Chapter 56: Restraining The Self

For this Chapter we will use Susuki's translation

One who knows does not talk. One who talks does not know. Therefore the sage keeps his mouth shut and his sense-gates closed.

"He will blunt his own sharpness, His own tangles adjust; He will dim his own radiance, And be one with his dust." This is called profound identification.

Thus he is inaccessible to love and also inaccessible to enmity. He is inaccessible to profit and inaccessible to loss. He is also inaccessible to favor and inaccessible to disgrace. Thus he becomes world-honored.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 56

Interpretation:

This chapter can be seen to reiterate a theme common in religion.  Those of knowledge, as part of the process of living in peace or for some other reason often choose to stay silent.  This chapter can be seen as similar to Proverbs 17:27 in the Christian Bible.  It reads, "He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit."

Sri Ramakrishna, the 19th Century Hindu mystic explained it this way.  "The nearer you approach to God, the less you reason and argue.  When you attain Him, then all sounds-all reasoning and disputing-come to an end.  The you go into samadhi-sleep, into communion with God in silence."

So it can be said that this chapter is one whose lesson is most widely agreed upon world wide.

The first stanza simply states that those who understand the Tao are those most likely not to speak of it.

The second stanza repeats an often repeated message in Taoism that the wise tend to live simple lives.  By extrapolation, though you may not hear a wise person speak, you can know them by their simplicity.

The third stanza repeats earlier chapters that remind us that attachments are the source of problems.  Those who remain unattached live without difficulty.

Chapter 51: What is teh

Tao gives life to all creatures; de [teh] feeds them; materiality shapes them; energy completes them. Therefore among all things there is none that does not honor Dao and esteem de [teh].

Honor for Dao and esteem for de [teh] is never compelled, it is always spontaneous.

Therefore Dao gives life to them, but de [teh] nurses them, raises them, nurtures, completes, matures, rears, protects them.

Tao gives life to them but makes no claim of ownership; de [teh] forms them but makes no claim upon them, raises them but does not rule them. This is profound vitality (de [teh]).

Interpretation:

The "teh" or "te" of an object is often described as its "virture."  Another way to look at "teh" would be "natural purpose."  This definition may help in the understanding of the above passage, since all things, even things that we find to be without virtue do serve the purpose that is natural to their being.

Stanza one separates out four states of being, the self created by Tao, the self created by natural purpose, the physical self and the energy that flows through all of the above.

Stanza two can be seen to be saying that honor and respect for the nature of things is natural within.

The third stanza observes that the Dao itself gives rise to all things (including teh) but that teh may be defined separately as the driving force that completes the unique shape of each thing.

We see again in the fourth stanza the much repeated message that Dao and now also teh do these things spontaneously and without desire to own or possess.  It is this selflessness that give teh such unlimited power.