Chapter 62

Chapter 62

The Tao is the tabernacle of creation,
it is a treasure for those who are good,
and a place of refuge for those who are not.

How can those who are not good be abandoned?
Words that are beautiful are worth much,
but good behavior can only be learned by example.

When a new leader takes office,
don’t give him gifts and offerings.
These things are not as valuable
as teaching him about the Tao.

Why was the Tao esteemed by the ancient Masters?
Is it not said: “With it we find without looking.
With it we find forgiveness for our transgressions.”
That is why the world can not understand it.

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There might have been sage rulers that befitted the descriptions of the ideal monarch in the tao te ching. However, because I hardly know anything about either ancient or modern Chinese history, I can only cite Marcus Aurelius as one example that practiced the tao. However, some historians note that he might have continued to be only a good person and parent for his people. Even when his wife committed repeated adultery, he forgave her. He might have been consistently too generous when he needed to show some deliberate anger to frighten his subordinates for control.

Chapter 61

Chapter 61

A large country should take the low place like a great watershed,
which from its low position assumes the female role.
The female overcomes the male by the power of her position.
Her tranquility gives rise to her humility.

If a large country takes the low position,
it will be able to influence smaller countries.
If smaller countries take the lower position,
then they can allow themselves to be influenced.
So both seek to take the lower position
in order to influence the other, or be influenced.

Large countries should desire to protect and help the people,
and small countries should desire to serve others.
Both large and small countries benefit greatly from humility.

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Ryan Holiday’s book, “The Ego is the Enemy,” is not particularly an inspiring book. However, many of us easily ignore the basic lesson that the book is written based upon. Humility is good for yourself. When Holiday says that our ego is our enemy, I take it that it means that humility will drive away some part of our ego and make things better for us.

The following is what I wrote on the wall for myself to remember:

“Moderate humility based on realism – and not as a virtue to be noticed by others or as a narcissistic means of deprecating oneself – helps me mature and feel fine for myself.”

Genuine humility benefits ourselves in the first place. You have to care less about how others see you. Again, I emphasize, humility based on a realistic estimation of yourself is conducive to the state of your mind and not others’.

If other people realize that you are “spontaneously” humble, they will be naturally drawn to you as indicated in this chapter. But this is simply one byproduct of your practice of humility. In fact, the more you think about whether people are starting to like you because you practice humility, the more difficult it will become for you to be truly humble because you will grow impatient; in this case, you are being artificially humble to attain people’s love. Be humble for your own good. Then, it will help pacify your mind.

If you are resenting someone’s malice or rudeness, your bad feelings may partially fade away if you really think it in a critical perspective and based on a realistic estimation of yourself. In fact, you may be taking too much offense – even if the person that offended you was really an asshole – when others may be able to take it more lightly and go on as if nothing happened.

Nevertheless, the type of humility I am emphasizing here is never a form of subservience.

In addition, if you lower yourself undeservedly, this is merely a form of condescension.

Remember: It is never too late to learn humility (I will say in Robert Greene’s style). In any case where your pride begins to falter because you start to notice your smallness in comparison with your previous times of glory or honor or only good luck, this is a sign that you need to readjust your view of yourself. Furthermore, even when circumstances are turning in your favor and things are starting to get better, you maintain this sense of humility lest you should feel insecure if the luck slips again out of your way. This is an attitude, I believe, that Marcus Aurelius tried to hold on to.

As for practicing humility in international diplomacy, however, I am not so sure. If a superpower repeatedly tolerates bad behaviors of a small country like North Korea, for example, other countries will think the country to be weak. Small countries more often than not need some lessons to be taught. A superpower has to be selective and discreet in terms of showing generosity.

Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Governing a large country
is like frying small fish.
Too much poking spoils the meat.

When the Tao is used to govern the world
then evil will lose its power to harm the people.
Not that evil will no longer exist,
but only because it has lost its power.
Just as evil can lose its ability to harm,
the Master shuns the use of violence.

If you give evil nothing to oppose,
then virtue will return by itself.

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Along with the “muddied water” metaphor, the “frying small fish” metaphor is one of the most important and well-known metaphors from the tao te ching. This metaphor briefly summarizes the main points of the book. What it means is that you should make least efforts possible and have the patience to let things take care of themselves. Therefore, the non-action that is so often emphasized in the tao te ching does not suggest that you should take absolutely no action at all. You actually do your job but only from behind, and the actions that you take – in my own interpretation – are calculated based on the long term goal in your mind.

