Tao Te Ching

Chapter 37
[Original text]

If you want to hide [1], you must strengthen [2] Zhang [3]; if you want to be weak, you must strengthen it; if you want to destroy it, you must strengthen it; if you want to take it, you must firmly give it.It is called "twilight [4]".

Weakness beats strong.

Fish cannot escape from the abyss, and the sharp weapon of the country[5] cannot be shown[6] to people.

【Note】

[1] She (xī): Convergence.

[2] Solid: Tong "gu", for the time being.

[3] Zhang: Expansion.

[4] Weiming: Subtle and clear, subtle and obvious.

[5] Sharp weapon: a sharp weapon, here refers to the country's rewards and punishments and tactics.

[6] Show: show, extended to show off.

【Analysis】

If you want to restrain it (a person or thing), you must expand it for a while; if you want to make it weak, you must make it strong for a while; if you want to abolish it, you must make it prosperous for a while; Give it something for now.This is the so-called "subtle, clear" principle.

Weakness can overcome strong.

A fish cannot leave the deep pool in which it lives, and the country cannot easily show off its reward and punishment strategies and tricks.

The duality and contradiction of things are always transforming into each other, "the prosperity turns to decline", "the extremes of things will be reversed", "the extremes will come back"... are all the manifestations of Tao and the laws of nature.People should grasp this law to conform to the "Tao", and at the same time be alert to not show off good things, otherwise the moment of prosperity also represents the moment of decline.

【Explanation by Famous Artists】

Mr. He Shang:
Those who open first have extremely extravagant desires.Those who are strong first want to make disaster happen.Those who thrive first want to make them proud and dangerous.Those who give first are extremely greedy.These four things, their way is subtle, and their effects are clear.

The weak will last forever, and the strong will perish first.

When a fish escapes from the abyss, it is said that it is hard to get soft, and it cannot be copied.The sharp weapon is called the right way.Those who govern the country cannot be shown as ministers of deacons.Those who govern themselves should not show that they are not their own.

(End of this chapter)