Chapter 5
Original Text
天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗。
聖人不仁，以百姓為芻狗。
天地之間，其猶橐籥乎？
虛而不屈，動而愈出。
多言數窮，不如守中。
Translation
Heaven and Earth are not “benevolent”; they treat the ten thousand beings like straw dogs.
The Sage is not “benevolent”; he treats the hundred clans like straw dogs.
Between Heaven and Earth—is it not like a bellows?
Hollow yet never spent; the more it moves, the more it issues forth.
Much talk, soon exhausted; better to keep to the center.
Word Notes
- 芻狗: Straw-dog effigies used in sacrifice—treated with ritual respect, then discarded; a metaphor for impersonal natural process.
- 橐籥: Bellows.
- 虛而不屈: “Empty yet not collapsed/exhausted.”
- 守中: Hold to the center; keep the mean.
Chapter Explanation
“Not benevolent” here means impartial—Nature does not play favorites. Heaven-and-Earth’s processes give life and take it away without sentiment; the Sage aligns with this impartiality rather than indulging in clinging or partisanship.
The bellows image clarifies: emptiness makes capacity; movement draws out supply. Dao’s “hollow center” is inexhaustible when we act from it. Hence the closing caution: words and cleverness soon run dry; returning to centeredness keeps the flow open.
Discourse
Practically, this chapter dissolves naïve moralism and verbal overreach. Do not lean on rhetoric or on appeals to heavenly favoritism; cultivate a quiet center that can respond without bias. From there, help without possessiveness, restrain without cruelty, and let results arise from process rather than from showy declarations. “Fewer words, more center” is a durable rule of thumb.