One professor of psychiatry notes that this metaphor provides a useful simile for describing our mind system. Our unconscious mind can be likened to the “large country” in this metaphor. The human mind is an infinitely complex entity. No wonder that the complexity of the human brain is compared to the vastness of our universe. If you try to “rule” your “large country,” or your mind, it simply fails because the governing law according to which a nation-state operates does not obey the will of a mere individual even if he is a sage himself. There are times to push yourself almost over the limit, but you have to recognize this mode cannot last for very long. Do you remember the marines from StarCraft using stimpack that shine in explosiveness but soon wither away more quickly?

Your mind system works according to its own particular ways, but you cannot dictate how it should operate. Sometimes, rather than trying to toughen yourself up in times of crisis, simply mellow out and think in the long term. Relax. In fact, even the strongest mind can break out of the blue in an endless war of attrition.

Chester Bennington sings:

“When you feel you’re alone, caught off from this cruel world, your instinct’s telling you to run. Listen to your heart, those angel voices. They’ll sing to you they’ll be your guide back home. When life leaves us blind, loves keeps us kind.”

Rather than burning yourself out with a narcissistically insistent notion of invincibility, when times are not right, you need to stay back and think longer. Conserve your psychological energy – if there is something like it in the real. You apply gradual changes to your mind and your situation rather than trying to change them all of a sudden.

Chapter 59

Chapter 59

There is nothing better than moderation
for teaching people or serving Heaven.
Those who use moderation
are already on the path to the Tao.

Those who follow the Tao early
will have an abundance of virtue.
When there is an abundance of virtue,
there is nothing that can not be done.
Where there is limitless ability,
then the kingdom is within your grasp.
When you know the Mother of the kingdom,
then you will be long enduring.

This is spoken of as the deep root and the firm trunk,
the Way to a long life and great spiritual vision.

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Ogangnam explains in the preface of his book on the tao te ching that the “tao” means some metaphysical essence or elemental principle and that the “te” means power that is earned by employing or following the way of the “tao.” Then how can we follow the way of the tao? This chapter provides a clue to the answer. It is “moderation.” Do not force something too much on yourself, and even if you do, you must see and know how it should end. Moderation is a supreme virtue because it allows you room to return. What do I mean by this? Even the most enjoyable activity may get boring if you have enjoyed it in abundance for too long. Suppose you liked pizza and you have had pizza for your meals every day. You must have eventually grown bored with pizza. In this case, unless you have something else, you will not really fully appreciate its taste. In fact, you will appreciate something’s value in its absence. (Also, it is usually when we are hungry that we feel the taste of food more precisely.)

The tao te ching has repeatedly emphasized that “nothing” is the beginning of everything and that it is partial “nothingness” of a wheel – which consists of spokes – and nothingness of an empty room that make them worthy of use. In that sense, I argue that moderation is a virtue because it allows partial emptiness in the efforts to fully satisfy your desire and thereby assures reemergence of the desire in the next turn. However, when something never stops boring you and you continue to enjoy it, this may be a form of addiction. Suppose you like a computer game too much such as the League of Legends (I don’t play this game but know its name because my college friend was seriously in love with this game). However long you play this game, this continues to be fun and you never get bored, for example. You feel like you want to go on vacation and spend two whole days playing LOL without having an hour’s sleep. Or a hardcore mathematician may never get tired of numbers and equations and continue to grapple with them on paper because this geek feels it is some great intellectual fun. In any case, we should exercise moderation and put our addictive tendencies under control.

Let me add a few points further to the issue of “moderation” in regard to our enjoyment of things in lives. Shelly Kagan, the “death” professor at Yale, notes that eternal life would be a bad thing because we will eventually bore of life itself and cannot kill ourselves to escape the pain of boredom. He develops several thought experiments to support this radical view. It is hard to verify whether eternal life is a bad thing because nobody ever lived eternally. However, although I find his thought experiments to be quite convincing, I ultimately reject his view that eternal life would be a curse. Although boredom is a common symptom of contemporary men, nobody wants to kill himself merely because of boredom. To live is better than to die. Regarding an eternal man, Kagan also contends that whether one transforms himself, his character, his identity intentionally or he changes naturally according to the passage of time, this eternally living man would not be the same person that he was tens of thousands of years ago. Kagan’s point is that because there is no lasting self-identity in the man, this indicates eternal life would be a “weird” thing. It is true that a person that will still be alive tens of thousands of years later would not be the same person that he is right now. At that point of time, he may not even remember who he once was. (Actually, all of us have changed quite much from ten years ago, twenty years ago, or thirty years ago. ) Nevertheless, this breach in self-coherency cannot mean that eternal life is a bad thing. One thing to note is that his biological DNA must be the same. Furthermore, concerning the problem of boredom, I believe he can invent a way to overcome it. Even if the boredom is not overcome, that does not mean that it will be so painful that he would rather want to commit suicide. Kagan’s error is that he thought boredom accumulates in the long run to a point that a man living everlasting life would want to kill himself. This is not true because the boredom and non-boredom follows a cyclic pattern – i.e., the man undergoes the two modes alternately whether for a short while or for a long period of time. Boredom never builds big enough to make you want to die. Of course, I am only suggesting someone that lives eternal life in very good conditions and not in a hell.

