By Dr. Tan Kheng Khoo
Reciting Tao Te Ching Chapter 81 ---- 乐诵 ( 道德经 ) 第八十一章
Tao Te Ching Part Two
This is the continuation of the last article, Tao Te Ching Part One. The last article depicts Verses 1 to 37, which is the Tao Ching. These 37 verses describe the essence of Tao. This article is the Te Ching comprising of verses 38 to 81. And here it explores the Tao of Power and Virtue. This power is latent in every individual, and the Te will emerge if the individual is aware and is aligned with the forces of nature. The last article, Tao Ching, explored the conditions by which one can be receptive to one’s own Tao. Once one has let go enough of one’s assets, status, honour and position and is living frugally in accordance with nature, there are no grounds for fear and desires for that individual. One has now a vision and a sense of psychic integration with nature that one has a power to wield a force that is neither aggressive nor punitive to others.
The realized sage never shows his strength, yet others listen to him because of his charisma and he seems to know. He radiates knowledge, which is an intuitive knowing that comes from a direct understanding and experience with the ways of nature. One is compassionate and generous because he instinctively realizes that power continues to flow through him only when he passes on that power.
While living a simple life, the sage influences others by his example and attitude. That means the realized person possesses intellectual independence and simplicity in living. He understands the universe based on experience and not on faith. Relying on concepts composing of doctrines and dogma created by others will not cultivate his own mind. Nothing new or fresh can arise. One must have simplicity in conduct and beliefs in its environment in order to realize the truth of reality. In this way, freedom will be attracted by his simple life, and his personal power is enhanced. It is the letting go of unnecessary desires and superfluous possessions that brings on that freedom. Although an individual life contains the whole universe, when we develop fixations about certain things in life the individual becomes unfocused, narrow and shallow. Thus, a crisis in the mind is developed. With letting go, freedom, security, power and independence will increase.
I will now continue with the second part of the (Tao) Te Ching. The verses here are that of 38 to 81.
Tao Te Ching Part Two
38. High TE? No TE!
That’s what TE is.
Low TE doesn’t lack TE;
That’s what TE is not.
Those highest in TE take no action
And don’t need to act
Those lowest in TE take action
And do need to act.
Those highest in benevolence take action
But don’t need to act.
Those highest in righteousness take action
And do need to act.
Those highest in propriety take action
An if people don’t reciprocate
Roll up their sleeves and throw them out.
Therefore,
Lose TAO
And TE follows.
Lose TE
And benevolence follows
Lose benevolence
And righteousness follows.
Lose righteousness
And propriety follows.
Propriety dilutes loyalty and sincerity
Confusion begins.
Foreknowledge glorifies the TAO:
Stupidity sets in.
And so the ideal person dwells
In substance, not dilution,
In reality, not glory,
Accepts one, rejects the other.
39. Of old, these attained the One:
Heaven attaining the One
Became clear.
Earth attaining the One
Became stable.
Spirits attaining the One
Became sacred.
Valleys attaining the One
Became bountiful.
Myriad beings attaining the One
Became fertile.
Lords and kings attaining the One
Purified the world.
If heaven were not clear
It might split.
If earth were not stable,
It might erupt.
If spirits were not sacred
They might fade.
If valleys were not bountiful,
They might wither.
If myriad beings were not fertile,
They might perish.
If rulers and lords were not noble,
They might stumble.
Therefore,
Noble has humble as its root,
High has low as its foundation.
Rulers and lords call themselves
Poorly lonely orphans.
Isn’t this using humility as a root?
They use many carriages
But have no carriage;
They do not desire to glisten like jade
But drop like a stone.
Comment
The use of ‘the One’ as a synonym for the Tao indicates the unifying character of the Tao. This poem is an assertion that the Tao is immanent everywhere.
40. Reversal is TAO’s movement.
Yielding is TAO’s practice.
All things originate from being.
Being originates from non-being.
Comment
The word “return” means to go back into one’s self, where the ultimate mystery of being can eventually be confronted. Yielding is like Jesus’ trial where a religion is born. “What is” is the ‘mother’. Non-being means beyond the categories of being and non-being.
41. The great scholar hearing the TAO
Tries to practice it.
The middling scholar hearing the TAO,
Sometimes has it, sometimes not.
The lesser scholar hearing the TAO
Has a good laugh,
Without the laughter
It wouldn’t be TAO.
Therefore, these sayings:
The bright road seems dark,
The road forward seems to retreat,
The level road seems rough.
