Chapter 34 - No One's Master

The Dao branches and so spread,
Not letting it be direction led.

It births and tends till the ending,
Successfully creating but not holding.

It clothes and it nurtures,
Yet it is not their master,
Is it their bearer thus inferior?
It is their root, source and inventor,
Yet it is not their master,
Is it their founder thus superior?
Just as it seeks not ways to be master,
Master it is thus by nature.

大道汜兮，其可左右。万物恃之以生而不辞，功成而不有。衣养万物而不为主，常无欲，可名于小；万物归焉而不为主，可名为大。以其终不自为大，故能成其大。