The Way of Heaven Draws the Bow
The Text
天之道，其犹张弓与？高者抑之，下者举之；有余者损之，不足者补之。天之道，损有余而补不足。人之道则不然，损不足以奉有余。孰能有余以奉天下？唯有道者。是以圣人为而不恃，功成而不处，其不欲见贤。
The way of heaven is like drawing a bow: the high is pressed down, the low is lifted up; excess is reduced, deficiency is supplied. The way of heaven reduces excess and supplies deficiency; the way of people is not so — it takes from those who lack to give to those who have. Who can have surplus enough to offer the world? Only one who has the way. So the wise act without presuming, achieve without claiming — such is their wish not to display their worth.
Reading it
The bow analogy is exact: a drawn string is a system holding opposite tensions in usable balance. The contrast between heaven’s and people’s economics is the chapter’s real subject — compounding wealth versus balancing flow — and the question at the centre is a job posting.
张弓之喻精确：拉满的弦是一套把反向张力握成可用平衡的系统。天道与人道的经济学对照才是本章正题——复利式累积对平衡式流动——中间那句是一份招工启事。
Find one surplus you hold. Move a piece of it this week toward the deficiency side, quietly.
找出你持有的一份盈余。这周安静地挪一部分去补不足的那一侧。