Tao Te Ching XLII

Waley

Tao gave birth to the One;
The One gave birth successively to two things,
Three things, up to ten thousand.
These ten thousand creatures cannot turn their backs to the shade
Without having the sun on their bellies,
And it is on this blending of the breaths that their harmony depends.

To be orphaned, needy, ill-provided is what men most hate;
Yet princes and dukes style themselves so.

Truly, “things are often increased by seeking to diminish them
And diminished by seeking to increase them.”
The maxims that others use in their teaching I too will use in mine.
Show ME a man of violence that came to a good end,
And I will take him for my teacher.


Wieger

Duyvendak

Matgioi

Haven

Mitchell

Legge

  1. Entité légendaire représentant la multitude des sages.[↩]
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