Daoying — Responses of the Way道應訓

Taiqing asked Wuqiongzi, "Do you know the Way?" Wuqiongzi said, "I do not know it." He asked Wuwei as well, and Wuwei said, "I know the Way, and my knowing has a measure." He said, "What is that measure?" Wuwei said, "I know that the Way can be weak and can be strong, can be soft and can be hard, can be yin and can be yang, can be dark and can be bright, that it can wrap up heaven and earth and can answer what has no direction. This is how I know the measure of the Way." Taiqing then asked Wushi, "A while ago I asked Wuqiong about the Way, and he said, 'I do not know it.' I asked Wuwei as well, and Wuwei said, 'I know the Way.' I said, 'Does your knowing of the Way also have a measure?' Wuwei said, 'I know the Way, and my knowing has a measure.' I said, 'What is that measure?' Wuwei said, 'I know that the Way can be weak and can be strong, can be soft and can be hard, can be yin and can be yang, can be dark and can be bright, that it can wrap up heaven and earth and can answer what has no direction. This is how I know the measure of the Way.' If it is so, which is right and which is wrong, the knowing of Wuwei or the not knowing of Wuqiong?" Wushi said, "Not knowing is deep and knowing is shallow. Not knowing is within and knowing is without. Not knowing is fine and knowing is coarse." Taiqing looked up and sighed and said, "Then is not knowing the very knowing? Is knowing the very not knowing? Who knows that knowing becomes not knowing and not knowing becomes knowing?" Wushi said, "The Way cannot be heard, and what is heard is not it. The Way cannot be seen, and what is seen is not it. The Way cannot be spoken, and what is spoken is not it. Who knows that form is not form?" So Laozi said, "All under heaven know that the good is good, and this is not good." And he said, "One who knows does not speak. One who speaks does not know."

The Duke of Bai asked Confucius, "Can a man speak in hidden words?" Confucius did not answer. The Duke of Bai said, "What if it is like throwing a stone into water?" He said, "A good diver of Wu or Yue could take it up." He said, "What if it is like throwing water into water?" Confucius said, "Though the waters of the Zi and the Sheng be joined, Yi Ya tastes them and knows them." The Duke of Bai said, "Then can a man never speak in hidden words?" Confucius said, "Why can he not? Who knows what words mean? One who knows what words mean does not speak with words. The man who fights over fish gets wet, and the man who chases beasts runs, and it is not that they enjoy it. So the highest word puts words away and the highest doing is doing nothing. What shallow wisdom fights over is a small last thing." The Duke of Bai did not grasp it, and so he died in a bath house. So Laozi said, "Words have an ancestor and affairs have a lord. It is only because there is no knowing that they do not know me." This speaks of the Duke of Bai.

Huizi made the law of the state for King Hui, and when it was finished he showed it to the masters, and the masters all called it good, and it was laid before King Hui. King Hui was much pleased with it. He showed it to Zhai Jian, who said, "It is good!" King Hui said, "If it is good, can it be carried out?" Zhai Jian said, "It cannot." King Hui said, "It is good and cannot be carried out. How is that?" Zhai Jian answered, "Now when men lift a great log, the one in front calls out heave ho and the ones behind answer him. This is a song for lifting a heavy thing and urging on their strength. Are there no tunes of Zheng and Wei and no stirring airs of Chu? Yet they are not used, because they do not fit the work as this does. Governing a state has its rites, and it does not lie in fine argument." So Laozi said, "The more the laws and orders are made bright, the more thieves and robbers there are." This is what it speaks of.

Tian Pian spoke to the king of Qi with the art of the Way, and the king answered him, "What I have is the state of Qi. The art of the Way may drive away troubles, but I wish to hear about the government of the state." Tian Pian answered, "Your servant's words have no government in them, and yet they can govern. It is as timber in a forest is not yet timber for use, and yet can become it. I wish the king would look into what they mean and take the government of Qi for himself. Though they drive away no trouble and no harm, what lies between heaven and earth and within the six directions can be shaped and changed by them. What is the government of Qi, that it should be asked about?" This is what Lao Dan called "the shape of what has no shape, the image of what has no thing." What the king asked about was Qi, and what Tian Pian spoke of was timber. Timber does not reach the forest, the forest does not reach the rain, the rain does not reach yin and yang, yin and yang do not reach harmony, and harmony does not reach the Way.

The Duke of Bai, Sheng, took the state of Chu, and he could not share out his storehouses among the people. On the seventh day Shi Yi came in and said, "You got it without right, and now you cannot give it away, and trouble will surely come. If you cannot give it to men, better to burn it. Do not let men use it to harm you." The Duke of Bai did not listen. On the ninth day the Duke of She came in, opened the goods of the great storehouse and gave them to the multitude, brought out the arms of the high armory and dealt them among the people, and with these he attacked him. On the nineteenth day he took the Duke of Bai. To want to hold a state that is not one's own may be called the height of greed. To be unable to act for others and to have nothing with which to act for oneself may be called the height of folly. The stinginess of the Duke of Bai, how did it differ from the owl's love for its young? So Laozi said, "To hold a thing and fill it is not so good as stopping. To whet a thing and sharpen it is not to be kept long."

Zhao Jianzi made Xiangzi his heir, and Dong Anyu said, "Wuxu is of low birth. Why do you now make him your heir?" Jianzi said, "This is a man who can bear shame for the altars of the state." On another day Zhi Bo was drinking with Xiangzi and struck Xiangzi on the head. The great officers asked leave to kill him. Xiangzi said, "When my late lord set me up, he said that I could bear shame for the altars of the state. Did he say that I could stab men?" Ten months later Zhi Bo besieged Xiangzi at Jinyang. Xiangzi broke up his ranks and struck him, and he defeated Zhi Bo utterly and split his skull and made it into a drinking cup. So Laozi said, "Know the male and keep to the female, and you will be the valley stream of all under heaven."

Nieque asked Beiyi about the Way, and Beiyi said, "Make your body upright and make your seeing one, and the harmony of heaven will come. Gather in your wits and make your measure upright, and the spirit will come and lodge in you. Power will come and cling to you, and you will be fair, and the Way will make its dwelling in you. Be simple as a newborn calf and do not seek the reason of things." Before the words were done, Nieque had fallen asleep. Beiyi went off singing as he walked, and he said, "His body is like withered bones and his heart like dead ashes. He is straight and true and does not know, and by this he holds himself. Dark and dark, wide and wide, he has no mind to plan with. What manner of man is that!" So Laozi said, "Clear and reaching to the four quarters, can you do it without knowing?"

