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The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics

Chapter 37

Project Gutenberg EPUB edition Laozi and James Legge
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37. 1. The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do.
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2. If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
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3. If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.
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Simplicity without a name Is free from all external aim. With no desire, at rest and still, All things go right as of their will.

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The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics, Project Gutenberg eBook #216

Chapter 36 Chapter 38