Chapter 43 · The Advantage of Doing Nothing

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

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose). There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

Slips Into Where There's No Gap

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

The softest thing in the world rides right over the hardest. What has no form slips into where there's no gap. That's how I know there's something to doing less. Teaching without the lecture, getting somewhere by not forcing it - hardly anybody actually pulls it off.

Learn the Dao is a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known — committing the Tao Te Ching to memory, one line at a time.

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Your recall — for example

The softest thing in the world dashes — missed against and overcomes the hardest

The dotted words are the ones you missed.

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