Wielding Power揚權
天有大命，人有大命。夫香美脆味，厚酒肥肉，甘口而疾形；曼理皓齒，說情而捐精。故去甚去泰，身乃無害。權不欲見，素無爲也。事在四方，要在中央。聖人執要，四方來效。虚而待之，彼自以之。四海既藏，道陰見陽。左右既立，開門而當。勿變勿易，與二俱行。行之不已，是謂履理也。
Heaven has its great mandate, and man has his great mandate. Fragrant, fine, tender flavors, thick wine and fat meat are sweet to the mouth but sicken the body. Smooth skin and white teeth please the feelings but spend the vital force. So put away what is too much and put away what is excessive, and the body comes to no harm. Power does not wish to be seen; its plain stuff is doing nothing. Affairs lie in the four quarters; the essential lies at the center. The sage holds the essential, and the four quarters come to render service. He waits for them empty, and they use it of themselves. When the four seas are already stored away, he keeps to the shade and looks upon the sunlit side. When left and right are already in place, he opens the gate and it is fitting. Do not alter and do not change; go along with the two together. To do this without stopping is called treading the pattern.
夫物者有所宜，材者有所施，各處其宜，故上無爲。使雞司夜，令狸執鼠，皆用其能，上乃無事。上有所長，事乃不方。矜而好能，下之所欺；辯惠好生，下因其材。上下易用，國故不治。
Things have what they are fit for, and timber has what it can be put to. Each stays where it fits, and so the one above does nothing. Set the cock to keep the night and the wildcat to catch the rats. When each is used for what it can do, the one above has nothing to do. When the one above has something he is good at, affairs are no longer square. Proud and fond of his own ability, he is the one those below deceive. Quick of tongue, clever, and fond of giving, he lets those below use his gifts. When above and below trade their uses, the state is not governed.
用一之道，以名爲首。名正物定，名倚物徙。故聖人執一以靜，使名自命，令事自定。不見其采，下故素正。因而任之，使自事之；因其事而，彼將自舉之；正與處之，使皆自定之。上以名舉之，不知其名，復脩其形。形名參同，用其所生。二者誠信，下乃貢情。
The way of using the one takes the name as its head. When the name is straight, the thing is settled; when the name leans, the thing shifts away. So the sage holds the one and stays still. He lets names name themselves and lets affairs settle themselves. He does not show his colors, and so those below stay plain and straight. He goes along with them and gives them charge, and lets them do the work themselves. He goes along with their affairs, and they will raise them up themselves. He sets things straight and leaves them there, and lets them all settle themselves. The one above raises them by the name; and when he does not know the name, he goes back and looks over the form. When form and name are matched and the same, he uses what comes of it. When the two are truly to be trusted, those below offer up their true feeling.
謹脩所事，待命於天。毋失其要，乃爲聖人。聖人之道，去智與巧。智巧不去，難以爲常。民人用之，其身多殃；主上用之，其國危亡。因天之道，反形之理，督參鞠之，終則有始。虚以靜後，未嘗用己。凡上之患，必同其端；信而勿同，萬民一從。
Carefully tend what you have to do, and wait upon Heaven for the mandate. Do not lose the essential, and you become a sage. The way of the sage puts away cleverness and skill. If cleverness and skill are not put away, it is hard for them to become constant. When the people use them, their persons meet many disasters; when the ruler uses them, his state is endangered and ruined. Follow the way of Heaven and go back to the pattern of forms. Oversee them, match them, and question them to the bottom, and where it ends there is a beginning. Empty, he stays still and keeps behind, and never uses himself. The trouble of the one above always lies in sharing their traces. Be trustworthy but do not share, and the ten thousand people follow as one.
夫道者，弘大而無形；德者，覈理而普至。至於羣生，斟酌用之，萬物皆盛，而不與其寧。道者，下周於事，因稽而命，與時生死。參名異事，通一同情。故曰：道不同於萬物，德不同於陰陽，衡不同於輕重，繩不同於出入，和不同於燥濕，君不同於羣臣。凡此六者，道之出也。道無雙，故曰一。是故明君貴獨道之容。君臣不同道，下以名禱。君操其名，臣效其形，形名參同，上下和調也。
The Way is wide and great and has no form; virtue examines the pattern and reaches everywhere. Coming to the host of living things, it measures out and uses them. The ten thousand things all flourish, yet it takes no part in their rest. The Way runs down through all affairs. It names by examining, and lives and dies along with the times. It matches names and parts one affair from another, yet it runs through as one and its feeling is the same. So it is said: the Way is not the same as the ten thousand things; virtue is not the same as yin and yang; the balance is not the same as light and heavy; the inked line is not the same as going out and coming in; harmony is not the same as dry and damp; the lord is not the same as the assembled ministers. All these six come out of the Way. The Way has no match, and so it is called one. For this reason the enlightened lord prizes the look of the Way that stands alone. Lord and minister do not share one way; those below make their plea with names. The lord holds the name and the minister renders the form. When form and name are matched and the same, above and below are in harmony and in tune.
