Trusting Completion
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大道汜兮，其可左右。萬物恃之而生而不辭，功成不名有。愛養萬物而不為主，常無欲，可名於小；萬物歸焉而不為主，可名為大。是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。
The great Way floods everywhere! It can go left or right. The ten thousand things rely on it and live, and it does not turn them away. The work is done, and it does not call it its own. It loves and nurtures the ten thousand things but does not act as their master. Ever without desire, it can be called small. The ten thousand things return to it, but it does not act as their master: it can be called great. So the sage, to the end, does not make himself great; that is why he can achieve his greatness.
The Way as a flood that reaches everything and claims none of it: greatness by never seeking to be great.
The same trait earns the Way both names: it never acts as master, and so it can be called small and great at once. The sage is great the same way, by never making himself great.
One verb separates the two received texts. Heshang Gong’s has 愛養, the Way “loves and nourishes” the ten thousand things; Wang Bi’s has 衣養, it “clothes and nourishes” them.
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