mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== _________________________________________________________________ Comments on the Tao Te Ching using the D.C. Lau translation (Penguin Books, 1963) _________________________________________________________________ * Book I: The Tao Te Ching (Dào Dé Jing^1), the "Way Power/Virtue Classic," is divided into two books. This was often thought to be an arbitrary division; but recently a manuscript was discovered in which the order of the two books was actually reversed. An interpretation has now been offered that the two books are intended to be about the Tao and Te. Book I does begin with statements about the Tao, and Book II with statements about Te. Since the Tao might be thought to be more important than Te, the format that reverses the books may then simply reflect that judgment. + Chapter I: Comparing our edition with other translations of the Tao Te Ching, you may discover that they can be wildly different. One problem is just that ancient Chinese really is a different language from modern Chinese. This can create uncertainties even in translating Confucius, who was trying to be clear and simple. But the problems multiply with Taoism, which is often deliberately obscure and paradoxical. Why Taoism is that way is explained by the first verse: the Tao really cannot be spoken of or named. o Verse 1 [see Chinese text and literal translation at right]: "The Way that can be spoken of/Is not the constant way." The Tao Te Ching begins with a pun: "Way" and "spoken of" ("said") are the same character (Dào). So the first line says: "The Tao that can be tao-ed is not the constant Tao." "The name that can be named..." Here the pun can be maintained in English, where "name" can be both noun and verb. o Verse 2: "The nameless." The Tao is really nameless. Why it is called the "Tao" we will see later. + Chapter III o Verse 10: "Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail." The basic principle of Taoism, that order results from inaction, while disorder results from action. Attempting to control things actually messes them up. + Chapter V o Verse 14: "Heaven and earth are ruthless..." Although Taoism sometimes sounds very pacifistic, it is possible to wage war on Taoist principles; and here it is recognized that nature, and so the Tao, is not always kind. The implications of the Taoist sage treating the people as "straw dogs," however, is not spelled out. + Chapter VI o Verse 17: "The spirit of the valley..." Here is the beginning of the yin imagery of the Tao Te Ching. While the Tao is beyond the opposites of yin and yang, the principles of Not Doing (wu wei) and No Mind (wu xin), which allow the Tao to operate, have a much greater affinity with yin (passive, receptive) than with yang (active, aggressive). The Tao Te Ching therefore illustrates Not Doing with extensive yin imagery. Here the "valley," the "female," and perhaps the "gateway" are all yin images. + Chapter VII o Verses 19-19a: "The Sage puts his person last and it comes first....without thought of self that he is able to accomplish his private ends?" If someone pursues their self-interest (practices the "doing" of self), they defeat and destroy it. By practicing Not Doing, the sage therefore allows the Tao to pursue his self-interest for him, which it will do. This all explains why the sage Lao Tzu may not have existed: the author or authors of the Tao Te Ching would not put themselves forward to claim authorship. That would not be putting one's "person last." It would be a much more Taoist move to deny authorship and attribute the book to the "Old Master," which is what "Lao Tzu" means. + Chapter VIII o Verse 20: "Highest good is like water." The supreme yin image of the Tao: Water. Nothing is so essential to life, and so yielding and receptive; but water is also tremendously powerful and irresistible, as the Chinese know well from devastating floods of the Huang He and Yangtze rivers. "Settles where none would like to be." Water goes to the lowest position, which is not a status that people commonly fight over. Thus Not Doing avoids conflict, "does not contend." + Chapter X o Verse 24: "Can you...govern the state/Without resorting to action? ...Are you capable of keeping to the role of the female?" When we hear about the "role of the female," it is easy to dismiss the whole thing as some traditional, patriarchal instruction to women to stay in their place. However, this will not do for the Tao Te Ching. For one thing, in the traditional, indeed patriarchal Chinese society of the time, women mostly would not be able to read. They would not be reading the Tao