Nature’s Thick
Translation by Tree Buffalo
Superior virtue does not claim virtue. This is why it has virtue.
Inferior virtue never stops claiming virtue. This is why it has no virtue.
Superior virtue does not act for itself and is free of deliberate action.
Inferior virtue acts for itself and is compelled to act.
Superior kindness acts for itself and is free of deliberate action.
Superior morality acts for itself and is compelled to act.
Superior behavior acts for itself and when no one responds it picks up arms and forces things.
And so it goes:
Losing the way of Nature loses virtue;
losing virtue loses kindness;
losing kindness loses morality;
losing morality loses behavior.
Hence devotion to certain behavior signals the waning of sincerity and the beginning of trouble.
Because foreknowledge is Nature’s flower and at the same time the beginning of ignorance.
This is why the greatest masters stop in Nature’s thick, and do not dwell in its thin.
They dwell in Nature’s fruit and do not rest in its flower.
They leave that and take hold of this.
Read some of the first English translations of Chapter 38 here.
