What Would Shrink Must First Be Stretched
The Text
将欲歙之，必固张之；将欲弱之，必固强之；将欲废之，必固兴之；将欲取之，必固与之。是谓微明。柔弱胜刚强。鱼不可脱于渊，国之利器不可以示人。
What would shrink must first have been stretched; what would weaken must first have been strong; what would fall must first have been raised; what would be taken must first have been given. This is subtle light. The soft overcomes the hard; the weak overcomes the strong. Fish should not leave the deep; the sharp tools of state should not be shown to the people.
Reading it
Frequently misread as a manual for scheming; the schematic runs both directions, and its real instruction is the fish. Everything that leaves its element — the stretched, the shown, the displayed — has already begun the return. Subtle light is seeing which way each thing is presently moving.
常被误读成阴谋手册；其实图式双向皆通，真正的指令是那条鱼。凡离开自己元素的东西——被张开的、被展示的——都已开始归程。「微明」是看清每样东西此刻正往哪个方向动。
For one thing currently peaking in your life, note quietly that the return has started. Adjust nothing else.
对你生活里正在登峰的一项，安静记下归程已启。除此之外不做任何调整。