Or receive benefit but lose
What the ancients taught
I will also teach
The violent one cannot have a natural death
I will use this as the principal of teachings
What people dislike are abandonment, loneliness and being unworthy
And yet kings and lords name themeselves with such terms
Therefore
That which people hate to think of themselves as "orphan," "lowly," and "unworthy"
Yet the kings call themselves by these names
Some lose and yet gain,
Others gain and yet lose.
That which is taught by the people
I also teach:
"The forceful do not choose their place of death."
I regard this as the father of all teachings.
That which men hate is to be kithless, friendless and considered unworthy, but princes and dukes thus style themselves.
From this it would appear that advantages are disadvantageous, and disadvantages are advantageous.
I teach that which others have taught.
The violent and the fierce do not live out their years.
I shall be chief among the teachers.
43
The softest things of the world
Override the hardest things of the world
That which has no substance
Enters into that which has no openings
From this I know the benefits of non-attached actions
The teaching without words
The benefits of actions without attachment
Are rarely matched in the world
Our observation of nature shows us that the softest things have power over the hardest things in the world. Consider a horseman riding a powerful, galloping steed. The rider cannot compare to the horse in terms of physical strength, but there is no question who is controlling whom.
Water seeps into and dissolves rocks; electricity flows through a block of metal. This is how the Tao, which lacks substance, can permeate all things - even if they appear to be solid, without any cracks or openings.
I can extrapolate from this to understand life. The Tao acts in a wu wei manner and effortlessly achieves the miracle of life. I, too, can act without attachment in affairs of the world to achieve great benefits effortlessly.
The most effective teaching is conveyed through personal examples rather than preachy words. The most effective results are achieved through acting without any attachments to specific outcomes.
This is the way of the Tao. Its power and effectiveness are unmatched in the world. At the same time, it is also rarely understood by most people.
Notes
Other points to reinforce this concept:
1) When one grows old, the teeth fall out but the tongue remains.
2) The pliant grass survives a fierce storm while the unyielding tree is uprooted.
44
Fame or the self, which is dearer?
The self or wealth, which is greater?
Gain or loss, which is more painful?
Thus excessive love must lead to great spending
Excessive hoarding must lead to heavy loss
Knowing contentment avoids disgrace
Knowing when to stop avoids danger
Thus one can endure indefinitely
Which do you hold more dear, fame or your true self?
Which do you value more, your true self or material possessions?
Which is more painful, gain or loss?
Therefore we always pay a great price for excessive love
And suffer deep loss for great accumulation.
Knowing what is enough, you will not be humiliated.
Knowing where to stop, you will not be imperiled
And can be long-lasting.
Gain or loss, which is worse?
Excessive love implies excessive outlay. Immoderate accumulation implies heavy loss.
Who knows contentment meets no shame. Who knows when to stop incurs no danger. Such long endure.
45
Great perfection seems flawed
Its function is without failure
Great fullness seems empty
Its function is without exhaustion
Great straightness seems bent
Great skill seems inept
Great eloquence seems inarticulate
Movement overcomes cold
Stillness overcomes heat
Clear quietness is the standard of the world
That which is absolutely perfect and complete seems flawed, just as the Tao can seem imperfect or incomplete to human beings, despite being the essence of great perfection. The utilization, or functioning, of the great perfection of Tao is
That which is absolutely filled seems empty
That which is perfectly straight seems bent, or crooked.
Pure silence and clear stillness should be the standard, or model, for the world to set everything right.
, yet functions without a hitch.
Great fullness seems empty, yet functions without exhaustion.
Great straightness seems crooked,
Great skill seems clumsy,
Great eloquence seems stammering.
Excitement overcomes cold, stillness overcomes heat.
Clarity and stillness set everything right.
The greatest attainment is as though incomplete; but its utility remains unimpaired.
The greatest fullness is as a void; but its utility is inexhaustible.
The greatest uprightness is as crookedness; the greatest cleverness as clumsiness; the greatest eloquence as reticence.
Motion overcomes cold; stillness conquers heat.
Purity and stillness are the world抯 standards.
46
When the world has the Tao
Fast horses are retired to fertilize the grounds
When the world lacks the Tao
Warhorses must give birth on the battlefield
There is no crime greater than greed
No disaster greater than discontentment
No fault greater than avarice
Thus the satisfaction of contentment
Is the lasting satisfaction
When the world follows the Tao, harmony prevails. People know contentment and there is peace between nations. Since there is no war, fast horses no longer have a military function, so they are taken off the army and redirected to till farmlands in order to fertilize them for crops.
When the world does not follow the Tao, strife prevails. People bicker among themselves and nations clash endlessly. Because of constant warfare, all the horses are drafted into battle, so that even pregnant mares end up having to give birth on the battlefield.
The driving force behind warfare and conflicts is excessive desire at the expense of others. That is why there is no greater crime than greed, no greater disaster than not knowing when one has enough, and no greater fault than avarice, or covetousness.
From all this we can see that the satisfaction we can derive from the feeling of contentment - at any level of material possession - is the true and lasting source of bliss and peace of mind. It is the self-sufficiency of those who follow the Tao.
47
Without going out the door, know the world
Without peering out the window, see the Heavenly Tao
The further one goes
The less one knows
Therefore the sage
Knows without going
Names without seeing
Achieves without striving
True Tao practitioners do not search frantically in the material plane for spiritual enlightenment that will allow them to understand and be at peace with the world. They find this enlightenment by looking within.
True Tao practitioners do not try to comprehend the limitless Tao of the cosmos by the limited view of a window. Instead, they see the Heavenly Tao through the infinite perception of their inner vision.
