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為無為，事無事，味無味。大小多少，報怨以德。圖難於其易，為大於其細；天下難事，必作於易，天下大事，必作於細。是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難。是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣。

Glossary

德

virtue

易

easy matters

為

act

無

without

細

minutiae

諾

promise

聖人

Sage (capitalized)

Translation Notes

1. "為無為，事無事，味無味" (為無為，事無事，味無味) — Alternatives considered: “Do without doing” / “Handle affairs without affairs” / “Taste without taste” (more literal, but risks sounding mechanical in English) · Leaving 無為 untranslated as “wuwei” (clarifies terminology but interrupts the flow) · Chose present rendering because The chosen wording preserves paradox without over-explaining in the main text, while using contextual complements (“without contrivance,” “as your flavor”) to cue Daoist technical meaning.
2. "大小多少，報怨以德" (大小多少，報怨以德) — Alternatives considered: “Regard greatness as smallness” / “Regard many as few” (more literal but less idiomatic) · “Repay resentment with Te” (keeps terminology, but may under-communicate without additional explanation) · “Repay resentment with moral force” (more metaphysical, but potentially stylistically heavy) · Chose present rendering because The translation prioritizes intelligibility and maintains the chapter’s parallel aphoristic motion: scale-correction → ethical response.
3. "圖難於其易，為大於其細" (圖難於其易，為大於其細) — Alternatives considered: “Plan for the difficult from the easy” / “Undertake the great from the minute” (more literal ‘from’ but less idiomatic) · Chose present rendering because “While” better conveys the stage-of-emergence logic central to the chapter.
4. "必作於易 / 必作於細" (必作於易…必作於細) — Alternatives considered: “must be done in what is easy/ minute” (too procedural and active-force oriented) · “must originate from” (accurate but slightly less rhythmically parallel) · Chose present rendering because “Rise from” expresses gradual origination while preserving the causal necessity (必).
5. "是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大" (是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大) — Alternatives considered: “The Sage never undertakes greatness for the sake of greatness” (clarifies but expands the aphorism) · “never makes himself great” (captures one interpretive possibility, but not necessarily the most general) · Chose present rendering because The main text keeps the sharp Daoist paradox; clarification is deferred to the apparatus.
6. "夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難" (輕諾必寡信，多易必多難) — Alternatives considered: “Many easy things will bring many difficulties” (treats 易 as adjective, changing logic) · Chose present rendering because The selected English preserves the causal psychology: complacent evaluation produces difficulty.
7. "是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣" (是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣) — Alternatives considered: “Therefore the Sage still finds difficulty in them” (overly person-centered in English) · “Therefore the Sage yet treats it as hard” (singular ‘it’ may mislead) · Chose present rendering because Plural reference better matches the generality and the proverb-like cadence.

