Verse 75

Why are the people starving?
Because their leaders eat up too much of the tax-grain;
that is why the people are starving.

Why are the people difficult to govern?
Because their leaders interfere;
that is why the people are difficult to govern.

Why do the people treat death lightly.
Because their leaders are so grossly absorbed in the pursuit of living;
that is why the people treat death lightly.

Indeed, it is wiser to ignore life altogether
than to place too high a value on it.

Verse 76

At birth you are supple and soft.
At death you are stiff and hard.

Grass and trees are pliant and tender when living,
but they are dry and brittle when dead.

Therefore, the stiff and hard are attendants of death,
the supple and soft are attendants of life.

Thus, the hard weapon will be broken.
The mighty tree will invite the axe.

Therefore, the hard and mighty belong below;
the yielding and gentle belong above.

Verse 77

The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow.
The high end is pulled down and the low end is raised up.
The excessive is diminished and the deficient is supplemented.

It is the way of heaven to take where there is too much
in order to give where there is not enough.

The way of people is otherwise.
They take where there is not enough
in order to increase where there is already too much.

Who will take from their own excesses
and give to all under heaven?
Only those who hold to the Tao.

Therefore, the True Person benefits yet expects no reward,
does the work and moves on.
There is no desire to be considered better than others.

Verse 78

Nothing under heaven is
softer or more yielding than water.
Yet it has no equal for attacking things
that are hard and stiff.
Nothing can withstand it.

Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff,
and the soft overcomes the hard.
Yet no one applies this knowledge.

Therefore, an Old One said:
Only a person who has accepted the country’s dirt
is a leader worthy to offer sacrifice
at its shrines of earth and grain.

Only a person who takes up the country’s burdens
deserves to be a leader
among those who dwell under heaven.
Straightforward words seem crooked.