Soft and Supple is Best, Yielding is Wise, Tenderness, Withered and Dry,
Flexibility, Disciples of Death,
Beware of Strength 戒強
"At birth, a man is soft and weak.
At death, he is strong and powerful.
From grass to trees, all things begin life weak and frail.
At death, they are withered and dry.
Therefore, the Strong and Powerful are disciples of Death.
The Soft and Weak are disciples of Life.
Thus military strength does not ensure Victory.
A tree's strength is like the army;
the Big and Strong decline,
the Soft and Weak prevail."
- Translation by
Karl Kromal,
Chapter 76
"Man alive is tender, gentle,
Hard and fast in death.
Living plants are tender, fragile,
Dry and frail in death.
For fast and hard are marks of dying,
And gentle, tender marks of life.
Strength in arms bring destruction,
And the strong branch will be broken.
Let strength and might be put below,
And tender, gentle in control."
- Translated by
Moss Roberts,
2001, Chapter 76
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plats are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
- Translated by
Stephen Mitchell,
1988, Chapter 76
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Translated by Livia Kohn
Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way
"When people are born they are supple, and when they die
they are stiff..
When trees are born they are tender, and when they die they are brittle.
Stiffness is thus a companion of death, flexibility a companion of life.
So when an army is strong it doe not prevail. When a tree is strong, it is cut
for use.
So the stiff and strong are below, the supple and yielding on top."
- Translated by
Thomas Cleary,
1991, Chapter 76
"When people are born, they are soft and yielding.
When people die, they are stiff and unyielding.
Ten-thousand things (everything) like grass and trees, when they are born, they
are soft and supple.
When they die, they are rigid and dry.
Stiffness and unyielding are death’s companions.
Softness and yielding are life’s companions.
Unyielding armies will not win.
Unyielding trees become weapons.
Great strength dwells below.
Weakness dwells above."
- Translated by
Alan Sheets, 2002,
Chapter 76
By Alexander Simkins. 
By Derek Lin.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
By Benjamin Hoff.
By Ming-Dao Deng.
Translated by Thomas Cleary.
"A man living is yielding and receptive.
Dying, he is rigid and inflexible.
All Things, the grass and trees:
Living, they are yielding and fragile;
Dying, they are dry and withered.
Thus those who are firm and inflexible
Are in harmony with dying.
Those who are yielding and receptive
Are in harmony with living.
Therefore an inflexible strategy will not triumph;
An inflexible tree will be attacked.
The position of the highly inflexible will descend;
The position of the yielding and receptive will ascend."
- Translated by
R. L. Wing, 1986, Chapter 76
"Human beings are soft and supple when alive, stiff and
straight when dead.
The myriad creatures, the grasses and trees are soft and fragile when alive, dry
and withered when dead.
Therefore, it is said:
The rigid person is a disciple of death;
The soft, supple, and delicate are lovers of life.
An army that is inflexible will not conquer;
A tree that is inflexible will snap.
The unyielding and mighty shall be brought low;
The soft, supple, and delicate will be set above."
- Translated by
Victor H. Mair,
Chapter 76
By Hu Xuzehi
Annotated translation by Victor Mair 
By Ha Poong Kim
By Hans-Georg Moeller 
By Roger T. Ames and David T. Hall
By Wes Burgess
By Arthur Waley
"When people are born they are gentle and soft.
At death they are hard and stiff.
When plants are alive they are soft and delicate.
When they die, they wither and dry up.
Therefore the hard and stiff are followers of death.
The gentle and soft are the followers of life.
Thus, if you are aggressive and stiff, you won't win.
When a tree is hard enough, it is cut. Therefore
The hard and big are lesser,
The gentle and soft are greater."
- Translated by
Charles Muller,
Chapter 76
"People are soft and weak in life,
hard and strong in death.
The ten thousand plants and trees are soft and frail in life,
withered and brittle in death.
Things hard and strong follow death's ways and things soft and weak follow
life's:
so it is that strong armies never overcome and strong trees always suffer the
axe.
Things great and strong dwell below.
Things soft and weak dwell above."
- Translated by
David Hinton,
Chapter 76
Cloud Hands Blog, January 28, 2012: Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Chapter 76
Dao
Te Ching by Lao Tsu, Posts to the Cloud Hands Blog
Translation and elucidation by Hua Ching Ni
Translated by Brian Walker
Translated by Arthur Waley
Translated by Lionel and and Herbert Giles
By Eva Wong
"Man at his birth is supple and weak: at his death, firm
and strong.
So it is with all things.
Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death,
dry and withered.
Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness
and weakness, the concomitants of life.
Hence he who relies on the strength of his forces does not conquer; and a tree
which is strong will fill the outstretched arms, (and thereby invites the
feller.)
Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is
soft and weak is above."
