Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations; there is no help from kinsfolk for one whom death has seized
Thou art now like a sear leaf, the messengers of death (Yama) have come near to thee; thou standest at the door of thy departure, and thou hast no provision for thy journey. Make t...
Why was it that the ancients prized this Tao so much? Was it not because it could be got by seeking for it, and the guilty could escape (from the stain of their guilt) by it? This...
It produces them and makes no claim to the possession of them; it carries them through their processes and does not vaunt its ability in doing so; it brings them to maturity and ex...
The evil-doer suffers in this world, and he suffers in the next; he suffers in both He suffers when he thinks of the evil he has done; he suffers more when going on the evil path
Thus it is that the Tao produces (all things), nourishes them, brings them to their full growth, nurses them, completes them, matures them, maintains them, and overspreads them
But, like a beautiful flower, full of colour and full of scent, are the fine and fruitful words of him who acts accordingly
Fools follow after vanity, men of evil wisdom The wise man keeps earnestness as his best jewel
By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another
The grandest forms of active force From Tao come, their only source Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well Eluding sight, eluding touch, The forms of...
Come hither, O Vayu, thou beautiful one! These Somas are ready, drink of them, hear our call! O Vayu, the praisers celebrate thee with hymns, they who know the feast-days, and have...
The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Anc...
Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower It is thus that he puts away the one and makes choi...
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,...
You yourself must make an effort The Tathagatas (Buddhas) are only preachers The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of Mara
O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long time!
, He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, whether the awakened (Buddha) or their disciples, those who have overcome the host (of evils), and crossed the flood of sorrow, he...
A true Brahmana goes scatheless, though he have killed father and mother, and two valiant kings, though he has destroyed a kingdom with all its subjects
Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand portion of the record of the engagement, and does not insist on the (speedy) fulfilment of it by the other party (So...
When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands
There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts The world delights in vanity, the Tathagatas (the Buddhas) are free from vanity
When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which is their great dread will come on them
Even an evil-doer sees happiness as long as his evil deed has not ripened; but when his evil deed has ripened, then does the evil-doer see evil
Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life
It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency It is not so with the way of man He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own sup...
Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the begi...
0 He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Tao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return
He whose appetites are stilled, who is not absorbed in enjoyment, who has perceived void and unconditioned freedom (Nirvana), his path is difficult to understand, like that of bird...
Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters
A man is not just if he carries a matter by violence; no, he who distinguishes both right and wrong, who is learned and guides others, not by violence, but by the same law, being a...