A Great State Is Where the Rivers Flow Down
The Text
大国者下流，天下之交，天下之牝。牝常以静胜牡，以静为下。故大国以下小国，则取小国；小国以下大国，则取大国。故或下以取，或下而取。大国不过欲兼畜人，小国不过欲入事人。夫两者各得其所欲，大者宜为下。
A great state is where the rivers flow down — the meeting point of the world, the female of the world. The female always wins the male by stillness: still, she takes the lower place. If a great state takes the lower place toward a small one, it wins the small one; if a small state takes the lower place toward a great one, it wins the great one. One wins by lying low; the other by being low. Let the great one wish only to embrace and nurture; let the small one wish only to enter and serve — then both get what they want. The great one should take the lower place.
Reading it
Geography as diplomacy: water collects in the low place, so the low place hosts everything. Both parties can win by descending, for different reasons — the strong chooses the low, the weak accepts it — and the chapter quietly assigns the duty of moving first to whoever is bigger.
地理即外交：水汇于低处，所以低处收留一切。双方都可以靠下行取胜，只是理由不同——强者选择低位，弱者接受低位——而本章把先动的责任悄悄派给了更大的一方。
In your biggest relationship or deal, go first to the lower place. Watch whether the geometry does what it does with water.
在你最大的关系或交易里，先到低位去。看几何学是否像对待水那样对待这件事。