Chapter 63 – Difficulty

Act without action.
Do without ado.
Taste without tasting.

Whether it is big or small, many or few, repay hatred with virtue.

Prepare for the difficult while it is still easy.
Deal with the big while it is still small.

Difficult undertakings have always started with what is easy.
And great undertakings have always started with what is small.

Therefore the sage never strives for the great,
And thereby the great is achieved.

He who makes rash promises surely lacks faith.
He who takes things too easily will surely encounter much difficulty.
For this reason even the sage regards things as difficult.
And therefore he encounters no difficulty.

Translation by Wing-Tsit Chan (1963)

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Water over Thunder suggests
tempests above and earthquakes below –
cruel conditions for seeds and saplings.

From Richard Gill’s version of the the I Ching (1993),
Hexagram 3, entitled “A Difficult Beginning”*

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     I was not there when this happened, so I am re-telling an experience that was told to me. A couple of weeks ago my son Michael, my daughter Suzanne and her husband Jeff hiked up LaPlata Peak, which at 14,360 feet above sea level is the fifth highest mountain in the State of Colorado. Michael and Suzanne are fairly experienced, having summited many Colorado mountains – and Suzanne has been to 19,341 feet (nearly a mile higher) on Mt. Kilimanjaro – but it was Jeff’s first try at a 14er.

Photo from www.unc.edu (public domain)

     To reach the top of LaPlata Peak requires a strenuous hike of several hours, but it can be done without technical gear. The three of them reached the top at about 1:30 in the afternoon. They were tired and sat down on rocks to eat a quick lunch. Within minutes, though, the wind had picked up and a large cloud had formed. Suddenly Suzanne felt a tingling and the hair on her arm began to stand on end.

     Technically, the electricity in the approaching storm had caused her body to send a “positive streamer.” That is a bad thing. It meant that the three of them could be struck by lightning at any second. Suzanne screamed, told everyone to crouch down and get off the top of the mountain. They all did that, and were not struck. They were moving as fast as they could over a boulder field, cutting and bruising their legs while being pelted by wind, rain and hail.

Continue reading →

Chapter 62 – Refuge

Tao is the storehouse of all things.
It is the good man’s treasure and the bad man’s refuge.
Fine words can buy honour,
And fine deeds can gain respect from others.
Even if a man is bad, when has (Tao) rejected him?
Therefore on the occasion of crowning an emperor or installing the three ministers,
Rather than present four large pieces of jade preceded by teams of four horses,
It is better to kneel and offer this Tao.
Why did the ancients highly value this Tao?
Did they not say, “Those who seek shall have it and those who sin shall be freed”?
For this reason it is valued by the world.

Translated by Wing-Tsit Chan (1963)

In the discussion of Chapter 60, it was pointed out that there may be a lot fewer metaphors in writing than many of us would think. Well, most of this commentary is going to be a metaphor – or example, perhaps? – together with a travelogue.

Place of Refuge

The society of ancient Hawai’i was governed by a strict system known as kapu, a word that is similar to tabu or tapu in other Poynesian languages and a source for the modern term “taboo.” Essentially, a thing which was kapu was forbidden, though the term had connotations beyond simple proscription.

Many of the acts which were kapu would be familiar to modern society. For instance, murder was kapu. Others, though, were not so obvious. For example, there were areas where fishing was forbidden, at least at certain times of the year; or certain foods could not be eaten by women. It was also kapu to look at a chief or king, or to be in his presence with one’s head higher than the chief’s or to walk on ground where the chief had walked.

No matter what the offense, the punishment was generally the same – capital punishment. There was no trial and no judge. If one was caught in an act that was kapu, he or she was immediately executed. While that seems harsh – and it was – there was at least one way to avoid that very permanent result.

Continue reading →

Chapter 61 – Huddled Masses

A great state, one that lowly flows,
becomes the empire’s union, and the empire’s wife.

This chapter is not difficult to understand, though it is difficult for great and small states to apply.

Having said that, let me move directly into the digression – I often digress – portion of this week’s Tao Te Ching Tuesday reflection.

Most Americans are somewhat aware that the Statue of Liberty was a gift to this country from France. The gift was “accepted” by President Grant on his last day in office, even though the statue had not been constructed and there was no place to put it. The next day, President Hayes took over and selected a site on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.

Although the statue itself was to be a gift, the United States was required to provide the pedestal, which of course was quite expensive. A fundraising drive was begun in 1882 (5 years after the gift was accepted by by President Grant) and included an auction of art and manuscripts. A New York poet named Emma Lazarus was reluctant to participate, though she finally submitted a sonnet called “The New Colossus,” which reads as follows:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

That sounds familiar to some because it was engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal in 1903, but it seems that Ms. Lazarus felt at the time that she was too busy to write the poem. She had reacted strongly and emotionally to the anti-Semitic pogroms that “spontaneously” (with a little help from government officials) spread across portions of Russia – which included the Ukraine – after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Thousands of Jewish refugees fled to New York to escape that violence and Emma Lazarus was one of those working very hard to help them.

The pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe continued, and became even worse, for many years. Mark Twain published a Thanksgiving message to the American people Continue reading →

Chapter 60 – Ghosts: Evil, Boo Evil

Govern a great country as you would fry small fish: [neither gut nor scale them.]

 If with Reason the empire is managed, its ghosts will not spook.
Not only will its ghosts not spook, but its gods will not harm the people.
Not only will its gods not harm the people, but neither will its holy men harm the people.
Since neither will do harm, therefore their virtues will be combined.

Translated by D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus (1880)

The translation by Suzuki and Carus is one of the oldest English renditions of the Tao Te Ching, and it seems to be one of the most literal. It is one of the few I found that speaks directly of ghosts. In Wayne Dyer’s comments on this chapter he counsels that one should exclude evil from his or her life. Ron Hogan talks about “misfortune.” Stephen Mitchell is another who uses the word “evil” instead of “ghosts,” as do Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng.

It is easy to see why a modern intellect would look at a reference to ghosts as a metaphor for the concept of evil; but 25 centuries ago Chinese ghosts, and especially ancestral spirits, were considered to be very real and not a metaphor for anything. The Chinese culture had practiced ancestor worship or veneration since at least the late Neolithic Period, more than 5,000 years before the time of Lao Tzu; so I think the Old Boy was using the term “ghosts” in what was then the popular sense.

The ancient Chinese practice arose from the belief that spirits of the dead could influence the world of the living, for good or for ill. The worship of one’s deceased ancestors was intended to keep those spirits happy so they would look favorably on their descendants, and even intercede to help the living.

Such beliefs were not confined to the Orient or to ancient times. Continue reading →

Chapter 59 – Storing Virtue

While ruling the people
And serving heaven
Build up a store.
If you’ve built up a store
You can adhere to Tao early.
If you’ve adhered to Tao early
You can amass virtue.
When you’ve amassed virtue
There is nothing you cannot do.
When there is nothing you cannot do
Your capacity has no bounds.
Having boundless capacity
You’re ready to rule the realm.
Leaning on the mother of the realm
You can last through all time.
You’ve been firmly established.
You have a strong support.
This is the Tao of long life.
This is the Tao of farsightedness.

Translated by Agnieszka Solska (2005)

I looked long and hard to find an appropriate translation of Chapter 59. Most of the versions I considered seemed too much a simple interpretation – and many were like Stephen Mitchell’s 1988 translation, which is as follows:

For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people’s welfare
as a mother cares for her child.

All those poetic images are nice, as is moderation, but I don’t believe that is exactly what the Old Master is telling us here. Rather, I think he is saying that before a person becomes a ruler or leader, he must develop Te or virtue. That is, he must live and act in accord with Tao.

It is often said, “with God, all things are possible.” The same concept is presented here – with Tao “there is nothing you cannot do” and “having boundless capacity you’re ready to rule the realm.”

As a practical matter, it is good for rulers and the rest of us to build up stores of things in addition to virtue in anticipation of the cyclical workings of Nature. After a good harvest, some crops should be saved for the time when adverse weather or ravenous insects could precipitate a famine. During wet years, water should be stored in lakes and reservoirs knowing that there will one day be a time of drought.

Another possible way of looking at this chapter – and especially the mention of the “Tao of long life” – is rather esoteric. From the time of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) through the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.) there were those who followed a religion known as “Taoism,” and who believed that there were secret practices that could bring a person physical immortality. At the heart of these practices was the building up and storing of the bodily essences known as jing and chi (qi). I do not believe that this chapter gives any such direction to readers – and I have only limited knowledge of the beliefs of those later “Taoists” – so I will leave that subject for someone else.

Of course, the advice that one should build a store of Te before leading a nation applies to any leadership role in society, business, family or personal life. Wayne Dyer talks about this chapter in his book Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life and introduces a concept he calls “God points.” He says that for many years he has regularly made anonymous donations of money and books and service to help others who were in need. He writes that he has benefited by accumulating God points. Thus, he sees this chapter as recognizing a principle of karma.

I commend Mr. Dyer for his charitable actions, but I think the virtue of Te the ruler needs to build and store is something more than good intentions and good deeds. As an illustration, I will close by paraphrasing a story from Chuang Tzu.

It seems a reclusive sage (Hsu Su Kwei) was finally convinced to visit the ruler of his country, who was named Prince Wu. The prince asked the sage, “Tell me if I am doing right. I want to love my people and to exercise justice and bring an end to war. Is that enough?”

The sage replied, “Certainly not. Your love for your people puts them in mortal danger and your desire for justice will be the root of war after war. If you try to accomplish something great, you are only fooling yourself. Your acts of love and justice are only pretexts for asserting your power. Look around you – your hallways and buildings are filled with soldiers to enforce your sense of justice. You are at war with yourself. Give up your plans for love and justice. Instead, try to find your true virtue. Then your people can breathe easily. They will live and war will end by itself.”