Understanding the Tao te Ching Ch. 28: Finding Simplicity

He who knows his manhood and understands his womanhood becomes useful like the valleys of earth (which bring water). Being like the valleys of earth, eternal vitality (de [teh]) will not depart from him, he will come again to the nature of a little child

He who knows his innocence and recognizes his sin becomes the world's model. Being a world's model, infinite de [teh] will not fail, he will return to the Absolute.

He who knows the glory of his nature and recognizes also his limitations becomes useful like the world's valleys. Being like the world'svalleys, eternal de [teh] will not fail him, he will revert to simplicity.

Radiating simplicity he will make of men vessels of usefulness. The wise man then will employ them as officials and chiefs. A great administration of such will harm no one.

Interpretation:

These stanza may be said to represent a ladder of progress toward simple life.  

The first stanza suggest that we learn to understand our yin and yang, our expressive and receptive abilities.

The translation of the second stanza is in doubt.  The concepts of sin and innocence are not common in Taoism.  Legge translates the same stanza this way:

"Who knows how white attracts,
Yet always keeps himself within black's shade,
The pattern of humility displayed,
Displayed in view of all beneath the sky;
He in the unchanging excellence arrayed,
Endless return to man's first state has made."

Translated this way, stanza two becomes a lesson in humility; a common theme in Taoism.

Stanza three returns to to the earlier message of the "glory" found within all things that arise from the Tao but reminds us to balance that with our limited nature.  The combination of these three attributes; balance of yin and yang, humility, and glory matched to ability leads to a simple life.

The fourth stanza observes that a person skilled in these three skills can be of great use as leaders because they will not desire to harm anyone.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 27: Compassion for All

Good walkers leave no tracks, good speakers make no errors, good counters need no abacus, good wardens have no need for bolts and locks for no one can get by them. Good binders can dispense with rope and cord, yet none can unloose their hold.

Therefore the wise man trusting in goodness always saves men, for there is no outcast to him. Trusting in goodness he saves all things for there is nothing valueless to him. This is recognizing concealed values.

Therefore the good man is the instructor of the evil man, and the evil man is the good man's wealth. He who does not esteem his instructors or value his wealth, though he be otherwise intelligent, becomes confused. Herein lies the significance of spirituality.

Interpretation:

The first stanza of the chapter observes that, when you are very good at a thing, it can sometimes appear as if you are not doing it at all.  You have made it your nature.

The second stanza observes that a wise man chooses compassion.  Choose to include all people in his scope of care.  This is in keeping with earlier messages in the Tao te ching.  Since we all rise from the same source, can we say that one of us is more or less worth of care "saving?"  

Translations of the final stanza vary widely.  Looking at the characters:

不善人者，善人之資。不貴
其師，不愛其資，雖智大迷，是謂要妙。

the first line does clearly state that the "bad" or "not to be looked down on" person is the wise person's treasure.  The second sentence may or may not agree with Goddard's translation.  The character 不 is negative and seems to suggest that the wise man does not  愛 "love" his treasure.  Perhaps in light of earlier chapters on non-attachment this stanza is meant to suggest that the wise man values all men but does not become attached to them.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 26: Remaining Calm

The heavy is the root of the light; the quiet is master of motion.

Therefore the wise man in all the experience of the day will not depart from dignity. Though he be surrounded with sights that are magnificent, he will remain calm and unconcerned.

How does it come to pass that the Emperor, master of ten thousand chariots, has lost the mastery of the Empire? Because being flippant himself, he has lost the respect of his subjects; being passionate himself, he has lost the control of the Empire.

Interpretation:

Here the author ties the issue of opposites to individual life.  We know from earlier chapters that light and dark make each other, and the neither good nor evil can exist without the other.  So if we wish to remain on the path, how do we react to the events around us?  Too much excitement and we lose control, too much control and we lose passion.  The author suggests to us that we do not overreact to any experience that we have.  When the author asks how the master of the chariots can lose mastery of the kingdom, we can read them to say, if we cannot master our own responses, we cannot control the world around us.



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Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 24: "Being Natural"

24.