Footnotes

1. "Act through non-action" (無為) — “Non-action” renders 無為 (wúwéi), a technical Daoist term that does not mean sheer inactivity, but action that does not involve coercion, forcing, or contrived ego-interference. Compare the definition in the received tradition: 無為 is “doing nothing that is contrary to nature” (與自然無違). While Du Yu does not treat this chapter as a philological issue in the same way later exegetes do, mainstream early and medieval commentarial traditions consistently read 無為 as unforced activity aligned with 道. For a representative interpretation, see, e.g., Yang Bojun’s notes on how 無為 functions as methodological restraint rather than passivity.
2. "conduct affairs without contrivance" (事無事) — “Affairs without contrivance” renders 事無事 (shì wú shì). The repetition with 無 suggests the same technical pattern: not that there are no affairs, but that the agent does not impose contrivedness on affairs. Many translators render the phrase with parallel negatives (e.g., “deal with affairs without doing.”) The idiom is frequently taken as a paired amplification with 無為.
3. "take the flavorless as your flavor" (味無味) — “Flavorless” renders 味無味 (wèi wú wèi). The clause is characteristically Daoist and paradoxical: it may mean (i) taking plainness as one’s taste (i.e., preferring simplicity), or (ii) refraining from the forced stimulation of sensory/affective desire. In many modern readings, 味無味 is read as extending the 無為 logic from conduct to desire and taste—aligning one’s appetites with natural simplicity.
4. "Treat the great as small and the many as few" (大小多少) — 大小多少 (dà xiǎo duō shǎo) is elliptical and invites interpretive completion. The English renders it as a scale-inversion principle (“treat the great as small; the many as few”), consistent with the surrounding logic about preventing difficulty by addressing matters early. Commentators commonly understand the cluster not as denying reality, but as a methodological stance: regard bigness and multiplicity as manageable when approached from their beginnings. The phrase is also sometimes emended or glossed differently across editions, but the “scale as manageable when approached properly” reading is widely shared.
5. "repay resentment with virtue" (報怨以德) — “Repay resentment” renders 報怨 (bào yuàn). 傅出 Traditions treat 怨 as resentment/grievance/enmity caused by harm, rather than a purely subjective feeling. The crucial term 德 (dé) is notoriously polysemous in Daoist usage: it can indicate virtue in a normative sense, but also the ethical efficacy or “moral power” through which proper response aligns with 道. Confucian discourse often frames repayment of harm differently; the phrase here is therefore philosophically loaded. English translation choices (“virtue,” “moral force,” or leaving 德 as “Te”) reflect how strongly one wants to retain the Daoist metaphysics of 德 as potency rather than mere moral goodness.
6. "Plan for what is difficult while it is still easy" (圖難於其易) — “Plan for what is difficult while it is still easy” renders 圖難於其易. 圖 (tú) is best taken as “to plan/anticipate/consider in advance” (not merely to draw). The phrase “於其易” indicates temporal and situational framing: do the preparatory work while the matter still appears easy or manageable. The English “while it is still easy” follows this “in the stage when it is easy” nuance rather than treating 易 as an absolute property of the situation.
7. "undertake what is great while it is still minute" (為大於其細) — “Undertake what is great while it is still minute” renders 為大於其細. 為 here can mean “to undertake/do,” and (in context) indicates initiating action that will mature into great accomplishment. The phrase “於其細” similarly marks stage-dependence: greatness is formed in the minute beginnings. This line is often paired with the immediately following mirror clause: “天下難事…必作於易/細.”
8. "The difficult tasks under heaven must rise from what is easy" (天下難事，必作於易) — “Under heaven” (天下, tiānxià) denotes the totality of the world in a political-cosmological register: the domain of order, governance, and human life under cosmic sway. “Must rise from what is easy” (必作於易) makes the same stage-dependent claim: what becomes difficult later originates from what is easy/early in its emergence. Here 作 (zuò) is best read as “to occur/be brought about,” not “to create by force.”
9. "Hence the Sage (the sage-ruler) never does what is great" (聖人終不為大，故能成其大) — “Sage” renders 聖人 (Shèngrén), a Daoist ideal-person who embodies the Way’s efficacy without egoic striving. The clause “終不為大，故能成其大” (zhōng bù wéi dà, gù néng chéng qí dà) is paradoxical: by not acting “for/as greatness” (為大), the sage is able to complete true greatness. The English “never does what is great” risks sounding like an instruction to avoid all greatness; the logic instead is that the sage does not pursue greatness as an object of self-assertive striving. The bracketed “sage-ruler” reflects that “Sage” in this chapter can function both as ethical exemplar and as ideal ruler, consistent with Daoist political theory.
10. "One who makes light promises will have little trust" (輕諾必寡信) — “Light promises” renders 輕諾 (qīng nuò), which can mean to promise lightly, make easy assurances, or give commitments without weight. “寡信” (guǎ xìn) is difficult: 信 can mean credibility, trust, or reliability; 寡 can mean “few” or “scant.” Thus “寡信” can be rendered as “little trust” or “seldom trustworthy.” The English “will have little trust” preserves the compact moral-proverb structure. The sentence is often treated as general ethical instruction, but it also has political implications: credibility in governance prevents administrative failure.
11. "one who deems many things easy will find many difficulties" (多易必多難) — “Deems … easy” corresponds to 多易必多難. Here 易 functions as a verbal predicate (“to deem easy”), not merely as an adjective describing a naturally easy state. The logic is that underestimation and complacent evaluation produce real difficulties. This matches the preceding preventive maxim: serious attention at the beginning prevents later hardship.
12. "Therefore the Sage … still regards them as difficult" (是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣) — “Still regards them as difficult” renders 是以聖人猶難之. 猶 (yóu) indicates continued or lingering caution (“still,” “yet”), and 之 (zhī) is an object marker referring back to affairs/tasks broadly rather than a single explicit noun. The final clause “故終無難矣” preserves the characteristic Daoist paradox: by maintaining difficulty-consciousness from the start, one ends with no difficulties. The English therefore keeps the logic “treat as difficult → end with no difficulties,” avoiding an over-explicit paraphrase that would dissolve the paradox.

