Line by Line - Verse 55, Lines 16-17

which may be said to be contrary to the Tao. Whatever is contrary to the Tao soon ends.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

This is not the way of Tao.
Whatever is contrary to Tao will not last long.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

This is called contrary to the Tao
That which is contrary to the Tao will soon perish
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

They've lost touch with Tao,
and when you lose touch with Tao,
you might as well be dead.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

In line with what I wrote yesterday, here's how Derek Lin explains these two lines in relation to the entire verse.

Think of life as a race. In this race, we are marathon runners, not sprinters. Sprinters may be able to surge forward in an explosive burst of speed, but within minutes their strength is depleted, and soon they collapse in a heap of exhaustion. Marathon runners are the ones who keep on going.

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