Chapter 58 – Laid Back

When a nation is ruled
with a light touch,
people lead simple lives.
When a government
is harsh and demanding,
people will spend their time
trying to outsmart it.
 
Happiness is rooted in misery,
and misery lurks beneath all joy.
Who knows what could happen tomorrow?
 
Everything is relative;
what’s considered proper today
may become improper.
Correct appearances
may hide dishonesty and sinfulness.
 
No wonder so many people get confused.
 
The Masters have sharp minds,
not sharp tongues.
They are austere,
but never judgmental.
They are straightforward,
but not provocative.
They are brilliant,
but not flashy.

Interpretation by Ron Hogan (2004)

There are many ways to approach this chapter, but I would first like to consider it as a continuation of what was said in the previous chapter. In Chapter 57 Lao Tzu explains that the best way to govern a state is unobtrusively with the correctness of Te – which is to say in accord with Tao.

Richard Wilhelm

He begins this chapter telling us that ruling with a light touch will let the people lead simple, peaceful lives. But if the ruler is domineering and heavy-handed, the citizens will not trust him, finding ways to avoid excessive taxes, regulations, etc.

The advice Lao Tzu offers here is not relevant only to princes, but to anyone who is a parent, a manager or in any position of apparent authority with respect to others. It even provides guidance to help an individual live a life of Te. Having looked at politics and government in the commentary on Chapter 57, I would like to go to the other end of the spectrum and consider the individual in this “Tao Te Ching Tuesday” offering.

There is a translation of the Tao Te Ching by a scholar named Charles Muller. I usually do not refer to it, but I appreciate the way he begins this chapter:

“When the government is laid back
The people are relaxed.
When the government is nitpicking
The people have anxiety.“

Now “laid back” is not a term I would normally apply to a government, though it can certainly be descriptive of an individual; and it is a good description in the vernacular for one aspect of Te. Here in Chapter 58 we are essentially told what we might expect to observe in the person of a laid-back sage. Such a person lives in the moment and understands that what goes around comes around. He knows that things aren’t always as they seem to be and that the trends and belief systems of the physical world are in a state of constant change. His approach to these matters is, as Ron Hogan writes here, to have a sharp mind but not a sharp tongue, to be austere and non-judgmental, straightforward but not provocative and brilliant but not flashy.

I picked Ron Hogan’s version of this chapter because it would certainly have to be considered “laid back.” Hogan is not a Chinese scholar – his formal education relates to cinema. He did not translate the Tao Te Ching. Rather, he read several translations by others and then paraphrased them in a way that he thought would be modern and relevant. Sometimes I agree with him and sometimes I don’t, but that is certainly a laid-back approach. He seems to be saying, “Those who know can speak, but they don’t have to translate.”

I have no argument with the concept that to the extent a person knows and exemplifies Tao it is not critical what, if any, words he or she may use.

Of course there is more to this chapter than “don’t worry, be happy.” Continue reading →

Chapter 57 – Govern Best, Govern Least

Govern the state with correctness.
Operate the army with surprise tactics.
Administer the empire by engaging in no activity.
How do I know that this should be so? Through this:

The more taboos and prohibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people will be.
The more sharp weapons the people have,
The more troubled the state will be.
The more cunning and skill a man possesses,
The more vicious things will appear.
The more laws and orders are made prominent,
The more thieves and robbers there will be.

Therefore the sage says:
I take no action and the people of themselves are transformed.
I love tranquillity and the people of themselves become correct.
I engage in no activity and the people of themselves become prosperous.
I have no desires and the people of themselves become simple.

Translation by Wing-Tsit Chan (1963)

It is “Tao Te Ching Tuesday” and Spring – when a young man’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of . . . politics[?].

This chapter and the next several chapters discuss issues relating to governing a country or a kingdom. It has been my impression that the wise and sagacious generally do not participate in politics. Even I, who am neither, go out of my way to avoid anything political.* With the prevalence – especially in national elections – of negative campaigning, special interest groups, a divided and ineffective Congress and everything else that has become associated with modern politics, you would have to be crazy to want to run for any major office. Consequently, government often seems to be made up of crazy men and women with oversized egos. The wise, on the other hand can look at it all from the sidelines, 25 centuries in the past, and shake their heads muttering, “It’s not supposed to be like this.”

From these next few chapters one learns that Lao Tzu did not view big government favorably and felt that if a people had to be governed it should be by a sage-like leader. The advice given here is simple and straightforward: Govern in a moral and correct fashion; if war is necessary, strike quickly and get it over with; and the proper action is usually inaction (wu wei).