Te Ching. So the advice is not to women, it is to rulers. The rulers are being told to keep to the "role of the female." + Chapter XI o Verses 27-27a: "Adapt the nothing therein..." The Tao, in contrast to objects, appears to be Nothing, but it underlies and governs all things. So, "by virtue of Nothing," "what we gain is Something," as the Tao generates growth, usefulness, beauty, etc. This is compared to the nature of mundane objects like bowls: their Emptiness is what makes them useful. The material of a bowl merely enables us to use the Emptiness to put things in. Similarly, the spokes of a wheel enable us to use the emptiness of the wheel; the emptiness of doors and windows enables us to go in and out and to have light and air in a room, which itself is useful through its Emptiness. This Emptiness of the Tao then appears in Chinese art, which can often be very busy and densely decorated, but under the influence of Taoism can also be very plain and undecorated. Chinese landscape paintings especially may be mostly empty space, with mountains and clouds trailing off into misty distance. The emptiness in the painting is just as important, or more important, than the painted part: It represents the Tao. + Chapter XII o Verse 28: "The five colours make man's eyes blind." The classic Taoist paradox. One might think that without the colors, one would be blind; but Taoism says that the colors themselves are blinding if you are thinking about them rather than seeing them. To think, "Oh, colors," is not to see them. Only with No Mind, without thought, will they really be seen. Similarly, thinking about notes or tastes is to close out the actual sounds and flavors. Also note the sets of fives here. The world is already being ordered in reference to the five Chinese elements. + Chapter XVII o Verses 39-41: "The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence..." The essence of Taoist political advice. The ruler practicing Not Doing will not even be noticed, whatever it is that he is literally doing. "The people all say, 'It happened to us naturally.'" Thus the ruler's actions are not distinguishable from natural events, since they are indeed at one with the Tao. This would be unwelcome advice to any modern politician. "Next comes the ruler they love and praise." This would be the Confucian ideal of a ruler, who conspicuously sets an example of goodness and so who will be loved and praised. "Next comes one they fear." A ruler who uses force may be obeyed, as long as the force is credible. The best historical example would be Shihuangdi (246-209), although he probably reigned subsequent to the composition of the Tao Te Ching. Shihuangdi was ruthless enough that he was effective during his lifetime, but after his death the Qin Dynasty (255-207) rapidly crumbled. "Next comes one with whom they take liberties," like the younger son who succeeded Shihuangdi and was overthrown. + Chapter XVIII o Verse 42: "When the great way falls into disuse/There are benevolence and rectitude." Again, this is the opposite of what we would expect. Without the "Way," benevolence and rectitude would disappear, not appear. However, what Taoism means is that without the Tao, we talk about benevolence and rectitude, which have actually disappeared. Thus, you ordinarily don't notice or appreciate how healthy you are until you get sick. Then you talk about health. Talking, however, doesn't bring it back. Similarly with the moral qualities. It is significant that "benevolence and rectitude" (rén and yì) are the two principal virtues of Confucius. Talking about benevolence and rectitude is what Confucius actually did. The Taoist critique is that the talking doesn't help. Indeed, talking about it really will prevent the Tao from restoring the real things. "When the six relations are at variance/There are filial children;/When the state is benighted/There are loyal ministers." Similarly, when filial piety is not observed (the principle of all the "six relations"), then we talk about, and prevent there being, filial children; and when the state is in bad shape, then we talk about, because there aren't any, loyal ministers. (Note, "loyal" here is zhong, which could be better translated "conscientious.") "When cleverness emerges/There is great hypocrisy." This is something else: Taoism wants a simple, rural life. It doesn't like "cleverness" or "novelties." It is hard to imagine the Taoist sage in a city--he is usually to be imagined as a hermit or wanderer in the forest, mountains, or countryside, often only uttering paradoxical statements. The Confucian sage, on the other hand, is intrinsically urban, and