Great TE seems hollow.
Great purity seems sullied.
Pervasive TE seems deficient.
Established TE seems furtive.
Simple truths seem to change.
The great square has no corners.
The great vessel is finished late.
The great sound is scarcely voiced.
The great image has no form.
TAO hides, no name.
Yet TAO alone gets things done.
42. TAO engenders ONE,
One engenders Two,
Two engenders Three,
Three engenders the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things carry shade
And embrace sunlight.
Shade and sunlight, yin and yang,
Breathe blending into harmony.
Humans hate
To be alone, poor, and hungry.
Yet kings and princes
Use these words as titles.
We gain by losing,
Losing by gaining.
What others teach, I also teach:
A violent man does not die a natural death.
This is the basis of my teaching.
Comment
When it is called One, it is no longer the Tao. The ten thousand things carry the yin and yang; through the blending of the energy (chi) of these two, they achieve harmony. Although people hate to be orphans, widowers, and starvelings, these names are used as titles by kings and princes.
43. The softest thing in the world
Rides roughshod over the strongest.
No-thing enters no-space.
This teaches me the benefit of no-action.
Teaching without words,
Benefit without action-----
Few in this world can attain this.
Paraphrase
On the analogy of water, the softest stuff, penetrating rocks, the insubstantial Tao gets into everything, even when it seems that there is no place for it. Yet neither water nor the Tao attempt this penetration; it happens without effort, without doing on the part of the Tao or resistance on the part of whatever is penetrated. The creature simply gives up to its Creator.
44. Name or body: which is closer?
Body or possessions: which means more?
Gains or loss: which one hurts?
Extreme love exacts a great price.
Many possessions entail heavy loss.
Know what is enough----
Abuse nothing.
Know when to stop---
Harm nothing.
This is how to last a long time.
Comment
Name (fame) or integrity, body or possessions, what value does one place on each of them? Having been imbued by the Tao, the sage accepts whatever comes to him. Extreme love is costly, many possessions may incur great losses. He uses fame with integrity and money as pure energy. Success or failure is irrelevant, because his heart rests in the Tao.
45. Great accomplishment seems unfinished
But its use is continuous.
Great fullness seems empty
But in use is inexhaustible.
Great straightness seems bent,
Great skills seems clumsy,
Great eloquence seems mute.
Exertion overcomes cold.
Calm overcomes heat.
Pure calm is the norm under heaven.
Paraphrase
The Tao, unnamed, though ideal for every good purpose, seems to ordinary observers both defective and stupid. Nevertheless, by means of it, the king can bring order and probity to the world.
46. With TAO under heaven
Stray horses fertilize the field.
Without Tao under heaven
Warhorses are bred at the frontier.
There is no greater calamity
Than not knowing what is enough.
There is no greater fault
Than desire for success.
Therefore,
Knowing that enough is enough
Is always
Enough.
Paraphrase
When the Tao prevails, nobody wants to go anywhere and the coach horses are turned out to pastures; when the Tao does not prevail, cavalry horses are bred in the city parks. The king should be contented with that of nature. It is contented to be contented.
47. Without going out the door,
Know the world.
Without peeping through the windows,
See heaven’s TAO.
The further you travel,
The less you know.
This is why the Sage
Knows without budging,
Identifies without looking,
Does without trying.
Paraphrase
The inner world of a man reflects the world around him; the principles of both worlds are the same. Certainty is to be found only in the heart; confusion is bred in the outer world.
48. Pure knowledge, gain daily.
Pursue TAO, lose daily.
Lose and again lose,
Arrive at non-doing.
Non-doing-----and nothing not done.
Take the entire world as nothing.
Make the least effort,
And the world escapes you.
Paraphrase
A student adds each day to his stock of knowledge or experience; but the attainment of the Tao is not like that. Each one sheds a selfish impulse or desire and continues to do so until his will is at rest in the Tao and is undistracted. One can let go of everything except the Tao; but having the Tao, one has the whole world with it. The world can be mine if I do not try to own it or run it, according to my ideas. When I try to run it, then I lose it altogether. Let the king be well advised that he can have everything if he does not try to possess it selfishly.
49. The Sage has no set heart.
Ordinary people’s hearts
Become the Sage’s heart.
People who are good
I treat well.
People who are not good
I also treat well:
TE is goodness.
Trustworthy people
I trust
Untrustworthy people
I also trust
Sages create harmony under heaven
Blending their hearts with the world.
Other people fix their eyes and ears on them,
But the sages become the world’s children.
