Original Text
Act without forcing, handle affairs without stirring, and find flavor in the bland. The large grows from the small, and the many begins with the few. Tackle problems where they are easy, and achieve greatness by starting with the minute. All difficult things in the world arise from the easy; all great things arise from the minute. Therefore, the sage never claims greatness, and thus can accomplish great things. Those who make promises lightly rarely fulfill them, and will surely lose trust. Those who take things too easily will inevitably face many difficulties. Hence, the sage always regards things as difficult, and so encounters no difficulty.
Guide
Handle difficult matters by starting with the easy parts; achieve great goals by beginning with the small details. All hard things under heaven arise from what is simple; all great things under heaven arise from what is minute. Laozi teaches us not to discard the small, not to neglect the fine, not to be arrogant, not to make promises lightly, to repay resentment with virtue, and to preserve the empty, tranquil, and effortless Way.Analysis
This chapter further elaborates on the idea of "acting without action, yet nothing is left undone." All things in the world develop from small to large, from easy to difficult, from fine to great. The sage understands this principle, thus resolves matters when they first arise or are still in their infancy. Therefore, we see that on the surface, the sage only deals with small, fine, and easy matters, or even does nothing at all, yet in the end, great and difficult tasks are accomplished.
"Act without acting, do without doing, taste without tasting." Some interpret this as "take non-action as action, take non-doing as doing, take tastelessness as taste." This interpretation fails to understand natural non-action as a state of self-cultivation, but rather as a mere guiding principle for action. If understood this way, Laozi would be advocating doing nothing at all, which distorts the true meaning of his non-action. In Laozi's view, people living in the world must act; otherwise, they cannot survive. Throughout the Tao Te Ching, the concept of non-action runs consistently.
Because each chapter has a different focus, wu wei often reveals new meanings. The meaning of "wu wei" here is that when doing anything, one should not impose their own subjective will, nor should they attempt to change the objective nature of things with subjective will.
Of course, Laozi does not mean we should do nothing at all, but rather follow the natural course of things. Thus, it can be understood that what Laozi calls non-action is actually a state of self-cultivation, a mindset that discards subjectivity and submits to objectivity. This philosophy requires us in practice to turn big problems into small ones, small problems into nothing, reduce many matters to few, and few matters to none. By achieving this, we can realize harmony between humanity and nature, as well as among people.
"Act without acting, work without working, taste without tasting" is the true state of cultivating the Way. To understand this, one must first grasp the relationship between means and ends: means are the intermediate steps to achieve an end, and once the end is realized, the means are no longer useful. For humanity, means are not absolute; only the end is absolute. Thus, what Laozi expresses here is the limitation and relativity of means, emphasizing that only the end humans seek to achieve is of utmost importance.
"Treat small as large, few as many; repay resentment with virtue; plan for the difficult while it is easy, and accomplish the great while it is small." Laozi's philosophy is one of harmony, opposing any form of confrontation and struggle. However, this does not mean that Laozi denies the existence of contradictions. In his view, the world is full of contradictions and struggles, and we should shift these from intense confrontation to a relatively peaceful state. To this end, Laozi offers the advice: "Plan for the difficult while it is easy, and accomplish the great while it is small." Here, "difficult" refers to goals beyond one's ability or tasks hard to succeed in; "great" refers to grand works or undertakings. What Laozi means in this statement is that we should eliminate contradictions and struggles while they are still in their infancy, and avoid generating new ones by acting with caution.
"All difficult things in the world start from the easy; all great things in the world start from the small. Therefore the sage never strives for greatness, and thus achieves greatness. Light promises lead to little trust; too much ease leads to many difficulties." Here, "promises" means boastful talk, bragging, and exaggeration. "Little trust" means there is very little credibility and it is hard to fulfill. In Laozi's view, the great is born from the small, the many arises from the few, and difficult matters must be approached from the easy. Thus, when seeking the Way, one must start from the subtle. The difficult tasks of the world must be undertaken from the easy; the great tasks of the world must be undertaken from the subtle. Therefore, the sage never considers himself great, and thus accomplishes great things. Light promises are not worthy of trust. If one regards things as too easy, one will surely encounter more difficulties. Hence, the sage always regards things as difficult, and in the end, there are no difficulties.