Chapter 48

Subtraction

为学日益

为学日益,为道日损。

In pursuit of learning, every day something is added.
In pursuit of the way, every day something is dropped.

损之又损,以至于无为。无为而无不为。

Drop, and drop again, until you arrive at doing nothing.
Do nothing, and nothing is left undone.

取天下常以无事,及其有事,不足以取天下。

You win the world by not making it a project.
The moment you make it a project, you are not up to winning it.

Reading it

The clearest statement in the book that these are two different activities, not two levels of the same one. Learning accumulates; the way subtracts. Most people only ever train the first muscle, so every problem gets answered by adding — another system, another habit, another course. The chapter's claim is that at some point addition becomes the problem itself.

One thing to try

Remove one thing from your day this week. Do not replace it with anything.