Daodejing - Chapter Three

 

Wikisource:- Category: Laozi, woodcuts of China

道德經  - 第三章

不尚賢，使民不爭；

不貴難得之貨，使民不為盜；

不見可欲，使心不亂。

是以聖人之治，虛其心，實其腹，弱其志，強其骨。

常使民無知無欲。

使夫知者不敢為也。

為無為，則無不治。

Daodejing - Chapter Three

If you over-esteem great men, people become powerless.

If you over-value possessions, people begin to steal.

The master leads by emptying people's minds, and filling their cores,  

by weakening their ambition, and toughening their resolve.

He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire,  

and creates confusion in those who think that they know.

Practice not doing, and everything will fall into place.

References

1. The above translation is based on the translation by poet, translator, scholar and anthologist, Stephen Mitchell.  His reading of the work can be found on the following YouTube video: Tao Te Ching, The Book Of The Way by Lao Tzu:  https://youtu.be/t109UFLSQhk?t=795
2. This chapter on the above video starts at 13:15 and ends at 14:15.
3. You can find the complete 81 chapters of Daodejing in Chinese and English (James Legge version) in the ctext.org website: https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing