Chapter 5 — The use of emptiness虛用

天地任自然，無為無造，萬物自相治理，故不仁也。仁者必造立施化，有恩有為；造立施化，則物失其真，有恩有為，則物不具存，物不具存，則不足以備載矣。地不為獸生芻，而獸食芻；不為人生狗，而人食狗。無為於萬物而萬物各適其所用，則莫不贍矣。若慧由己樹，未足任也。

Heaven and earth entrust things to being so of themselves. There is no acting and no making, and so the ten thousand things govern one another by themselves. This is why it says they are not benevolent. The benevolent must set things up and make them over by their bestowing, and they have kindness and they have acting. Set things up and make them over, and things lose their genuineness; have kindness and have acting, and things are not fully furnished. When things are not fully furnished, there is not enough to bear them all up. Earth does not put forth fodder for the sake of the beasts, yet the beasts eat fodder; it does not put forth dogs for the sake of people, yet people eat dogs. There is no acting toward the ten thousand things, yet each of them is suited to its own use, and none is left without sufficiency. If one sets wisdom up in oneself, one is not fit to be entrusted with anything.

天施地化，不以仁恩，任自然也。

Heaven bestows and earth transforms, yet they do not do it by benevolence and kindness; they entrust all to being so of itself.

天地生萬物，人最為貴，天地視之如芻草狗畜，不貴望其報也。

Heaven and earth give birth to the ten thousand things, and of these the human being is the most precious; yet heaven and earth look upon them as straw grass and as dogs and livestock, and do not prize or look for any return from them.

聖人與天地合其德，以百姓比芻狗也。

The sage shares his virtue with heaven and earth, and so likens the people to dogs plaited from straw.

聖人愛養萬民，不以仁恩，法天地行自然。

The sage cherishes and nurtures the myriad people, yet not by benevolence and kindness; he takes heaven and earth as his model and practices being so of itself.

聖人視百姓如芻草狗畜，不貴望其禮意。

The sage looks upon the people as straw grass and as dogs and livestock, and does not prize or look for their courtesy and good intent.

橐，排橐也。籥，樂籥也。橐籥之中空洞，無情無為，故虛而不得窮屈，動而不可竭盡也。天地之中，蕩然任自然，故不可得而窮，猶若橐籥也。

Tuo (橐) is the bellows that pushes wind, and yue (籥) is the pipe of a musical instrument. The insides of bellows and pipe are utterly empty, having no mind and no acting. Therefore, empty as they are, they are never driven so far that they give way, and however much they move they are never used up. Between heaven and earth too all is wide open and entrusted to being so of itself, so it cannot be driven to an end, and it is like the bellows and the pipe.

天地之間空虛，和氣流行，故萬物自生。人能除情慾，節滋味，清五臟，則神明居之也。

Between heaven and earth there is emptiness, and the harmonious breath (qi) flows through it, so the ten thousand things are born of themselves. If a person pares away the passions and the wants, keeps the relish of food in measure, and clears the five viscera (臟), then the numinous light (shenming 神明) comes to dwell there.

橐籥中空虛，人能有聲氣。

The bellows is empty within, and so a person can bring sound and breath out of it.

言空虛無有屈竭時，動搖之，益出聲氣也。

This says that, being empty, it has no time of giving way and running dry, and that when it is shaken sound and breath come forth all the more.

愈為之則愈失之矣。物樹其惡，事錯其言，不慧不濟，不言不理，必窮之數也。橐籥而守數中，則無窮盡，棄己任物，則莫不理。若橐籥有意於為聲也，則不足以共吹者之求也。

The more one sets about doing, the more one loses. Plant one's hatred in things and let one's words run athwart affairs, and then one is not wise enough to accomplish anything and does not speak enough to bring order, and one is bound to be driven to an end. Keep to the center, as the bellows do, and there is no exhausting it; set the self aside and entrust things to themselves, and there is nothing that is not brought to order. If the bellows set their mind on making a sound, they would not be sufficient to join with the wind of the one who blows.

多事害神，多言害身，口開舌舉，必有禍患。

Many affairs harm the spirit (神) and many words harm the body; open the mouth and lift the tongue, and calamity and trouble are bound to follow.

不如守德於中，育養精神，愛氣希言。

Better to keep one's virtue at the center, nurturing the vital spirit, sparing the breath, and making words few.