Zhao Xiangzi attacked the Di and beat them, and he took Youren and Zhongren. A messenger came and reported it. Xiangzi was about to eat, and he had a look of care on him. Those about him said, "Two walled towns have fallen in a single morning. This is what men rejoice at. Now our lord has a look of care. Why is that?" Xiangzi said, "Great as the Jiang and the He are, their flood does not last three days. Whirling wind and beating rain do not last a moment at midday. Now the house of Zhao has stored up no virtuous conduct, and two walled towns have fallen in a single morning. Will ruin not reach me?" Confucius heard of it and said, "The house of Zhao will flourish!" Care is the reason a house flourishes, and joy is the reason it perishes. Winning is not the hard thing. Holding what is won is the hard thing. The worthy ruler holds his victory by this, and so his blessing reaches later ages. Qi and Chu and Wu and Yue all won once, and yet in the end they took ruin, because they could not hold what they had won. Only the ruler who has the Way can hold what he has won. Confucius was strong enough to lift the bar of a city gate, and he would not be known for his strength. Mozi made engines for defense and attack and brought Gongshu Ban to submit, and he would not be known for arms. The man who holds his victory well makes his strength into weakness. So Laozi said, "The Way is empty, and use it as you will, it is never filled."

Hui Meng had audience with King Kang of Song. The king stamped his foot and cleared his throat and said in a hurried voice, "What I delight in is courage and merit. I do not delight in men who practice benevolence and right. What will my guest teach me?" Hui Meng answered, "Your servant has a way here by which a man, however brave, may stab and not go in, and however skilled and strong, may strike and not hit. Has the great king alone no mind for it?" The king of Song said, "Good. This is what I wish to hear." Hui Meng said, "Now to be stabbed at and not pierced, to be struck at and not hit, this is still a disgrace. Your servant has a way here by which a man, though he have courage, dares not stab, and though he have strength, dares not strike. Now not daring to stab and not daring to strike is not the same as having no mind to. Your servant has a way here by which a man has no such mind at all. Now having no such mind is still not yet loving him and doing him good. Your servant has a way here by which the men and the women of all under heaven are glad and there is none whose heart does not wish to love him and do him good. This is worthier than courage and strength, and it stands above those four. Has the great king alone no mind for it?" The king of Song said, "This is what I wish to get." Hui Meng answered, "Confucius and Mozi are this very thing. Kong Qiu and Mo Di had no land and were lords, had no office and were elders. Among the men and the women of all under heaven there were none who did not stretch their necks and rise on their heels and wish to give them peace and good. Now the great king is the lord of ten thousand chariots. If he truly has that will, then all within the four borders will get his good. This is worthier than Confucius and Mozi by far." The king of Song had nothing to answer. When Hui Meng had gone out, the king of Song said to those about him, "He argues well! The guest has beaten me with his talk." So Laozi said, "He who is brave in not daring lives." Seen from this, great courage turns out to be no courage at all. Of old Yao had nine men to help him, Shun had seven, and King Wu had five. Yao and Shun and King Wu could not do a single one of the tasks of those nine and seven and five. Yet they let their robes hang and folded their arms and received the merit that was done, because they were good at riding on what other men had. So when a man races with a fine horse he does not beat the horse, but when he trusts himself to a carriage the horse cannot beat him. In the north there is a beast, and its name is the jue. It is a rat in front and a hare behind, and when it goes at a quick step it pitches over, and when it runs it falls, and it always gathers sweet grass and gives it to the qiongqiong juxu. When trouble and harm come to the jue, the qiongqiong juxu takes it on its back and runs. This is trusting what it cannot do to what the other can. So Laozi said, "Of those who hew in place of the great carpenter, few do not wound their hands."

Bo Yi (薄疑) spoke to Lord Si of Wei (衛) about the arts of a king. Lord Si answered him, "What I have is a thousand chariots. With this I wish to receive your teaching." Bo Yi answered, "Wu Huo lifts a thousand jun. How much more one catty?" Du He spoke to Lord Zhaowen of Zhou about giving peace to all under heaven, and Lord Wen said to Du He, "I wish to learn how to give peace to Zhou." He answered, "If what your servant says is not right, then Zhou cannot be given peace. If what your servant says is right, then Zhou will be at peace of itself." This is what is called being at peace without being given peace. So Laozi said, "The great cutting does not divide, and so when you count up the parts of a carriage there is no carriage."

By the law of Lu, when a man of Lu had become a bondservant to one of the lords, whoever could ransom him took the money from the treasury. Zigong ransomed a man of Lu from one of the lords. When he came back he declined and did not take the money. Confucius said, "Ci has erred. When the sage takes up an affair, it must be able to shift the manners of the time and change its customs, and its teaching must be such that later ages can receive it and follow it. It is not merely to suit his own conduct. Now in the state the rich are few and the poor are many. If a man ransoms another and takes the money, he is held to be grasping. If he does not take the money, he will not ransom another again. From now on the men of Lu will no longer ransom men from the lords." Confucius too may be said to have known the rites. So Laozi said, "To see what is small is called clear sight."

Marquis Wu of Wei asked Li Ke, "What was the reason that Wu perished?" Li Ke answered, "It fought often and won often." Marquis Wu said, "To fight often and win often is the blessing of a state. That this alone should ruin it, what is the reason?" He answered, "Fighting often wears out the people, and winning often makes the ruler proud. When a proud ruler works a worn out people, a state that does not perish is rare in all under heaven. Being proud, he is wanton, and being wanton, he uses up things. Being worn out, the people resent him, and resenting him, they use up their thoughts. When high and low are both used up, the ruin of Wu was late in coming. This is why Fuchai cut his own throat at Gansui." Laozi said, "When merit is done and the name is won, to withdraw oneself is the way of heaven."

