第三十七章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 37
The Way does not act, yet nothing is left undone; without desire, the world settles of itself.
Text
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道常无为而无不为，
The Way constantly practices non-action, yet nothing is left undone.
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侯王若能守之，
If lords and kings could hold to it,
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万物将自化。
the myriad things would transform of themselves.
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化而欲作，
If, while they transform, desires arise,
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吾将镇之以无名之朴。
I would calm them with the nameless uncarved block.
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无名之朴，
The nameless uncarved block
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夫亦将无欲。
brings an end to desire.
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不欲以静，
Without desire there is stillness,
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天下将自定。
and the world settles of itself.
Words in this chapter
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 道 | dào | the Way |
| 常 | cháng | always, ever |
| 无为 | wú wéi | non-action |
| 而 | ér | and yet, but |
| 无 | wú | not have, without, no |
| 不 | bù | not |
| 为 | wéi | to act, to do, to make |
| 侯王 | hóu wáng | lords and kings |
| 若 | ruò | if |
| 能 | néng | can, to be able |
| 守 | shǒu | to keep, to guard |
| 之 | zhī | it, them (object) |
| 万物 | wàn wù | the myriad things |
| 将 | jiāng | about to; to intend |
| 自 | zì | oneself, by oneself |
| 化 | huà | to transform |
| 而 | ér | and, and then |
| 欲 | yù | desire, to desire |
| 作 | zuò | to arise, come forth |
| 吾 | wú | I |
| 镇 | zhèn | to calm, to settle |
| 以 | yǐ | by means of, with |
| 无名 | wú míng | the nameless |
| 之 | zhī | of, 's (linking particle) |
| 朴 | pǔ | the uncarved block |
| 夫 | fú | now, indeed (opening particle) |
| 亦 | yì | also |
| 无欲 | wú yù | without desire |
| 静 | jìng | stillness, still |
| 天下 | tiān xià | all under heaven, the world |
| 定 | dìng | to settle |
Compare: James Legge (1891)
The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do.
If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.
Simplicity without a name
Is free from all external aim.
With no desire, at rest and still,
All things go right as of their will.
Public domain. Source: Wikisource.
Meaning of chapter 37
Chapter 37 closes the first part of the book, the part on the Way, with the claim that the Way does not act and yet nothing is left undone.
The opening line, 道常无为而无不为, is the fullest statement of 无为 (non-action), and chapter 48 repeats it. The chapter applies it to rulers: if lords and kings could hold to the Way, the myriad things would transform of themselves (自化), as the people do in chapter 57. Change is not the problem; what the chapter watches for is desire arising in the middle of it.
Its answer is the nameless uncarved block, 朴, already met in chapters 28 and 32. The speaker would calm desire with it, and the block itself brings an end to desire. The last lines run as a chain: without desire there is stillness, and with stillness the world settles of itself. Stillness as the ground of order recalls chapter 16, and chapter 45 ends the same way, with clarity and stillness setting the world right.