Tao Te Ching 76

Alive, the body is soft and mobile:
Dead, it becomes hard and static.

All nature is fertile and flexible when alive,
becoming dry and rigid in death.

Whatever is dry and rigid brings tends toward death:
Whatever is fertile and flexible springs with life.

Thus, an inflexible army cannot win.
A large hardwood will be harvested.
A dominant personality doesn't always come out on top,
and may find a gentler more adaptable person prefered.

Tao Te Ching 75

If the people are starving
   it's because their rulers
      are stealing their food [throu taxes].

If the people are revolting
   it's because their rulers
      are making their lives impossible.

If the people are dying
   it's because their rulers
      are sacrificing them for their own ambitions.

      If the people's lives are unendurable
   then they who choose to die
are nobler than they who cling to life.

Tao Te Ching 74

The ineffectiveness of capital punishment is demonstrated by the fact that people still commit crimes.

Does such a law entitle me to execute criminals myself?

There exists but one master executioner for everyone.

If we presume to take hir place then we're like an unskilled person usurping the tools of a master carpenter – certain to end up with a self-inflicted injury.

Tao Te Ching 73

The foolhardy get themselves killed:
   the courageous survive.
[In time of war] who can say which is more useful?
   Yet on one, the Powers That Be pass judgment.
Not even philosophers can explain that.

Tao
… never strives, yet outperforms all opposition.
… never speaks, yet always responds eloquently.
… is not summoned, yet always present.
… goes at its own pace, yet organises everything perfectly.
Its net is vast and loosely woven yet nothing slips throu it.

Tao Te Ching 72

If people become habituated to violence –
   far worse awaits them.

Do not condemn the poor:
Do not despise their efforts.
   If a ruler acknowledges them
   they will eat out of hir hand.

In this spirit,
   as the wise gain insight
      so they should learn humility.
   With growing self-respect
      should come modesty.
Every experience should teach discrimination.

Tao Te Ching 71

Not to know is OK –
   to imagine you do is the problem.
Unless you recognise your shortcomings
   you cannot correct them.

Enlightened folk do not have shortcomings
… so long as they are aware of them.
That is why enlightened folk don't have shortcomings.

Tao Te Ching 70

My ideas are easy to follow, and easy to practise.
The world can't follow, and doesn't practise.
   My ideas are grounded in reality:
   My deeds based on clear principles.
The world can't see this, and therefore can't see my message.

Those who do are few – we are a rare species indeed.
Within our plain dress we conceal jade.

Tao Te Ching 69

In deploying military forces pay heed to the dictum:
   Better a guest than a host.
Play the responsive role:
   for retreat can serve better than advance.

March in formation formlessly.
   Raise arms harmlessly.
      Fight enemies without enmity.
         Maintain defences undefensively.
Yet never underestimate your opponent or you will lose everything.

When evenly matched forces meet,
the more humane side will win.

Tao Te Ching 68

The great generals are not men of war.
The best fighters don't get angry.
Those good at outwitting enemies do it before hostilities commence.

Good managers operate on the same footing as their workforce –
which allows everyone to share in the energy of consensus,
the surest way to promote goodwill.

By observing patterns of flow in the natural world
our forebears discerned that cooperation was the basic principle of existence.

Tao Te Ching 67

Everyone must acknowledge that the overwhelming power of Tao [cosmic energy flow] is beyond any other force in the world we can comprehend.
If there were something greater Tao wouldn't hold our attention for a moment.

Three values should be treasured above all:
… humaneness:
… focussed thought:
… unambitiousness.

Humaneness also gives one courage:
Focussed thought leads to good strategy:
Unambitiousness fits one for leadership.

Courage without humaneness may well produce strategic thinking,
but leads to over-ambitiousness and disaster.
When you fight be open to humaneness and victory will be assured.
Act with fore-thought and you will be safe.

The Powers-That-Be respond by guiding and guarding those who moderate their behaviour.

Tao Te Ching 66

Rivers and oceans are lords of the landscape.
It's because they occupy the lowest position
that they're more powerful than mountains.

So, if the intelligent aspire to positions of trust
they must practise humility as followers of opinion rather than leaders.
In this way people don't feel politicians in power are imposing on them.
They may be ahead of public opinion
but the populace doesn't feel dictated to,
and so elects them willingly.
So long as leaders don't descend to petty bickering
the public won't argue with them.

Tao Te Ching 65

The mythic kings of prehistory who governed by invoking Tao
used it not to educate people, but to keep life simple and harmonious.
The smarter the populace, the harder to govern.

Using only intellectuality to rule is to steal the state from its people.
Placing humanity first is a blessing all round.
Yet both approaches are arcs of statecraft whose convergence in the hands of a Tao-aware leader creates ideal governance.