Ning Yue wished to come before Duke Huan of Qi, but he was poor and had no way to reach him. So he became a trader and drove a baggage cart and traded in Qi, and at evening he lodged outside the gate of the outer wall. Duke Huan was going to the outskirts to meet a guest, and the gate was opened at night and the baggage carts were moved aside, and the torches were very bright and his followers were very many. Ning Yue was feeding his ox under his cart, and he looked at Duke Huan and grieved, and he struck the ox horn and sang a trader's song in a keen voice. Duke Huan heard it and stroked his driver's hand and said, "Strange! The singer is no common man." He gave order to take him up in a following carriage. When Duke Huan arrived, his follower asked about the man. Duke Huan gave him clothes and a cap and saw him, and Ning Yue spoke to him about all under heaven, and Duke Huan was greatly pleased and was about to give him office. His ministers all argued against it and said, "The guest is a man of Wei (衛). Wei is not far from Qi. Our lord had better send someone to ask about him. If on asking he is truly a worthy man, it will not be too late to use him." Duke Huan said, "Not so. If I ask, I fear he may have some small fault. To forget the great beauty of a man for his small fault is how a ruler loses the scholars of all under heaven." Now in listening there must always be proof, but to listen once and not ask again is to fit the reason of the thing. Moreover men are hard to match in all points, and one weighs them and uses what is long in them, and that is all. In this act Duke Huan got his man. So Laozi said, "Heaven is great, earth is great, the Way is great, and the king too is great. Within the bounds there are four great things, and the king dwells as one of them." This says that the Way can wrap them all up.

The Great King Danfu was living in Bin when the Di attacked him. He served them with hides and silks and pearls and jade, and they would not take them. He said, "What the Di seek is land. Goods will not do it." The Great King Danfu said, "To live with a man's elder brother and kill his younger brother, to dwell with a man's father and kill his son, I will not do. Stay here, all of you, and work in peace. What difference is there between being my subject and being a subject of the Di? And I have heard it said that one does not use what nourishes men to harm the men it nourishes." He took his staff and went away, and the people followed him one after another, and at last they made a state at the foot of Mount Qi. The Great King Danfu may be said to have been able to keep his life whole. Though he was rich and honored, he did not harm his body with what nourished it. Though he was poor and low, he did not bind his body with gain. Now a man who receives the rank and the pay of his forebears holds the losing of them a heavy thing. What came down to him came from long ago, and he loses it lightly. Is that not a daze? So Laozi said, "He who honors his body as he acts for all under heaven may be entrusted with all under heaven. He who loves his body as he acts for all under heaven may have all under heaven laid in his care."

Prince Mou of Zhongshan said to Zhanzi, "My body dwells beside the rivers and the sea, and my heart is under the palace gates of Wei. What shall I do about it?" Zhanzi said, "Hold your life heavy. Hold your life heavy and you will hold gain light." Prince Mou of Zhongshan said, "Though I know it, still I cannot master myself." Zhanzi said, "If you cannot master yourself, then follow it. Follow it, and your spirit will bear you no grudge. To be unable to master oneself and yet force oneself not to follow, this is called a double wound. Men with a double wound are not of the kind that live long." So Laozi said, "To know harmony is called the constant. To know the constant is called clear sight. To add to life is called ill omen. For the heart to drive the breath is called force." And therefore, "Use its light and come back again to its brightness."

King Zhuang of Chu asked Zhan He, "How is a state governed?" He answered, "How should a man be clear about governing his own body and not clear about governing a state?" The king of Chu said, "I have come to set up the ancestral temple and the altars of the state, and I wish to learn how to keep them." Zhan He answered, "Your servant has never heard of a body governed and a state in disorder, and he has never heard of a body in disorder and a state governed. The root lies in the body, and so your servant dares not answer with the branch." The king of Chu said, "Good." So Laozi said, "Cultivate it in the body, and its power is true."

Duke Huan was reading a book in the hall, and Bian the wheelwright was cutting a wheel below the hall. He laid down his mallet and chisel and asked Duke Huan, "What book is my lord reading?" Duke Huan said, "A book of the sages." Bian the wheelwright said, "Where is the man?" Duke Huan said, "He is dead." Bian the wheelwright said, "Then this is only the dregs of the sage." Duke Huan flushed and his face changed, and he said in anger, "I am reading a book. How can a workman find fault with it? If you have an argument it may pass. If you have no argument you die." Bian the wheelwright said, "So be it. I have an argument. Let your servant try to tell it by his cutting of wheels. If the stroke is too quick it is rough and does not bite. If it is too slow it is loose and does not hold. Neither loose nor rough, answering the hand and pleasing the heart, so that it comes to the highest fineness, that your servant cannot teach to his son, and his son cannot get it from him. This is why at seventy years he is old and still makes wheels. Now what the sages said was likewise held within them, and they came to their end and died, and only their dregs are left." So Laozi said, "A way that can be told is not the constant Way. A name that can be named is not the constant name."

Of old, Zihan, the master of the city walls, was chancellor of Song, and he said to the lord of Song, "The safety or danger of a state and the order or disorder of the people lie in the lord's giving of rewards and punishments. Now rank and reward and gifts are what the people love, and let my lord give them himself. Killing and cutting and punishment are what the people resent, and your servant asks to take them on himself." The lord of Song said, "Good. I will take the fair part and you will take the resentment, and I know that I shall not be laughed at by the other lords." The men of the state all knew that the killing and the punishing and the power to decide lay with Zihan, and the great ministers drew close to him and the people feared him, and before a full year had passed Zihan drove out the lord of Song and took the government to himself. So Laozi said, "The fish cannot leave the deep. The sharp tools of a state cannot be shown to men."

Wang Shou was walking with his books on his back, and he met Xu Feng in Zhou, and Xu Feng said, "Affairs move by answering change, and change is born of the time, and so a man who knows the time has no constant course. Books are where words come out. Words come out of the man who knows, and the man who knows does not put his books away." At this Wang Shou burned his books and danced. So Laozi said, "Many words bring quick exhaustion. Better to keep to the center."

Prime minister Zipei asked King Zhuang to drink with him, and King Zhuang consented. Zipei made a loose bow and stood facing north below the hall and said, "The other day my king consented, and now he does not come after all. Has your servant some fault?" King Zhuang said, "I hear that you have laid it out at Qiangtai. At Qiangtai one looks south to Mount Liao and over Fanghuang, with the Jiang on the left and the Huai on the right, and its pleasure makes a man forget death. A man of thin virtue like me cannot bear such pleasure. I fear that I would stay and not be able to come back." So Laozi said, "Do not show what may be desired, and the heart is kept from disorder."

Chong'er, the prince of Jin, fled from his state, and when he passed through Cao he was treated without courtesy. The wife of Xi Fuji said to Xi Fuji, "Our lord has shown no courtesy to the prince of Jin, but I have looked at his followers, and they are all worthy men. If they help one another and that man goes back to Jin, he will surely attack Cao. Why do you not do him a kindness first?" Xi Fuji sent him a jar of food with a jade disc laid on it. Chong'er took the food and sent back the jade. When he had gone back to his state, he raised an army and attacked Cao and took it. He gave order to the three armies that no one should enter the ward where Xi Fuji lived. So Laozi said, "Bend and you are whole. Crook and you are straight."