most easily imagined actually in a Chinese judge's robes. + Chapter XIX o Verse 43: "Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,/And the people will again be filial." This gives away the paradox: Filial piety will return when we stop talking about moral virtues. + Chapter XXII o Verse 50b: "He does not show himself, and so is conspicuous." The Taoist sage, again, practicing Not Doing. By trying to be inconspicuous, that is the Not Doing of being conspicuous, so then the Tao makes one conspicuous. + Chapter XXIV o Verse 55: "He who shows himself is not conspicuous." The opposite of verse 50b. Always reminds me of Hollywood, where those who try the hardest to be "celebrities" fail the most miserably. + Chapter XXV o Verse 56: "I know not its name/So I style it 'the way'." Why the Tao is called the "Tao." There is nothing else to call it, since "silent and void" it has no real name. o Verse 58: "Heaven on the way." The only place where the yin imagery of the Tao gives way to a yang image: Heaven is very much a yang thing, and it is subordinate to the Tao, but here it subordinates earth, which might be thought the supreme yin thing short of the Tao. Evidently, the Chinese regard for Heaven was too much even for Taoism. + Chapter XXVIII o Verse 63: The most extensive and evocative yin and yang imagery of the Tao Te Ching. "Keep to the role of the female." Again, this cannot be advice to women to stay in their place, since few women would originally have been reading the Tao Te Ching. "Being a babe." The desire for child-like innocence in Taoism. "Role of the black." The yin side again. "Keep to the role of the disgraced." Best illustrated by a Zen story about the Japanese monk Hakuin, who was accused of getting a neighborhood girl pregnant. She didn't want to name the real father and so accused Hakuin instead. He neither admitted nor denied being the father, only saying, "Is that so?" calmly accepting the care of the baby when it was born, even though by then he had lost his reputation. A year later the girl named the real father to her parents. Hakuin expressed no more surprise or concern over the apologies as he had over the accusations, and calmly returned the child when asked, again only saying, "Is that so?" This was the "role of the disgraced" in the most literal sense. [Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Anchor Books, pp. 7-8] "The uncarved block." Since nothing has been done to an uncarved block, it is symbolic of the Tao. + Chapter XXIX o Verse 66: "Nothing should be done to it. Whoever does anything to it will ruin it." Not Doing political advice. + Chapter XXXII o Verse 72: "Heaven and earth will unite and sweet dew will fall." A hint that miraculous effects might be expected from Not Doing: Nature will even produce good weather if we are in harmony with the Tao. This would have unfortunate consequences in some applications of Zen. "And the people will be equitable, though no one so decrees." Again, political advice, not so different from Confucius, since, if the ruler is good, people will be good without being ordered. + Chapter XXXIV o Verse 76: "The myriad creatures depend on it for life yet it claims no authority." A line I wish I could have quoted to my parents as a teenager. "It clothes and feeds the myriad creatures yet lays no claim to being their master." Ditto, though I don't think they would have been persuaded. + Chapter XXXVI o Verse 79a: "The submissive [ ] and weak [ruò] will overcome the hard and strong." The "role of the female" is made more specific: "Submissive" (jou in Wade-Giles and róu in Pinyin) is a significant, evocative term. The dictionary definition of róu (Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Harvard, 1972) is "soft, pliant; yielding, gentle; to overcome by kindness." "Submissive" in Taoism, however, is not always what it might seem. We have all seen the Japanese pronunciation of róu in the word judo (róudào), the "Submissive Way." But Judo really doesn't look very "submissive": throwing people to the mat isn't exactly "to overcome by kindness." As a form of Not Doing, however, the idea in Judo is not to originate an attack and not to use one's own strength: the strength of an attacker is turned against him. This idea was often articulated in the old "Kung Fu" television series of the 70's, with David Carradine. + Chapter XXXVII o Verse 81: Summary of the ideas in Book I. "The myriad creatures will be transformed of their own accord....The nameless uncarved block/Is but freedom from desire." Notice the similarity with the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. The gunas were all forms