Laozi · Complete work
Chapter 52
Chapter 52 of 81. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
天下有始，以為天下母。既得其母，以知其子，既知其子，復守其母，沒身不殆。塞其兌，閉其門，終身不勤。開其兌，濟其事，終身不救。見小曰明，守柔曰強。用其光，復歸其明，無遺身殃；是為習常。
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure.
All under heaven has a beginning; take it as the mother of all under heaven.Once you have found the mother, thereby know her children; once you know her children, return and hold to the mother, and to the end of your body you will not be in danger.Stop its openings, close its doors, and all your life you will not be worn out.Open its openings, meddle in its affairs, and all your life you will be beyond saving.Seeing the small is called illumination; holding to the soft is called strength.Use its light, then return to its illumination, leaving no calamity to the body;This is called practicing the constant.
OpenTao
Complete CC BY 4.0 translation made directly from the received Chinese text; source line structure preserved.
The world has a beginning, and this beginning may be taken as the mother of the world.Once you have found the mother, you can know her children. Once you know the children, return and hold fast to the mother, and to the end of your life you will meet no peril.Seal the openings, shut the gates, and all your life you will not wear yourself out.Open the passages, press on with your affairs, and all your life you will be beyond rescue.Clarity means seeing what is small; strength means holding to what yields.Use the outward light, then return to inner clarity, and bring no calamity on yourself;This is what it means to practice the constant.
James Legge (1891)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text.
1. (The Tao) which originated all under the sky is to be considered as the mother of them all.
2. When the mother is found, we know what her children should be. When one knows that he is his mother's child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother that belong to him, to the end of his life he will be free from all peril.
3. Let him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his nostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion. Let him keep his mouth open, and (spend his breath) in the promotion of his affairs, and all his life there will be no safety for him.
4. The perception of what is small is (the secret of) clear-sightedness; the guarding of what is soft and tender is (the secret of) strength.
5.
Who uses well his light,Reverting to its (source so) bright,Will from his body ward all blight,And hides the unchanging from men's sight.