King Goujian of Yue fought with Wu and did not win, and his state was broken and he himself was ruined, and he was hard pressed at Kuaiji. His heart was full of anger and his gall swelled and his breath was like a bubbling spring, and he picked out armored men and drilled them so that they would go into fire as if to put it out. Yet he asked that he himself might be a servant and his wife a bondwoman, and he took the halberd in his own hands and ran before the horse of the men of Wu, and in the end he took the king of Wu at Gansui. So Laozi said, "That the soft beats the hard and the weak beats the strong is known to everyone under heaven, and no one can carry it out." The king of Yue carried it out himself, and so he became leader of the Middle Kingdom.

Zhao Jianzi died, and before he was buried Zhongmou went over to Qi. Five days after the burial Xiangzi raised an army and attacked and surrounded it. Before the lines had closed, several tens of fathoms of the wall fell down of themselves. Xiangzi struck the gong and drew his men back. An officer of the army remonstrated and said, "My lord is punishing the guilt of Zhongmou, and the wall has fallen of itself. This is heaven helping us. Why do you leave?" Xiangzi said, "I heard from Shuxiang, 'The gentleman does not ride over a man at an advantage, and does not press a man in his peril.' Let them repair the wall, and when the wall is repaired I will attack them." When Zhongmou heard of his righteousness, it asked to surrender. So Laozi said, "It is only because he does not contend that no one under heaven can contend with him."

Duke Mu of Qin said to Bo Le, "Your years are many. Is there anyone among your kin who can be sent to seek out horses?" He answered, "A good horse can be judged by its shape and look and sinew and bone. In judging the horses of all under heaven, the thing is as if blotted out and as if lost, as if one had forgotten it altogether. A horse of that kind cuts off the dust and leaves no wheel track. Your servant's sons are all of lesser stuff. They can be told about good horses, and they cannot be told about the horses of all under heaven. There is a man who carried loads and gathered firewood with your servant, Jiufang Yin, and in the matter of horses he is not below your servant. I ask that you see him." Duke Mu saw him and sent him to seek a horse. In three months he came back and reported, "I have found the horse. It is at Shaqiu." Duke Mu said, "What horse is it?" He answered, "A yellow stallion." He sent men to fetch it, and it was a black mare. Duke Mu was not pleased. He called Bo Le and asked him, "This has gone badly. The man you sent to seek a horse cannot tell its color or whether it is mare or stallion. What horses can he know?" Bo Le sighed deeply and said, "Has it come to this! This is the very thing that puts him ten million times above your servant, beyond all counting. What Yin looks at is the working of heaven. He gets the fine thing and forgets the coarse, is inside and forgets the outside, sees what he is to see and does not see what he is not to see, watches what he is to watch and lets go what he is not to watch. What that man judges has in it something more precious than a horse." The horse came, and it was indeed a horse of a thousand li. So Laozi said, "The greatest straightness seems bent. The greatest skill seems clumsy."

Wu Qi became prime minister of Chu and went to Wei. He asked Qu Yiruo, "The king did not know how poor a man Qi is, and he has made me prime minister. Let the master look at what kind of man Qi is." Master Qu said, "What do you mean to do?" Wu Qi said, "I mean to cut down the ranks of Chu and level its system of pay, to take from those who have too much and settle those who have too little, to whet the armor and the weapons, and in due time to strive for advantage in all under heaven." Master Qu said, "Yiruo has heard that those of old who governed state and house well did not change what was old and did not alter what was constant. Now you mean to cut down the ranks of Chu and level its system of pay, to take from those who have too much and settle those who have too little. This is changing what is old and altering what is constant. It does not go well with the man who does it. Yiruo has heard it said, 'Anger goes against virtue. Weapons are ill omened tools. Strife is what men take as their root.' Now you plan in secret to go against virtue, you like to use ill omened tools, and you begin with what men take as their root. This is the height of going against. Moreover you used the soldiers of Lu when it was not fitting to get your will against Qi, and you carried out your will. You used the soldiers of Wei when it was not fitting to get your will against Qin, and you got your will. Yiruo has heard that a man who does not bring calamity on others cannot bring calamity to pass. I always wondered that my king went against the way of heaven so often and twisted the reason of men, and that to this day no calamity came. It seems he was waiting for you." Wu Qi was startled and said, "Can it still be changed?" Master Qu said, "What has taken its shape cannot be changed. You had better love deeply and act in good faith." Laozi said, "Blunt its sharpness, loosen its tangles, soften its glare, be one with its dust."

Jin attacked Chu and marched three stages and did not stop. The great officers asked leave to strike them. King Zhuang said, "In the time of my late lord Jin did not attack Chu. It has come to my own person, and Jin attacks Chu. This is my fault. How can I put the shame of it on my officers?" They said, "In the time of our late fathers Jin did not attack Chu. Now it is on our own persons, and Jin attacks Chu. This is our guilt. We ask leave to strike them three times." The king bowed his head and wept, and his tears wet his collar, and he rose and bowed to his officers. When the men of Jin heard of it they said, "Lord and ministers vie with one another to say the fault is their own, and he lowers himself readily to his ministers. They cannot be attacked." That night they turned their army and went home. Laozi said, "He who can take on himself the filth of a state is called the lord of its altars."

In the time of Duke Jing of Song, Yinghuo stood in the Xin lodge. The duke was afraid and called Ziwei and asked him, "Yinghuo stands in the Xin lodge. What does it mean?" Ziwei said, "Yinghuo is the punishment of heaven, and the Xin lodge is the field of Song, so the calamity will fall on my lord. Yet it can be shifted to the chancellor." The duke said, "The chancellor is the man I have set to govern the state. To shift death onto him is not right." Ziwei said, "It can be shifted to the people." The duke said, "If the people die, whose lord shall I be? I would rather die alone." Ziwei said, "It can be shifted to the year." The duke said, "The year is the life of the people. If the year is lean, the people will surely die. If a man who is lord over others wishes to kill his people to keep himself alive, who will take me for his lord? This is my own life, and it is already spent. Say no more, Ziwei." Ziwei turned and ran back, and facing north he bowed twice and said, "I make bold to give my lord joy. Heaven dwells on high and hears what is below. My lord has spoken three words worthy of a lord of men, and heaven will surely give my lord three rewards. This evening the star will surely move three lodges, and my lord will have twenty one years added to his life." The duke said, "How do you know it?" He answered, "My lord has spoken three words worthy of a lord of men, and so there are three rewards, and the star will surely move three lodges. Each lodge is seven li, and three sevens are twenty one, and so my lord's years are moved by twenty one. Your servant asks to lie below the steps and watch for it. If the star does not move, your servant asks to die for it." The duke said, "You may." That evening the star did indeed move three lodges. So Laozi said, "He who can take on himself what is ill omened in a state is called the king of all under heaven."

