道德經 - 第四十九章
聖人無常心，以百姓心為心。
善者，吾善之；不善者，吾亦善之；德善。
信者，吾信之；不信者，吾亦信之；德信。
聖人在天下，歙歙為天下渾其心，
百姓皆注其耳目，聖人皆孩之。
Daodejing - Chapter Forty Nine
(The quality of indulgence)
The sage has no fixed mind [3] of his own; he makes the mind [4] of the people his mind.
To those who are good (to me) [5], I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good; - and thus (all) get to be good. [6]
To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere; - and thus (all) get to be sincere. [7][8]
When the sage rules the world, they keep themselves quiet and non-judgmental, [9] merging and simplifying the mind for the sake of the world. [10]
The people all strain their ears and eyes, but the Sage treats them all like infants. [11]
References
- The English translation is based on the translation by James Legge.
- The Chinese text is based on the Daodejing in the ctext.org website : https://ctext.org/dao-de-jing.
- No fixed mind (無常心 wu2 chang2 xin1) - It refers to a sage who transcends personal desires, prejudices, and stubborn subjective ideas, and does not impose his own likes and dislikes on others.
- Mind (心 xin1) refers to the people's desires, feelings, thinking and opinions.
- Good (善 shan4) refers to being good, virtuous, capable or excellent.
- Thus (all) get to be good (德善 de2 shan4) - means "so that everyone will return to goodness," or "this is true selfless goodness." Here “德” can mean “得”, which means obtain or gain.
- Sincere (信 xin4) - trustworthy, can be trusted.
- Thus (all) get to be sincere (德信 de2 xin4) - - means "so that everyone will return to trustworthiness," or "this is true selfless trustworthiness." Here “德” can mean “得”, which means obtain or gain.
- 歙歙 is pronounced as (xi4 xi4) in Mandarin and as (kap1 kap1) in Cantonese（讀音同「吸吸」或「給給」, 當表示「收斂、吸氣、融合」或用於疊字「歙歙」時，讀此音. ) When the character 歙 is reduplicated in this sentence, it means "to take in, to integrate". This first part of the sentence means the sage restraining their own desires, cleverness, and subjective biases.
- 渾其心 (Hún qí xīn): The word "渾" (hún) means "undifferentiated," "blended," or "purely simple," like a block of uncarved wood. Instead of imposing complex laws, sharp moral divisions, or clever schemes onto society, the Sage harmonizes their own mind with the collective mind of the people. This encourages everyone to let go of overthinking and deceit, returning to a state of natural innocence and peace.
- In a typical society, people are constantly on high alert. They sharpen their senses to look for advantages, watch what the government rewards, copy trends, and worry about what is safe or profitable. Their minds are hyper-stimulated and anxious. The sage does not exploit this attention or feed their anxieties. Instead, through a calm, non-interfering presence, the sage helps the people relax their guard. The ruler guides everyone back to a state of a newborn infant (孩) —innocent, spontaneous, and free from calculated greed or malice.
