Chapter 76 Dyer
Man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
All things including the grass and trees are soft and pliable in life, dry and brittle in death.
Stiffness is thus a companion of death.
Flexibility a companion of life.
An army that cannot yield will be defeated.
A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
Chapter 76 Henricks
1. When people are born, they're supple and soft;
2. Whey they die, they end up stretched out firm and rigid;
3. When the ten thousand things and grasses and trees are alive, they're supple and pliant;
4. When they're dead, they're withered and dried out.
5. Therefore we say that the firm and rigid are compassions of death,
6. While the supple, the soft, the weak, and the delicate are compassions of life.
7. If a soldier is rigid, he won't win;
8. If a tree is rigid, it will come to its end.
9. Rigidity and power occupy the inferior position;
10. Suppleness, softness, weakness, and delicateness occupy the superior position.
Chapter 76 Lau
A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead.
Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when living, but dried and shrivelled when dead.
Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death;
The supple and the weak are the comrades of life.
Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish;
A tree that is strong will suffer the axe.
The strong and big takes the lower position,
The supple and weak takes the higher position.
Chapter 76 Wu
When a man is living, he is soft and supple.
When he is dead, he becomes hard and rigid.
When a plant is living, it is soft and tender.
When it is dead, it becomes withered and dry.
Hence, the hard and rigid belongs to the company of the dead:
The soft and supple belongs to the company of the living.
Therefore, a mighty army tends to fall by its own weight,
Just as dry wood is ready for the axe.
The mighty and great will be laid low;
The humbie and weak will be exalted.