Of old, when Gongsun Long was in Zhao, he said to his disciples, "Long cannot keep company with a man who has no skill." A guest came in coarse cloth with a rope for a belt and had audience and said, "Your servant can call out." Gongsun Long turned and said to his disciples, "Is there already a man among my followers who can call out?" They answered, "There is none." Gongsun Long said, "Put him on the roll of disciples." Some days later he went to talk to the king of Yan. He came to the riverside, and the ferry was on the other bank, and he had the man who called well call to it. At one call the ferry came. So it is said that the sage in his dealings with the world does not turn away a man of craft and skill. So Laozi said, "Among men there is no man to be thrown away, and among things there is no thing to be thrown away. This is called carrying on the light."

Zifa attacked Cai and overcame it. King Xuan met him in the outskirts and laid out a hundred acres of field for him and enfeoffed him with the rank of jade tablet holder. Zifa declined and did not take it and said, "That the state is governed and its rule set up, so that the other lords come as guests, is the virtue of my lord. That the call goes out and the order is given, and the enemy flees before the armies have closed, is the awe of the general. That the soldiers form ranks and fight and beat the enemy is the strength of the common people. To ride on the merit and toil of the people and take rank and pay for it is not the way of benevolence and right." So he declined it and did not take it. So Laozi said, "He does his work and does not dwell in it. It is only because he does not dwell in it that it does not leave him."

Duke Wen of Jin attacked Yuan, and he set a term of three days with his officers. After three days Yuan had not surrendered. Duke Wen gave order to leave it. An officer of the army said, "Yuan will surrender in a day or two." The lord said, "I did not know that Yuan could not be taken in three days. I set a term with my officers, and the term is out though the men are not worn. To lose my good faith and gain Yuan, I will not do it." The men of Yuan heard of it and said, "With a lord like this, how can we not surrender?" And so they surrendered. When the men of Wen heard of it, they too asked to surrender. So Laozi said, "Dark it is and dim, and within it there is an essence. That essence is very true, and within it there is good faith." And, "Fair words can buy honor, and fair conduct can raise a man above others."

Gongyi Xiu was chancellor of Lu, and he was fond of fish. The whole state offered him fish, and Master Gongyi would not take it. His disciple remonstrated and said, "The master is fond of fish. Why does he not take it?" He answered, "It is just because I am fond of fish that I do not take it. If I take the fish and am put out of the chancellorship, then, fond of fish as I am, I cannot supply myself with fish. If I do not take the fish and am not put out of the chancellorship, then I can supply myself with fish for a long time." This is a man who was clear about acting for others and acting for himself. So Laozi said, "He puts his body behind, and his body comes first. He puts his body outside, and his body is kept. Is it not because he has no private self? So he can fulfill his private self." Another saying is, "Know what is enough and you will not be disgraced."

The old man of Huqiu said to Sun Shu'ao, "Men have three resentments against them. Do you know them?" Sun Shu'ao said, "What do you mean?" He answered, "The man of high rank is envied by the officers. The man of great office is hated by his lord. The man of thick pay has resentment settled on him." Sun Shu'ao said, "The higher my rank, the lower my will. The greater my office, the smaller my heart. The thicker my pay, the wider my giving. Will this serve to escape the three resentments?" So Laozi said, "The honored must take the lowly as its root, and the high must take the low as its ground."

The man who beat out belt hooks for the great marshal was eighty years old, and he never missed the edge of a hook. The great marshal said, "Is it skill? Is it a way?" He said, "Your servant has something he keeps. At twenty your servant was fond of beating out hooks, and he looked at nothing else. If it was not a hook he did not examine it." So the man who uses a thing must borrow from what he does not use, and by this he keeps its use for long. How much more the man who holds a thing and does not use it? What thing would not be carried through by him? So Laozi said, "He who follows his affairs in the Way becomes one with the Way."

King Wen whetted his virtue and ordered his government, and in three years two parts of all under heaven turned to him. King Zhou heard of it and was troubled and said, "If I rise early and sleep late and strive with him in his course, my heart is worn and my body toils. If I let him be, I fear he will strike at me alone." Marquis Hu of Chong said, "Chang, the earl of Zhou, practices benevolence and right and plans well. His crown prince Fa is brave and does not waver. His second son Dan is respectful and sparing and knows the time. If you go along with them, you will not bear the harm of it. If you let them go and pardon them, you will surely be in danger and be destroyed. A cap may be worn out, and still it is put on the head. Before they are grown, let us plan against them." So Qu Shang shut King Wen up at Youli. At this San Yisheng sought out the rare and strange things of all under heaven with a thousand pieces of gold, and he got a team of zouyu and jisi beasts, a hundred sets of dark jade, a hundred strings of great cowries, and a thousand pairs of the patterned hides of black leopards, yellow bears, gray wild dogs and white tigers, and he offered them to King Zhou. He got word through by way of Fei Zhong. King Zhou saw them and was pleased, and so he freed King Wen and killed an ox and gave it to him. King Wen went home and made the Jade Gate and raised the Spirit Terrace and chose girl dancers and struck bells and drums, and so he waited for King Zhou to go wrong. King Zhou heard of it and said, "Chang, the earl of Zhou, has changed his way and altered his conduct. I have nothing to fear." So he made the roasting beam, and cut open Bi Gan, and slit open a woman with child, and killed those who remonstrated. Then King Wen carried out his plan. So Laozi said, "Know its glory and keep to its disgrace, and be the valley of all under heaven."

King Cheng asked Yin Yi about government and said, "What virtue must I practice so that the people will hold their rulers dear?" He answered, "Call them to work at the right season and be respectful and follow them." The king said, "Where is the measure of it?" He said, "Be as one who stands over a deep gorge, as one who treads on thin ice." The king said, "How fearful a thing it is to be king over men." Yin Yi said, "Between heaven and earth and within the four seas, if you treat them well they are your flock, and if you treat them ill they are your foes. Of old the ministers of Xia and Shang turned and made foes of Jie and Zhou and served Tang and Wu. The people of Susha all attacked their own lord and went over to Shennong. The world knows this clearly. How should there be no fear in it?" So Laozi said, "What men fear must be feared."

