58
WHERE the ruler is mum, mum,
The people are simple and
happy.
Where the ruler is sharp, sharp,
The people are wily and
discontented.
Bad fortune is what good fortune leans on,
Good fortune is what bad
fortune hides in.
Who knows the ultimate end of this process?
Is
there no norm of right?
Yet what is normal soon becomes
abnormal,
And what is auspicious soon turns ominous.
Long indeed
have the people been in a quandary.
Therefore, the Sage squares without cutting,
carves vfithout
disfiguring,
straightens without straining,
enlightens
without dazzling.
[Previous
- Index
- Next]
|
