Laozi · Complete work
Chapter 60
Chapter 60 of 81. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
治大國若烹小鮮。以道蒞天下，其鬼不神；非其鬼不神，其神不傷人；非其神不傷人，聖人亦不傷人。夫兩不相傷，故德交歸焉。
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure.
Govern a great state as you would cook a small fish.When the Way presides over all under Heaven, its ghosts have no spectral power;Not that its ghosts have no spectral power, but their power does not harm people;Not only does their power not harm people—the sage does not harm people either.Since neither harms the other, their virtues meet and return together.
OpenTao
Complete CC BY 4.0 translation made directly from the received Chinese text; source line structure preserved.
Ruling a great state is like cooking a small fish.Rule all beneath heaven through the Way, and its ghosts exert no spirit-power;not that the ghosts have no power—their power does not harm anyone;Not only does their power do no harm; the sage, too, does no harm.So when neither side does harm, their integrity comes together and returns home.
James Legge (1891)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text.
1. Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.
2. Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the manes of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy. It is not that those manes have not that spiritual energy, but it will not be employed to hurt men. It is not that it could not hurt men, but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.
3. When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good influences converge in the virtue (of the Tao).