The more one attempts to know the Tao by searching in the material world, the less one will know it. The Tao is not confined to any particular place.
In the same way, the sages are the masters of wisdom no matter where they happen to be. They do not need to travel to a particular place to gain this mastery. The clarity they possess is not dependent on what they can or cannot see.
Thus, the sages are able to achieve whatever they wish easily, smoothly, gracefully and efficiently, without any strife or effort that can only get in the way.
48
Pursue knowledge, daily gain
Pursue Tao, daily loss
Loss and more loss
Until one reaches non-action
With non-action, there is nothing one cannot do
Take the world by constantly applying non-interference
The one who interferes is not qualified to take the world
When we pursue academic study, each day we gain book knowledge, which leads to more complexity and ever-increasing desires. The more we know, the more things we want.
When we pursue the Tao, each day we reduce, detach, discard and simplify. We lose more and more complexity every day. As a result, our desires will also decrease. A simple and uncluttered life leads to peace and contentment.
This process of reduction and simplication continues, until we reach wu wei - the state that is free of striving and without any unnecessary effort.
With the principle of wu wei - achievement without strife and with effortless grace - there is nothing we cannot accomplish. The impossible becomes possible; the difficult becomes easy. We do less and accomplish more.
Using this principle, we allow all things to progress naturally and minimize our meddling interference. This is the most effective way for us to achieve our goals and objectives in the world.
Those who do not understand this aspect of the Tao cannot let things be. They insist upon asserting their manipulative influence. Their lack of understand will lead to the expenditure of excessive resources, time and energy, but not the results proportional to their effort.
49
The sages have no constant mind
They take the mind of the people as their mind
Those who are good, I am good to them
Those who are not good, I am also good to them
Thus the virtue of goodness
Those who believe, I believe them
Those who do not believe, I also believe them
Thus the virtue of belief
The sages live in the world
They cautiously merge their mind for the world
The people all pay attention with their ears and eyes
The sages care for them as children
Tao sages are not closed minded or dogmatic. They do not have inflexible, fixed ideas that can never change. They do not assume that they are always right, so when their opinions differ from those of the people, they will examine alternative perspectives carefully. If the people's ideas have merit, the sages are happy to adopt them as their own.
The compassion of the sages is truly universal. They treat people well, whether or not they are deserving of kindness, because the sages do not prejudge them. They also have enduring faith in the basic decency of humanity. They trust everyone, whether or not a person is trustworthy. In short, the sages expect goodness from people and get it, because people cannot help but raise their own standards to live up to the goodness that the sages see in them.
50
Coming into life, entering death
The followers of life, three in ten
The followers of death, three in ten
Those whose lives are moved toward death
Also three in ten
Why? Because they live lives of excess
I've heard of those who are good at cultivating life
Traveling on the road, they do not encounter rhinos or tigers
Entering into an army, they are not harmed by weapons
Rhinos have nowhere to thrust their horns
Tigers have nowhere to clasp their claws
Soldiers have nowhere to lodge their blades
Why? Because they have no place for death
In the process of living - from birth, when we come into this world, to death, when we depart - we observe that most people can be grouped into several categories.
Three persons out of ten can be described as followers of life. They seek to live a life of longevity and safety, so they have their focus on getting by from day to day. They lead cautious lives with little risk or challenge. Their existence tends to be uneventful, mundane and colorless.
The complete opposite to the above would be what we call the followers of death. These are the people with self-destructive tendencies. They rush headlong into any situation recklessly, throwing caution to the winds. They put their own health and safety at risk unnecessarily. We observe that there are also three persons out of ten who fit this description.
The third category consists of people who start out pursuing life, but end up pursuing death. Like the above two categories, there are roughly three persons in ten who belong to this group.
How can such people start with life but end with death? Usually, they start out wishing to live life to the fullest, so they sample all the pleasures of the material world. But it is easy to overindulge when they do so, and soon their excessive lifestyles begin to take a heavy toll on their health and peace of mind. Thus, overindulgence leads them toward death.
Nine persons out of ten fit in one of the three categories above: fearful living, dangerous living, or excessive living. The rare exception, the one-in-ten minority, is the type of person who can transcend the predictable patterns that most people fall into.
We've heard of people like this, who are good at cultivating life. They enjoy living in moderation; they do not shrink from the unfamiliar; at the same time, they are also not foolhardy. They are the skillful players - not spectators - in the game of life. They are fully engaged and fully committed in their interactions with others and the world.
Because of the way they live, they do not encounter dangerous beasts representing the hazards of daily existence as they travel the road of life. When they wade into the battlefield of social competition, they are not harmed by the many weapons wielded by soldiers, representing personal attacks.
Their impeccable conduct leaves no room for others to hurt them with vicious rumors, innuendoes or insinuations. It is as if the wild rhinocerous of underhanded, back-stabbing tactics cannot find a place to thrust its deadly horn.
They feel no need to defend their point of view, nor to convince or persuade others of the correctness of their perspective. Thus, the tigers of blame, criticism and petty bickering have no target upon which to use their lethal claws.
When destructive force comes their way, they do not attempt to counter it head-on with equal or greater force. Instead, they expend minimal energy and redirect it away from themselves. Thus, the swords of negativity are deflected and cannot touch them.
How can they deal with life with such ease? It isn't so much that they possess toughness, so that slings and arrows bounce off them and outrageous fortune cannot hurt them. Rather, theirs is the ability to transcend fear, risk, and excess in their approach to life. Their mastery of living simply leaves no room for anything that is negative or destructive.
