| 1 |
|
He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to
increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to
the Dao (seeks)
from day to day to diminish (his doing).
He diminishes it and
again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing
nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point
of non-action,
there is nothing which he does not do.
|
He who seeks learnedness will daily increase. He who seeks Reason will daily
diminish. He will diminish and continue to diminish
until he arrives at non-assertion.
|
He who attends daily to learning increases in learning. He who practices Dao
daily diminishes. Again and again he humbles himself.
Thus he attains to non-doing (wu wei). He practices
non-doing and yet there is nothing left undone. |
| 2 |
|
He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself
no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he
is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven. |
With non-assertion there is nothing that he cannot achieve. When he takes the
empire, it is always because he uses no diplomacy.
He who uses diplomacy is not fit to take the empire. |
To command the empire one must not employ craft. If one uses craft he is not
fit to command the empire. |