However, the central point I wanted to make is that boredom is “overcomable” through our efforts to exercise the above version of “moderation.” Just because you are full right now and do not want to have more desserts does not mean that you got bored with having food itself. Your appetite will reemerge as time goes by. Just like sex. Just because you slept with a good-looking partner and tried every sex experiment in bed with her does not mean that you will be free of lust afterwards or got bored with sex itself. Your desire resurfaces soon. What you got bored with may be the partner him/herself and not sex itself. If you feel like you did everything you wanted to do and feel you got bored with life itself, simply opt to retreat in nature. Then return to society. Then you will start to enjoy your hobbies again. I cannot believe that eternal life would be a bad thing. The simple point is that we cannot live eternal life. Not because we do not want to, but because it is biologically impossible. In that sense, it is a curse. It is a curse that we cannot live forever. Isn’t that what harassed Albert Camus and Fred Durst alike (“My so-called life is so good, but why do we die?”)?

Chapter 58

Chapter 58

If a government is unobtrusive,
the people become whole.
If a government is repressive,
the people become treacherous.

Good fortune has its roots in disaster,
and disaster lurks with good fortune.
Who knows why these things happen,
or when this cycle will end?
Good things seem to change into bad,
and bad things often turn out for good.
These things have always been hard to comprehend.

Thus the Master makes things change
without interfering.
She is probing yet causes no harm.
Straightforward, yet does not impose her will.
Radiant, and easy on the eye.

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Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit notes in his song “Take a look around,” that “when the good comes to bad, the bad comes to good.” Maybe he was inspired by this chapter when he wrote the lyrics or simply adopted this view from some common knowledge shared in American culture. Good fortune has a seed or element of a disaster as can be understood in the lottery example I illustrated in one of the above chapters; when you suddenly have too much money, it may devour you if you are not cautious.

However, when Lao Tzu says that “disaster lurks with good fortune,” I kind of agree. This quote also reminds me of Robert Greene’s concept of amor fati; you simply turn shit into sugar through a fearless attitude of accepting reality and making use of it. Although this is easier said than done, it is an elemental lesson that is we easily dismiss, because we want good things to happen to us instead of fighting through adversity to get them.

I also like the verse right below the quote, which says “Good things seem to change into bad.” The Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible tells of a story of Amnon who raped his half-sister. He fell in love with her so dearly that he suffered an illness in bed. After he took her by force, however, he came to hate her even more than he had loved her. I am not sure whether this was a real historical event, but I think you will agree that this story is not surprising. Human passion is whimsical and volatile. Love very frequently turns into hate, and hate into love. It is strange that it is mostly erotic love between man and woman that shows this whimsical pattern. That is, for example, in racial strife, one’s hatred of a particular race never develops into one’s love of the race. If somebody happens to hate a particular race, he continues to do so and never stops. What he can only do is to hope to ameliorate his view.

On the other hand, regarding the quote “bad things often turn out for good,” his sister being raped by his half-brother was a very good event for Absalom who wanted to remove him and become the king himself. He justified killing his eldest brother by making it look like it was revenge for his sister. However, after he quickly rose to power, he was eventually killed by one of David’s soldiers for his treason. You never know what is good or bad in the long run. History, and even our lives, is indeed chaotic.

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Govern your country with integrity,
Weapons of war can be used with great cunning,
but loyalty is only won by not-doing.
How do I know the way things are?
By these:

The more prohibitions you make,
the poorer people will be.
The more weapons you possess,
the greater the chaos in your country.
The more knowledge that is acquired,
the stranger the world will become.
The more laws that you make,
the greater the number of criminals.

Therefore the Master says:
I do nothing,
and people become good by themselves.
I seek peace,
and people take care of their own problems.
I do not meddle in their personal lives,
and the people become prosperous.
I let go of all my desires,
and the people return to the Uncarved Block.

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A contemporary libertarian economist may like this chapter. Least intervention by the central government. That may help solve the problem. Laozi may have simply intended to indicate that artificiality hurts social system and people.

