第四十七章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 47

The sage knows the world without leaving home and achieves without acting.

不bù出chū户hù，知zhī天tiān下xià；

Without going out of the door, one knows the world;
不bù窥kuī牖yǒu，见jiàn天tiān道dào。

without looking out of the window, one sees the Way of heaven.
其qí出chū弥mí远yuǎn，其qí知zhī弥mí少shǎo。

The farther one goes, the less one knows.
是shì以yǐ圣shèng人rén不bù行xíng而ér知zhī，

So the sage knows without going,
不bù见jiàn而ér名míng，

names without seeing,
不bù为wéi而ér成chéng。

and achieves without acting.

Words in this chapter

Words in chapter 47, with pinyin and meaning
Word	Pinyin	Meaning
不	bù	not
出	chū	to come out, emerge
户	hù	door
知	zhī	to know
天下	tiān xià	all under heaven, the world
窥	kuī	to peep out
牖	yǒu	window
见	jiàn	to see
天	tiān	heaven
道	dào	the Way
其	qí	it, he, they (subject)
弥	mí	the more
远	yuǎn	far, distant
少	shǎo	few, to lessen
是以	shì yǐ	therefore, for this reason
圣人	shèng rén	the sage
行	xíng	to walk, to move
而	ér	and yet, but
名	míng	to name
为	wéi	to act, to do, to make
成	chéng	to complete, accomplish

Compare: James Legge (1891)

Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.

Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.

Public domain. Source: Wikisource.

Meaning of chapter 47

Chapter 47 says that one can know the world without going out of the door, and that going far does not bring more knowledge.

The images are domestic: the door and the window. Without going out of the door one knows the world; without looking out of the window one sees the Way of heaven (天道). Then comes the line that surprises most readers: the farther one goes, the less one knows. The chapter is not against travel as such; it says that what matters is not found by collecting more and more from outside, a point chapter 48 makes about learning.

The conclusion describes the sage in three short phrases: he knows without going, names without seeing, and achieves without acting. Some editions write 明, to understand, for 名, to name; Wang Bi keeps 名 and explains that one who grasps how things come about can name right and wrong without seeing them, and the site follows him. The last phrase is another form of 无为, non-action. Chapter 54 ends on a similar question: how does one know the world?

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Meaning of chapter 47