Line by Line - Verse 53, Line 6

but their fields shall be ill-cultivated,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

The fields are full of weeds,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

The fields are barren
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Lao Tzu said,
"ordinary people's fields
are smothered with weeds,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

When one segment of society has more than they need, other segments have less than is adequate.

We can see this principle at work today in the US and so many other countries. I recently read that sales for big ticket items (e.g., yachts, personal aircraft, fine jewelry) are way up, while everyday consumer goods are down. The wealthy have money to play with -- the rest of us struggle to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

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