Chapter 58 Dyer
When the ruler knows his heart, people are simple and pure.
When he meddles with their lives they become restless and disturbed.
Bad fortune is what good fortune leans on.
Good fortune is what bad fortune hides in.
Who knows the ultimate end of this process?
Is there no norm of right?
Yet what is normal soon becomes abnormal.
People's confusion is indeed long-standing.
Thus the master is content to serve as an example and not to impose his will.
He is he is pointed but does not pierce.
He straightens but does not disrupt.
He illuminates but does not dazzle.
Chapter 58 Henricks
1. When the government is muddled and confused,
2. The people are genuine and sincere.
3. When the government is discriminate and clear,
4. The state is crafty and cunning.
[4a Disaster is that on which good fortune depends.]
5. Good fortune is that in which disaster's concealed.
6. Who knows where it will end?
7. For there is no [fixed] "correct."
8. The "correct" turns into the "deviant";
9. And "good" turns into "evil."
10. People's state of confusion
11. Has certainly existed for a long time.
12. Therefore be square but don't cut;
13. Be sharp but don't stab;
14. Be straightforward but not unrestrained;
15. Be bright but don't dazzle.
Chapter 58 Lau
When the government is muddled
The people are simple;
When the government is alert
The people are cunning.
It is on disaster that good fortune perches;
It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches.
Who knows the limit? Does not the straightforward exist?
The straighforward changes again into the crafty, and the good changes again into the monstrous.
Indeed, it is long since the people were perplexed.
Therefore the sage is square-edged but does not scrape,
Has corners but does not jab,
Extends himself but not at the expense of others,
Shines but does not dazzle.
Chapter 58 Wu
Where the ruler is mum, mum,
The people are simple and happy.
Where the ruler is sharp, sharp,
The people are wily and discontented.
Bad fortune is what good fortune leans on,
Good fortune is what bad fortune hides in.
Who knows the ultimate end of this process?
Is there no norm of right?
Yet what is normal soon becomes abnormal,
And what is auspicious soon turns ominous.
Long indeed have the people been in a quandary.
Therefore, the Sage squares without cutting, carves vfithout disfiguring, straightens without straining, enlightens without dazzling.