DAO DE JING · THE DE
Chapter 49
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。
JAMES LEGGE · ENGLISH TRANSLATION
1. The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
2. 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.
3. 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.
About these texts
The Chinese follows the Wang Bi recension in the Sibu Beiyao edition, transcribed on Wikisource. The English is James Legge’s translation.
They are paired by chapter number. Wording and punctuation can differ between editions. The historical text and translation are distinct from any AI reflection.
The Chinese transcription is adapted by extracting chapter text and omitting commentary. Editorial contributions are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; the historical work is public domain. English source: Project Gutenberg, ebook 216; the underlying Legge translation is public domain in the USA.