Glossary References

無為(wúwéi)

non-action · Daoist technical term: unforced action aligned with 道; not mere inactivity.

德(dé / Te)

virtue · In Daoist usage, often denotes ethical/moral potency or efficacy, not only Confucian virtue.

天下(tiānxià)

under heaven · Comprehensive political-cosmological realm.

聖人(Shèngrén)

Sage · Daoist perfected person; in this chapter also functions as sage-ruler exemplar.

易(yì)

easy · In this chapter often functions verbally as “to deem easy” (e.g., 多易必多難).

作(zuò)

rise / be brought about · In “必作於易/細,” emphasizes emergence/origination rather than deliberate manufacture. ---

Context

This passage is from the received text of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), chapter 63, traditionally attributed to Laozi. The work emerged in the late Spring and Autumn to Warring States intellectual milieu, most likely reaching written form in the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, though it preserves earlier aphoristic materials. The chapter belongs to the text's sustained reflection on rulership, self-cultivation, and action in accordance with the Dao. In historical context, it responds to an age of political fragmentation, warfare, administrative expansion, and activist statecraft by proposing a paradoxical alternative: effective governance and conduct arise through non-coercive action, attentiveness to beginnings, and caution toward apparent ease. The figure of the "sage" here is both an ethical exemplar and an ideal ruler, not merely a private mystic.

The passage reflects key early Chinese philosophical concerns: how a ruler governs without over-governing, how one responds to grievance, and how small beginnings determine large outcomes. "無為" does not imply total passivity in a modern sense; in the classical Chinese intellectual setting it denotes non-forcing, non-contrived, or non-self-assertive action aligned with the natural course of things. "報怨以德" engages a broader ethical discourse about reciprocity, resentment, and moral response; later traditions debated whether injury should be repaid with virtue or with justice, making this phrase especially culturally resonant. The contrast between "easy/difficult" and "small/great" reflects an enduring Chinese habit of process thinking: large transformations are understood as emerging from minute initial conditions. The sage's refusal to "do what is great" directly critiques ambition, display, and overreaching, all of which were associated with political failure in classical thought.

Themes

1. Non-action and non-contrivance The opening triad, "為無為，事無事，味無味," advocates engaging the world without forced, ego-driven interference. It does not abolish action, affairs, or experience, but reframes them through a mode of unassertive alignment.
2. Attention to beginnings The passage insists that difficulty and greatness must be handled at their earliest, smallest stages. What later appears formidable begins as manageable; wise action addresses incipient tendencies before they harden.
3. The paradox of true greatness The sage "never does what is great," and therefore accomplishes greatness. The chapter presents greatness as an emergent result of modesty and restraint rather than direct pursuit.
4. Ethical response to resentment "報怨以德" introduces an ethic of answering resentment or injury with de, a term that can mean virtue, moral force, or potent efficacy. The phrase complicates ordinary expectations of retaliation or strict equivalence.
5. Caution toward ease and promises The final lines warn that treating things as easy generates difficulty, and that light promises produce little trustworthiness. The passage links moral laxity, verbal irresponsibility, and practical failure.
6. Sage rulership and self-cultivation Although framed generally, the teaching applies both to political rule and personal conduct. The sage's stance is one of disciplined humility: to take difficulties seriously, avoid grandiosity, and thereby avert crisis.

Idioms

1. 無為 One of the core terms of Daoist thought. It is often rendered "non-action," but more precisely means non-coercive, non-contrived action. Translators must avoid making it sound like mere inactivity.
2. 報怨以德 A famous and much-debated phrase: "repay resentment with de." Its significance extends beyond this chapter because later thinkers, especially Confucian commentators, argued over whether de here means moral virtue, beneficence, or a broader ethical power.
3. 圖難於其易 Literally, "plan for the difficult while it is still easy." This became a widely cited maxim about prevention, foresight, and addressing problems at an early stage.
4. 為大於其細 Literally, "undertake the great while it is still minute." It expresses the doctrine that major accomplishments are rooted in small beginnings.
5. 輕諾必寡信 A highly quotable saying meaning that those who promise lightly will rarely be trustworthy. It has had a long afterlife as a moral proverb about speech and credibility.
6. 多易必多難 Meaning that treating many things as easy will necessarily lead to many difficulties. The saying criticizes complacency and underestimation.
7. 終無難矣 The conclusion that by treating matters as difficult from the outset, one finally has no difficulties. This is a characteristic Daoist paradox: prudent seriousness prevents later hardship.

