Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tzu Chapter 13

Below is the chapter from two excellent sources along with the original Chinese text. The first source is from a translation by D.T. Suzuki & Paul Carus in 1913 followed by a translation by Stephen Mitchell in 1988.

Chapter 13

1. "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling.
Rank bodes great heartache. It is like the body."

2. What means "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling?"

Favor humiliates. Its acquisition causes trembling, its loss causes trembling. This is meant by "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling."

3. What means "Rank bodes great heartache, it is like the body?"

I suffer great heartache because I have a body. When I have no body, what heartache remains?

4. Therefore who administers the empire as he takes care of his body can be entrusted with the empire.


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Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
your position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?

See the world as your Self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your Self;
then you can care for all things.