第四十九章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 49
The sage takes the people's mind as his own and is good and trusting even to those who are not.
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圣人无常心，
The sage has no fixed mind of his own;
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以百姓心为心。
he makes the people's mind his mind.
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善者，吾善之；
To the good, I am good;
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不善者，吾亦善之，德善。
to those who are not good, I am also good, and so goodness is gained.
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信者，吾信之；
The trustworthy I trust;
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不信者，吾亦信之，德信。
the untrustworthy I also trust, and so trust is gained.
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圣人在天下歙歙，
The sage in the world draws himself in,
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为天下浑其心，百姓皆注其耳目，
and for the world's sake keeps his mind undivided. The people all strain their eyes and ears,
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圣人皆孩之。
and the sage treats them all as children.
Words in this chapter
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 圣人 | shèng rén | the sage |
| 无 | wú | not have, without, no |
| 常 | cháng | constant, eternal |
| 心 | xīn | heart, mind |
| 以 | yǐ | to take (as) |
| 百姓 | bǎi xìng | the common people |
| 为 | wéi | to be, to count as |
| 善 | shàn | good, goodness |
| 者 | zhě | one who, that which |
| 吾 | wú | I |
| 善 | shàn | to treat as good |
| 之 | zhī | it, them (object) |
| 不 | bù | not |
| 亦 | yì | also |
| 德 | dé | to gain (as 得) |
| 信 | xìn | trust, good faith |
| 在 | zài | to be in, as for |
| 天下 | tiān xià | all under heaven, the world |
| 歙歙 | shè shè | drawn in, self-effacing |
| 为 | wèi | for, for the sake of |
| 浑 | hún | undivided, simple |
| 其 | qí | its, his, their |
| 皆 | jiē | all, everyone |
| 注 | zhù | to strain, to fix on |
| 耳 | ěr | ears |
| 目 | mù | eyes |
| 孩 | hái | to treat as children |
Compare: James Legge (1891)
The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be sincere.
The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his children.
Public domain. Source: Wikisource.
Meaning of chapter 49
Chapter 49 describes a sage who has no fixed mind of his own and treats everyone with the same goodness and trust.
The sage makes the people's mind his mind. To the good he is good, and to those who are not good he is also good; the trustworthy he trusts, and the untrustworthy he also trusts. In 德善 and 德信 the character 德 is read as 得, to gain, as some editions write it and as the site's glossary notes: in this way goodness is gained, and trust is gained. The point is not that the sage cannot tell good from bad, but that he withholds goodness from no one; chapter 27 says in the same spirit that the sage abandons no one.
The last lines show the sage among the people. He draws himself in and keeps his mind undivided (浑) for the world's sake, while the people all strain their eyes and ears; and the sage treats them all as children (孩之). The child, like the infant of chapters 20, 28 and 55, is a model in this book, not a lesser state.