Literary Devices

1. Tripartite parallel opening The opening "為無為，事無事，味無味" uses three balanced clauses with repeated syntax. The form gives aphoristic force and compresses a philosophical program into rhythmic parallelism.
2. Antithetical pairings The passage repeatedly pairs conceptual opposites or scales: great/small, many/few, easy/difficult. These pairings structure the argument and embody the text's sensitivity to reversal and process.
3. Paradox Statements such as "終不為大，故能成其大" are paradoxical on the surface: by not pursuing greatness, one achieves greatness. This is central to the Daodejing's argumentative style and must be preserved rather than explained away in translation.
4. Progressive causal reasoning The chapter moves through linked consequences: light promises lead to little trust; treating things as easy leads to many difficulties; therefore the sage treats them as difficult and ends without difficulty. The logic is compressed but cumulative.
5. Gnomic aphorism The prose consists of short, maxim-like statements rather than extended discursive exposition. Its authority comes from compression, balance, and memorable formulation.
6. Exemplary inference via the sage The formula "是以聖人..." introduces the sage as the practical proof of the doctrine. The move from general principle to sage example is a standard rhetorical pattern in the text.

Translation Challenges

1. 為無為，事無事，味無味 — Each phrase is syntactically compressed and semantically paradoxical. "為" and "事" can function as both verbs and nouns, so the line can be understood in more than one grammatical way. "無為" is a technical philosophical term and should not be flattened into simple inaction. "味無味" may mean to savor the flavorless, to take plainness as one's taste, or to find value where ordinary appetites find none.
2. 大小多少 — This four-character cluster is elliptical and lacks explicit verbs. It may mean to regard the large as small and the many as few, to deal with great and small / many and few alike, or to apply the preceding principle across scales. Different translations supply different implied verbal relations.
3. 報怨以德 — "怨" may mean resentment, injury, grievance, or enmity depending on context. "德" is especially difficult: virtue, goodness, moral force, efficacy, or gracious conduct are all possible. The phrase has a strong intertextual afterlife, so translators must decide whether to preserve its lapidary familiarity or unpack it interpretively.
4. 圖難於其易，為大於其細 — "圖" can mean plan, anticipate, deal with, or attempt. "於其易" and "於其細" indicate temporal or situational framing: while still easy / while still minute, not simply in an easy or small way. The parallelism should be mirrored in English without overburdening the line.
5. 是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大 — "為大" may mean to undertake great things, act grandly, make oneself great, or do what is great. "其大" may refer to true greatness, great achievement, or the great task itself. The line's paradox should remain pointed rather than being resolved into plain prose.
6. 夫輕諾必寡信 — "輕諾" can mean making promises lightly, lightly assenting, or giving easy assurances. "寡信" may refer to having little credibility, receiving little trust, or being seldom trustworthy. The sentence has a proverbial compactness that should be preserved.
7. 多易必多難 — "易" here may be a verb meaning to deem easy, not an adjective meaning easy in itself. The line can mean that underestimating many things creates many difficulties, which differs from saying that many easy tasks become difficult. A translator must make the implied subject and agency clear in English.
8. 是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣 — "猶難之" means the sage still treats it as difficult or remains wary of difficulty; this compact phrasing is easy to mistranslate. The object of "之" is implicit and may refer back broadly to affairs, tasks, or undertakings in general. The final paradox, that one ends with no difficulties by treating things as difficult, should not be diluted.

