Chapter 10 — What one can do能為

載，猶處也。營魄，人之常居處也，一人之真也。言人能處常居之宅，抱一清神，能常無離乎，則萬物自賓也。

To carry (載) says the same as to dwell in. The soul (營魄) is the place where a person constantly abides, the genuineness of that one person. This says that if one dwells in the house where a person constantly abides, embraces the one and keeps the spirit clear, and can thus never depart from it, then the ten thousand things come of themselves as guests.

營魄，魂魄也。人載魂魄之上得以生，當愛養之。喜怒亡魂，卒驚傷魄。魂在肝，魄在肺。美酒甘肴，腐人肝肺。故魂靜志道不亂，魄安得壽延年也。

The soul is the hun (魂) and the po (魄). A person lives by being carried upon the hun and the po, and so ought to cherish and nourish them. Joy and anger lose the hun; sudden fright harms the po. The hun resides in the liver, the po in the lungs. Fine wine and sweet delicacies rot a person's liver and lungs. Therefore when the hun is still, one sets one's will on the Dao and is not disordered; when the po is at ease, one lengthens one's lifespan and lives long.

言人能抱一，使不離於身，則長存。一者，道始所生，太和之精氣也。故曰：一布名於天下，天得一以清，地得一以寧，侯王得一以為正平，入為心，出為行，布施為德，摠名為一。一之為言，志一無二也。

This says that if a person embraces the one and keeps it from departing from the body, one long endures. The one is what the Dao first gave birth to, the essential breath (精氣) of great harmony. And so it is said: the one spreads its name over all under heaven; heaven gains the one and is clear, earth gains the one and is at peace, the feudal lords and kings gain the one and govern justly and evenly; entering within it becomes the mind, going forth it becomes conduct, and bestowed it becomes virtue — taken all together these are named the one. To say "the one" is to say that the will is one and there is no second.

專，任也，致，極也，言任自然之氣，致至柔之和，能若嬰兒之無所欲乎，則物全而性得矣。

To gather (專) means to entrust, and to reach (致) means to go all the way. This says that if one entrusts oneself to the breath that is so of itself and reaches the utmost soft harmony, so as to be like a newborn child that desires nothing, then things are made whole and gain their nature.

專守精氣使不亂，則形體能應之而柔順。

If one keeps the essential breath whole and guards it from disorder, the body answers to this and becomes soft and compliant.

能如嬰兒內無思慮，外無政事，則精神不去也。

If, like a newborn child, one has no thought or calculation within and no affairs of government (政事) without, then the spirit does not depart.

玄，物之極也，言能滌除邪飾，至於極覽。能不以物介其明，疵之其神乎，則終與玄同也。

The dark (玄) is the far end of things. This says that if one can wash and wipe away crooked adornment and so reach the utmost beholding, and can keep things from intruding on that brightness so that no flaw arises in the spirit, then one becomes one with the dark at last.

當洗其心，使潔淨也。心居玄冥之處，覽知萬事，故謂之玄覽也。

One ought to wash the mind and make it clean. The mind dwells in a dark and hidden place and yet beholds and knows all manner of things; this is why it is called dark beholding.

不淫邪也，淨能無疵病乎。

This is to be neither licentious nor crooked. If one is clean, can one then be without flaw or ailment?

治身者，愛氣則身全；治國者，愛民則國安。

Whoever governs their own body keeps the body whole by cherishing the breath; whoever governs a country makes the country peaceful by cherishing the people.

任術以求成，運數以求匿者，智也。玄覽無疵，猶絕聖也。治國無以智，猶棄智也。能無以智乎，則民不辟而國治之也。

To entrust matters to cleverness in seeking to accomplish them, and to work calculations in seeking to conceal them, is wisdom. For the dark beholding to be without flaw is like cutting off holiness, and for the country to be governed without using wisdom is like casting wisdom aside. If one can keep from using wisdom, the people do not lean to one side and the country is brought to order.

無有能知道滿於天下者。

There is no one able to know that the Dao fills all under heaven.

道生萬物而畜養之。

The Dao gives birth to the ten thousand things and nourishes them.

天門，天下之所由從也。開闔，治亂之際也，或開或闔，經通於天下，故曰，天門開闔也。雌應而不倡，因而不為，言天門開閡能為雌乎，則物自賓而處自安矣。

The gate of heaven (天門) is that by way of which all under heaven goes and follows. Its opening and closing is the parting of order and disorder; now opening, now closing, it passes through all under heaven. And so it is said that the gate of heaven opens and closes. The female answers but does not take the lead; it follows but does not set about doing. This says that if one can be the female when the gate of heaven opens and closes, then things come of themselves as guests and one's own station becomes at ease of itself.

天門謂北極紫微宮。開闔謂終始五際也。治身之天門謂鼻孔，開謂喘息也，闔謂呼吸也。

The gate of heaven means the Ziwei Palace (紫微宮) at the north pole. Its opening and closing means the five junctures at which things end and begin. In governing the body, the gate of heaven means the nostrils: opening is breathing out, closing is breathing in.

治身當如雌牝，安靜柔弱，治國應變，合而不唱也。

In governing the body one ought to be like the female, still and soft and weak; in governing a country one answers change and joins with it but does not call out first.

言至明四達，無迷無惑，能無以為乎，則物化矣。所謂道常無為，侯王若能守，則萬物自化。

This says that if one is utterly clear and reaches through all four directions, with no straying and no doubt, and can yet have nothing that one does, then things change of themselves. This is what is meant by saying that the Dao is constantly without action, and that if the ruler can keep to this, the ten thousand things change by themselves.

治身者呼吸精氣，無令耳聞﹔治國者，布施惠德，無令下知也。

Whoever governs the body breathes the essential breath without letting it be heard by the ear; whoever governs a country bestows kindness and virtue without letting those below know of it.

言達明白，如日月四通，滿於天下八極之外。故曰：視之不見，聽之不聞，彰布之於十方，煥煥煌煌也。

This says that reaching through clearly is like the sun and moon reaching through the four directions and filling all beyond the eight ends of all under heaven. And so it is said: look at it and it is not seen, listen for it and it is not heard, yet it spreads brightly over the ten directions, blazing and resplendent.

不塞其原也。

This is not to block up their source.

不禁其性也。

This is not to block up their nature.

不塞其原，則物自生，何功之有。不禁其性，則物自濟，何為之恃。物自長足，不吾宰成，有德無主，非玄而何。凡言玄德，皆有德而不知其主，出乎幽冥。

If their source is not blocked up, things come to life by themselves, so what work is there to claim? If their nature is not blocked up, things are completed by themselves, so what doing is there to depend on? Things grow to sufficiency of themselves, and it is not I who have ruled them into completion, so there is virtue here but no owner of it. What could this be but the dark? Whenever the dark virtue is spoken of, it is in every case because the virtue is there while its owner cannot be known, having come forth from what is remote.

道生萬物，無所取有。

The Dao gives birth to the ten thousand things, yet takes nothing to hold as its own.

道所施為，不恃望其報也。

What the Dao bestows and does, it does without hoping for or leaning upon any return.

道長養萬物，不宰割以為器用。

The Dao nourishes and rears the ten thousand things, yet does not cut them apart to use them as vessels.

言道行德，玄冥不可得見，欲使人如道也。

This says that the Dao's working of virtue is dark and hidden and cannot be seen; the aim is to make people become like the Dao.