Comment
This verse says that a sage is disinterested and objective in his view of people. He is not a judge or divider over them. He knows that the sun will rise on the evil and the good, and it will rain on the just and unjust. The sage is not morally indifferent: his virtue is more than social convention, as the Tao is essentially moral.
50. Emerge into life, enter death.
Life is only the thirteen body parts,
Death is only the thirteen body parts.
Human life, moving towards death,
Is the same thirteen.
Why is this?
Because life gives life to substance.
You have heard of people
Good at holding on to life.
Walking overland they don’t avoid
Rhinos and tigers.
In battle they don’t arm themselves.
The rhino’s horn finds nothing to gore,
The tiger’s claws find nothing to flay,
Weapons find nothing to pierce.
Why is this?
They have no mortal spot.
Comment
A man has thirteen vital organs through which death may come to him. By ancient lore, there are “the four limbs and the nine external cavities”. These spots of danger circumvent his will to live. The sage, however, is in no danger. His thirteen organs have nothing to do with his life or death. He lives by the Tao.
51. TAO bears them
TE nurses them
Events form them
Energy completes them.
Therefore the ten thousand beings
Honour TAO and respect TE.
TAO is honoured
TE is respected
Because they do not give orders
But endure in their own nature.
Therefore,
TAO bears them and TE nurses them
Rears them,
Raises them,
Shelters them,
Nurtures them,
Supports them,
Protects them.
Bears them without owning them,
Helps them without coddling them,
Rears them without ruling them.
This is called original TE.
Comment
This poem emphasises that one must respect things as they are.
52. The world has a source: the world’s mother.
Once you have the mother,
You know the children.
Once you know the children,
Return to the mother.
Your body dies.
There is no danger.
Block the passage,
Bolt the gate:
No strain
Until your life ends.
Open the passage,
Take charge of things:
No relief
Until your life ends.
Seeing the small is called brightness.
Maintaining gentleness is called strength.
Use this brightness to return to brightness.
Don’t cling to your body’s woes.
Then you can learn endurance.
Paraphrase
The closer you keep to the ‘mother’ or the source, begotten by the Tao, the safer you will be. Live within yourself, but not to exhaust yourself in the world. As wisdom comes in small bits at a time, you must trust the light of the Tao so that intelligence will come to you.
53. Having some knowledge
When walking the Great TAO
Only brings fear.
The Great TAO is very smooth,
But people like rough trails.
The government is divided,
Fields are overgrown,
Granaries are empty,
But the nobles’ clothes are gorgeous,
The belts show off swords,
And they are glutted with food and drink.
Personal wealth is excessive.
This is called thieves’ endowment,
But it is not TAO.
Paraphrase
No matter how ignorant I may be, at least I know better than to get off the Tao. It is a smooth Way and yet people prefer the bypaths of sensuality. Meanwhile the people fare badly; robed by the nobles, they have no strength left to tend their farms. The people are saying that the King is surrounded by loud bandits.
54. Well planted, not uprooted.
Well embraced, never lost.
Descendants will continue
The ancestral rituals.
Maintain oneself:
TE becomes real
Maintain the family:
TE becomes abundant.
Maintain the community:
TE becomes extensive.
Maintain the country:
TE becomes prolific.
Maintain the world:
TE becomes omnipresent.
Therefore,
Through self contemplating self,
Through family contemplating family,
Through community contemplating community,
Through country contemplating country,
Through world contemplating world.
How do I know the world?
Like this!
Paraphrase
Everything depends on man’s relation to the Tao, especially the form of virtue appropriate to each field of interest and endeavour. This leads to the consideration of the ideal person, home, village, realm or world. The actual man is the avenue through which the ideal man is contemplated. But once a man is set firm in the Tao, he becomes the ideal and the standard by which all actual men are judged.
55. Be filled with TE,
Like a baby:
Wasps, scorpions and vipers
Do not sting it.
Fierce tigers do not stalk it.
Bird of preys do not attack it.
Bones weak, muscle soft,
But its grasp is tight.
It does not yet know
Union of male and female,
But its sex is formed,
Its vital essence complete.
IT can scream all day and not get hoarse,
Its harmony is complete.
Knowing harmony is called endurance.
Knowing endurance is called illumination.
Increasing life is called fortune.
Mind controlling energy is called power.
When beings prosper and grow old,
Call them not-TAO
Not-TAO soon ends.
