Verse 13

Both favour and disgrace bring fear.
Great trouble comes from having a body.

What is meant by: “Both favour and disgrace bring fear”?
Favour leads to a fear of losing it and
disgrace leads to a fear of greater trouble.

What is meant by: “Great trouble comes from having a body”?
The reason you have trouble is that you are self-conscious.

No trouble can befall a self-free person.
Therefore, surrender your self-interest.

Love others as much as you love yourself.
Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.

Verse 14

Look at it, you cannot see it. It is invisible.
Listen to it, you cannot hear it. It is inaudible.
Reach for it, you cannot grasp it. It is intangible.

These three qualities are unfathomable
and so they fuse together and become one.

The upper part is not bright.
The lower part is not dark.

Ceaselessly the Unnamed moves back to nothingness.
It has the form of the formless,
the image of the imageless.

It is indefinable and shadowy.
Go up to it and you will not see its front.

Follow it and you will not see its back.
Yet, hold fast to this ancient Tao

and you will experience the present now-moment.
Know its beginnings and you can follow the path of the Tao.

Verse 15

The ancient followers of the Tao
were subtle, mysterious, and penetrating.

They were too deep to be fathomed.
All we can do is describe their appearance.

Hesitant, as if crossing a winter stream.
Watchful, as if aware of neighbours on all sides.

Respectful, like a visiting guest.
Yielding, like ice beginning to melt.

Simple, like an Uncarved Block.
Open, like a valley.
Obscure, like muddy water.

Who else can be still and let the muddy water
slowly become clear?

Who else can remain at rest and slowly come to life?
Those who hold fast to the Tao
do not try to fill themselves to the brim.

Because they do not try to be ful.
they can be worn out and yet ever new.