The Way of the Ruler主道
道者，萬物之始，是非之紀也。是以明君守始以知萬物之源，治紀以知善敗之端。故虚静以待，令名自命也，令事自定也。虚則知實之情，靜則知動者正。有言者自爲名，有事者自爲形，形名參同，君乃無事焉，歸之其情。故曰：君無見其所欲，君見其所欲，臣自將雕琢；君無見其意，君見其意，臣將自表異。故曰：去好去惡，臣乃見素；去舊去智，臣乃自備。故有智而不以慮，使萬物知其處；有賢而不以行，觀臣下之所因；有勇而不以怒，使羣臣盡其武。是故去智而有明，去賢而有功，去勇而有强。羣臣守職，百官有常，因能而使之，是謂習常。故曰：寂乎其無位而處，漻乎莫得其所。明君無爲於上，羣臣竦懼乎下。明君之道，使智者盡其慮，而君因以斷事，故君不窮於智；賢者勑其材，君因而任之，故君不窮於能；有功則君有其賢，有過則臣任其罪，故君不窮於名。是故不賢而爲賢者師，不智而爲智者正。臣有其勞，君有其成功，此之謂賢主之經也。
The Way is the beginning of the ten thousand things and the guiding thread of right and wrong. For this reason the enlightened ruler holds to the beginning and so knows the source of the ten thousand things, and orders the thread and so knows the ends of good and of failure. Therefore he waits, empty and still, and lets names name themselves and lets affairs settle themselves. Being empty, he knows the true state of what is solid; being still, he knows what is correct in what moves. He who speaks makes a name for himself, and he who acts makes a shape for himself. When shape and name are laid together and match, the ruler has nothing to do, and he returns them to their own reality. Therefore it is said: let the ruler not show what he desires, for if the ruler shows what he desires his ministers will carve and polish themselves. Let the ruler not show his intent, for if the ruler shows his intent his ministers will set themselves off as something apart. Therefore it is said: put away liking and put away loathing, and the ministers will show their plain stuff; put away the old and put away cleverness, and the ministers will make ready of themselves. So he has wisdom and does not think with it, and lets the ten thousand things know their own places. He has worth and does not act with it, and watches what those below him rely upon. He has courage and does not rage with it, and lets the host of ministers use their valor to the full. For this reason, putting away wisdom, he has clear sight; putting away worth, he has achievement; putting away courage, he has strength. The host of ministers keep to their duties, the hundred offices have their constant rules, and each is employed according to his ability. This is called practicing the constant. Therefore it is said: he is silent and dwells in no place, he is clear and no one can find where he is. When the enlightened ruler does nothing above, the host of ministers are in fear and awe below. The way of the enlightened ruler is to let the wise use their thought to the full while the ruler decides affairs by it, and so the ruler is never at the end of his wisdom. The worthy shape their talents and the ruler gives them charge accordingly, and so the ruler is never at the end of his ability. When there is merit the ruler has the credit for it, and when there is fault the minister bears the blame, and so the ruler is never at the end of his good name. For this reason he is not worthy and yet is the teacher of the worthy, and he is not wise and yet is the corrector of the wise. The ministers have the labor and the ruler has the work accomplished. This is called the warp of the worthy ruler.
