Chapter 63 — The beginning of kindness恩始
1Act without acting and work without working
為無為，事無事，味無味。
Act without acting. Work without working. Taste what has no taste.
note 4
以無為為居，以不言為教，以恬淡為味，治之極也。
He dwells in not acting, makes not speaking his teaching, and makes a calm plainness his flavor. This is the utmost of governing.
因成修故，無所造作。
He follows what is already formed and keeps up the old, so there is nothing he fabricates.
預有備，除煩省事也。
He makes ready beforehand, cutting away bother and reducing business.
深思遠慮，味道意也。
He thinks deeply and weighs far ahead, and so tastes the meaning of the Dao.
2Repay a grudge with virtue
大小多少，報怨以德。
Great or small, many or few, repay a grudge with virtue.
note 3
小怨則不足以報，大怨則天下之所欲誅，順天下之所同者，德也。
A small grudge is not worth repaying, and a great grudge is what all under heaven wishes to cut down. To follow what all under heaven holds in common is virtue.
陳其戒令也。欲大反小，欲多反少，自然之道也。
This sets out his warning command. If you would be great, turn back to the small; if you would be many, turn back to the few. Such is the Dao that is so of itself.
修道行善，絕禍於未生也。
He cultivates the Dao and does good, cutting off calamity before it arises.
3Even the sage treats things as hard
圖難於其易，為大於其細；天下難事必作於易，天下大事必作於細。是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難。是以聖人猶難之，
Plan the hard thing while it is easy. Do the great thing while it is small. Every hard thing under heaven begins in what is easy, and every great thing under heaven begins in what is small. So the sage never does a great thing, and that is how he can complete his greatness. One who promises lightly is trusted little, and one who finds much easy meets much that is hard. So even the sage treats things as hard,
note 8
以聖人之才猶尚難於細易，況非聖人之才而欲忽於此乎，故曰，猶難之也。
Even with the sage's gifts he still treats the small and the easy as hard; how much less may one without the sage's gifts make light of them? Therefore it says that even he treats things as hard.
欲圖難事，當於易時，未及成也。
If you would plan a hard matter, you should do it while it is easy, when it has not yet come to be formed.
欲為大事，必作於小，禍亂從小來也。
If you would do a great matter, you must begin it in the small, for calamity and disorder come from the small.
從易生難，從細生著。
From the easy the hard is born, and from the small what shows plainly is born.
處謙虛，天下共歸之也。
He dwells in humility and emptiness, and so all under heaven turn to him together.
不重言也。
It is not treating one's words as weighty.
不慎患也。
It is not being careful about trouble.
聖人動作舉事，猶進退，重難之，欲塞其源也。
When the sage moves and sets a matter going, he still advances and withdraws, treating it as weighty and hard, for he wishes to block it at its source.
4So in the end he meets nothing hard
故終無難矣
and so in the end he meets nothing hard.
note 1
聖人終生無患難之事，猶避害深也。
The sage has no troubling or hard matter his whole life long, because he goes deep in avoiding harm.