The followers of Robber Zhi asked Zhi, "Has a robber too his way?" Zhi said, "Where can one go and there be no way? To guess where a thing is hidden and hit it is sagehood. To go in first is courage. To come out last is right. To share out evenly is benevolence. To know what may and may not be done is wisdom. There is no one under heaven who lacks these five and can become a great robber." Seen from this, even the heart of thieves and robbers must lean on the way of the sages before it can go forward. So Laozi said, "Cut off sagehood and throw away wisdom, and the people will gain a hundredfold."

Zifa, a general of Chu, was fond of seeking out men of craft and of the Way. There was a man in Chu who was good at thieving, and he went to see him and said, "I hear that my lord seeks out men of craft and of the Way. Your servant is a thief. I wish to serve as one soldier with my craft." When Zifa heard it, he came out to see him without waiting to tie his belt or straighten his cap, and he treated him with courtesy. Those about him remonstrated and said, "A thief is a robber of all under heaven. Why treat him with courtesy?" The lord said, "This is not a thing for you to meddle in." Not long after, Qi raised an army and attacked Chu. Zifa led his forces against them, and his army fell back three times. The worthy and good officers of Chu all used up their plans and gave all their loyalty, and the army of Qi grew stronger. Then the thief of the marketplace came forward and asked, "Your servant has a slight craft, and he wishes to use it for my lord." Zifa said, "Do so." He did not ask what his plan was, and he sent him off. That night the thief unfastened the curtain of the general of Qi and brought it back, and Zifa sent a man to return it and said, "One of our soldiers who went out for firewood found the general's curtain, and we send it back to his officers." The next day he went again and took his pillow, and Zifa again sent a man to return it. The day after he went again and took his hairpin, and Zifa again had it returned. When the army of Qi heard of it they were greatly alarmed. The general took counsel with his officers and said, "If we do not go today, I fear the lord of Chu will take my head." So they turned their army and went away. Therefore it is said that nothing is too small or too slight to be able to do something, and it lies in the lord's using it. So Laozi said, "The man who is not good is the stock of the man who is good."

Yan Hui said to Zhongni, "Hui has gained something." Zhongni said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Hui has forgotten the rites and music." Zhongni said, "That will do. Still it is not yet enough." On another day he saw him again and said, "Hui has gained something." Zhongni said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Hui has forgotten benevolence and right." Zhongni said, "That will do. Still it is not yet enough." On another day he saw him again and said, "Hui sits and forgets." Zhongni started and said, "What do you call sitting and forgetting?" Yan Hui said, "I let my limbs fall away, I put out sight and hearing, I leave my body and put off knowing, and I open out into what changes and passes through. This is what I call sitting and forgetting." Zhongni said, "If you open out, there is no good, and if you change, there is nothing constant. And my master here is a worthy man. Qiu asks to follow behind him." So Laozi said, "Carry your soul and hold to the one, and can you keep from parting? Gather your breath and be utterly soft, and can you be like a newborn child?"

Duke Mu of Qin raised an army, meaning to fall on Zheng by surprise. Jian Shu said, "It cannot be done. Your servant has heard that one who falls on a state by surprise goes no more than a hundred li by chariot and no more than thirty li by foot, so that the plan has not yet leaked out, the armor and weapons have not yet lost their edge, the food has not yet run short, and the men are not yet worn and sick. They arrive with their spirit high and their strength full, and so they fall on the enemy with awe. Now you go several thousand li and cross the lands of many lords to fall on a state by surprise. Your servant does not see that this can be done. Let my lord weigh it again." Duke Mu did not listen. Jian Shu saw the army off in mourning clothes and mourning band and wept for it. The army went out and passed Zhou and went east. Xian Gao, a trader of Zheng, made out that he had orders from the earl of Zheng, and with twelve oxen he refreshed the army of Qin and entertained them as guests. Then the three commanders were afraid and took counsel and said, "We have gone several thousand li to fall on men by surprise, and before we have arrived they know it already. Their defense must be ready first, and they cannot be taken by surprise." They turned their army and went away. At that time Duke Wen of Jin had just died and was not yet buried. Xian Zhen said to Duke Xiang, "In old days all under heaven heard of the friendship between our late lord and Duke Mu, and there was no lord who did not know of it. Now our lord has died and is not yet buried, and they do not mourn our loss and do not ask leave for the road. This is to treat our lord as dead and our orphan as weak. I ask leave to strike them." Duke Xiang consented. Xian Zhen raised an army and met the army of Qin at Yao. He broke it utterly and took its three commanders and came back. When Duke Mu heard it, he went to the ancestral temple in white mourning clothes and made his apology before the multitude. So Laozi said, "To know and to hold that one does not know is highest. Not to know and to hold that one knows is a sickness."

The queen of Qi died, and the king wished to set up a successor and had not yet settled on one. He had his ministers debate it. The Lord of Xue wished to hit on the king's mind, and so he offered ten pairs of earrings and made one of them the fairest. The next day he asked where the fair earrings were, and on that ground he urged that she be set up as queen. The king of Qi was greatly pleased, and from then on he held the Lord of Xue in high honor. So when a ruler's mind and wishes are shown outside, he is managed by his ministers. So Laozi said, "Stop up the holes and shut the gate, and to the end of life there is no toil."

Lu Ao journeyed to the northern sea, passed Taiyin, went in at Xuanque and came to the top of Menggu. There he saw a man with deep eyes and black temple hair, tears running down and shoulders like a kite's, full above and cut away below, who was dancing lightly in the face of the wind. He looked round and saw Lu Ao, and slowly lowered his arms and fled behind a stone tablet. Lu Ao went up and looked at him, and he was leaning on a tortoise shell and eating clams. Lu Ao spoke to him and said, "I alone have turned my back on the crowd and left my company and looked to the end of what is beyond the six directions. Am I not alone in this? From my childhood I have loved to journey, and grown up I have not changed. I have gone round the four ends of the world, and only the northern shade I had not looked into. Now at last I meet you here. Might you not be a friend for me?" The man bared his teeth and laughed and said, "Ha! You are a man of Zhongzhou. How have you come so far as this? Here the sun and the moon still shine and the ranked stars are carried overhead, here yin and yang go their round and the four seasons are born. Set beside the land that has no name, this is no more than a corner of a room. As for me, I journey south to the fields of Ganglang, I rest in the north in the country of Chenmo, I go west to the end of the hamlet of Yaoming and east through the light of Hongmeng. There below there is no earth and above there is no heaven, and you listen and hear nothing, you look and nothing meets the eye. Beyond that there are still the shores of Taiwo. What is past that is a thousand and ten thousand li at one stride, and even I cannot be there. Now your journeying begins here, and you speak of looking to the end. Is that not far from it? Yet stay where you are. I have an appointment with Hanman beyond the Nine Bounds, and I cannot stay long." The man raised his arms and sprang up with his body and went into the clouds. Lu Ao looked up after him and did not see him, and he stopped his carriage and stood dazed, as though he had lost something, and said, "Set beside that man, I am a yellow swan beside a worm in the soil. I go all day and do not get a foot away, and I thought myself far traveled. Is that not a sad thing?" So Zhuangzi said, "The small year does not reach the great year, and small knowing does not reach great knowing. The morning mushroom does not know the last day of the month and the first, and the cicada does not know the spring and the autumn." This says that even clear sight has things it does not see.

