Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 21

Because you do not oppress them, you will not be oppressed.

This is why sages know themselves but do not make a display of themselves; They care for themselves but do not revere themselves.

And so they cast off the one and take up the other.143

Chapter Seventy-Three.

To be courageous in daring leads to death; To be courageous in not daring leads to life.

These two bring benefit to some and loss to others.

Who knows why Heaven dislikes what it does?

Even sages regard this as a difficult question.

The Way does not contend but is good at victory; Does not speak but is good at responding; Does not call but things come of their own accord; Is not anxious but is good at laying plans.

Heaven's net is vast; Its mesh is loose but misses nothing.

Chapter Seventy-Four.

If the people are not afraid of death, why threaten them with death?

"But what if I could keep the people always afraid of death and seize and put to death those who dare to act in strange or perverse ways?

Who then would dare to act in such a manner?"144 There is always the killing done by the Chief Executioner.145 The Chief Executioner is the greatest carver among carpenters.

Those who would do the work of the greatest carver among carpenters, rarely avoid wounding their own hands.

Chapter Seventy-Five.

The people are hungry because those above eat up too much in taxes; This is why the people are hungry.

The people are difficult to govern because those above engage in action; This is why the people are difficult to govern.

People look upon death lightly because those above are obsessed with their own lives;146 This is why the people look upon death lightly.

Those who do not strive to live are more worthy than those who cherish life.

Chapter Seventy-Six.

When alive human beings are supple and weak; When dead they are stiff and strong.

When alive the myriad creatures, plants and trees are supple and weak; When dead they are withered and dry.

And so the stiff and the strong are the disciples of death;147 The supple and weak are the disciples of life.

This is why, A weapon that is too strong will not prove victorious; A tree that is too strong will break.

The strong and the mighty reside down below; The soft and the supple reside on top.148

Chapter Seventy-Seven.

The Way of Heaven, is it not like the stretching of a bow?

What is high it presses down; What is low it lifts up.

It takes from what has excess; It augments what is deficient.

The Way of Heaven takes from what has excess and augments what is deficient.

The Way of human beings is not like this.

It takes from the deficient and offers it up to those with excess.

Who is able to offer what they have in excess to the world?

Only one who has the Way!

This is why sages act with no expectation of reward.149 When their work is done, they do not linger.150 They do not desire to make a display of their worthiness.

Chapter Seventy-Eight.

In all the world, nothing is more supple or weak than water; Yet nothing can surpa.s.s it for attacking what is stiff and strong.

And so nothing can take its place.

That the weak overcomes the strong and the supple overcomes the hard, These are things everyone in the world knows but none can practice.

This is why sages say, Those who can take on the disgrace of the state Are called lords of the altar to the soil and grain.151 Those who can take on the misfortune of the state, Are called kings of all the world.152 Straightforward words seem paradoxical.

Chapter Seventy-Nine.

In cases of great resentment, even when resolution is reached, some resentment remains.

How can this be considered good?

This is why sages maintain the left-hand portion of the tally,153 But do not hold people accountable.

Those with Virtue oversee the tally; Those without Virtue oversee collection.154 The Way of Heaven plays no favorites; It is always on the side of the good.

Chapter Eighty.

Reduce the size of the state; Lessen the population.

Make sure that even though there are labor-saving tools, they are never used.

Make sure that the people look upon death as a weighty matter and never move to distant places.

Even though they have ships and carts, they will have no use for them.

Even though they have armor and weapons, they will have no reason to deploy them.

Make sure that the people return to the use of the knotted cord.155 Make their food savory, Their clothes fine, Their houses comfortable, Their lives happy.

Then even though neighboring states are within sight of each other, Even though they can hear the sounds of each other's dogs and chickens, Their people will grow old and die without ever having visited one another.

Chapter Eighty-One.

Words worthy of trust are not refined; Refined words are not worthy of trust.156 The good do not engage in disputation; Those who engage in disputation are not good.157 Those who know are not full of knowledge; Those full of knowledge do not know.

Sages do not acc.u.mulate.

The more they do for others, they more they have; The more they give to others the more they possess.

The Way of Heaven is to benefit and not harm.

The Way of the sage is to act but not contend.

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Translations Chan, Alan K. L.

1991 Two Visions of the Way. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. (A translation and study of the Heshanggong and w.a.n.g Bi commentaries on the Laozi.) Chan, Wing-tsit 1963 The Way of Lao Tzu (Tao te ching). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. (An accurate and scholarly translation that makes revealing use of the commentarial tradition.) Hendricks, Robert G.

1989 Lao-Tzu Te-Tao Ching. New York: Ballantine, 1989. (A fine translation and introduction to the Maw.a.n.gdui version of the text.) Lau, D. C.

1963 Tao Te Ching. Baltimore: Penguin Books. (An elegantly terse translation with informative introduction and appendices.) Waley, Arthur 1963 The Way and Its Power. New York: Grove Press. (A thoughtful translation with a substantial introduction.) Secondary Works Creel, Herrlee G.

1970 What Is Taoism? And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. (Contains several seminal essays on the thought and history of the text.) Csikszentmihalyi, Mark, and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds.

1999 Essays on Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. (An anthology of essays on the thought of the text.) Kohn, Livia, and Michael LaFargue, eds.

1998 Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-ching. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. (A broad range of essays on the text, its reception, and interpretation.) Lau, D. C.

1958 "The Treatment of Opposites in Lao Tzu ." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and Afican Studies 21: 34460. (An intriguing exploration of one of the more paradoxical aspects of the text.) 1Unlike the case of the following line, which has a similar basic structure, there is no way to reproduce in English the alternating nominal and verbal uses of the word dao , "Way." More literally, the first line reads, dao [a] "Way," "path," or "teaching," kedao , [which] "can be talked about" or "followed," fei changdao , "is not a constant Way." Cf the grammar and sense of the poem "The Th.o.r.n.y Bush Upon the Wall" in the Odes (Mao # 46). For other pa.s.sages that discuss the Way and names, see chapters 32, 34.

2On the idea of being "nameless," see chapters 32, 37, and 41.

3Cf. the reference to xuantong , "Enigmatic Unity," in chapter 56.

4The point is the common theme that self-conscious effort to be excellent in any way fatally undermines itself. Cf. for example, chapters 38, 81.

5Cf. chapter 40.