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Rice farm in south China
46 - The value of a modest heart
When the world follows the Tao,
Even fast horses are used to fertilize the fields.
When the world rejects the Tao,
Farmland is used to breed warhorses.
No disaster is worse than being
discontented.
No omen (for your future) worse than being greedy.
Yet, if you can find (true) contentment, it will last forever.
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The last 3 lines are quite different to the first part. The text probably belongs elsewhere in the Tao, but it's deep and meaningful wherever you put it. The poor condition of discovered texts led to many displacements of text like this one.
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