Original Text
When alive, the body is supple and pliant; when dead, it becomes stiff and rigid. All things, like grass and trees, are soft and tender in life, but withered and brittle in death. Thus, what is hard and strong belongs to the company of death; what is soft and weak belongs to the company of life. Therefore, a strong army will be defeated, and a mighty tree will be felled. The hard and strong are inferior; the soft and weak are superior.
Guide
An army too strong will be destroyed; a tree too lush will be cut down. The rigid tend toward death, the supple toward life. Holding to gentleness is the root of preserving life; insisting on strength only brings self-destruction.Analysis
In this chapter, Laozi uses the life and death states of humans and plants to illustrate the principle that softness overcomes hardness. Any entity that becomes strong will inevitably decline, as this is a natural law. Therefore, the Way resides in softness and weakness, while the absence of the Way resides in hardness and strength.
"Man is supple and soft when living, but stiff and hard when dead. Plants and trees are tender and fragile when alive, but withered and dry when dead." When alive, a person has a rosy complexion, a supple and flexible body, and moves with ease. After death, the body becomes rigid and stiff. Death is an inescapable fate for everyone; where there is life, there is death—this is the natural law, and no one can avoid it. Next, Laozi extends from human life and death to the state of plants and trees: all living things, when alive, have soft and fragile forms, but when dead, they become withered and decayed. Whether humans, flowers, or trees, they are soft and weak when alive, but become stiff after death.
"The rigid and strong are companions of death; the soft and weak are companions of life." This means that what is hard and unyielding belongs to the category of death, while what is soft and yielding belongs to the category of life.
Thus an army too strong will be destroyed, a tree too rigid will be broken. The strong and great occupy the lower position, while the soft and weak occupy the higher. A violent and unjust army is doomed to perish, a stiff and withered tree is sure to be snapped. Therefore, strength lies below, while gentleness resides above.
In this chapter, Laozi uses the life and death states of humans and plants to illustrate the principle that softness overcomes hardness. When anything becomes strong, it inevitably moves toward decline—this is a natural law. Therefore, those who follow the Way remain soft and weak, while those who stray from it become hard and strong.