Dharma & Dao

Tao Te Ching · Chapter 48 of 81

Chapter 48

modern paraphrase of James Legge's 1891 translation

Modern paraphrase. This is an AI-generated retelling in contemporary English (model: claude-opus-4-7). It is not the James Legge translation. The original is one click away.

  1. The student of learning adds something every day; the student of the Tao drops something every day.

  2. He drops and drops again, until he reaches non-action. Having reached non-action, there is nothing he does not accomplish.

  3. The world is won by leaving it alone. Those who meddle are not fit to win the world.

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