Chapter 52

天下有始，以為天下母。
既得其母，以知其子，復守其母，沒身不殆。
塞其兌，閉其門，終身不勤。
開其兌，濟其事，終身不救。
見小曰明，守柔曰強。
用其光，復歸其明，無遺身殃；
是為習常。

The world has a beginning, which is the mother of the world.
Having found the mother, one knows the children; knowing the children, one keeps to the mother again, and to the end of one’s days there is no danger.
Block the openings, shut the doors, and to the end of life one never wears out.
Unblock the openings, multiply affairs, and to the end of life there is no rescue.
Seeing the small is called clarity; keeping to the soft is called strength.
Use the light, return again to clarity, and leave the body no harm;
this is called practicing the abiding.