Chapter 20

1. When we renounce learning we have no troubles. The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;'-- Small is the difference they display. But mark their issues, good and ill;-- What space the gulf between shall fill? What all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)!

Commentary

Commentary

Source: Editorial Summary
This chapter explores cor e themes of the Tao Te Ching, including non-action, harmony with nature, and the power of simplicity.

Philosophical Insight

Source: Paul Carus (1913) - Canon of Reason and Virtue
1. Abandon learnedness, and you have no vexation. The "yes" compared with the "yea," how little do t hey differ! p. 86 But the good compared with the bad, how much do they differ! 2. If what the people dread cannot be made dreadless, there will be desolation, alas! and verily, there will be no end of it. 3. The multitudes of men are happy, so happy, as though celebrating a great feast. They are as though in springtime ascending a tower. I alone remain quiet, alas! like one that has not yet receiv...