Chapter 59
治人事天
a> In governing people and serving Tian, there is nothing like parsimony. Parsimony may be called ‘submitting in advance’. Submitting in advance may be called piling up virtue (de). If you pile up virtue there is nothing you cannot overcome, and if there is nothing you cannot overcome, the limit of it cannot be known. When the limit cannot be known, you may possess the state. If you possess the mother of the state, you may long endure.
b> This is called the deep root and the solid trunk; it is the dao of long gazing upon enduring life.
A modern classroom translation, with labeled subsections for study.
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