Paraphrase
The sage is immune to evil. This is due to his childlikeness, which is to say, that there is complete harmony in his person. No dissipation has wasted his powers. He shares the constancy of nature and is therefore enlightened. He is not exuberant or aggressive. So may the king be. If he continues with the Tao there will be no decline in his strength or virtue. If he departs from the Tao, he is doomed.
56. Those who know don’t talk.
Those who talk don’t know.
Block the passage
Bolt the gate
Blunt the sharp
Untie the knot
Blend with the light
Become one with the dust----
This is called original unity.
It can’t be embraced
It can’t be escaped,
It can’t be helped
It can’t be harmed,
It can’t be exalted
It can’t be despised,
Therefore it is revered under Heaven.
Comment
“Those who know don’t talk” means they don’t talk for the sake of talking, or to prove something, or to display themselves. They talk only if it’s appropriate. “Those who talk don’t know”: This is ignorance, not the openness of not-knowing.
57. Use the expected to govern the country,
Use surprise to wage war.
Use non-action to win the world.
How do I know?
Like This!
The more prohibitions and rules,
The poorer people become.
The sharper people’s weapons,
The more they riot.
The more skilled their techniques,
The more grotesque their works.
The elaborate the laws,
The more they commit crimes.
Therefore the Sage says:
I do nothing
And people transform themselves
I enjoy serenity
And people govern themselves.
I cultivate emptiness
And people become prosperous.
I have no desires
And people simplify themselves.
Paraphrase
The government of the realm must be based on justice and righteousness; trickery is for warfare. The world is to be won by letting it alone; then only will the Tao take over. This is indicated by the fact that the more a government acts, the more it has to act. With all our ruling and doing, the world goes badly; it would be better if we were to let it alone altogether. If we did that, the people would be free and naturally, they would return to the simplicity and honesty of primitive times, to the qualities of the Virginal Block. This is what the king should desire.
58. The government is muted and muffled
People are cool and refreshed.
If government investigates and intrudes,
People are worn down and hopeless.
Bad fortune rests upon good fortune.
Good luck hides within bad luck.
Who knows how it will end?
If there is no principle
Principle reverts to disorder,
Good reverts to calamity,
People’s confusion hardens and lingers on.
Therefore the Sage
Squares without cutting,
Corners without dividing,
Straightens without extending,
Shines without dazzling.
Comment
To be “square” is to be honest. That good fortune begets the bad and it requires magic to make it so. Since everything that happens is governed by the Tao, magic is to be ruled out.
59. Governing people and serving heaven
Is like living off the land.
Living sparingly and responding quickly
Means accumulating TE.
There is nothing that cannot be overcome.
There is no limit.
You can become the country
And the country’s mother,
And nourish and extend it.
This is called deep roots, from base.
This is the TAO if living long and seeing far.
Paraphrase
In governing people and serving heaven, nothing is better than moderation. This means preparing in advance, which is actually accumulating Te (virtue or power). He who accumulates Te overcomes all obstacles, which means he has no limits. With no limits he can possess a country. He who possesses the mother of a country can keep it for a long time. This means having long life and enduring vision.
60. Govern big countries
Like you cook little fish.
When TAO harmonizes the world,
Demons lose their power.
Not that demons lose their power,
But their power does not harm people.
Not that their power does not harm people,
But the Sage does not harm people.
If neither does harm,
Then TE flows and returns.
Paraphrase
According to the Tao, the less you do about governing people the better your government will proceed. As the Tao comes into its own, the old superstitions lose their hold: the people take the evil spirits less seriously. When it is conceded that the evil spirits can no longer harm the people, it must appear that at least the Sage is harmless. In which case, the king’s special virtue should converge to a common purpose.
61 A great nation flows down
To be the world’s pool,
The female under heaven.
In stillness
The female constantly overcomes the male,
In stillness
Takes the low place.
Therefore a great nation
Lowers itself
And wins over a small one.
A small nation
Keeps itself low
And wins over a great one.
Sometimes becoming low wins,
Sometimes staying low wins.
A great nation desires nothing more
Then to unite and protect people.
A small nation desires nothing more
Than to enter the service of people.
When both get what they wish
The great one should be low.
Paraphrase
A large land has room for many people and so they come to it like rivers to the ocean. It is passive, receptive like a woman who first desires and then overcomes a man. Passivity is here proposed as a principle of international relations. Beyond passivity, there is humility and this is the ultimate principle of world dominance. Let the king consider this well before he embarks on a war. The psychology of nations great and small is one; let both the humble and serve each other’s need from their respective resources; one has room while the other has people to give. Then there will peace, which always lies at the end of the Tao.
