Obtain all virtues,
Empty the mind and embrace the bones.
Fill the belly,
Confront the sharp edges,
Conduct oneself thusly:
Therefore if we make do with the empty
And act with the penetrating,
What then?
That is to say, emptiness will complete being.
You can either be willfully quiet or take charge of things.
A Master who chooses wisely
Has achieved a truly great accomplishment.
other readings further drafts from the same generation
deeper strata where the meaning thins
the original
1. He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to
increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks)
from day to day to diminish (his doing).
2. He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing
nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action,
there is nothing which he does not do.
3. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself
no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he
is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.