Chapter LIX
(Chapter 59)

Ko Yuen Translation Warding the Tao
1.	To balance our earthly nature and cultivate our heavenly nature, tread the Middle Path.
2.	This Middle Path alone leadeth to the Timely Return to the True Nature. This Timely Return resulteth from the constant gathering of Magick Powers¹. With that Gathering cometh Control. This Control we know to be without Limit² and he who knoweth the Limitless may rule the state.
3.	He who possesseth the Tao continueth long. He is like a plant with well-set roots and strong stems. Thus it secureth long continuance of its life.

S. Mitchell Translation

For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people's welfare
as a mother cares for her child.

James Legge Translation
1.	For regulating the human (in our constitution) and rendering the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like moderation.
2.	It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early return (to man's normal state). That early return is what I call the repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Tao). With that repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation (of every obstacle to such return). Of this subjugation we know not what shall be the limit; and when one knows not what the limit shall be, he may be the ruler of a state.
3.	He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long. His case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm: this is the way to secure that its enduring life shall long be seen.

GNL not Lao Interpolation

Restraint

Manage a great nation as you would cook a delicate fish.

To govern men in accord with nature
It is best to be restrained;
Restraint makes agreement easy to attain,
And easy agreement builds harmonious relationships;
With sufficient harmony no resistance will arise;
When no resistance arises, then you possess the heart of the nation,
And when you possess the nation's heart, your influence will long endure:
Deeply rooted and firmly established.
This is the method of far sight and long life.

Tao Teh King
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Ko Yuen Commentary
1.	Teh. Return to text
2.	Like the Tao. Return to text

Tao Teh King
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Chapter LIX(Chapter 59)

Ko Yuen Translation

Warding the Tao

S. Mitchell Translation

James Legge Translation

GNL not Lao Interpolation

Restraint

Ko Yuen Commentary

Chapter LIX
(Chapter 59)