Perfect intunity with all-that-is [/Mystic Union] opens a vista that revealing there is no single straight pathway to any objective, whether to left or right, above or below, for all significant destinations lie beyond our current event-horizon; and thus no human eye can predict an optimum route.
We have only the empowerment of Tao [/cosmic energy forces] to guide us on the invisible trackway.

Tao Te Ching 64

Control is easy when things are quiet.
The best time to plan is before they kick off.

Small (problems) are easiest to solve.
Think ahead and act: don't procrastinate.

Trees were once saplings.
The tallest tower was once a hole in the ground.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Opinionated folk tend to mess things up:
Opportunists generally fail.
By taking a measured approach the wise stand a better chance of success.
Remember, disaster can strike at any stage of a project:
minimise risk by being as careful towards the end as you were at the beginning.

Avoid being led by your appetites,
attaching no particular value to exclusivity.
Learn how to forget.
Learn how to correct public misperception/s.
Learn how to work in harmony with nature without presuming to know better.

Tao Te Ching 63

Act but remain disinterested.
Manage but don't get too close.
Enjoy but keep your appetite in check.
In difficult situations use positive energy to avoid mirroring any hostility you encounter.

Use easy tasks to prepare for hard ones.
Use simple tasks to prepare for complex ones.
All the major problems in the world can be analysed and tackled by breaking them into smaller constituent ones.

The wise should avoid grand gestures –
by so doing they will show true greatness.
   Distrust those who promise lightly
   or offer simplistic solutions.
By carefully evaluate any course of action in advance
the wise will find their pathway clearer.

Tao Te Ching 62

Tao /Gaia /Cosmic energy is the world's greatest miracle
… reward of the benevolent
… protector of the malevolent.
Its wisdom guides people, arousing respect,
inspiring good works which win public gratitude.
   Even criminals are not abandoned altogether.

When crowning the Emperor and installing the three ministers of state
the finest jade is offered in front of the four horses –
yet for richness none of this compares to being grounded in Tao.

Why did the ancients value it so?
   They didn't claim everyone would find it,
   nor that this was their own fault.
It is because Tao lies far beyond words
that it has the greatest value in the world.

Tao Te Ching 61

A powerful country is like a river flowing into the ocean, combining its many tributaries –
   where Mother Nature nurtures a flood plain eco-system.

The feminine overcomes the masculine by calmness –
   using the 'weaker' position to outlast opponents.

Thus if a large nation is weaker than a smaller nation,
   the latter will allow itself to be absorbed;
and if a smaller nation is weak it willingly merges with a larger.
   Therefore to be weaker is not necessarily to be a loser.

A powerful country needs to unify and protect its citizens.
A weaker country needs its citizens to identify with and serve it.
   If both achieve this, it is appropriate for the dominant nation to act magnanimously.

Tao Te Ching 60

A country should be ruled with minimum intervention – like grilling a small fish.

If the dynamics of Tao are used to govern a nation, its negative archetypes cannot gain traction.
Not only will its demons have no power, neither can its gods interfere.
Not only will its gods have no power, neither can the wise interfere.

When this happens energy circulates naturally between all sections of society.

Tao Te Ching 59

In the service of state or universe
   there is nothing so valuable as holding one's fire.
When we restrain ourselves or yield to greater pressure
   we are accumulating innergy.
With this moral power
   there is nothing we cannot overcome.

None of us knows what hidden depths we have,
   yet all are masters of our own reserves.
Understand this principle clearly and death loses its terror.
With your roots running deep in the soil to give a firm foundation
   may the Tao [/cosmic innergy] of perennial wisdom be yours.

Tao Te Ching 58

When government is restrained people are straightforward:
When government is intrusive people are devious.

Good fortune masks misfortune:
Misfortune masks good fortune.

Who knows how they will end their days?
Are there any guarantees?

Right actions carried to extremes become wrong.
Good may be subverted to hide evil.
These are enantiodromias which deceive the populace.

Therefore the wise are
… right without being self-righteous.
… honest without being legalistic.
… straightforward without being ruthless.
… enlightened without being preachy.

Tao Te Ching 56

Those who know don't talk about it:
Those who talk about it don't know.

Be discreet:
Keep a watch on your senses:
Don't flaunt your superior wisdom:
Be a peace-maker:
Moderate your own development for the sake of the less able:
Be fully present:
These conditions create the perfect alignment [/mystic union] between inner subjectivity and outer reality.

One who has achieved it is neither beguiled by friendship, nor affected by disappointment.     
Nothing can be added to hir, nor can it be taken away.
S/he is impervious to honours as to disgrace.
And for those very reasons is a most valuable person.