第六十七章   三宝护身

天下皆谓我道大，似不肖。夫唯大，故似不肖。若肖，久矣其细也夫！
我有三宝，持而保之：一曰慈，二曰俭，三曰不敢为天下先。 慈，故能勇；俭，故能广；不敢为天下先，故能成事长。 今舍慈且勇，舍俭且广，舍后且先，死矣！夫慈，以战则胜，以守则固。天将救之，以慈卫之。

TheProtection of My Three Treasures

All the world says that my Tao is great, but seems queer, likenothing on earth. But it is just because my Tao is great that it is likenothing on earth!

If it can be conceived of,

it would heve become insignificant long ago.

I have three treasures to be maintained and cherished: the firstis love; the second is frugality; The third is daring not tobreak the Natural Laws.

With compassion one becomes courageous,

With moderation one becomes expansive,

In daring not to break the Natural Laws,

One becomes a leader to glorify Tao.

Now one is courageous without compassion；

expansive without moderation；

first to break the Natural Laws,

In this way he is doomed to failure.

For deep love helps one to win in the case of attack, And to befirm in the case of defence. When Heaven is to save a person, Heaven will protecthim through deep love.

 [译文]

天下人都说我讲的道大得无边无际，不像任何具体东西。正是因为其大无外，故不能片面地用具体东西来描述。要真的像某一具体事物，早就微不足道了。我有三个法宝：一是慈爱，二是俭约，三是不张扬个人的私欲于宇宙道德之外。我因慈爱而无私无畏；因俭约而厚广；不逞私欲，故能成就道的事业的长久。现在舍弃慈爱而取勇武，舍弃俭约而取厚广，舍无争而争先，就必然走向死路。