With no desire, at rest and still,As I think you easily can see, only the Feng/English translation provides a complete thought. The other three treat lines 8 and 9 as one message with this line being the opening clause that is finished in line 9.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Without desire there is tranquility.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Without desire, using stillness
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
We can relax,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Why this stark difference? My guess is that Feng/English wanted to underscore this point and so they offered it twice in corresponding lines.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
In the Chinese, there are actually only 5 "lines" in this verse; English translators break them up differently (rendering usually 10 lines) with commas, or a period as in F/E, usually to be rhythmic and poetic. F/E's lines 7 & 8 are actually line 4 of the original five. I don't think it really has much significance.
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