It is not natural to stand on tiptoe, or being astride one does not walk. One who displays himself is not bright, or one who asserts himself cannot shine. A self-approving man has no merit, nor does one who praises himself grow.

The relation of these things (self-display, self-assertion, self-approval) to Dao is the same as offal is to food. They are excrescences from the system; they are detestable; Dao does not dwell in them.

Interpretation:

Again this chapter cautions us about vanity and the ego and the very funny metaphors again points out the happy heart of the taoist.   We cannot stand on our ego with any more grace than we can on our tiptoes.  

The comparison of the ego to "offal" is funny but leads to a deeper question.  By saying "self-display" etc. exist in relation to the Dao in the same way that offal relates to food, the author suggests that ego is a by product of the Tao.  Why might they say that?

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 23: How to Attract Good People

For this chapter we will use Susuki's translation.

23.

To be taciturn is the natural way. A hurricane: does not outlast the morning. A cloudburst does not outlast the day. Who causes these events but heaven and earth? If even heaven and earth cannot be unremitting, will not man be much less so?

Those who pursue their business in Reason, men of Reason, associate in Reason. Those who pursue their business in virtue associate in virtue. Those who pursue their business in ill luck associate in ill luck. When men associate in Reason, Reason makes them glad to find companions.

When men associate in virtue, virtue makes them glad to find companions. When men associate in ill luck, ill luck makes them glad to find companions. "If your faith is insufficient, verily shall ye receive no faith."

Interpretation:

In one of the funniest moments in the Tao te Ching, the author here offers us a warning before making his point.  A hurricane does not last very long and neither do people who talk too much.  This message and others like it point to the realization that people deeply immersed in the Tao seldom speak of it.  This is why even in China, there are so few teachers of the Tao.  The natural way must be experienced not taught and those who teach generally are not advanced in their study.

The message that follows may be interpreted as like attracts like.  If you are on the path, you will find others who are also on the path.  If you fall from the path, you will meet others who are off the path.  

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 20: Accepting Life

We will use Legge's translation for this chapter:

20.

When we renounce learning we have no troubles. The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;'-- Small is the difference they display.  But mark their issues, good and ill;  --What space the gulf between shall fill?

What all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)!

The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos.

Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. (Thus) I alone am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Dao).

Interpretation:

This is perhaps the most difficult to understand passage in the Tao te Ching.  The writing is so inconsistent with the writing in other parts of the book that many people have used this passage as the basis for arguing that more than one author wrote the Tao te Ching.  

Goddard clearly did not appreciate it's value.  Beginning with the third stanza, he stopped translating, writing this instead.  "

"(The balance of this sonnet is devoted to showing the difference between the careless state of the common people and his own vision of the Tao. It is one of the most pathetic expressions of human loneliness, from lack of appreciation, ever written. It is omitted here that it might serve for the closing sonnet and valedictory.)"

But is this chapter a "pathetic expression of human loneliness?'"   Regardless of whether or not this chapter was written by the same author, comparing it to earlier messages in the book, we may gain some insight into the author's intent.

Earlier the author has stated that the solution to peace and happiness is not to try to solve the problem of life but to accept life as it is.  In that context, perhaps the "learning" the author wants to avoid is the desire to "sort out" or "overcome" life.  Then the "yes" that is ready becomes the will to overcome and the "yea" that is flattering becomes kind hearted acceptance.  

There is an indication that this is the author's intent in the second stanza where he agrees that the things men fear are real and are dangerous but points out that there is no end to these troubles.

So, if you gave up trying to overcome life and simply said "yea" to it, how would you look to other people.  This is the bulk of the third and fourth stanza.

The chapter ends with a note that the author does not suffer as his imagined observers think he does because he is at one with the "nursing mother" or yin power of Tao.  Some authors have translated this line as receiving milk from the mother Tao.  Or put another way, the author does not participate in the toils of other men and so appears stupid to them but because he is in touch with the Tao, he still receives what he needs.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 8: 易性

8.

True goodness is like water, in that it benefits everything and harms nothing. Like water it ever seeks the lowest place, the place that all others avoid. It is closely kin to the Dao.