of desire, and liberation was therefore freedom from desire. But freedom from desire in the Gita is the means to avoid rebirth, while freedom from desire in the Tao Te Ching is the means of liberating the Tao, which provides all the things that we might otherwise have desired anyway. A very great difference between world-denying India and world-affirming China. * Book II: Now possibly interpreted as the book specifically about Te, which might be placed before Book I, about the Tao. + Chapter XXXVIII o Verse 82: "A man of the highest virtue [Te, ]," doesn't talk about virtue, and so actually practices it. "A man of the lowest virtue," makes a big show and a big noise about virtue, and so is most likely a hypocrite who doesn't actually practice it. Compare to Jesus's complaints about those who only give alms publicly (Matthew 6:2) or stand on the street corners praying (Matthew 6:5). "A man of the highest benevolence [ ] acts..." The beginning of an implicit critique of Confucianism. Rén is the highest virtue for Confucius. Taoism doesn't have too much of a problem with that. "A man of the highest rectitude [righteousness, ) acts, but from ulterior motive." Righteousness (yì) is the next highest Confucian virtue, but Taoism suspects those who invoke it of pursuing some self-interest. "A man most conversant in the rites [propriety, etiquette, good manners, ] acts, but when no one responds rolls up his sleeves and resorts to persuasion by force." Good manners (li^3) is the next Confucian virtue, but Taoism expects nothing but intolerance and violence from people who talk about this. This is similar to attitudes in the 60's, when people felt that "good manners" were superficial nonsense and the preferred "counter-culture" behavior was rude and crude. This was not too good; but now, when certain kinds of rude behavior or speech can be prosecuted as federal civil rights offenses ("hostile environment" interpretations of anti-discrimination law), the Confucian opposite feared by Taoism seems to have been reached. "Hence when the way [ ] was lost there was virtue [ ]; when virtue was lost there was benevolence [ ]; when benevolence was lost there was rectitude [righteousness, ]; when rectitude was lost there were the rites [manners, ]./The rites are the wearing thin of loyalty [conscientiousness, ] and good faith [ ]/And the beginning of disorder [ , Japanese ran]." A nice hierarchical listing and evaluation of moral terminology according to Taoism. + Chapter XLIII o Verse 98: "The most submissive [róu] thing in the world can ride roughshod over the hardest in the world..." Remember Judo. + Chapter XLVI o Verse 104: "When the way prevails, fleet-footed horses are relegated to ploughing the fields; when the way does not prevail in the empire, war-horses breed on the border." The Tao can be expected to produce peace, but not always. War can be waged by Taoist means, as recommended in Sun Tzu's Art of War. + Chapter XLVII o Verse 106: "The further one goes/The less one knows." As in verse 108, knowledge is seen as a form of Doing. No Mind is produced by Not Doing, but the Tao takes care of everything. + Chapter LXVIII o Verse 108: "...and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone." The essential paradox of Taoism. + Chapter XLIX o Verse 111: "Those who are good I treat as good. Those who are not good I also treat as good. In so doing I gain in goodness..." Compare to Jesus at Matthew 5:44-45: "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rains on the just and on the unjust." + Chapter LII o Verse 119: "To hold fast to the submissive [róu] is called strength." + Chapter LVI o Verse 128: "One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know." Probably the most famous line in the Tao Te Ching, though the authors have done an awful lot of speaking if they are supposed to be ones who know. + Chapter LVII o Verse 131: "Wage war by being crafty." Taoism does not mean pacifism; and a Taoist war strategy, as described by Sun Tzu, is to avoid the enemy's strength and instead undermine, like water, his weaknesses. o Verse 132: "The more taboos..." Let's says "prohibitions." "The more sharpened tools..." Let's says "weapons." "The further novelties multiply": Again, Taoism wants a simple, rural life. "The better known the laws the edicts/The more thieves and robbers there are." Taoism is not going to care much for laws, and it is certainly true that the multiplication of laws in effect creates more crime. The prisons today are full of people who have broken laws (mainly drug laws) that didn't exist a hundred years ago. o Verse 133 [see Chinese text and literal