Dharma & Dao

Tao Te Ching · Chapter 75 of 81

Chapter 75

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 people go hungry because their rulers consume too much in taxes. That is why they go hungry.

  2. The people are hard to govern because their rulers interfere too much. That is why they are hard to govern.

  3. The people take death lightly because they must struggle so hard to stay alive. That is why they take death lightly. So it is better to disregard life than to prize it too highly.

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