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Taoism & Chinese Folk Religion · Taoist Classics

Tao Te Ching 48

18

Taoism & Chinese Folk Religion · Taoist Classics

Tao Te Ching 48

LeggeEnglish
ChineseChinese
He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
為學日益,為道日損。損之又損,以至於無為。無為而無不為。取天下常以無事,及其有事,不足以取天下。
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.
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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.
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Tao Te Ching 47Tao Te Ching 49
Sources & credits: Legge · Chinese

Legge — Tao Te Ching (James Legge) (1891). Public Domain. Translated by James Legge (1891), public domain; Project Gutenberg #216. Source

Chinese — 道德經 (Classical Chinese) (c. 4th century BCE). Public Domain. Chinese text, Project Gutenberg #24039, public domain. Source