Line by Line - Verse 67, Line 7

With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity;
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Compassionate, thus able to have courage
Conserving, thus able to reach widely
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Courage stems from showing
kindness and mercy to others.
Generosity starts with knowing
what a thing is worth.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Let's turn to Derek Lin and John Lash to see how they handle both parts of this line. The way Derek Lin sees it,

True courage doesn't come from macho posturing or false bravado. Rather, we gain true courage from love and a commitment to something greater than ourselves.

I think John Lash is right on point when he writes,

Because nothing is wasted in the life of the Tai Chi person, he has much left to give to others.

It is when we commit "to something greater than ourselves" and we don't use nor waste more than we need that we can lead a life in line with Tao and be a benefit to our fellow beings!

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