Tao Te Ching Chapter 78-4 Be weak

Today's Tao

The weak beats the strong. (Ch.78)


What is true strength?

If you are truly strong, what do you look like?

If you are genuinely strong, you look like a fool.

True strength is the capacity to accept all.

Fighting like a man against injustice is a useless resistance.

Resistance is a form of being lost in Mayoi.

It is a refusal to accept all.

A man who looks like a fool can accept all.


A famous Chinese painter and calligrapher, Tei Hankyou / Zheng Banqiao 鄭板橋 (1693-1765) liked to draw the phrase:

"It is difficult to be a fool 難得糊塗".


But if you follow Tao, nothing is difficult because you are happy to be as weak as a fool without resistance.


«Related Articles»
-Water summary 78-1
-Water's attack 78-2
-No change 78-3
-Be weak 78-4
-Be soft 78-5
-Everyone = You 78-6
-No one acts 78-7
-State filth 78-8
-Bad omens 78-9
-Contradiction 78-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 78


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (23) / -A famous proverb "Soften the light. Be like dust. 和光同塵" - Let's see how they translate 挫其鋭 解其紛 和其光 同其塵 in Chapter 4. The identical sentences are repeated in Chapter 56. In Tao by Matsumoto, these are discussed in Chapter 56 / How to be One with Tao. / "It blunts rough edges, untangles the knots, diffuses the glare, at one with the dust of the world." On the left, «Tao Te Ching: A New Translation» translated by Sam Hamill. / "It blunts sharp edges, Unties all tangles; It sofens the glare And blends with the dust." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching» translated by Keith Seddon.