
care at the end as well as the start
means an end to failure
sages thus seek what no one else seeks
they don’t prize hard-to-get goods
they study what no one else studies
they turn to what others pass by
to help all things remain natural
they dare not act
Lao-Tzu Taoteching translated by Red Pine
Act without acting
Give without giving
Taste without tasting
Tao alone becomes all things great and all things small
It is the One in many
It is the many in One
Let Tao become all your actions
then your wants will become your treasure
your injury will become your blessing
Take on difficulties while they are still easy
Do great things while they are still small
Step by step the world’s burden is lifted
Piece by piece the world’s treasure is amassed
So the Sage stays with his daily task
and accomplishes the greatest thing
Beware of those who promise a quick and easy way
for much ease brings many difficulties
Follow your path to the end
Accept difficulty as an opportunity
This is the sure way to end up
with no difficulties at all
Lao-Tzu Taoteching translated by Jonathan Star
When it is peaceful, it is easy to maintain
When it shows no signs, it is easy to plan
When it is fragile, it is easy to break
When it is small, it is easy to scatter
Act on it when it has not yet begun
Treat it when it is not yet chaotic
A tree thick enough to embrace
Grows from the tiny sapling
A tower of nine levels
Starts from the dirt heap
A journey of a thousand miles
Begins beneath the feet
The one who meddles will fail
The one who grasps will lose
Therefore, sages:
Do not meddle and thus do not fail
Do not grasp and thus do not lose
People, in handling affairs
Often come close to completion and fail
If they are as careful in the end as the beginning
Then they would have no failure
Therefore, sages desire not to desire
and do not value goods that are hard to acquire
They learn to unlearn
and redeem the fault of the people
To assist the nature of all things
Without daring to meddle
Lao-Tzu Taoteching translated by Derek Lin
Comments by Red Pine
LU HUI-CH’ING says, “We should act before anything exists, while things are peaceful and latent. We should govern before anyone rebels, while they are weak ‘and few. But to act before anything exists means to act without acting. To gov-ern before anyone rebels means to govern without governing’
sU CH’E says, “To act before anything exists comes first. To govern before any-one rebels comes next’
IfKUAN-TZU says, “Know where success and failure lie, then act” (Kuantzu: 47).
HUAI-NAN-TZU says, “A needle creates a tapestry. A basket of earth makes a wall. Success and failure begin from something small” (Huainantzu: 16).
SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “From a sprout, the small becomes great. From a basket of earth, the low becomes high. From here, the near becomes far. But trees are cut down, towers are toppled, and journeys end. Everything we do eventually results in failure. Everything we control is eventually lost. But if we act before anything exists, how can we fail? If we govern before anyone rebels, how can we lose?”
WANG FANG says, “Everything has its course. When the time is right, it arrives. But people are blind to this truth and work to speed things up. They try to help Heaven and end up ‘ruining things just as they near completion’
HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Others seek the ornamental. Sages seek the simple. Others seek form. Sages seek Virtue. Others study facts and skills. Sages study what is natural. Others learn how to govern the world. Sages learn how to govern themselves and how to uphold the truth of the Way.”
HAN FEI says, “The wise don’t fill their lessons with words or their shelves with books. The world may pass them by, but rulers turn to them when they want to learn what no one else learns’
WU CH’ENG Says, “The sage seeks without seeking and studies without studying. For the truth of all things lies not in acting but in doing what is natural. By not acting, the sage shares in the naturalness of all things”
For line nine, the Mawangtui texts have: “a height of a hundred fathoms” There are two copies of the latter half of this verse among the Kuotien texts. In the first copy, line seventeen is omitted and line sixteen is fin-shih-chih-chi, “the rule for dealing with things” In the second copy, line sixteen is omitted but line seven-teen is present, although after line eighteen and in variant form. In line twenty-two, the first Kuotien copy has chiao (teach), while the second has hsueh (study).
千里之行
始於足下
Character translation by Jonathan Star
One of my favorite verses of the Tao is 64 and the line “a thousand-mile journey begins beneath your feet”. The last characters can also be translated as “from where one stands” meaning that it is not something distant and far off and abstract and something that you need to go somewhere to start but it is happening here and now.
I have said to many who are embarking on a career, a change in their life, committing to sobriety, returning to duty, or just not wanting to do something because it its “too hard”. I always say that since we are discussing it and thinking about it the character 足 zú has movement inherent in it and once the thought has been articulated the journey has already begun. So then it is only a matter of continuing on the journey and following through.
And Lao-Tzu cautions
when people pursue a task
failure occurs near the end
care at the end as well as the start
means an end to failure
Also it tells you exactly how to be a sage.