One who understands that quarrels will never solve anything,
Won’t start them anymore and prefers to wait
He rather takes a step back or retracts
That’s what people call winning by losing
Showing strength without impressing
Standing firm without starting a fight
Nothing is more disastrous than underestimating your enemy
One who underestimates his enemy exposes oneself to danger
Therefore he who’s driven by compassion
Is always the winner in a conflict
One who fights for peace is non-violent
A true fighter is unshakeable
A true victor does not argue
A true leader is the least
That’s what people call “non-violent defensibility”
And that’s how one gets the people on his side
That is called “living according to your nature”
That is the perfection of which the wise of old spoke
In life I am great, but to the world I am a failure
In my grandeur, I am different from all the rest
And that is exactly therefore the reason I am great
If I would be like the rest, I would be just as unimportant and insignificant
I have three treasures I cherish:
The first is compassion
The second is austerity
The third is modesty
Thanks to my compassion I can be brave
Because I am austere I can be unselfish
Because I am modest I can lead the way
But one who abandons his compassion and yet wants to be brave
One who renounces austerity and yet wants to be unselfish
One who stops being modest and still wants to be important
Won’t make it far
One who fights with compassion, will conquer
Because he doesn’t need to defend himself, he’s invulnerable
The Unspeakable will protect him with its compassion
Why are the seas and rivers the biggest among all waters?
Because they are located on the lowest places
Therefore they are the biggest
So one who is wise among fools must be the least
And therefore he is the greatest
But fools won’t consider him as a threat
They just don’t understand him and take no notice of him
Because he doesn’t fight and argue with anybody, he is indisputable
The former sages, who travelled along the straight and simple path
Brought the people wisdom instead of knowledge
When people know much, unity is impossible to keep
That’s why science disturbs the togetherness of men
And wisdom guards that togetherness
One who understands this
Understands that wisdom and knowledge are in conflict with each other
Once you understand this, you’ll be wise
And you will turn back to simplicity
And feel one with everything and everybody
Peace is easy to keep
What might happen is easy to prevent
That which is fragile is easy to break
What’s still very small, can be chased away easily
A big tree starts with a small seed
A terrace-yard started with a mound of earth
A thousand-mile journey starts with a single step
One who disturbs the natural order, harms oneself
One who intervenes loses oneself
A wise man abstains far from this
Therefore he won’t hurt himself and so he remains himself
But people break down everything and they call it “progress”
Once started, there is no end to
A wise man strives for what others don’t
And takes to be important what others take to be unimportant
He unlearns what other are still learning
And turns back to a state of mind others have left
Then he knows the way back to the source
But realizes that the people do not want to hear about it
