Chapter 36 — The subtle light微明
1This is called the subtle light
將欲歙之，必固張之；將欲弱之，必固強之；將欲廢之，必固興之；將欲奪之，必固與之。是謂微明。
To draw a thing in, first stretch it out. To weaken a thing, first make it strong. To do away with a thing, first raise it up. To take from a thing, first give to it. This is called the subtle light.
note 6
將欲除强梁，去暴亂，當以此四者。因物之性，令其自戮，不假刑為大，以除將物也，故曰微明也。足其張，令之足，而又求其張，則眾所歙也，與其張之不足，而改其求張者，愈益而已反危。
To do away with the hard and fierce and to be rid of the fierce and disorderly, one should go about it by these four. One only follows the nature of things and lets them collapse of themselves; one does not borrow punishment, make it one's great business, and so set about doing away with things. Hence it is called the subtle light. If one makes a thing's stretching ample, and then, once it is ample, seeks still more stretching from it, it becomes what the many draw in. And if one sets out to correct a man whose stretching falls short while he seeks to stretch, then the more one adds, the more dangerous it becomes.
先開張之者，欲極其奢淫。
To open a thing up and stretch it out first is to let its extravagance and license run to the very end.
先強大之者，欲使遇禍患。
To make a thing strong and great first is to let it meet with calamity and affliction.
先興之者，欲使其驕危。
To raise a thing up first is to make it grow arrogant and so come into danger.
先與之者，欲極其貪心。
To give to a thing first is to let its greedy heart run to the very end.
此四事，其道微，其效明也。
In these four matters the way of it is subtle, but the effect that shows forth is bright.
2The instrument that profits a state is not shown to others
柔弱勝剛強。魚不可脫於淵，國之利器不可以示人。
The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong. A fish cannot leave the deep pool, and the instrument that profits a state cannot be shown to others.
note 4
利器，利國之器也。唯因物之性，不假刑以理物，器不可覩，而物各得其所，則國之利器也。示人者，任刑也。刑以利國則失矣。魚脫於淵，則必見失矣。利國器而立刑以示人，亦必失也。
The profiting instrument is the instrument that profits a state. One only follows the nature of things and does not borrow punishment to govern them; when the instrument is not shown and things each gain their own place, that is the instrument that profits a state. To show it to others is to leave matters to punishment. To try to profit a state by punishment is to lose it. Just as a fish that leaves the deep pool is certain to be lost, so if one sets up punishment as the instrument that profits a state and shows it to others, that too is certain to be lost.
柔弱者久長，剛強者先亡也。
The soft and weak last long; the hard and strong perish first.
魚脫於淵，謂去剛得柔，不可複製焉。
A fish leaving the deep pool means holding to softness and then going over to hardness, which cannot be turned back again.
利器者，謂權道也。治國權者，不可以示執事之臣也。治身道者，不可以示非其人也。
The profiting instrument means the means of power. The power by which a state is governed cannot be shown to the ministers charged with its affairs, and the way by which the self is governed cannot be shown to one who is not the right person.