55.

One who is filled with virtue

is like a baby:

bees, scorpions, serpents, and snakes

won’t sting him;

wild animals won’t attack him;

birds will not strike him.

Bones weak, muscules soft,

yet his grasp is firm.

He has not known female and male in union,

and yet his penis stirs,

his essence growing.

All day he wails

without growing hoarse,

his harmony perfected.

Knowing harmony is called eternal.

Knowing the everlasting is called enlightenment.

Increasing one’s vitality is called a blessing.

Heart and mind directing one’s vitality

is called strength.

But the strong soon grow old.

Call this not-Tao.

Not-Tao doesn’t last.