第四十八章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 48
Learning adds, the Way takes away, down to non-action.
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为学日益，为道日损。
Pursuing learning, one gains every day; pursuing the Way, one loses every day.
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损之又损，以至于无为。
Losing and losing again, one arrives at non-action.
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无为而无不为。
With non-action, nothing is left undone.
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取天下常以无事，
One wins the world by constantly leaving it alone;
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及其有事，不足以取天下。
as soon as one meddles, one is not fit to win the world.
Words in this chapter
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 为 | wéi | to act, to do, to make |
| 学 | xué | learning |
| 日 | rì | day, daily |
| 益 | yì | to increase, to gain |
| 道 | dào | the Way |
| 损 | sǔn | to diminish, to lose |
| 之 | zhī | it, them (object) |
| 又 | yòu | and again, further |
| 以 | yǐ | in order to |
| 至 | zhì | to arrive at |
| 于 | yú | to, at |
| 无为 | wú wéi | non-action |
| 而 | ér | and yet, but |
| 无 | wú | not have, without, no |
| 不 | bù | not |
| 取 | qǔ | to take, to seize |
| 天下 | tiān xià | all under heaven, the world |
| 常 | cháng | always, ever |
| 以 | yǐ | by means of, with |
| 事 | shì | affairs, work |
| 及 | jí | when, if |
| 其 | qí | it, he, they (subject) |
| 有 | yǒu | to have, to possess |
| 足 | zú | enough, sufficient |
Compare: James Legge (1891)
He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do.
He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.
Public domain. Source: Wikisource.
Meaning of chapter 48
Chapter 48 contrasts two ways of working on oneself: learning, which adds something every day, and the Way, which takes something away every day.
Pursuing learning (为学), one gains daily; pursuing the Way (为道), one loses daily. The losing goes on until it reaches 无为, non-action, and the chapter repeats the line from chapter 37: with non-action, nothing is left undone. What is lost is not named. The context suggests the habits, plans and interventions that pile up with effort, rather than knowledge as such; chapter 47 has just said that going far does not increase what one knows.
The last lines apply this to government. One wins the world by constantly leaving it alone (无事); as soon as one meddles, one is not fit to win it. 取天下 can mean taking the world or governing it, and Heshang Gong glosses 取 as 治, to govern; the site's translation keeps the simpler word, to win. Chapter 57 uses the same phrase, winning the world by not meddling, and chapter 29 warns against taking the world to remake it.