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Trying to govern the world with force I see this not succeeding the world is a spiritual thing it can’t be forced to force it is to harm it to control it is to lose it sometimes things lead sometimes they follow sometimes they blow hot sometimes they blow cold sometimes they expand sometimes they collapse sages therefore avoid extremes avoid extravagance avoid excess

SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “We can’t control something as insignificant as a mustard seed. How can we control something as big as the world?”

TE-CH’ING says, “Those who would govern the world should trust what is natural. The world cannot be controlled consciously. It is too big a thing. The world can only be governed by the spirit, not by human strength or intelligence.”

HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Spiritual things respond to stillness. They cannot be controlled with force.”

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “The world as a thing is a spiritual thing. Only the spiritual Tao can control a spiritual thing. Spiritual things don’t think or act. Trying to control them with force is not the Way.”

WANG CHEN says, “‘Force’ refers to the mobilization and deployment of troops. But the world’s spirit cannot be controlled with weapons.”

LI HSI-CHAI says, “Sages consider their body as transitory and the world as its temporary lodging. How can they rule what is not theirs and lose the true and everlasting Way?”

SU CH’E says, “The interchange of yin and yang, of high and low, of great and small is the way things are and cannot be avoided. Fools are selfish. They insist on having their own way and meet with disaster. Sages know they cannot oppose things. They agree with whatever they meet. They eliminate extremes and thereby keep the world from harm.”

WU CH’ENG says, “How do those who gain control of the world keep the world from harm? Sages understand that things necessarily move between opposites but that there is a way to adjust this movement. Things that prosper too much must wither and die. By keeping things from prospering too much, they keep them from withering and dying.”

WANG PI says, “Sages penetrate the nature and condition of others. Hence, they respond to them without force and follow them without effort. They eliminate whatever misleads or confuses others so that their minds become clear and each realizes their own nature.”

WANG AN-SHIH says, “Resting where you are eliminates extremes. Treasuring simplicity eliminates extravagance. Being content with less eliminates excess.”

LU NUNG-SHIH says, “Sages get rid of extremes with kindness. They get rid of extravagance with simplicity. They get rid of excess with humility. By means of these three, sages govern the world.”

HSUEH HUI says, “What Lao-tzu means by ‘extremes,’ by ‘extravagance,’ and by ‘excess’ is not what people mean nowadays. Lao-tzu means whatever involves an increase in effort beyond what is easy.”

Lao-tzu’s word for the world is tien-hsia (under Heaven) — all that we see when we look down from on high. For the wording of lines nine and ten, I have followed Ho-shang Kung. Between lines ten and eleven, most editions add a fourth pair of opposites: ch’iang-lei (strengthen-weaken). I have followed Mawangtui B, which has only three pairs. Given the three negations at the end of this verse, three pairs to be negated seems more appropriate. This verse is not present in the Kuotien texts.