For a dwelling it chooses the quiet meadow; for a heart the circling eddy. In generosity it is kind; in speech it is sincere; in authority it is order; in affairs it is ability; in movement it is rhythm.


In as much as it is always peaceable it is never rebuked.

Interpretation:

While the Tao te Ching recognizes the impartial nature of the universe, it does find more effective (good) and ineffective (bad) ways for humans to lives their lives.  The observation here is that acceptance of the world and co-existence are the most effective.   The comparison to water may be seen as a metaphor for acceptance.  if you stand like a stone in the river, the water will eventually knock you over or wear you down.  If you accept the movement of the water and go with it, you will be taken with it and will see all that the river sees.

The final stanza may be seen as a caution against pride.  Legg translates it this way:

"And when (one with the highest excellence) does not wrangle (about his low position), no one finds fault with him."

This may be seen as a comment that, when we accept the flow of the river, continuing to protest that we are the rock, will only bring us the troubles that come with pride.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 5: 虛用

5.

Heaven and earth are not like humans, they are impartial. They regard all things as insignificant, as though they were playthings made of straw. The wise man is also impartial. To him all men are alike and unimportant.


The space between heaven and earth is like a bellows, it is empty but does not collapse; it moves and more and more issues. A gossip is soon empty, it is doubtful if he can be impartial.

Interpretation:


It is often hard for western minds to understand that there are many philosophies in the world that do not assume the universe is compassionate or at all concerned with the fate of humans.  The Taoist view is that the universe acts on its own impulse and that humanlike feelings, good or bad, are not motivating forces.  This can seem quite cold and unfeeling, especially at the end of the first stanza when the reader is advised to behave impartially toward men.  


Understanding of this passage may be accessed from a distance and then approached slowly.  Consider, for example, an asteroid striking a distant planet.  A person with a telescope observing this might feel elated, excited.  What a wonderful thing to see.  Now let us consider the same person the next day when an asteroid strikes near his house.  Disaster!  This is a terrible thing to have happen.  We can see here, that the asteroid follows Dao at all times and the human's perception based on our relationship to the event.  Can we then observe the asteroid striking near our homes and understand that it is still only Dao?  That the pain we feel is because of our relationship to the event and not because of the event itself.


If we can begin to experience this impartiality then we can begin to approach this Chapter.  Can we also see that all the other people in our lives are behaving in accordance with their nature the same as the asteroid?  Can we remain detached and observant as if we were viewing them through a telescope?  If so, then we may access the Tao through this chapter.


Note:  The Chinese characters in the first stanza here interpreted as meaning "playthings made of straw" actually refer to straw totems used in rituals and then discarded.  This word choice suggests that things, people, events, do have value in their time, but that clinging to that value outside of the moment creates conflict.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 3: 安民

3.

Neglecting to praise the worthy deters people from emulating them; just as not prizing rare treasures deters a man from becoming a thief;


or ignoring the things which awaken desire keeps the heart at rest


Therefore the wise ruler does not suggest unnecessary things, but seeks to satisfy the minds of his people. He seeks to allay appetites but strengthen bones. He ever tries by keeping people in ignorance to keep them satisfied and those who have knowledge he restrains from evil. If he, himself, practices restraint then everything is in quietness.

Interpretation:


Legend has it that the Tao te Ching was written at the request of the Emperor.  Whether this is true or not, it is undeniable that the text refers frequently to the issue of ruling a body of people.  Chapter 3 carries on the idea of Chapter 2 for two stanzas then discusses how to apply this knowledge in the rule of humans.


Having realized that praise and disgrace breed each other, laozi now suggests that a good ruler should not praise the effective, nor should you display desirable things.  This is understood if you consider the desire to own an automobile.  Before 1890 only a few very imaginative individuals had ever desired to have a car.  The concept simply did not exist.  Now there is great desire and suffering over the availability and desirable qualities of various cars.  If no on had ever suggested to people that it was possible to have motorized transport this desire would never have developed.  In the mind of the author, life is better if the people are given what they need but not taught to desire more than that.