Chapter 67
I have three treasures
Which I grasp and keep.
The first is "kindness."
The second is "frugality."
The third is "to dare not be ahead of the world."

With kindness, one can become courageous.
With frugality, one can become generous.
With not daring to be ahead of the world,
One can become the leader of the world.

Now it is a fatal mistake
To seek courage by abandoning kindness,
To seek generosity by abandoning frugality,
And to seek precedence by abandoning retreat.
With kindness, one can be victorious in the case of attack,
And remain firm in the case of defense.
Heaven will help and protect such a one through kindness.

Chapter 68
In the past--
An adept commander did not display his martial prowess.
An adept warrior did not become angry.
An adept conqueror did not tussle with his enemy.
An adept manager of men placed himself below them.
This is called the virtue of non-competition.
This is called the use of others' force.
This is called the supreme principle of matching Heaven.

Chapter 69
In the past, a military strategist said:
"I dare not take the offensive, but I take the defensive.
I dare not advance an inch, but I retreat a foot."
This means (to make the invading force):
Advancing onward without battle formation,
Raising his arm without morale enhancement,
Holding his weapons not at the ready,
And tackling the foe without meeting him.
There is no greater disaster than underestimating the enemy.
Such underestimation is tantamount to self-abandonment.
Therefore, when two well-matched armies clash in battle
It is the side which retreats first that will win.

Chapter 70
All the world says that my Dao is great,
But it does not resemble anything concrete.
Just because it is great,
It does not resemble anything concrete.
It would have been small for long if it did.

My words are very easy to understand and practice.
But no one in the world can understand and practice them.
My words have their own source,
My deeds have their own master.

It is merely because people do not know this
That they fail to understand me.
Those who can understand me arc very few,
And those who can follow me are hard to meet.
Therefore the sage wears coarse garb
But conceals a precious jade in his bosom.
Chapter 71
It is all the best to know that you don't know.
It is an aberration to pretend to know when you don't know.
The sage is free from the aberration
Because he recognizes it as such.
He can be free from this aberration
Only when he recognizes it as such.

Chapter 72
When people do not fear the power of the ruler,
Something terribly dreadful will take place.
Do not force the people out of their dwellings.
Do not exploit the people to the point that they cannot live.
They will not detest and overthrow the regime
Only when they are not excessively oppressed.

Chapter 73
He who is brave in daring will be killed.
He who is brave in not daring will survive.
Of these two kinds of bravery,
One is advantageous, while the other is harmful.
Heaven detests what it detests.
Who knows its cause?
The Dao of Heaven does not compete, and yet it is good at winning.
It does not speak, and yet it is good at responding.
It is not called, and yet it comes along on its own.
It is frankly at ease and yet it plans well.
The net of Heaven is large and vast,
It lets nothing escape, despite its wide meshes.

Chapter 1-4 | Chapter 5-12 | Chapter 13-18 | Chapter 19-23 | Chapter 24-28 | Chapter 29-35
Chapter 36-40 | Chapter 41-49 | Chapter 50-54 | Chapter 55-60 | Chapter 61-66
| Chapter 67-73 | Chapter 74-81 |