To reduce someone’s influence, first expand it;

To reduce someone’s force, first increase it;

To overthrow someone, first exalt them;

To take from someone, first give to them.

This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong:

Fish should not leave their depths,

And swords should not leave their scabbards.

  1. Tranquillity

The Way takes no action, but leaves nothing undone.

When you accept this

The world will flourish,

In harmony with nature.

Nature does not possess desire;

Without desire, the heart becomes quiet;

In this manner the whole world is made tranquil.

  1. Ritual

Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;

Closely held beliefs are not easily released;

So ritual enthralls generation after generation. Harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained;

But ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it.

Harmony neither acts nor reasons;

Love acts, but without reason;

Justice acts to serve reason;

But ritual acts to enforce reason.

When the Way is lost, there remains harmony;

When harmony is lost, there remains love;

When love is lost, there remains justice;

But when justice is lost, there remains ritual. Ritual is the end of compassion and honesty,

The beginning of confusion;

Belief is a colourful hope or fear,

The beginning of folly.

The sage goes by harmony, not by hope;

He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;

He accepts substance, and ignores abstraction.

  1. Support

In mythical times all things were whole:

All the sky was clear,

All the earth was stable,

All the mountains were firm,

All the riverbeds were full,

All of nature was fertile,

And all the rulers were supported. But, losing clarity, the sky tore;

Losing stability, the earth split;

Losing strength, the mountains sank;

Losing water, the riverbeds cracked;

Losing fertility, nature disappeared;

And losing support, the rulers fell. Rulers depend upon their subjects,

The noble depend upon the humble;

So rulers call themselves orphaned, hungry and alone,

To win the people’s support.

  1. Motion and Use

The motion of the Way is to return;

The use of the Way is to accept;

All things come from the Way,

And the Way comes from nothing.