Interpretations..........................

One of the beauties of the Tao Te Ching (for us English-only readers, anyway) is the rich variety of the translations.  The following are all the 27th verse of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching:


A good traveler has no fixed plans
And is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
Lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
And keeps his mind open to what is.

Thus the Master is available to all people
And doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
And doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?
If you don't understand this, you will get lost,
However intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.

-as translated by Stephen Mitchell
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Good walking leaves no tracks
good talking reveals no flaws
good counting counts no beads
good closing locks no doors
and yet it can't be opened
good tying ties no knots
and yet it can't be undone
thus the sage is good at saving
and yet abandons no one 
nor anything of use
this is called cloaking the light
thus the good instruct the bad
the bad learn from the good
not honoring their teachers
mot cherishing their students
the wise alone are perfectly blind
this is called peering into the distance

-as translated by Red Pine
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He who is skilled at traveling
     leaves neither tracks nor traces;
He who is skilled at speaking
     is flawless in his delivery;
He who is skilled at computation
     uses neither tallies nor counters;
He who is skilled at closing things tightly
     has neither lock nor key;
He who is good at binding
     has neither cord nor string,
        but what he binds cannot be untied.

For these reasons,
     The sage
          is always skilled at saving others
               and does not abandon them,
               nor does he abandon resources.
     This is called "inner intelligence."

Therefore,
     Good men are teachers for the good man,
     Bad men are foils for the good man,
     He who values not his teacher
           and loves not his foil,
     Though he be knowledgeable,
           is greatly deluded.

     This is called "the wondrous essential."

-as translated by Victor H. Mair
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               A knower of the truth
        travels without leaving a trace,
         speaks without causing harm,
       gives without keeping account.
The door he shuts, though having no lock,
                 cannot be opened.
The knot he ties, though using no cord,
                 cannot be undone.

Be wise and help all beings impartially,
                abandoning none.
          Waste no opportunities.
     This is called following the light.

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
  What is a bad man but a good man's job?
         If the teacher is not respected
         and the student not cared for,
confusion will areise, however clever one is.
           This is the great secret.

-as channeled by Wayne Dyer
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The sage who goes the way leaves no traces
The sage who speaks the true law never slips up -
He never calculates what profit he can make from what he does.

He keeps out thieves with wisdom!  He's never robbed -
He makes sure the rules are binding, then no one can undo them.

He is aware of everyone, leaving no one uncounted;
He cares like a parent, and wastes nothing.

                         This is the essence of harmony.

So, a good man is a model for a bad one
And, misguided, he is touched by his goodness.

Not to follow a teacher here
Or to love his precious message
Is to lose the Way, however clever you are -

                        This is the essence of the matter.

-as translated by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, Jay Ramsey