Chapter 37

THIRTY-SEVEN

TAO acts without assertion, yet all things proceed in conformity with it. If princes and kings would

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follow the principle of TAO, then all things would unfold according to their own nature. If there are troublesome desires arising from the habits of the people, they should be taught the principle of simplicity that characterizes the ineffable TAO.

Even the conception of the ineffable TAO's simplicity ought not to remain in one's mind. When quietness is attained, not by ideas and the satisfaction of desires but by the practice of non-assertion, the troubles of the world will right themselves.