Line by Line - Verse 76, Line 6

softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

That which is soft and yielding
is the follower of life
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

If you are soft and flexible,
you are truly alive.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

As our bodies age and our bones grow brittle, there is nothing we can do to halt the process. We might be able to slow down the process a bit, but we can't stop it. Life is a march toward death.

While at some point our bodies will begin to fail us, life remains worth living vibrantly as long as our mind remains like that of a baby. If we are ready to embrace the world like in our first days, we hopefully will remain engaged until the very end.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.