凡聽之道，以其所出，反以爲之入。故審名以定位，明分以辯類。聽言之道，溶若甚醉。脣乎齒乎，吾不爲始乎；齒乎脣乎，愈惽惽乎。彼自離之，吾因以知之；是非輻湊，上不與構。虚靜無爲，道之情也；叄伍比物，事之形也。叄之以比物，伍之以合虚。根幹不革，則動泄不失矣。動之溶之，無爲而攻之。喜之則多事，惡之則生怨。故去喜去惡，虚心以爲道舍。上不與共之，民乃寵之；上不與義之，使獨爲之。上固閉内扃，從室視庭，咫尺已具，皆之其處。以賞者賞，以刑者刑，因其所爲，各以自成。善惡必及，孰敢不信？規矩既設，三隅乃列。
The way of listening is to take what comes out of a man and turn it back to make the way in. So examine names to fix positions, and make shares clear to sort out kinds. The way of listening to words is loose and slack, as if very drunk. Lips? Teeth? I will not be the one to begin. Teeth? Lips? I grow more and more muddled. They come apart from it of themselves, and by this I know them. Right and wrong gather like spokes at a hub, and the one above does not tangle himself in them. Empty, still, and doing nothing — this is the true state of the Way. Matching by threes and comparing by fives — this is the form of affairs. Match by threes to compare with things; group by fives to fit what is empty. When root and trunk are not changed, then moving and leaking lose nothing. He moves them and lets them slacken, and strikes at them by doing nothing. Show delight in them and affairs grow many; show hatred of them and resentment is born. So put away delight and put away hatred, and empty the heart to make it a lodging for the Way. When the one above does not join in with them, the people then hold him dear. When the one above does not take counsel with them, he lets them do it alone. The one above bars the inner bolt fast, and from his room looks out on the courtyard. Within a foot and an inch all is already there, and each is in its place. What calls for reward he rewards, and what calls for punishment he punishes. He follows what each has done and lets each complete himself. Good and evil are sure to reach a man, so who would dare not be true? When compass and square are set out, the three corners fall into line.
主上不神，下將有因；其事不當，下考其常。若天若地，是謂累解；若地若天，孰踈孰親？能象天地，是謂聖人。欲治其内，置而勿親；欲治其外，官置一人；不使自恣，安得移并？大臣之門，唯恐多人。凡治之極，下不能得。周合刑名，民乃守職；去此更求，是謂大惑。猾民愈衆，姦邪滿側。故曰：毋富人而貸焉，毋貴人而逼焉，毋專信一人而失其都國焉。腓大於股，難以趣走。主失其神，虎隨其後。主上不知，虎將爲狗。主不蚤止，狗益無已。虎成其羣，以弑其母。爲主而無臣，奚國之有？主施其法，大虎將怯；主施其刑，大虎自寧。法刑苟信，虎化爲人，復反其真。
When the ruler is not spirit-like, those below will find something to go by. When his affairs do not fit, those below weigh what is constant in him. Be like Heaven, be like Earth: this is called the loosening of tangles. Be like Earth, be like Heaven: then who is far and who is near? One who can take Heaven and Earth as his model is called a sage. If you would govern what is within, set men in place and do not grow close to them. If you would govern what is without, set one man to each office. If they are not let run loose, how could they shift things and swallow them up? At the gate of a great minister, fear only that the people are many. The height of government is that those below can get nothing. Match form and name all round, and the people keep to their duties. To let this go and seek elsewhere is called great delusion. Crafty people grow more and more numerous, and treachery fills the place at his side. So it is said: do not make a man rich and then borrow from him; do not make a man noble and then be pressed by him; do not trust one man alone and lose your capital and your state. When the calf is thicker than the thigh, it is hard to run. When the ruler loses his spirit, a tiger follows at his back. When the ruler does not know it, the tiger will play the dog. If the ruler does not stop it early, the dogs grow more without end. The tigers make up their pack and murder their own mother. To be ruler and have no ministers — what state is there then? Let the ruler put out his law, and the great tiger grows afraid. Let the ruler put out his punishments, and the great tiger settles down of itself. If law and punishment are truly to be trusted, the tiger turns into a man and goes back to what he truly is.
