A look at chapter 5, that seems very anti-Confucian:

 

Hall & Ames: The heavens and the earth are not partial to institutionalized morality (bu ren).

Robert Henricks: Heaven and Earth are not humane
(H&A note that “Some commentators give ‘bu ren’ 不仁 a negative value, interpreting it as “not humane” (Henricks). Ren appears elsewhere in the DDJ (8, 18 and 19) as a suspect Confucian value that emerges only when genuine moral feeling has been overwritten by conventionalized rules for living”)

 

HA They take things (wanwu) and treat them all as straw dogs.  

RH They regard the ten thousand things as straw dogs.

(H&A point to this possible interpretation: "straw dogs" as sacrificial artifacts are celebrated according to the proper season, then abandoned when that season has passed. Even a clutch of straw is entitled to reverence at the proper time and place. In the natural cycle, all things have their moment, and when that moment passes, they must pass with it. There is nothing in nature, high or low, that is revered in perpetuity.”)

HA Sages too are not partial to institutionalized morality.

RH The Sage is not humane;

 

HA They treat the common people as straw dogs.

RH He regards the common people as straw dogs.

 

HA The space between the heavens and the earth-

RH The space between Heaven and Earth-

 

­HA Isn't it just like a bellows!

RH is it not like a bellows?

 

HA Even though empty it is not vacuous.

RH It is empty and yet not depleted;

 

HA Pump it and more and more comes out.

RH Move it and more always comes out.

 

HA It is better to safeguard what you have within

RH Much learning means frequent exhaustion.

 

HA Than to learn a great deal that so often goes nowhere.

RH That's not so good as holding on to the mean.

(H&A have inverted the order of the last two line, which changes nothing. Criticizing excessive learning may be against the Confucians?

zhong 中 , the mean, also means within, the inner feelings according to the Ricci dictionary.

H&A point to a parallel her between the creative void of the macrocosm (the space between Heaven and Earth) and the inner microcosm (what you have within), that you can reach by avoiding excessive Confucian social constraints).