第六十五章    玄德治國

古之善為道者，非以明民，將以愚之。
民之難治，以其智多。故以智治國，國之賊；不以智治國，國之福。
知此兩者亦稽式。常知稽式，是謂玄德。玄德深矣，遠矣，與物反矣，然后乃至大順。

Governing Under Natural Intelligence

Those skillful in the ancient Tao

do not try to make people learn humanstrategies and tactics,

they prefer to guide them underthe simplicity of the natural intelligence.

People are hard to lead when they are too clever. Those who lead withcleverness rob the country. Those who lead without cleverness bless thecountry.

Understanding these two Subtle power.

The Subtle Power is profound andfar-reaching,

together with the natural Law of polarity,

it leads to the Great Harmony.

 [譯文]

古代悟道的人不倡導私心貪欲的智巧，而是奉行先天遵道守德的淳厚樸實。百姓之所以難以管制，就是因為基于私欲上的智巧過多。用后天的智巧治理國家是治國的禍害，不用智巧治理國家，是治國的福音。知道了這兩種治國方式的差別就掌握了治國的法則。能夠把握這一根本法則， 可謂真正體悟宇宙千變萬化的玄德。