Daodejing - Chapter 38

 

道德經  - 第三十八章

上德不德，是以有德；

下德不失德，是以無德。

上德無為而無以為；

下德為之而有以為。

上仁為之而無以為；

上義為之而有以為。

上禮為之而莫之應，則攘臂而扔之。

故失道而後德，失德而後仁，失仁而後義，失義而後禮。

夫禮者，忠信之薄，而亂之首。

前識者，道之華，而愚之始。

是以大丈夫處其厚，不居其薄；

處其實，不居其華。

故去彼取此。

Daodejing - Chapter Thirty Eight

The master doesn't try to be powerful, thus he is truly powerful. 

The ordinary man keeps reaching for power, thus he never has enough.

The master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. 

The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done.

The kind man does something, yet something remains undone.

The just man does something, and leaves many things to be done.

The moral man does something, and when no one responds, he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Dao is lost, there is goodness.

When goodness is lost, there is morality.

When morality is lost, there is ritual.

Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos.

Therefore the master concerns himself with the depths, and not the surface, with the fruit and not the flower.

He has no will of his own. 

He dwells in reality and lets all illusions go. 

References

1. The English translation is based on the translation by poet, translator, scholar and anthologist, Stephen Mitchell, with some changes.  
2. The Chinese text is based on the Daodejing (James Legge version) in the ctext.org website : https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing.