บทที่ บทที่ 59 · Chapter 59

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59. 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.