Chapter 76 · The Soft and the Strong

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

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The chapter’s first line

Man at his birth is supple and weak;

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

Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.) Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.

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Trees and plants in their early — missed growth are soft and brittle

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Chapter 76, in a second rendering

Soft and Bending Keeps Company With Life

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

Alive, a body is soft and bends. Dead, it's stiff and hard. Plants the same - green and supple while they're living, dry and brittle once they're gone. So hard and stiff keeps company with death, and soft and bending keeps company with life. That's why a rigid army loses and a rigid tree gets snapped. The big and stiff ends up on the bottom. The soft and yielding ends up on top.

Next · Chapter 77May not the Way (or Tao) of Heaven be compared to the (method of) bending a bow?Read chapter 77 →

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