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Those who know do not talk.
Those who talk do not know.

Stop talking,
meditate in silence,
blunt your sharpness,
release your worries,
harmonize your inner light,
and become one with the dust.
Doing this is the called the dark and mysterious identity.

Those who have achieved the mysterious identity
can not be approached, and they can not be alienated.
They can not be benefited nor harmed.
They can not be made noble nor to suffer disgrace.
This makes them the most noble of all under the heavens.

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When Conor McGregor talked a lot to garner attention before he became UFC Featherweight Champion, people thought he was simply all talk. McGregor instead claimed that he doesn’t simply talk the talk but also walk the walk. His bravado and seemingly unwarranted self-confidence baffled Jose Aldo, the then reigning champ. When Aldo lost the championship bout with McGregor, fighters started to change their thoughts. Before McGregor, they thought that genuinely strong people seldom talked and instead proved their might through performance – like Fedor, for example. McGregor was an erratic example that betrayed that view and quickly became a trendy role model for fighters; they started to mimic Conor to sell themselves better to public.

Although Conor degenerated and lost his fans’ respect after winning two divisional gold belts and then refusing to fight top-tier contenders, it is noteworthy that a talkative person is not always an empty shell. McGregor became one of the few legends in MMA history along with the likes of GSP and BJPenn. He was once laughed at and called a “joker” by the fearsome Muay Thai striker in Jose Aldo. The joker’s skills were real and no joke. Although the Irishman later ruined himself with uncontrolled freakish behaviors, he was up to a point a very serious and well-disciplined athlete unlike his public persona.

Chapter 55

Chapter 55

One who is filled with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
The infant is protected from
the stinging insects, wild beasts, and birds of prey.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is firm and strong.
It doesn’t know about the union
of male and female,
yet his penis can stand erect,
because of the power of life within him.
It can cry all day and never become hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.

To understand harmony is to understand the Constant.
To know the Constant is to be called ‘enlightened’.
To unnaturally try to extend life is not appropriate.
To try and alter the life-breath is unnatural.
The master understands that when something reaches its prime
it will soon begin to decline.
Changing the natural is against the way of the Tao.
Those who do it will come to an early end.

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In the 33 strategies of war, Greene emphasizes that one should plan everything from the beginning to the end. He notes that a power game player should constantly have in mind a culminating point of victory and not push himself over the limit. He cites Napoleon as one example that soon met a precipitous decline by committing the error of invading Russia. He lost a sense of reality after his grandest victory in Austerlitz and came to believe he was near-invincible. No glory lasts forever. I think Marcus Aurelius is a good example that was constantly aware of his finitude and limits.

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

That which is well built
will never be torn down.
That which is well latched
can not slip away.
Those who do things well
will be honored from generation to generation.

If this idea is cultivated in the individual,
then his virtue will become genuine.
If this idea is cultivated in your family,
then virtue in your family will be great.
If this idea is cultivated in your community,
then virtue will go a long way.
If this idea is cultivated in your country,
then virtue will be in many places.
If this idea is cultivated in the world,
then virtue will be with everyone.

Then observe the person for what the person does,
and observe the family for what it does,
and observe the community for what it does,
and observe the country for what it does,
and observe the world for what it does.
How do I know this saying is true?
I observe these things and see.

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This chapter speaks well for itself, so I do not have much to comment on it. However, one or two points come to mind.

Lao Tzu argues here that contributions by people of virtue will be long remembers. However, sometimes it happens that the later people distort or manipulate historical events somehow the way they see fit according to their purpose. Depending on how they do it, bad people can be rememberd in a good way, and good people can be remembered in a bad way.

What is difficult about history is that it is not easy to construct objective facts regarding past events or accidents. Human affairs are so complex that they cannot be explained solely this way or that way.

Even if you were a virtuous person and your virtue benefited your society, a person of greater historical significance can take that away and be remembered as a virtuous person instead.

Chapter 53

Chapter 53

If I understood only one thing,
I would want to use it to follow the Tao.
My only fear would be one of pride.
The Tao goes in the level places,
but people prefer to take the short cuts.

If too much time is spent cleaning the house
the land will become neglected and full of weeds,
and the granaries will soon become empty
because there is no one out working the fields.
To wear fancy clothes and ornaments,
to have your fill of food and drink
and to waste all of your money buying possessions
is called the crime of excess.
Oh, how these things go against the way of the Tao!

