Line by Line - Verse 47, Line 6

and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

He works without doing.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Achieves without striving
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

They don't do anything,
but the work gets done.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

From my perspective, Legge and Lin capture the essence of this line better than the other two. To suggest that you do without doing leads many people to view this as a line that suggests and promotes laziness!

In my mind's eye, the point is that we act in accordance with the nature of things or, as Lin puts it, we achieve without striving to achieve anything. In this light, it is the striving -- struggling and fighting forcefully -- that is adverse to the Way.

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