Tao Teh King, Part Ii. Chapter 45
45.
45. 1. Who thinks his great achievements poor
Shall find his vigour long endure.
Of greatest fulness, deemed a void,
Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.
Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;
Thy greatest art still stupid seem,
And eloquence a stammering scream.
2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
, 'Great or Overflowing Virtue.' The chapter is another illustration of the working of the To by contraries. According to W Khng, the action which overcomes cold is that of the Yang element in the developing primordial ether; and the stillness which overcomes heat is that of the contrary Yin element. These may have been in Lo-dze's mind, but the statements are so simple as hardly to need any comment. W further says that the purity and stillness are descriptive of the condition of non-action.
45. 1. Who thinks his great achievements poor
Shall find his vigour long endure.
Of greatest fulness, deemed a void,
Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.
Do thou what's straight still crooked deem;
Thy greatest art still stupid seem,
And eloquence a stammering scream.
2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
, 'Great or Overflowing Virtue.' The chapter is another illustration of the working of the To by contraries. According to W Khng, the action which overcomes cold is that of the Yang element in the developing primordial ether; and the stillness which overcomes heat is that of the contrary Yin element. These may have been in Lo-dze's mind, but the statements are so simple as hardly to need any comment. W further says that the purity and stillness are descriptive of the condition of non-action.
