76
When we are born,
We are soft and tender.
After we die,
We become rigid and brittle.
A living tree can sway,
A living blade of grass can bend,
For suppleness is the strength of life.
Only in death is flexibility stilled.
Tough and taut is the body of death;
Gently moving is the way of life.
Powerful forces crush themselves
Because they cannot move or yield.
A stiff and heavy tree will soon be broken
By wind or by axe.
Thus does rigid power always crumble,
While the supple and the humble
Gently endure.
77
The Tao of life is like the drawing of a bow,
Yet without the arrow:
Higher and lower are mutually attracted,
Until they seem to change places.
The long and the short complement
And support the function of the whole.
The Tao of life draws off excess,
And provides for what is depleted.
The way of man departs from this:
It devours the dwindling resources
To serve contrived, compulsive needs.
How can we learn to use the gifts of Nature,
Amid this grasping world?
Let the Tao guide you:
Your true self gives, and claims no credit.
Its work furthers all, without attaching to the results.
It conceals its worth,
Which is therefore felt by all.
This is the way of complementarity.
The Tao Te Ching as a work of significant environmental awareness is again highlighted in this verse. Lao Tzu uses the image of a bow that draws itself, without the need of arrows, to describe the operations of Nature: it continually adjusts and maintains its balance when it "draws off excess" to "provide for what is depleted." This metaphor was copied, probably by a Confucian writer, into the Image of Hexagram 15, Modesty, of the I Ching:
Thus the superior man reduces that which is too much,
And augments that which is too little. (Wilhelm/Baynes, p. 64).
However, Lao Tzu points out that there is no need for a "superior" or "cultivated" man to achieve this balance. Indeed, fixed notions of superiority and inferiority, higher and lower, are certain to disrupt and distort the way of Nature. All that is needed is the presence of the true self, unencumbered by false notions of superiority or acculturation. Our natural being knows exactly how to accord with the cosmic principle of inner balance: simply allow the long and the short to complement and support one another, because they are truly equal. For the bow is drawn, after all, with but one string.
78
Is there anything in all of Nature
As adaptable and as shapeless as water?
But for wearing down what抯 fixed and rigid,
No power on earth can match it.
Thus, it is unique.
When an amorphous presence
Meets adamantine resistance,
The amorphous prevails.
When the supple meets the obdurate,
Suppleness prevails.
There are none who can deny this,
But no one seems able to live by it.
Thus the Sage teaches that
The humiliation of one抯 country
Is not to be taken upon one抯 self,
Nor are environmental disasters
To be conquered as enemies.
But we can, with subtle understanding,
Communicate with them.
79
A great conflict, even when resolved,
Leaves behind a bitter taste.
How can the residue of enmity be cleansed?
The teaching of the Sage is this:
Hold not to your claim, but to your contract.
Abandon entitlement and accept obligation.
Trust in the virtues of the Cosmic Way:
Disperse guilt and depart from blame.
The Tao plays no favorites,
But calls upon the inner truth of all.
80
Diminish the size of your inner nation;
Let it become as small as is needed.
Let its talents be manifold and diverse,
But never used or displayed.
Naturally treasure the life of your humanity,
But do not let death pursue you.
You have boats for sailing,
Wagons for loading,
But no need to guide them.
You have weapons to attack and defend,
Yet no need to bear them before others.
In communicating with people,
Return to the simplest means.
Eat well, and enjoy it;
Dress both for comfort and beauty.
Nurture harmony in your dwelling space.
Know the daily joy of simplicity.
You will see and be seen by others:
There may be crowing and barking among you,
As between roosters and dogs.
But you need not be trapped in this commerce,
For to the end of your days,
You will be completely sufficient unto yourself.
Discovering the essence through discarding the excessive is a recurring theme in the Tao Te Ching, and it applies to both inner and outer government. Chapter 48 pictured the growth of the natural personality as a process of diminishment and disburdening, which is contrasted with the commerce of ego-activity. Here, in Chapter 80, a different set of metaphors for this process is presented. Lao Tzu wants us to know not merely what Te is not, but what it is: what it feels like, how it manifests itself in society, and how entirely sufficient it is to the management of a natural life.
The expression, Po chi抙 chi, here rendered as "Let your talents be manifold and diverse," is often translated as "labor saving devices." I was led to understand this expression as a metaphor for cleverness, or the agile use of the intellect. Lao Tzu is saying that cleverness is not a quality to be demonized or despised, but rather to be transformed by placing it at the service of one's feeling nature; it is not to be put on display or used to humiliate or debase others.
"Wagons for loading" is another I Ching metaphor that Lao Tzu draws upon; it comes from Hexagram 14, line 2. In The Oracle of the Cosmic Way text, this is found to be a metaphor for the Helper of Transformation. (p. 206)梩hat is, a transformative energy that creates enduring change within a person or situation.
"There may be crowing and barking among you" refers to the activity of ego, both in conflict, self-display, and the egotistical commerce referred to in Chapter 48. However, in this poem, Lao Tzu assures us that we have the inner wherewithal to recognize such error and go on without becoming trapped in its contentious snares.
81
Words that resonate may not be eloquent,
But eloquence may never resonate.
Pure being does not argue;
Those who argue pervert pure being.
Understanding is not scholarly;
A scholar抯 way lacks understanding.
The Sage does not hoard its teaching:
The more it gives us,
The more it is fulfilled.
For giving is the way of true increase.
The way of Tao is benevolent:
It does not harm or punish.
The Tao brings all things to completion,
In the endless dance of its Harmony.
English_Duyvendak_TTK
Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse
Chinese - Dutch by
Jan Julius Lodewijk Duyvendak
Dutch - English by
Unknown, 1954
1
The Way that may truly be regarded as the Way is other than a permanent way.