translation at right]: "I am not meddlesome and the people prosper of themselves." This line can also be translated [third line at right], "I do not serve, and the people themselves become wealthy." This suggests the "Tao of capitalism," since the principle of the free market is to leave people alone (laissez-faire), by which the "Invisible Hand" of Adam Smith (the Tao) will be able to create wealth for everyone. Such a result would not necessarily be what Taoism had in mind: "I am free from desire and the people of themselves become simple [like the uncarved block]" [fourth line at right]; but a free market economy, by created unprecedented wealth, does just the opposite. Taoism wanted a simple, rural life, without "cleverness" or "novelties," but leaving people alone to become wealthy means that they will--which produces a vast consumer market of "cleverness" and "novelties" far from simplicity. + Chapter LVIII o Verse 134: "When the government is alert/The people are cunning." Sounds like people's response to the IRS. + Chapter LX o Verse 138: "Governing a large state is like boiling a small fish." A famous but very obscure line. Our footnote (p.121) says that "a small fish can be spoiled simply by being handled." + Chapter LXI o Verse 140: "...the lower reaches of a river..." Water imagery for the Tao again. o Verse 141: "The female always gets the better of the male by stillness." The "role of the female" for the Tao, again. + Chapter LXVI o Verse 159: "River and the Sea...lower position." Yin imagery. o Verse 161: "The sage takes his place over the people yet is no burden..." The opposite of countless dictators and self-important politicians. + Chapter LXX o Verse 170: "My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice." Another of the most famous statements in the Tao Te Ching. The only way in which Taoist political advice has ever been put into practice has been through principles of limited government and the free market. + Chapter LXXV o Verse 181: "The people are difficult to govern:/ It is because those in authority are too fond of action." Of course, when those in authority find the people difficult to govern, they demand more authority and promise more action. Too many people still think that is a good idea. Thus the "war on drugs" destroys the Fourth Amendment (and others), but this is regarded and allowed as "necessary" for the noble purpose of depriving us of control over our own bodies. + Chapter LXXVI o Verse 182: "Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; but the supple [soft, pliant, yielding, róu] and the weak [yielding, ruò] are the comrades of life." A strikingly new version of the yin and yang imagery: The yin side is now simply life and the yang death. This is especially noteworthy because the identification does not persist: Later Chinese tradition, even in religious Taoism, comes to associate yang with life and yin with death. The spirit of religious Taoism is often very different from earlier, philosophical Taoism, and this turnabout is a good indication of that. + Chapter LXXVII o Verse 184a: "It is the way of heaven to take from what has in excess in order to make good what is deficient. The way of man is otherwise. It takes from those who are in want in order to offer this to those who already have more than enough." This could be interpreted in different ways, and might be thought to justify programs to "redistribute" income from the rich to the poor, i.e. from "those who already have more than enough" to "those who are in want." However, political action to "redistribute" income commonly takes from those with less political influence to give to those with more, which means that "middle class entitlements," like Social Security and Medicare, vastly outweigh "lower class entitlements," like public housing and welfare. Social Security and Medicare themselves tax the young, who vote less and are less wealthy, in order to pay the elderly, who are far wealthier, vote regularly, and are more politically active. The "way of heaven" would then be to abolish all such political redistributions and allow the free market to do its Taoist "invisible hand" job of creating wealth for all. + Chapter LXXVIII o Verse 186-187: More noteworthy statements about the "submissive and weak." _________________________________________________________________ [1]History of Philosophy [2]Home Page Copyright (c) 1997, 1999, 2000 [3]Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All [4]Rights Reserved References 1. http://www.friesian.com/history.htm 2. http://www.friesian.com/#contents 3. http://www.friesian.com/ross/ 4. http://www.friesian.com/#ross