Chapter 53 — Growing proof益證
1The one fear is of acting by bestowing
使我介然有知，行於大道，唯施是畏。
If I had even a little knowledge and walked the great Dao, my one fear would be of acting by bestowing.
note 3
言若使我可介然有知，行大道於天下，唯施為之是畏也。
It means that if I had even a little knowledge and were to walk the great Dao in all under heaven, the one thing I would fear is acting by bestowing.
介，大也。老子疾時王不行大道，故設此言。使我介然有知於政事，我則行於大道，躬行無為之化。
Jie (介) means great. Laozi (老子) detested that the rulers of his time did not walk the great Dao, and so he set down these words. He means: if I had great knowledge in the matters of government, I would walk the great Dao and in my own person practice the rule of non-action.
唯，獨也。獨畏有所施為，恐失道意。欲賞善，恐偽善生；欲信忠，恐詐忠起。
Wei (唯) means only. The one fear is that there be something done by bestowing, for then the intent of the Dao would be lost. If one would reward goodness, the fear is that a false goodness will spring up; if one would put trust in loyalty, the fear is that a deceiving loyalty will arise.
2The great Dao is very level, yet the people love the side paths
大道甚夷，而民好徑。
The great Dao is very level, yet the people love the side paths.
note 2
言大道蕩然正平，而民猶尚舍之而不由，好從邪徑，況復施為以塞大道之中乎。故曰，大道甚夷，而民好徑。
It means that the great Dao is wide open, straight and level, and yet the people still cast it off and do not go by it, loving to follow crooked side paths — how much more so when one acts by bestowing and thereby blocks the middle of the great Dao. That is why it says: the great Dao is very level, yet the people love the side paths.
夷，平易也。徑，邪、不平正也。大道甚平易，而民好從邪徑也。
Yi (夷) means level. Jing (徑) means crooked, neither even nor straight. The great Dao is very level, yet the people love to follow the crooked side paths.
3The court is swept very clean
朝甚除，
The court is swept very clean,
note 2
朝，宮室也。除，潔好也。
The court (朝) is the palace halls. Swept (除) means clean and fine.
高台榭，宮室修。
They raise high terraces and pavilions and adorn the palace halls.
4The fields are choked and the granaries empty
田甚蕪，倉甚虛；
the fields are choked with weeds and the granaries are very empty.
note 3
朝甚除，則田甚蕪，倉甚虛，設一而眾害生也。
When the court is swept very clean, the fields are choked with weeds and the granaries very empty: set up one thing and a host of harms is born.
農事廢，不耕治。
Farming is abandoned, and the ground is neither plowed nor tended.
五穀傷害，國無儲也。
The five grains are ruined, and the state has nothing stored up.
5This is called the extravagance of thieves
服文綵，帶利劍，厭飲食，財貨有餘；是為盜夸。非道也哉！
They wear patterned silk, they carry sharp swords, they are sated with food and drink, and goods are left over. This is called the extravagance of thieves. This is not the Dao!
note 6
凡物不以其道得之，則皆邪也，邪則盜也。夸而不以其道得之，竊位也，故舉非道以明非道，則皆盜夸也。
Whenever a thing is not gained by its Dao, it is all crooked, and what is crooked is theft. To be extravagant and not to have gained it by its Dao is to have stolen one's place. So he raised up what is not the Dao in order to make clear what is not the Dao, and all of it is the extravagance of thieves.
好飾偽，貴外華。
They love false adornment and prize outward splendor.
尚剛強，武且奢。
They exalt what is hard and strong, so they use force and are extravagant besides.
多嗜欲，無足時。
Their pleasures and wants are many, so there is never a time when they have enough.
百姓而君有餘者，是由劫盜以為服飾，持行誇人，不知身死家破，親戚並隨也。
What is left over to the ruler while the people have nothing he has taken and stolen and made into his clothes and ornaments; he carries it about and shows it off to others, not knowing that his own body will die, his house be broken, and his kin go to ruin along with him.
人君所行如是，此非道也。復言也哉者，痛傷之辭。
What the ruler does is like this, and this is not the Dao. The exclamation added at the end is the speech of a heart in pain and grief.