He tells us that having more laws simply makes it harder for people to be law-abiding. This is similar to the bumper stickers that proclaim, “When Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns.” However, he does not seem to favor an armed citizenry, seeing that situation as bad for the state.

In Chapter 17, Lao Tzu told us that the best rulers are not loved or praised or feared or despised. The best are those who are merely known by the people to exist way off in the capital. Such rulers quietly do what is necessary to govern. Their unintrusive ways permit the populace to live in accord with the flow of Nature.

Lao Tzu was not alone in his view of government. In the Analects, Confucius says: Continue reading →

Chapter 56 – One Who Knows Does Not Speak

 Those who know, don’t talk.
Those who talk, don’t know. 

Shut your mouth.
Be still. Relax.
Let go of your worries.
Stay out of the spotlight.
Be at one with the world
and get right with Tao. 

If you get right with Tao,
you won’t be worried
about praise or scorn,
about winning or losing,
about honor or disgrace.
That’s the way to be.

 Translation by Ron Hogan (2004)

This is the famous “One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know” chapter of the Tao Te Ching.  I have chosen Ron Hogan’s translation for this week’s Tao Te Ching Tuesday consideration.  Like much of Hogan’s approach to Lao Tzu, it is probably more an interpretation than a literal translation, and here I believe his interpretation is on target.

The sage is the person who is at one with the world and right with Tao.  That state of being is not something that is taught through words, but is acquired through right action.  Such a person is not concerned how others might perceive him or her.  Being free of the need to conform to others’ judgments, a sage teaches by example and not by preaching or prescribing exercises or requiring rigid adherence to a curriculum.

That other kind of teaching often does not produce results, anyway.  The knowledge we need to be one with the world is certainly in the world – but not somewhere out there in the world.  It is within each person in the world.  The words of a teacher or guru may help some of us; however the learning must occur silently within the soul, the essential being.  Be still, we are told.  Relax.

I could quit now; and if you would like to quit reading at this point, please do.  I am going to continue for just a bit, though.

Some of the other translations of this chapter that I have seen include language that goes beyond the advice to “shut your mouth,” and advise the reader to close doors or close gates in order to achieve a “primal union.” That could be interpreted as instruction in meditation concerning the control of chi as it flows through the body’s energetic gates, such as the dan tien.  Continue reading →

Chapter 55 – Innocence

 He who is filled with Virtue is like a newborn child.
Wasps and serpents will not sting him;
Wild beasts will not pounce upon him;
He will not be attacked by birds of prey.
His bones are soft, his muscles weak,
But his grip is firm.
He has not experienced the union of man and woman, but is whole.
His manhood is strong.
He screams all day without becoming hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.
Knowing harmony is constancy.
Knowing constancy is enlightenment.

It is not wise to rush about.
Controlling the breath causes strain.
If too much energy is used, exhaustion follows.
This is not the way of Tao.
Whatever is contrary to Tao will not last long.

Translated by Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng (1989)

After reviewing several translations of Chapter 55 in preparation for this week’s “Tao Te Ching Tuesday” discussion, my first thought was that we finally have to deal with a chapter showing the dark side of following the “natural way.”  Sometimes out in the wild, with no bar codes on the food, a person may mix a little loco weed in with his watercress sandwich.  I was afraid Lao Tzu had done that before he sat down to write this chapter.

What was he thinking?  Wasps and serpents and wild beasts and birds of prey are all willing to attack a helpless newborn under appropriate circumstances.  One of the reasons

Ryder – 4/2014

humans first came together in bands or tribes was to provide the protection necessary so that babies are able to grow and the species survive.

Sure, there are legends of babies Romulus and Remus raised by wolves and of infant Tarzan raised by apes.  In The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling tells of the child Mowgli who was adopted by wolves after his parents were killed by a tiger.  However, those kids were not immune to being injured or killed by dangerous beasts; they were protected from those dangers by the wolves and apes that had chosen to act in loco parentis.

The Prophet Isaiah tells us that in the time when the lion lies down with the lamb, human children will play with poisonous snakes and suffer no harm.  The world is not yet like that, though; and it certainly wasn’t like that 25 centuries ago when Lao Tzu was writing.

Finally I realized that Lao Tzu was not laboring under the delusion or hallucination that babies can get by just fine on their own. Continue reading →