欲爲其國，必伐其聚；不伐其聚，彼將聚衆。欲爲其地，必適其賜；不適其賜，亂人求益。彼求我予，假仇人斧；假之不可，彼將用之以伐我。黃帝有言曰：「上下一日百戰。」下匿其私，用試其上；上操度量，以割其下。故度量之立，主之寶也；黨與之具，臣之寶也。臣之所不弑其君者，黨與不具也。故上失扶寸，下得尋常。有國之君，不大其都；有道之臣，不貴其家。有道之君，不貴其臣；貴之富之，彼將代之。備危恐殆，急置太子，禍乃無從起。内索出圉，必身自執其度量。厚者虧之，薄者靡之。虧靡有量，毋使民比周，同欺其上。虧之若月，靡之若熱。簡令謹誅，必盡其罰。
If you would order your state, you must strike at their gatherings. Strike not at their gatherings, and they will gather a crowd. If you would order your land, you must make your grants fit. If your grants do not fit, men who make disorder will ask for more. If they ask and I give, this is lending an axe to an enemy. It must not be lent; they will use it to strike at me. The Yellow Emperor has a saying: "Above and below fight a hundred battles in one day." Those below hide what is private to them and use it to test the one above; the one above holds measure and standard and uses them to cut those below. So the setting up of measure and standard is the ruler's treasure, and the making up of a party is the minister's treasure. What keeps a minister from murdering his lord is that his party is not yet made up. So when the one above loses an inch, those below gain eight feet. A lord who has a state does not make his capital great; a minister who has the Way does not make his house noble. A lord who has the Way does not make his ministers noble; make them noble and make them rich, and they will take his place. Guard against danger and fear what is perilous. Set up the crown prince quickly, and disaster then has no way to arise. To search out what is within and bar what is without, he must hold measure and standard in his own person. What is thick he pares down; what is thin he grinds away. In the paring and the grinding there is measure, so that the people cannot band together and deceive the one above as one. Pare as the moon wanes; grind as heat melts. Make orders few and be sparing in putting to death, but always carry the penalty through to the end.
毋㢮而弓，一棲兩雄。一棲兩雄，其鬬㘖㘖。犲狼在牢，其羊不繁。一家二貴，事乃無功。夫妻持政，子無適從。
Do not slacken your bow. Two males on one roost: when two males are on one roost, their fighting is a clamor. When jackals and wolves are in the pen, the sheep do not increase. With two noble heads in one house, affairs come to no merit. When husband and wife both hold the government, the children have no one to follow.
爲人君者，數披其木，毋使木枝扶踈；木枝扶踈，將塞公閭，私門將實，公庭將虚，主將壅圉。數披其木，無使木枝外拒，木枝外拒，將逼主處。數披其木，毋使枝大本小；枝大本小，將不勝春風；不勝春風，枝將害心。公子既衆，宗室憂唫。止之之道，數披其木，毋使枝茂。木數披，黨與乃離。掘其根本，木乃不神。填其洶淵，毋使水清。探其懷，奪之威。主上用之，若電若雷。
One who is lord over men prunes his trees often, and does not let the branches grow thick. When the branches grow thick, they block the public gate; the private gates fill up, the public courtyard empties, and the ruler is shut in and hemmed off. Prune the trees often, and do not let the branches push outward. When the branches push outward, they press upon the ruler's own place. Prune the trees often, and do not let the branches grow large and the trunk small. When the branches are large and the trunk small, the tree cannot stand the spring wind; and when it cannot stand the spring wind, the branches will harm the heartwood. When the lord's sons are already many, the ruling house grieves and groans. The way to stop this is to prune the trees often and not let the branches grow lush. When the tree is often pruned, the parties then fall apart. Dig out its root and stump, and the tree is no longer spirit-like. Fill in its churning pool, and do not let the water run clear. Reach into what he holds in his breast, and take his awe from him. The ruler uses this like lightning, like thunder.