Chapter 60 — Holding one's place居位
1Governing a great state is like boiling a small fish
治大國，若烹小鮮。
Governing a great state is like boiling a small fish.
note 3
不擾也，躁則多害，靜則全真，故其國彌大，而其主彌靜，然後乃能廣得眾心矣。
It is not stirring things up. Be hasty and harms are many; be still and genuineness is kept whole. So the greater his state, the stiller its ruler must be, and only then can he broadly win the hearts of the many.
鮮，魚。烹小魚不去腸、不去鱗、不敢撓，恐其糜也。治國煩則下亂，治身煩則精散。
Xian (鮮) means fish. In boiling a small fish one does not take out its entrails, does not scrape off its scales, and does not stir it about carelessly, for fear of crushing it. When the governing of a state is fussy, those below fall into disorder; when the governing of the body is fussy, the vital essence (精) scatters.
以道德居位治天下，則鬼不敢以其精神犯人也。
When one occupies the position with the Dao and virtue and so governs all under heaven, ghosts do not dare encroach upon people with their vital spirit (精神).
2Come with the Dao, and the ghosts do not work their power
以道莅天下，其鬼不神；
Come to all under heaven with the Dao, and its ghosts do not work their power.
note 1
治大國則若烹小鮮，以道蒞天下則其鬼不神也。
Govern a great state as one boils a small fish, and come to all under heaven with the Dao, and its ghosts do not work their power.
3Their power does not harm people
非其鬼不神，其神不傷人；
It is not that the ghosts do not work their power. It is that their power does not harm people.
note 2
神不害自然也，物守自然則神無所加，神無所加則不知神之為神也。
Spirit power does not harm what is so of itself. When things keep to what is so of itself, spirit power has nothing to add, and when spirit power has nothing to add, one does not know that spirit power is spirit power.
其鬼非無精神也，非不入正，不能傷自然之人。
It is not that those ghosts have no vital spirit, nor that they do not enter into what is upright; it is that they cannot harm a person who is naturally so.
4The sage too does not harm people
非其神不傷人，聖人亦不傷人。
It is not that their power does not harm people. It is that the sage too does not harm people.
note 2
道洽則神不傷人，神不傷人則不知神之為神。道洽則聖人亦不傷人，聖人不傷人則不知聖人之為聖也。猶云，不知神之為神，亦不知聖人之為聖也。夫恃威網以使物者，治之衰也。使不知神聖之為神聖，道之極也。
When the Dao is amply present, spirit power does not harm people, and when spirit power does not harm people, one does not know that spirit power is spirit power. When the Dao is amply present, the sage too does not harm people, and when the sage does not harm people, one does not know that the sage is a sage. It is the same as saying: one does not know that spirit power is spirit power, and one does not know either that the sage is a sage. Now, to lean on awe and nets in order to drive things is governing in decline; to make it so that spirit power and sageliness are not known to be spirit power and sageliness is the utmost of the Dao.
非鬼神不能傷害人。以聖人在位不傷害人，故鬼不敢干之也。
It is not that ghosts and spirits are unable to harm people. It is because the sage occupies the position and does not harm people that the ghosts too do not dare offend against them.
5The two do not harm each other
夫兩不相傷，故德交歸焉。
Since the two do not harm each other, virtue returns to both.
note 3
神不傷人，聖人亦不傷人，聖人不傷人，神亦不傷人。故曰，兩不相傷也。神聖合道，交歸之也。
Spirit power does not harm people and the sage too does not harm people; the sage does not harm people and spirit power too does not harm people. That is why it says the two do not harm each other. Spirit power and sageliness join with the Dao and return to each other.
鬼與聖人俱兩不相傷也。
Ghosts and the sage both alike do not harm each other.
夫兩不相傷，則人得治於陽，鬼神得治於陰，人得保全其性命，鬼得保其精神，故德交歸焉。
When the two do not harm each other, people find their order in the yang and ghosts and spirits find their order in the yin; people keep their lives whole, and ghosts keep their vital spirit. Therefore virtue returns to both.