- Translated by
Andre Gauthier,
Chapter 76
"While a person is alive, he is soft and yeilding;
When dead, in the end they become stretched out stiff and rigid.
All living things including trees and plants are flexible and fragile while
alive;
When dead, they become dry, withered and rotten.
Therefore it is said that those who are stiff and rigid are companions of death;
while those who are soft, yeilding, flexible and fragile are companions of life.
A rigid weapon thus will be defeated;
A rigid tree thus will break.
What is rigidly large dwells below;
What is soft, yielding, flexible and fragile dwells above."
- Translated by
Nina Correa, 2005,
Chapter 76
"the ancient child asks
how do you get out of the bodymind's way and let it live
by allowing your soul to take the lead of your life
the ancient child asks
how do you let the soul take the lead of your life
be as gentle and tender as a newborn
soft, yielding, supple, and full of lifeforce
avoid stiffness, rigidity, and naked force
emulate the living things in the world delicately
and at a distance
avoid hardening your bodymind and spirit
avoid those unyielding things that stink of decay
embody those things that are tender and pliant
which grant life and freedom
avoid mustering your talents and collecting your strengths
in a forceful or headstrong manner
remember
an unyielding tree will snap under a strong wind
or fall easily under a dull axe
pattern yourself after a great tree
will deep roots and strong branches
and you will exalt your bodymind and spirit."
- Translated by
John Bright-Fey, Chapter 76
Translated by Eva Wong 
Translated by Philip Ivahoe
By James Miller
Translated by Stephen Bokencamp
By Alexander and Annellen Simpkins
Translated by Thomas Cleary
By Livia Kohn
Next Chapter of the Tao Te Ching #77
Previous Chapter of the Tao Te Ching #75
Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
Commentary, Interpretations, Research Tools, Resources
Chapter 76
Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition
Yellow Bridge
Dao De Jing Comparison Table, Chapter 76 Provides side by side comparisons of translations of the Tao Te
Ching by James Legge,
D. T. Suzuki, and Dwight Goddard. Chinese characters for each paragraph in
the Chapter are on the left; place your cursor over the Chinese characters to
see the Pinyin romanization of the Chinese character and a list of meanings.
Center Tao.
Includes a commentary on each Chapter.
The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching & Hua Hu Ching
Tao Te Ching Commentaries - Google Search
Translators'
Index, Tao Te Ching Translators Sorted Alphabetically by Translator, Links
to Books and Online Versions
Tao Te Ching: A
Bibliography and Index of Translations on the Web
Chapter 76 in the
Rambling
Taoist Commentaries by Trey Smith. The
Rambling Taoists are Trey Smith and Scott Bradley.
By Hans-Georg Moeller. Columbia University Press, 2006, 176 pages.
Valley Spirit, Gu Shen,
Concept, Chapter 6
Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse
The largest collection of very nicely formatted complete versions of the Tao
Te Ching. The
collection includes 209 complete versions in 27 languages,
plus 28 Chinese versions. There are 112 English language
versions of the
Tao Te Ching available at this website. A variety of search methods and comparison methods are provided, as well a a detailed
index.
Lao-tzu's Taoteching
Reading Lao Tzu: A Companion to the Tao Te Ching with a New Translation
Ripening Peaches: Taoist
Studies and Practices
Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation
Thematic Index to the
81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu: Te-Tao Ching - A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui
Texts (Classics of Ancient China)
Revealing the Tao Te Ching: In Depth Commentaries on an Ancient Classic.
By Hu Huezhi. Edited by Jesse Lee Parker. Seven Star Communications,
2006. 240 pages.
Cloud Hands Blog
Mike Garofalo writes about Taoism, Gardening, Taijiquan, Walking, Mysticism,
Qigong, and the Eight Ways.
Tao Te
Ching: A New Translation and Commentary. By Ellen Chen. Paragon
House, 1998. 274 pages.
The Tao
and Method: A Reasoned Approach to the Tao Te Ching. By Michael
Lafargue. New York, SUNY Press, 1994. 660 pages.
The
Whole Heart of Tao: The Complete Teachings from the Oral Tradition of Lao-Tzu.
By John Bright-Fey. Crane Hill Publishers, 2006. 376 pages.
Gushen Grove Notebooks for the Tao Te Ching
Green Way Research, Valley Spirit Grove, Gushen Grove Notebooks, Red Bluff, California
This webpage was last updated on January 10, 2012.
This webpage was first distributed online on February 2, 2011
Brief Biography of Michael P. Garofalo, M.S.
Valley Spirit Grove, Red Bluff, California
Weekend Qigong Workshops with Mike Garofalo in Beautiful Red Bluff, California
Ripening Peaches: Daoist Studies and Practices
Taoist Perspectives: My Reading List
One Old Druid's Final Journey: Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove
Index to Translators of the Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) circa 500 BCE