Chapter 29 · The Kingdom Cannot Be Grasped

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

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The chapter’s first line

If any one should wish to get the kingdom for himself,

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This chapter in plain modern English — David Kooi’s rendering ↓

If any one should wish to get the kingdom for himself, and to effect this by what he does, I see that he will not succeed. The kingdom is a spirit-like thing, and cannot be got by active doing. He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his grasp loses it. The course and nature of things is such that What was in front is now behind; What warmed anon we freezing find. Strength is of weakness oft the spoil; The store in ruins mocks our toil. Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.

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Hence the sage puts away excessive — missed effort extravagance and easy indulgence

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Chapter 29, in a second rendering

Not a Machine You Optimize

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

Want to grab the world and bend it to your plan? I don't see it working. The world's a living thing, not a machine you optimize. Push on it and you wreck it. Clamp down and it slips away. Things run ahead and things lag behind. Some breathe easy, some labor. Some are strong, some are spent. Some are climbing, some are sliding. So the steady hand drops the extremes - the too-much, the over-the-top, the more-than-you-need.

Next · Chapter 30He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Tao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms.Read chapter 30 →

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