26: Be Still

26

Heavy is the root of light.
Stillness is the ruler of haste.
Therefore:
Although he travels all day,
The sage never loses sight of his luggage carts.
Only when he rests securely inside the walls,
He relaxes his attention.
Why would a ruler with ten thousand chariots
Look lightly on himself or his domain?
In lightness the root is lost.
In haste the ruler is lost.

Be Still

In his stream of wisdom, Lao Tzu also occasionally enjoys playing with words. He does so in the very first lines of the Tao Te Ching, where Tao is used as both a noun and a verb. In this chapter, the joke is the ruler in the second line compared to the last line...

Here is my full commentary on this Tao Te Ching chapter:
Tao Te Ching Chapter 26 Translation and Commentary