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It is common knowledge that a sudden influx of immense wealth does more harm than good. At first, this sounds nonsensical, and I am pretty sure that you would think yourself to be an exception when you earn like billions of dollars overnight with some lottery – that you would live ever happier and manage your money wisely and carefully. You may be right or may be wrong. Although I am not rich and never will be and cannot be, I think I know one of the ways to keep yourself intact from any harm’s way from a sudden luck of wealth is to maintain for a while your ordinary daily life and routines. When we suddenly have power and resources, we are plagued by previously unavailable choices. This vast quantity of choices can be a curse rather than a blessing if you are not careful. In fact, we wouldn’t have been bothered if we had less choices as usual. This is when you should “strive” for “nothingness” or “emptiness” as Lao Tzu argues. You should learn to reduce these choices. Rather than thinking you can satisfy all your desires at once, it would be a better idea to restrict the available options to a few and focus on a small number of them. This equally applies to time as well. When we have lots of time during vacation, there are too many things we wish to do, but we soon realize that our free time is limited. I know this is hard, but you better learn to reduce your available options and then enjoy them to the fullest and think less on how to use your time or any other resources. Do not overburden yourself with lots of planning itself.

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

The world had a beginning
which we call the Great Mother.
Once we have found the Mother,
we begin to know what Her children should be.

When we know we are the Mother’s child,
we begin to guard the qualities of the Mother in us.
She will protect us from all danger
even if we lose our life.

Keep your mouth closed
and embrace a simple life,
and you will live care-free until the end of your days.
If you try to talk your way into a better life
there will be no end to your trouble.

To understand the small is called clarity.
Knowing how to yield is called strength.
To use your inner light for understanding
regardless of the danger
is called depending on the Constant.

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I warn again: Do not rely on the mystical Tao. Mother Nature is ruthless and does not care about your fate.

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The Tao gives birth to all of creation.
The virtue of Tao in nature nurtures them,
and their families give them their form.
Their environment then shapes them into completion.
That is why every creature honors the Tao and its virtue.

No one tells them to honor the Tao and its virtue,
it happens all by itself.
So the Tao gives them birth,
and its virtue cultivates them,
cares for them,
nurtures them,
gives them a place of refuge and peace,
helps them to grow and shelters them.

It gives them life without wanting to posses them,
and cares for them expecting nothing in return.
It is their master, but it does not seek to dominate them.
This is called the dark and mysterious virtue.

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The New Testament of the Bible says (probably Paul said) that God makes it rain for people whether they are good or bad.

In this chapter, I think Laozi might have forgotten his own lesson. The Heaven is not benign to people. Therefore, you cannot anthropomorphize the tao. It does not care for you, it does not nurture you. Although Laozi was a keen observer of nature, he was alien to the knowledge of Darwinian evolution. Evolution is primarily based on the concept of “contention” among the species and within each of the species. The species fight for dominance within a particular ecosystem of limited resources. The tao may have provided a ground for life, but everything in our world drives on contention. The tao is not as generous as Laozi thought.

The world could have been otherwise if the tao was something of a different nature. We can conceive a world or universe whose physical laws or natural laws do not entail the idea of having to fight to survive. We can imagine a world where there is no death, no pain, no agony. But the world or universe we are living in is not such a place.

Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Those who leave the womb at birth
and those who enter their source at death,
of these; three out of ten celebrate life,
three out of ten celebrate death,
and three out of ten simply go from life to death.
What is the reason for this?
Because they are afraid of dying,
therefore they can not live.

I have heard that those who celebrate life
walk safely among the wild animals.
When they go into battle, they remain unharmed.
The animals find no place to attack them
and the weapons are unable to harm them.
Why? Because they can find no place for death in them.

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This chapter is complete nonsense, and I do not even want to attempt a figurative approach here. I am afraid that if we employ a figurative method of approaching the text every time when we find the literal meaning of a particular text in the tao te ching to be perplexing or contradictory, we are making ourselves some liberal Christians that try to harmonize the texts of the Bible through a figurative understanding. (In fact, we may be reinventing some of the clumsy writings by Lao Tzu if we suppose they are perfectly coherent and logical.)

I do not and cannot know what Lao Tzu actually intended when he wrote this chapter. It is to be noted, however, that there were some silly Chinese troopers that fought against some colonial powers in the modern era by taking too literally the content of this chapter or some other tao-te-ching-influenced mystical teachings that taught that they would be unharmed even in the midst of showering bullets from Westerners’ rifles if they practiced some mystical martial arts training. The result was obvious. They were cleanly wiped out in a battle. Is this any different from the Christians that claim that they can nowadays realize the miracles of Jesus?