The Virtue of Humility
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大國者下流，天下之交。天下之牝，牝常以靜勝牡，以靜為下。故大國以下小國，則取小國；小國以下大國，則取大國。故或下以取，或下而取。大國不過欲兼畜人，小國不過欲入事人。夫兩者各得其所欲，大者宜為下。
A great state is the lower stream, the meeting place of the world. It is the female of the world: the female always overcomes the male by stillness, and by stillness makes herself low. So a great state, by lowering itself to a small state, wins the small state; a small state, by lowering itself to a great state, wins the great state. So one lowers itself in order to win; the other lowers itself and so wins. A great state wants no more than to take in and care for people; a small state wants no more than to come in and serve others. Now, the two sides each get what they want; the great one ought to take the low place.
Why a great power, not a small one, is the side that most needs to learn how to stay low.
It is the great power, more than the small one, that has to remember to stay low, and the river shows why: its lowest reach is where every stream runs.
Heshang Gong reads the female through yin and yang: yin overcomes yang by calm, never by striving first. That calm is also what keeps drawing things toward the low place. The grammar marks the two sides as well, “in order to” for the great state’s deliberate lowering and “and” for the small state’s, which shows who is choosing the strategy and who simply benefits from it.
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