Following Transformation
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其政悶悶，其民醇醇；其政察察，其民缺缺。禍兮福之所倚，福兮禍之所伏。孰知其極？其無正，正復為奇，善復為訞。人之迷，其日固久。是以聖人方而不割，廉而不害，直而不肆，光而不曜。
When the rule is dull and easy, the people are warm and honest; when the rule is sharp and prying, the people are worn thin. Disaster, ah: good fortune leans on it. Good fortune, ah: disaster hides in it. Who knows where it ends? If the ruler is not upright, the upright turn back into the crafty, and the good turn back into the wicked. The days of people’s confusion have truly been long. So the sage is square, yet does not cut; honest, yet does not wound; straight, yet does not push himself forward; bright, yet does not dazzle.
Disaster and fortune lean on each other, and only a loose-handed ruler keeps his people whole.
Since no one can say where good turns into its opposite, the sage keeps each of his own good qualities blunted just enough not to hurt anyone. It is the same restraint the chapter asks of government, which does best when it stays dull and undemanding.
One small graph difference stands out: Heshang Gong’s print writes the rare 訞 where Wang Bi has the more familiar 妖 for “the monstrous, uncanny”, almost certainly the same word.
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