Tao Te Ching, Chapter 77, by Lao Tzu

Daodejing, Laozi
Chapter 77

"The way of heaven,
Is it not like stretching a bow?
What is high up is pressed down,
What is low down is lifted up;
What has surplus is reduced,
What is deficient is supplemented.
The way of heaven,
It reduces those who have surpluses,
To supplement those who are deficient.
The human way is just not so.
It reduces those who are deficient,
To offer those who have surpluses.
Who can offer his surpluses to the world?
Only a person of Tao.
Therefore the sage works (wei) without holding on to,
Accomplishes without claiming credit.
Is it not because he does not want to show off his merits?"
-  Translated by Ellen M. Chen, 1989, Chapter 77  


"The Tao of Heaven resembles a drawn bow.
It brings down the high and exalts the lowly;
it takes from those who have superfluity,
and gives to those who have not enough.
The Tao of Heaven abstracts where there is too much,
and supplements where there is deficiency.
The Tao of men does not so.
It takes away from what is already deficient
in order to bestow on those who have a superfluity.
Who is able to devote his surplus to the needs of others?
Only he who is possessed of Tao. 
Thus it is that the Sage acts, yet does not plume himself;
achieves works of merit, yet does not hold to them.
He has no wish to make a display of his worthiness."
-  Translated by Frederic H. Balfour, 1884, Chapter 77  

"The Path of Heaven is like bending a bow-
the upper part is pressed down,
the lower part is raised up;
the part which has much is reduced,
the part that has little is increased.

Therefore, the Path of Heaven
reduced surplus to make up for scarcity;
the way of mankind's Ego
reduces scarcity and pays tribute to surplus!

Who is there who can have a surplus
and take from it to pay tribute to Heaven?
Surely, only one who is on the Path.

For this reason, Sages transact, but do not hoard,
complete their work but do not dwell upon it.
In this way, they have no desire to display their 'worth.' "
-  Translated by Jerry C. Welch, 1998, Chapter 77

"The Tao of Heaven,
Is it not like the bending of a bow?
The top comes down and the bottom-end goes up,
The extra length is shortened, the insufficient width is expanded.
It is the way of Heaven to take away from those that have too much
And give to those that have not enough.
Not so with man's way:
He takes from those that have not
And gives it as tribute to those that have too much.
Who can have enough and to spare to give to the entire world?
Only the man of Tao.
Therefore the Sage acts, but does not possess,
Accomplishes but lays claim to no credit,
Because he has no wish to seem superior."
-  Translated by Lin Yutang, 1955, Chapter 77 

天之道, 其猶張弓與?
高者抑之,
下者舉之,
有餘者損之,
不足者補之.

天之道損有餘而補不足,
人之道則不然,
損不足以奉有餘.
孰能有餘以奉天下?

唯有道者.
是以聖人為而不恃, 
功成而不處,
其不欲見賢.
-  Chinese characters, Chapter 77, Tao Te Ching

tian zhi dao, qi you zhang gong yu?
gao zhe yi zhi,
xia zhe ju zhi,
you yu zhe sun zhi,
bu zu zhe bu zhi.

tian zhi dao sun you yu er bu bu zu,
ren zhi dao ze bu ran,
sun bu zu yi feng you yu.
shu neng you yu yi feng tian xia?

wei you dao zhe.
shi yi sheng ren wei er bu shi,
gong cheng er bu chu,
qi bu yu xian xian.
-  Pinyin Romanization, Chapter 77, Daodejing 

"Bend the bow and embrace the tiger
to emulate the way of heave
drawn with resoluteness
the bow changes length and width
turning in on itself
released with resoluteness
the bow projects its arrow fixedly to a target
by equalizing itself
the bow can shoot up or down as needed
always seeking to balance out
flexibility and cohesion
always seeking to resolve
excesses of energy and deficiencies of energy
equalizing and balancing out and resolving
are the ways of heaven
but the ways of man
make things unequal
imbalanced and unresolved
cutting man off from heaven and earth
only a sage wise man humbly cultivating the tao
     way of life
can entreat heaven on man's behalf
asking heaven
to reestablish the natural order
by not asking heaven
when he is successful
he does not dwell on it
displaying his skill at emulating the way of heaven
he simply smiles
and moves on to the next task."
-  Translated by John Bright-Fey, Chapter 77

"Is not Tao like the drawn bow?
The highest part is lowered,
the lowest part is raised.
Overall length is shortened,
overall depth is lengthened.

So the Great Tao
lowers the highest and raises the lowest.
But the Tao of man
increases the high and decreases the low.

Who can take from the high and give to the low?
Only the true follower of Tao.

Thus, the truly wise act but are not possessive,
achieve but claim no credit,
because they have no desire for vain glory."
-  Translated by C. Ganson, Chapter 77 

¿Acaso el camino del cielo no procede
igual que el que tensa un arco?
Rebaja lo que está arriba
y elva lo que está arriba
y elva lo que está abajo;
quita lo que sobra
y reemplaza lo que falta.
El camino del Cielo quita el excedente
para compensar lo que falta.
El camino del hombre es my distinto:
el homre quita al indigente
para sumárselo al rico.
¿Quién puede dar al mundo lo que tiene de superfluo
sino el que posee el Tao?
El santo actúa sin esperar nada
lleva a cabo su obra sin encapricharse con ella
y mantiene escondido su mérito."
-  Translated by Alba, 1998, Tao Te Ching, Capítulo 77 


"The Tao of heaven is like the art of archery,
tall man, aim low;
short man, aim high.
If the string is too long, shorten it;
not enough, lengthen it.
The Tao of heaven is just like that,
short the long, long the short.
Man's way is different.
He takes from those who do not have enough,
to give to those who already have too much.
Who can have anything left for taking?
Only the man of Tao, as sage,
works without taking,
achieves without keeping,
does not show his greatness."
-  Translated by Tienzen Gong, Chapter 77 


"Is not the Tao of heaven like the drawing of a bow?
It brings down the part which is high; it raises the part which is low;
it lessens the part which is redundant (convex); it fills up the part which is insufficient (concave).
The Tao of heaven is to lessen the redundant and fill up the insufficient.
The Tao of man, on the contrary, is to take from the insufficient and give to the redundant.
Who can take from the redundant and give to the insufficient?
Only he who has Tao can.
Therefore the Sage does not horde.
The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself the more he gives to others, the more he gets himself.
The Tao of heaven does one good but never does one harm; the Tao of the Sage acts but never contends."
-  Translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao, 1904, Chapter 77  



A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses, Sections) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes over 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 5 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin transliterations (Romanization) of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 2 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words, phrases, and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, a Google Translate Webpage drop down menu, and other resources for that Chapter.   

Chapter 77, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

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English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

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