Chapter 50: Beyond Life and Death

Life is a going forth; death is a returning home.

Of ten, three are seeking life, three are seeking death, and three are dying.

What is the reason? Because they live in life's experience. (Only one is immortal.)

I hear it said that the sage when he travels is never attacked by rhinoceros or tiger, and when coming among soldiers does not fear their weapons. The rhinoceros would find no place to horn him, nor the tiger a place for his claws, nor could soldiers wound him. What is the reason? Because he is invulnerable.

Interpretation:

In and earlier chapter, the author discusses Immortality.   The suggested at that time that immortality is not an issue of a body that does not die but of returning naturally to the Dao.  It is as if we are water taken from the ocean in a bucket.  Sooner or later, whether poured back into the ocean or out onto the ground, that water will return to the ocean.  So too do we.  It can be said that the water in the bucket is actually still part of the ocean just as we, though we perceive ourselves as different are still part of the Tao.

This chapter returns to that theme.  It is interesting to speculate whether the author means literally to suggest that those steeped in the dao are protected from animal attack.  It seems clear that they are suggesting that only one in ten have discovered their true place in the Dao and so their immortality.

The first stanza points out the perception that we, as living humans perceive ourselves as separate from the Tao, our "home."

The second stanza can be seen to say that some struggle with living, some with dying, others with the secret desire to die.

The third stanza suggests that these people's struggle is because they have not seen through to the Dao.  It suggests that only one in ten have noticed their true, immortal nature as part of the Dao.

The fourth stanza is most curious, does the author mean to suggest that those steeped in Dao cannot be cut or injured.  This seems unlikely because wounds to the body are part of the struggles of life that the one who is immortal is beyond.  It can be suggested that the tenth person is not hurt because they have taken refuge in their true nature and so injuries to the body do not disturb their sense of peace.

Chapter 48: The Limits of Learning

He who attends daily to learning increases in learning. He who practices Dao daily diminishes. Again and again he humbles himself. Thus he attains to non-doing (wu wei). He practices non-doing and yet there is nothing left undone.

To command the empire one must not employ craft. If one uses craft he is not fit to command the empire.

Interpretation:

There is a common saying, "The wise are not learned and the learned are not wise.  This stanza may be seen as comparison between learning for the sake of control and learning to be content.  We are can easily imagine a scatterbrained scientist who has memorized thousands of species names and endless details about birds but cannot remember to take care of a pet.  Then there is the person who has lived in nature and knows nothing of the names or scientific details of animals but can raise them and love them as family.   How does the second man, the wise man, acquire this ability?  By being still and observing.  Listening rather than doing.  This can be seen as the message of this chapter.

Stanza one points out the difference between the person who seeks intellectual knowledge and the the person who seek the Dao. 

The second stanza observes that the intellectual eventually fails.  This can be seen to say that the intellectual who is out of touch with the natural wisdom of listening and non-doing cannot value what he learns 

Chapter 47: Seeing Within

For this chapter we will use Susuki's translation:

"Without passing out of the gate The world's course I prognosticate. Without peeping through the window
The heavenly Reason I contemplate. The further one goes, The less one knows."

Therefore the holy man does not travel, and yet he has knowledge. He does not see things, and yet he defines them. He does not labor, and yet he completes.

Interpretation:

Since the Daoist seeks to understand the world and life from the place before form, they need not trave to seek knowledge, by looking within, he can seek the structures and forms that lie beneath for.  If you look to the place before yen and yan, before light and dark, you look also to the place before here and there.  From this place before, all forms that rise from the Tao seem natural and understandable without study or intellectual understanding.

Stanza one observes that the knowledge of the dao comes from still contemplation not movement.  The last stanza, "the further one goes, the less one knows."  Can be interpreted to mean any movement, study, thought, away from still contemplation.

The second stanza tells us the benefits of seeking this stillness.  Internal knowledge, understanding, and wu wei, completion through non-action.  

Chapter 45: Finding Vigor

For this chapter we will use Legge's Translation:

Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide.

Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream.

Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

Interpretation:

Here the author talks about finding strength and remaining strong.

In the first stanza they make the observation, as they have before that being proud of your achievements will exhaust you.  They also point out that those who are happy with nothing, "filled with a void" are not easily tired.

Legge occasionally chose to rhyme his translation of the Dao and Stanza two is an example.  There is no reference to screaming of outcry of any kind in other translations of this chapter.  What the translations do seem to agree on is that, when you follow the natural path, your way will seem crooked.  This can be understood to mean that a Daoist uses least energy, holds his vigor, by following the lines of least resistance in life.  Or at least choosing paths free of unnecessary conflict.

The third stanza may be seen to be somewhat cleverly pointing out that seemingly opposite actions can be best in different circumstances.  If it's cold out, keeping busy will keep you warm.  On the other hand, if it's hot, finding  a shaded corner to rest in will help you cool down.  How often are the rules of life fixed?  How often to they require adaptation to the moment?

Chapter 43: The Benefit of Non-Action (Wu Wei)

For this chapter we will use Legge's translation:

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; 

That which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice.

I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose). There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.

Interpretation:

This chapter returns to the concept of Wu Wie, the idea that inaction is often the best action.

The first stanza can be seen to be describing the action of water which, though it has no form of its own can overcome or wear down anything having a set form.

The second stanza curiously parallels quantum physics which has discovered a range of massless or near massless particles capable of passing through solid matter as if it were transparent.  The same can be said to a lesser extent of radio signals, x-rays and other massless energy forms.

The third stanza suggests that non-action results in the ability to penetrate seemingly intractable problems.  Can you think of an example where direct opposition to a problem was ineffective but waiting would have created an opening?