Master Ji had governed Danfu three years when Wuma Qi took off his fur robe and put on a short coat of coarse cloth and changed his looks and went to see how the people had been changed. He saw a fisherman catch a fish and let it go. Wuma Qi asked him, "The reason you fish is to get fish. Now you have got one and you let it go. Why?" The fisherman answered, "Master Ji does not wish men to take small fish. What I got was a small fish, and so I let it go." Wuma Qi went back and reported to Confucius and said, "The virtue of Master Ji is at its height. He makes men act in the dark as if a stern punishment stood at their side. How has Master Ji come to this?" Confucius said, "Qiu once asked him about governing, and he said, 'What you warn against here you punish there.' Master Ji must have used this art." So Laozi said, "He puts that away and takes this."

Wangliang asked the Shadow, "Is that which is bright and bright the spirit light?" The Shadow said, "It is not." Wangliang said, "How do you know it?" The Shadow said, "Fusang takes its turn and gives way, and the sun lights the whole world, and the bright and bright light shines over the four seas. Yet shut the door and block the window, and it has no way to come in. The spirit light runs through the four quarters and flows everywhere and reaches all things. Above it touches heaven and below it coils in the earth. It shapes and rears the ten thousand things and cannot be made into an image, and between a bending and a lifting of the head it strokes what lies beyond the four seas. How is the bright and bright enough to make it clear?" So Laozi said, "The softest thing under heaven gallops over the hardest thing under heaven."

Guangyao asked Wuyou, "Do you exist after all, or do you after all not exist?" Wuyou did not answer. Guangyao got no answer and went up and looked at his shape and his face. It was dark and it was sudden. He looked at it and did not see its form. He listened for it and did not hear its sound. He grasped at it and could not get it. He gazed at it and could see no end of it. Guangyao said, "How noble! Who can come to this? I can make nothing be, and I cannot yet make nothing not be. When it comes to making nothing not be, how should I ever get to this?" So Laozi said, "What has no being enters where there is no crack, and by this I know the good there is in doing nothing."

The Duke of Bai, Sheng, was planning his revolt. He came away from court and stood there with his staff turned upside down, and its spike went up through his chin, and the blood ran to the ground and he did not know it. The men of Zheng heard of it and said, "He forgot his chin. What will he not forget?" This says that when the spirit goes over to the outside and wits and thoughts are shaken within, a man cannot see through and order his own body. So when the spirit is used on what is far, what it lets slip is near. So Laozi said, "Without going out of the door he knows all under heaven. Without looking through the window he sees the way of heaven. The farther he goes out, the less he knows." This is what it speaks of.

The emperor of Qin won all under heaven, and he feared he could not keep it. He sent out garrisons to the border, built the Long Wall, repaired the passes and bridges, set up barriers and forts, made ready post carriages and set officers on the border. Yet the house of Liu took it from him as easily as turning a door bar. Of old King Wu attacked King Zhou and broke him at Muye, and then he raised a mound over the grave of Bi Gan, set a mark on the gate of the ward where Shang Rong lived, made an offering at the gate of Jizi, paid court at the temple of Cheng Tang, opened out the grain of Juqiao, scattered the money of Lutai, broke the drums and snapped the drumsticks, unstrung the bows and cut the strings, left his lodging and slept in the open to show that he was plain and easy, and put off his sword and wore the tablet at his belt to show that he had no foes. At this all under heaven sang and made songs and were glad of him, and the lords took their gifts of silk and came to court together, and for thirty four generations it was not taken away. So Laozi said, "The good shutter uses no bar, and what he shuts cannot be opened. The good binder uses no cord, and what he binds cannot be untied."

Yin Xu learned driving, and for three years he got nothing of it. In secret he was pained by it, and he always thought of it as he lay down to sleep. In the middle of the night he dreamed that he received the autumn drive from his master. The next day he went to see him, and his master looked at him and said, "It is not that I grudged you the art. I feared you were not one it could be given to. Today I will teach you the autumn drive." Yin Xu stepped back and faced north and bowed twice and said, "Your servant has the luck of heaven. This very night I received it in a dream." So Laozi said, "Reach emptiness at its utmost and keep stillness with all your heart, and though the ten thousand things all rise up together, I watch them turn back."

Of old Sun Shu'ao was made prime minister three times and showed no gladness in his will, and three times he left the prime ministership and had no look of care. Jizi of Yanling was one the men of Wu with one mind wished to make their king, and he would not have it. Xu You was offered all under heaven and would not take it. Yanzi swore the covenant with Cui Zhu, and standing on the ground of death he did not change his bearing. All of these had something they reached far into. When the spirit goes through death and life, what thing can daze it? In Chu there was Ci Fei, who got a precious sword at Gandui. On his way back he crossed the Jiang, and in midstream, in the waves of Yanghou, two flood dragons closed on his boat and wound about it. Ci Fei said to the man at the oar, "Has anyone ever met such a thing and lived?" He answered, "I have never seen it." At this Ci Fei shut his eyes, and then he flushed and bared his arm and drew his sword and said, "A fighting man can be won over by the courtesies of benevolence and right, and he cannot be robbed by force. These are rotting flesh and crumbling bone in the river, and I have only to throw away the sword. What have I to grudge?" He went down into the river and stabbed the dragons and cut off their heads, and everyone in the boat lived. The wind and the waves all went away, and Chu gave him the rank of jade tablet holder. Confucius heard of it and said, "How good it is! The man who called them rotting flesh and crumbling bone and would throw away the sword, is that not Ci Fei?" So Laozi said, "It is only he who does not act for the sake of living who is worthier than those who hold life dear."

