Line by Line - Verse 4, Line 4

and unravel the complications of things;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Untangle the knot,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Unravels the knots
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

(No corresponding line)
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

In the book, The Tao of Peace, Wang Chen phrases this line as "dampens fervor, resolves confusion." For me, this is not altogether different than Legge's take and it is also not far from the other two as well.

The central point is that nature does not twist itself up with worry over what was, is or could be. Nature simply flows from here to there and back again. We would do well to learn this lesson for use in our own lives.

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