Allusions

1. 報怨以德 — Analects (論語 14.34) and Daodejing (道德經 63)
2. 聖人 — Daodejing recurring concept (e.g., ch. 2, 5, 7, 49, 57)

Technical Terms

1. 無為 (Taoist philosophy): Non-action: spontaneous action aligned with the Way, devoid of ego-driven effort - Translation: Must distinguish from passivity; translations like 'non-coercive action' capture intent
2. 天下 (Classical political cosmology): All under heaven: cosmic-political order encompassing nature and human realm - Translation: Standardized as 'all under heaven' or 'the world'; retain cosmological scope

Ambiguous Terms

1. 圖 — 85% confidence - Possible meanings: `plan` · `contemplate` · `resolve` · `manage` - Resolution: In '圖難於其易' implies actively managing/navigating with minimal effort per Taoist principles
2. 作 — 90% confidence - Possible meanings: `arise` · `begin` · `create` · `act upon` - Resolution: In '必作於易/細' means 'originate from' rather than 'create'; emphasizes spontaneous emergence

Glossing Notes

Chapter 63 of Daodejing (c. 4th century BCE Warring States period) epitomizes Taoist paradox philosophy. Translation must preserve:\n1. Triple parallel paradoxes (為無為/etc)\n2. Scale inversions (difficulty emerging from ease)\n3. Sage's non-striving methodology\nKey terms require capitalization (Way/Sage) and consistent philosophical register. Note implicit critiques of Confucian ethics.

Translation Principles

1. Preserve the compressed, aphoristic character of the chapter; do not over-expand every line into explanatory prose within the main translation.
2. Maintain key parallel structures, especially in the opening triad and in "圖難於其易，為大於其細"; balanced English syntax is important.
3. Render "無為" carefully as a technical concept of non-forcing or non-contrived action, not simple passivity, unless a note explains the choice.
4. Treat "德" with care in "報怨以德"; if translated as "virtue," "goodness," or "moral force," the choice should be consistent with the broader translation of the Daodejing.
5. Preserve paradoxes such as "終不為大，故能成其大" and "猶難之，故終無難矣" rather than normalizing them into straightforward managerial advice.
6. Make clear where adjectives function as verbs of judgment, especially in "多易必多難"; the warning concerns deeming things easy, not merely the existence of easy tasks.
7. Keep the figure of the "sage" in a consistent elevated register; avoid colloquial phrasing that weakens the normative and exemplary role of 聖人.

Segmentation

1. 為無為，事無事，味無味。 `sentence`
2. 大小多少，報怨以德。 `sentence` `ambiguous`
3. 圖難於其易，為大於其細；天下難事，必作於易，天下大事，必作於細。 `sentence`
4. 是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。 `sentence`
5. 夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難。 `sentence`
6. 是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣。 `sentence`

Segmentation Notes

Major sentence boundaries are primarily supported by structured discourse markers (是以/故/夫) and modal or aspect markers (必, 終, 矣). Internal clause boundaries within the longer comparative sentence are tracked by paired comparative frames (於, 天下 + 難/大 + 事) and the repeating predicate skeleton 作於 + 易/細. The only notable ambiguity is the second sentence, where the exact syntactic status of 大小多少 as topic vs. object-like generalization is slightly interpretive.

Tone & Style

The tone is aphoristic, authoritative, and paradoxically admonitory. It begins with highly compressed philosophical maxims, shifts into practical counsel about handling difficulty and greatness, and ends in moral warning about speech, complacency, and trust. The final lines are slightly more cautionary and severe than the more programmatic opening.

The style is classic Daodejing prose: terse, gnomic, rhythmically parallel, and conceptually dense. The register is elevated but not ornate, relying on repetition, ellipsis, and paradox rather than narrative or explicit argument. Much of its force comes from brevity, balanced clauses, and polyvalent key terms whose meanings are only partially fixed by syntax.

None

Terminology

德

virtue (moral force)

細

the fine

諾

a promise

易

easy

聖人

the Sage

無為

non-action

天下

all under heaven

輕諾

lightly making promises

多易必多難

the more one makes it easy, the more difficulties follow

圖難於其易／圖難於其易

plan for difficulty from ease

Terminography Notes

Registered terms focus on (1) Daoist technical force-words and honorific agency (德, 聖人, 無為), (2) the passage’s structured paradox of scale inversions (細; 圖難於其易; 易), and (3) governance maxims whose internal components are easy to mistranslate in later chunks (諾; 輕諾; 多易必多難). Capitalization is maintained for Taoist-specific referents (“the Sage,” “non-action”). Where a character (易) can mean “change” in other contexts, this chunk’s contrastive formulae justify standardizing its rendering here as “easy.”