Chunyu Kun, a man of Qi, urged the vertical alliance on the king of Wei, and the king of Wei thought it right. Ten chariots were harnessed and he was to be sent to Chu, and he took his leave and set out. Some men held that the vertical alliance was not enough, and he urged the horizontal alliance instead, and his words for that were just as good. Then the king of Wei stopped his going and put him at a distance. He lost the aim of the vertical alliance and could not bring the business of the horizontal alliance to pass either. This is why he was shut out. Now words have an ancestor and affairs have a root, and when a man loses that ancestor and that root, then however many his crafts and skills, they are worse than few. So Chui was cast on the cauldron of Zhou with his fingers in his mouth, and by this the former kings showed that great skill will not do. So Master Shen said, "The carpenter knows how to make a door and can use it as a door, and that is because he does not know the door. So it must be shut before it can be a door."

Among the Mohists there was one Tian Jiu, who wished to see King Hui of Qin. He harnessed his chariot and stretched the shafts, and he stayed in Qin a full year and could not be seen. One of his guests spoke of him to the king of Chu, and he went and saw the king of Chu, and the king of Chu was much pleased with him. He gave him a tally and sent him as envoy to Qin, and when he arrived he was seen at once. He was given a general's tally, and King Hui saw him and was pleased with him. He came out to his lodging and sighed deeply and said to his followers, "I stayed in Qin three years and could not be seen, and I did not know that the road ran by way of Chu." Things there are that are near and yet far and far and yet near. So the conduct of a great man is not held to the marking line, and he goes as far as the thing goes, and that is all. This is what the Guanzi means by "the owl flies and the cord is tied."

The waters of the Feng are a thousand fathoms deep, and they take no dust and no stain, and if you throw an iron needle into them its shape is seen from outside. It is not that they are not deep and clear, but fish and turtles and dragons and snakes will not make their home there. So the five grains do not grow on bare rock, and deer do not roam on a bald hill, because there is no shade to cover them and hide them. Of old Zhao Wenzi asked Shuxiang, "Of the six generals of Jin, which will perish first?" He answered, "The Zhonghang and the Zhi." Wenzi said, "Why?" He answered, "In their government they are harsh and prying, they take sharpness for clear sight, they take the cutting down of those below them for loyalty, and they take much reckoning for merit. They are like a man stretching a hide. Stretch it, and big it is, but that is the road to a tear." So Laozi said, "When the government is dull and dim, the people are plain and honest. When the government is keen and prying, the people are worn and broken."

Duke Jing said to the grand diviner, "What can your art do?" He answered, "It can move the earth." Yanzi went to see the duke, and the duke said, "I asked the grand diviner, 'What can your art do?' and he answered, 'It can move the earth.' Can the earth be moved?" Yanzi was silent and did not answer. He went out and saw the grand diviner and said, "The other day I saw the Gou star between the Fang lodge and the Xin lodge. Will the earth move?" The grand diviner said, "It will." Yanzi went out. The grand diviner hurried to the duke and said, "It is not that your servant can move the earth. The earth is going to move of itself." Tian Ziyang heard of it and said, "That Yanzi was silent and did not answer was because he did not wish the grand diviner to die. That he went to see the grand diviner was because he feared the duke would be deceived. Yanzi may be called loyal to those above and kind to those below." So Laozi said, "He is square and does not cut, he has edges and does not gash."

Marquis Wen of Wei feasted his officers at Quyang, and when the wine was at its height Marquis Wen sighed deeply and said, "Am I alone in having no Yu Rang for a servant?" Jian Chong raised the white cup and came forward and said, "I ask leave to give my lord a forfeit cup." The lord said, "Why?" He answered, "Your servant has heard that parents with a good fate do not know a filial son, and that a lord who has the Way does not know a loyal minister. Now what sort of lord was the lord of Yu Rang?" Marquis Wen took the cup and drank it dry and did not pass it on, and he said, "Because he had no Guan Zhong and no Bao Shu for servants, there was room for the merit of Yu Rang." So Laozi said, "When the state and the house are dark and in disorder, there are loyal ministers."

Confucius was looking at the temple of Duke Huan, and there was a vessel there, and they called it the youzhi. Confucius said, "How good! I have come to see this vessel." He looked round and said, "Disciple, fetch water." The water came and was poured in. When it was in the middle the vessel stood straight, and when it was full it turned over. Confucius was startled and changed his face and said, "How good it is, this holding of what is full!" Zigong was at his side and said, "I ask about holding what is full." He said, "Add to it and take from it." He said, "What is meant by adding to it and taking from it?" He said, "Things flourish and then wane, joy comes to its height and then turns to grief, the sun stands at noon and then moves on, the moon is full and then wanes. So the man who is quick and wise guards it with foolishness, the man who has heard much and argues widely guards it with narrowness, the man of strength and hardy courage guards it with fear, the man of wealth and rank and wide holdings guards it with thrift, and the man whose power reaches all under heaven guards it with yielding. These five are how the former kings kept all under heaven and did not lose it. Go against these five, and there was never a time when it was not perilous." So Laozi said, "He who takes this Way upon him does not wish to be full. It is only because he is not full that he can wear out and not be made new."

King Wu asked the Grand Duke, "I attacked King Zhou and took all under heaven, and this is a servant killing his lord and one below attacking one above. I fear that in later ages the use of arms will not rest and fighting will not cease. What shall be done about it?" The Grand Duke said, "Very good is my king's question. A man who has not yet taken the beast fears only that his wound is too small, and once he has taken it, he fears only that too much of the flesh is spoiled. If my king wishes to hold it long, then block up the openings of the people, lead them wholly into useless affairs and troublesome teachings, and let them all delight in their callings and serve their own feelings. Make everything bright and bright, and lead them into what is dark and dark. Then take off their helmets and set them to carrying wood, loosen their swords and gird them with the tablet. Make a mourning of three years, so that their kind does not increase. Give high words of yielding and low words of deference, so that the people do not contend. Let wine and meat draw them together, let pipes and zithers make them merry, let the spirits make them afraid. Cover their plainness with many writings and swollen rites. Empty their houses with rich burials and long mourning. Put pearls in the mouth of the dead and lay on scales of jade and cords of silk, so that their goods are made poor. Have them dig deep and raise high grave mounds, so that their strength is used up. Then the houses are poor and the clans are few, and the man who thinks of trouble is poor, and if by this the manners are shifted, all under heaven can be held and not lost." So Laozi said, "If in their changing they wish to rise up, I shall press them down with the nameless uncarved wood."