道在不可見，用在不可知；虚靜無事，以闇見疵。見而不見，聞而不聞，知而不知。知其言以往，勿變勿更，以參合閱焉。官有一人，勿令通言，則萬物皆盡。函掩其跡，匿其端，下不能原；去其智，絶其能，下不能意。保吾所以往而稽同之，謹執其柄而固握之。絶其望，破其意，毋使人欲之。不謹其閉，不固其門，虎乃將存。不慎其事，不掩其情，賊乃將生。弑其主，代其所，人莫不與，故謂之虎。處其主之側爲姦臣，聞其主之忒，故謂之賊。散其黨，收其餘，閉其門，奪其輔，國乃無虎。大不可量，深不可測，同合刑名，審驗法式，擅爲者誅，國乃無賊。是故人主有五壅：臣閉其主曰壅，臣制財利曰壅，臣擅行令曰壅，臣得行義曰壅，臣得樹人曰壅。臣閉其主，則主失位；臣制財利，則主失德；臣擅行令，則主失制；臣得行義，則主失明；臣得樹人，則主失黨。此人主之所以獨擅也，非人臣之所以得操也。
The Way lies in what cannot be seen and its use lies in what cannot be known. Empty and still and without business, he sees flaws out of the darkness. He sees and seems not to see, he hears and seems not to hear, he knows and seems not to know. Having learned what a man says, let him neither alter it nor change it, but lay it beside the outcome and look. Let there be one man to an office and let them not pass words to one another, and all things will come out fully. Cover your traces and hide your first threads, and those below cannot trace them to their source; put away your cleverness and cut off your ability, and those below cannot guess your mind. Keep to what you have set out upon and check it for agreement, and take the handle carefully and hold it fast. Cut off their hopes and break their designs, and let no one covet what is yours. If the closing is not carefully kept and the gate is not made firm, a tiger will come to be. If affairs are not carefully handled and the true state of things is not covered, a robber will come to be. He kills his ruler and takes his place, and there is no one who does not go along with him, and so he is called a tiger. He stands at his ruler's side as a treacherous minister and listens out for his ruler's faults, and so he is called a robber. Scatter his party, gather in what is left of it, shut his gate, take away those who support him, and the state will have no tiger. Be too great to be measured and too deep to be sounded, bring shape and name together, look into and test the standards and the rules, and cut down those who act on their own authority, and the state will have no robber. For this reason the lord of men has five blockages. When a minister shuts off his ruler, that is a blockage. When a minister controls goods and profit, that is a blockage. When a minister issues orders on his own authority, that is a blockage. When a minister gets to do what is right in his own name, that is a blockage. When a minister gets to plant men of his own, that is a blockage. When a minister shuts off his ruler, the ruler loses his place. When a minister controls goods and profit, the ruler loses his virtue. When a minister issues orders on his own authority, the ruler loses his control. When a minister does what is right in his own name, the ruler loses his clear sight. When a minister plants men of his own, the ruler loses his following. These are for the lord of men alone to hold, and are not for a minister to take hold of.
人主之道，靜退以爲寶。不自操事而知拙與巧，不自計慮而知福與咎。是以不言而善應，不約而善增。言已應，則執其契；事已增，則操其符。符契之所合，賞罰之所生也。故羣臣陳其言，君以其言授其事，事以責其功。功當其事，事當其言，則賞；功不當其事，事不當其言，則誅。明君之道，臣不得陳言而不當。是故明君之行賞也，曖乎如時雨，百姓利其澤；其行罰也，畏乎如雷霆，神聖不能解也。故明君無偷賞，無赦罰。賞偷，則功臣墯其業；赦罰，則姦臣易爲非。是故誠有功，則雖䟽賤必賞；誠有過，則雖近愛必誅。䟽賤必賞，近愛必誅，則䟽賤者不怠，而近愛者不驕也。
The way of the lord of men is to make stillness and drawing back his treasure. He does not take affairs in hand himself, and yet knows the clumsy from the skillful; he does not reckon things out himself, and yet knows good fortune from fault. For this reason he does not speak and yet is well answered, and he does not bind and yet things grow well. When words have been answered, he holds the tally of them; when affairs have grown, he grasps the token of them. Where token and tally fit together is where reward and punishment are born. So when the host of ministers set out their words, the ruler gives them affairs according to their words and calls for merit according to those affairs. If the merit matches the affair and the affair matches the words, there is reward; if the merit does not match the affair and the affair does not match the words, there is death. In the way of the enlightened ruler, a minister cannot set out words and have them not match. For this reason, when the enlightened ruler gives out rewards, they are warm as rain in season and the people profit by their moisture; when he carries out punishments, they are dreadful as thunder and lightning, and neither spirit nor sage can undo them. So the enlightened ruler has no careless reward and no pardoned punishment. If reward is careless, ministers of merit grow slack in their work; if punishment is pardoned, treacherous ministers find it easy to do wrong. For this reason, if a man truly has merit, then though he be distant and lowly he is surely rewarded; and if a man truly has a fault, then though he be near and beloved he is surely put to death. When the distant and lowly are surely rewarded and the near and beloved are surely put to death, then the distant and lowly are not idle and the near and beloved are not arrogant.