62. TAO is the mysterious centre of all things,
A treasure for those who are good,
A refuge for those who are not.
Beautiful words can be traded,
Noble deeds can enhance reputations,
But if people lack them,
Why should they be rejected?
When the Son of Heaven is enthroned
And the Three Ministers installed,
Presenting jade discs
And four-horse chariots
Cannot compare to sitting still
And offering the TAO
The ancients honoured this TAO.
Didn’t they say:
Through it seekers find,
Through it the guilty escape?
This is why TAO is honoured under Heaven.
Comment
It is important to forgive sinners. It is a waste to punish bad men. Let them be forgiven as befits the Wise Man, the king who does great business on a special day. The Tao requires forgiveness of sin and the Tao is truly honoured when the sinners are forgiven. Incidentally, the king’s subjects will at once acknowledge that this is the Tao.
63. Act without acting
Serve without serving
Taste without tasting
Big, little,
Many, few---
Repay hatred with TE.
Map difficult through easy
Approach great through narrow.
The most difficult things in the world
Must be accomplished through the easiest.
The greatest things in the world
Must be accomplished through the smallest.
Therefore the Sage
Never attempts great things
And so accomplishes them.
Quick promises
Mean little trust.
Everything easy
Means great difficulty.
Thus for the Sage
Everything is difficult
And so in the end
Nothing is difficult.
Paraphrase
The paradox of “acting without doing anything,” or of simultaneous work and rest, or of relishing the flavourless, is resolved by the miracle of the Tao.
The Sage is always serious because he knows how small troubles grow great and he deals with them while they are easy to handle. The King achieves greatness by choosing hard things before they choose him.
64. At rest is easy to hold.
Not yet impossible is easy to plan.
Brittle is easy to break.
Fine is easy to scatter.
Create before it exists.
Lead before it goes astray.
A tree too big to embrace
Is born from a slender shoot.
A nine-storey tower
Rises from a pile of earth
A thousand-mile journey
Begins with a single step.
Act and ruin it.
Grasp and you lose it.
Therefore the Sage
Does not act
And so does not ruin
Does not grasp
And so does not lose.
People commonly ruin their work
When they are near success.
Proceed at the end as at the beginning
And your work won’t be ruined.
Therefore the Sage
Desires no desires
Prizes no prizes
Studies no Studies
And returns
To what others pass by.
The Sage
Helps all beings find their nature,
But does not presumes to act.
65. Taoist rulers of old
Did not enlighten people
But left them dull.
People are difficult to govern
Because they are very clever.
Therefore,
Ruling through cleverness
Leads to rebellion
Not ruling through cleverness
Brings good fortune
Know these two things
And understand the enduring pattern.
Understand the enduring pattern
This is called original TE
Original TE goes deep and far.
All things reverse
Return
And reach the great headwaters.
Paraphrase
There are ways but the Tao is uncharted; there are names but not nature in words. The skilled governors of ancient times would never pretend to say what really was going on in the government of the realm. Any statement would only confuse the people and make governing them more difficult. When good times are had, it is because the Tao has taken its own free course. The secret of the Tao is not for interested parties or those who are bound by desire.
The Tao is its own standard and producer of good government on earth. It is the mystic’s virtue to know it and to use it. When it is found and applied, all things will return to that primitive harmony, which was once disturbed, and being disturbed, gave rise to mankind’s ineluctable problems.
66. Rivers and seas
Can rule the hundred valleys.
Because they are good at lying low
They are lords of the valleys.
Therefore those who would be above
Must speak as if they are below.
Those who would lead
Must speak as if they are behind.
In this way the Sage dwells above
And the people are not burdened.
Dwells in front
And they are not hindered.
Therefore the whole world
Is delighted and unwearied.
Since the Sage does not contend
No one can contend the Sage.
Paraphrase
The king can attain his true character as a king only by humility and disinterestedness, both of which virtues must be real and apparent.
67. Everyone under heaven calls my TAO great,
And unlike anything else.
It is great only because
It is unlike anything else
If it were like anything else
It would stretch and become thin.
I have three treasures
To maintain and conserve:
The first is compassion.
The second is frugality
The third is not presuming
To be first under heaven.
Compassion leads to courage.
Frugality allows generosity.
Not presuming to be first
Creates a lasting instrument.
Nowadays,
People reject compassion
But want to be brave,
Reject frugality
But want to be generous,
Reject humility