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Tao Te Ching · 42 of 81

Chapter 42

The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy.

What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased.

What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my teaching.

Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoism43. 1. The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advanTertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought · Esotericthe sage does not act, and so he does not destroy; he does not grasp, and so he does not lose. The soft overcomes the hard; the weak overcomes the strong. There is no one in the woThe Sayings of Lao Tzu · Taoismof desire. The absence of desire gives tranquillity. And thus the Empire will rectify itself. The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance ente