The terms that may truly be regarded as terms are other than permanent terms.
The term Non-being indicates the beginning of heaven and earth; the term Being indicates the mother of the ten thousand things.
For, indeed, it is through the constant alteration between Non-being and Being that the wonder of the one and the limitation of the other will be seen.
These two, having a common origin, are named with different terms.
What they have in common is called the Mystery, The Mystery of Mysteries, the Gate of all Wonders.
2
Everybody in the world recognizes beauty as beauty, and thus ugliness (is known).
Everybody recognizes the good as good, and thus what is not good (is known).
For indeed:.
Being and Non-being produce one another,.
Hard and easy complete one another,.
Long and short are relative to one another,.
High and low depend on one another,.
Tone and voice harmonize with one another,.
First and last succeed one another.
3
Not exalting ability ensures that the people do not strive.
Not prizing goods that are difficult to obtain ensures that the people do not become robbers.
Not showing them what they might desire ensures that the people do not feel disturbed in their hearts.
Therefore the Saint, in the exercise of government, empties their hearts and fills their bellies, weakens their wills and strengthens their bones, thus constantly ensuring that the people are without knowledge and without desires and that those who have knowledge dare not act. He practices Non-action and consequently there is nothing that is not well governed.
4
The Way is like an empty vessel which, in spite of being used, is never filled. How bottomless it is, like the progenitor of the ten thousand things! How deep it is, as if it will last forever!
Generated by I know not what, it is the Image of what was before the "Emperors".
5
Heaven and earth are not humane: they treat the ten thousand things like (sacrificial) straw dogs.
The Saints are not humane: they treat the people like (sacrificial) straw dogs.
The space between heaven and earth, - how like a bellows it is! It is emptied without being exhausted. It is put in motion and it brings forth more and more.
A multiplicity of words is soon exhausted; better it is to preserve a middle course.
6
"The valley spirit never dies"; this refers to the dark female.
"The gate of the dark female"; this refers to the root of heaven and earth.
In fibrous ramifications it is ever present; its activity never ceases.
7
Heaven is longeval and earth is long lasting. The reason why heaven and earth and longeval and long lasting is because they do not reproduce themselves; therefore they are able to be longeval and long lasting.
That is why the Saint puts himself behind and yet he comes to the fore. He puts himself outside and yet he is preserved. Is it not because he is without personal preference that his personal preference is fulfilled?
8
The highest goodness is like water. The goodness of water consists in benefiting the ten thousand things without ever striving. It stays in the (lowest) place which all men loathe. Therefore it comes near to the Way.
What one values in a dwelling is the location;
What one values for the heart is depth;
What one values in human relations is humanity;
What one values in speaking is good faith;
What one values in ruling is good order;
What one values in serving others is ability;
What one values in action is timeliness.
Indeed, just because there is not striving, one may remain without blame.
9
Better to stop than to hold and fill.
Though in tempering a sword, you may feel (the edge), you cannot guarantee (its sharpness) for long.
A hall full of bronze and jade no one can guard.
Wealth and honours lead to pride; thus evil will naturally follow in their train.
To withdraw one's person when the work is done, such is heaven's Way.
10
By clinging to the One with both your spiritual and physical souls, can you prevent them from becoming divorced?
By concentrating your breath until you become soft, can you be like an infant?
By cleansing your secret mirror, can you make it without blemish?
In loving the people and ruling a state, can you be without action?
In opening and closing the natural gates, can you be like a hen?
In penetrating the four quarters with your intelligence, can you be without knowledge?
11
Though thirty spokes may be joined in one hub, the utility of the carriage lies in what is not there.
Though clay may be moulded into a vase, the utility of the vase lies in what is not there
Though doors and windows may be cut to make a house, the utility of the house lies in what is not there.
Therefore, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.
12
The five colours blind man's eye.
The five notes deafen man's ear.
The five tastes jade man's palate.
Galloping and hunting madden man's heart.
Goods that are difficult to obtain entangle man's conduct.
That is why the Saint cares for the belly and not for the eye.
For indeed, he rejects the one and chooses the other.
13
Favour and disgrace are both like goads; value great disasters as your body.
What is the meaning of: "Favour and disgrace are both like goads"?
Favour is high, disgrace is low; to attain is like a goad; to fail is like a god. That is the meaning of: "Favour and disgrace are both like goads".
What is the meaning of: "value great disasters as your body"?
The reason that I suffer great disasters, is that I have a body.
As soon as I have no body, what disaster can I suffer?
Therefore, he who rules All-under-heaven as he values his own body, may well be entrusted with All-under-heaven; he who rules All-under-heaven as he loves his body, may well be entrusted with All-under-heaven.
14
Gazing, we do not see it; we call it dim.
Listening, we do not hear it; we call it inaudible.
Groping, we do not grasp it; we call it subtile.
These three (properties) do not allow ultimate scrutiny, for indeed, merging, they become One.
Its rising is not bright, nor is its setting dark. Branching out in shoots innumerable that cannot be defined, it returns again to nothingness.
This may be called giving shape to the shapeless, forming an image out of nothingness; this may be called a vague likeness.
We meet it, but do not see its front; we follow it, but do not see its back.
If, by seizing they Way of antiquity, we direct the existence of to-day, we may know the primordial beginning. This may be called: (unravelling) the clue of the Way.
15
In olden times those skilful in the Way had wonderful subtlety and mysterious penetration, so profound that it is impossible to understand them. Since, indeed, it is impossible to understand them, one can only try to the best of one's ability to describe their appearance.
How hesitant, like one who wades a stream in winter!
How circumspect, like one who fears his neighbours on all sides!
How reserved, like one who is a guest!
How fluid, like ice about to melt!
