The Old Master

Female

Being female

number twenty-eight

When you know the strength of man,

Yet keep a woman's care!

You will be the ravine of the country.

When you are the ravine of the country,

Your constant virtue will not leave.

And when your constant virtue does not leave.

You will return to the state of a little child.

When you know the pure,

Yet keep the soiled!

You will be the valley of the country!

When you are the valley of the country,

Your constant virtue is complete.

And when your constant virtue is complete,

You will return to the state of unvcarved wood.

When you know the white,

Yet keep the black.

You will be the model for the country!

And when you are the model for the country,

Your constant virtue will not go astray,

And when your constant virtue does not go astray,

You will return to the condition without limit.

When uncarved wood is cut up,

It is turned into vessels;

When the sage is used,

He becomes Head of the Officials.

Truly, great carving is done without splitting up.

Blindness

Number twenty-nine

For those who like to take control

of the world and act on it -

I see that with this they simply will not succeed.

The world is a sacred vessel;

It is not something that can be acted upon.

Those who act on it, destroy it.

Those who hold on it, lose it.

With things - some go forward, others follow;

Some are hot - others submissive and weak;

Some rise up - while others fall down;

Therefore the Sage avoids extremes,

Excesses, and extravagance.

violence

number thirty

Those which advise their ruler in the way of Tao,

Do not use weapons to commit violence in the world.

Such deeds easily rebounds.

In places where armies are stationed,

Thorns and brambles will grow.

The good general achieves his result and that is all;

He does not use the occasion to seize strength from it.

He achieves his result, but does not become arrogant.

He achieves his result, but does not praise his deeds.

He achieves his result, and yet does not brag.

He achieves his results, yet he abides with the result

Because he has no choice.

This is called "Achieving one's result without using violence".

When things reach their prime, they get old;

We call this "Not the way of Tao".

What is not the way of Tao

Will come to an early end.