Tao Te Ching Chapter 49
第49章
聖人無常心，以百姓心為心。善者，吾善之；不善者，吾亦善之，德善。信者，吾信之；不信者，吾亦信之，德信。聖人在天下歙歙，為天下渾其心，百姓皆注其耳目,
聖人皆孩之。
The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;--and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;--and thus (all) get to be sincere.
The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his children.
English: James Legge (1891), The Tâo Teh King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 39 (1891) — public domain. Chinese: Wang Bi recension (王弼本), commentary removed.
Character glossary
- 聖shèngholy, sacred; sage, saint
- 人rénman, person; people
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 常chángcommon, general, normal; always, frequen
- 心xīnheart; mind; soul
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 百bǎione hundred; numerous, many
- 姓xìngname, family name, surname; clan, people
- 為wèito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 亦yìalso, too; likewise
- 德déethics, morality; compassion, kindness
- 信xìnto trust, to believe; letter, sign
- 在zàiat, in, on; to exist; used to indicate t
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 歙shèto suck; the name of a district in Anhui
- 渾húnblended, mixed; muddy, turbid
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 皆jiēall, every, everybody
- 注zhùto concentrate, to focus
- 耳ěrear; to hear, to hear of; handle
- 目mùeye; to look, to see; division, topic
- 孩háibaby, child; children
Similar passages
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 8
- Zhuangzi Robber Chê
- Zhuangzi The Evidence of Virtue Complete
- Mencius 1A.7
- Zhuangzi How to Govern
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.