Dharma & Dao

Tao Te Ching · Chapter 71 of 81

Chapter 71

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. To know and yet think you do not know is the highest achievement; not to know and yet think you do know is a sickness.

  2. It is only by being troubled at the thought of this sickness that we are kept free of it. The sage does not have the sickness. He recognizes the pain that comes with it, and so he does not have it.

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