Friday, November 09, 2012

61: Submission and Conquest

The Project

The new translation of the Tao Te Ching is going quite well and I’m up to chapter 56, so I’ve nearly caught up with these posts.  Meanwhile I’m still running with the translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English (1984) on these posts as I can’t publish my new translation on this blog as it would make it open source and invalidate my ability to publish on Amazon.

The Way
The wise project manager is prepared to be the servant of the team and will give way to the wishes of the team, for this is the way of the project manager.

Lao Tzu tells us:

A great country is like a low land.
It is the meeting ground of the universe,
The mother of the universe.

The female overcomes the male with stillness,
Lying low in stillness.

Therefore if a great country gives way to a smaller country,
It will conquer the smaller country.
And if a small country submits to a great country,
It can conquer the great country.
Therefore those that would conquer must yield,
And those who conquer do so because they yield.

A great nation needs more people;
A small country needs to serve.
Each gets what it wants.
It is fitting for a great nation to yield.

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