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Chapter of the Week: #67 [Archive]
Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 9
Rather than fill it to the brim by keeping it upright
Better to have stopped in time;
Hammer it to a point
And the sharpness cannot be preserved for ever;
There may be gold and jade to fill a hall
But there is none who can keep them.
To be overbearing when one has wealth and position
Is to bring calamity upon oneself.
To retire when the task is accomplished
Is the way of heaven.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Chapter 9
Rather than fill it to the brim by keeping it upright
Better to have stopped in time;
Hammer it to a point
And the sharpness cannot be preserved for ever;
There may be gold and jade to fill a hall
But there is none who can keep them.
To be overbearing when one has wealth and position
Is to bring calamity upon oneself.
To retire when the task is accomplished
Is the way of heaven.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Comments
Chapter 67
The whole world says that my way is vast and resembles nothing. It is because it is vast that it resembles nothing. If it resembled anything, it would, long before now, have become small.
I have three treasures
Which I hold and cherish.
The first is known as compassion,
The second is known as frugality,
The third is known as not daring to take the lead in the empire;
Being compassionate one could afford to be courageous,
Being frugal one could afford to extend one's territory,
Not daring to take the lead in the empire one could afford to be lord over the vessels.
Now, to forsake compassion for courage, to forsake frugality for expansion, to forsake the rear for the lead, is sure to end in death.
Through compassion, one will triumph in attack and be impregnable in defense. What heaven succors it protects with the gift of compassion.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
What a difference 'my way is vast and resembles nothing' is from mainstream religious or political paradigms. Regardless of what I [chref=71]think that[/chref] I see, I always know that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg. Most of it lies hidden beneath the sea of my conscious [chref=52]discernments[/chref]. Obviously this perspective does not appeal to most, for the [chref=20]multitude [/chref] prefer certainty. I expect this has a lot to do with age. As I age, I need less and less certainty. In fact, the [chref=21]shadowy and indistinct[/chref] comfort me greatly. But, not so in my youth! Youth needs certainty.
I suspect that acceptance, and acceptance alone, of 'my way is vast and resembles nothing' helps me be increasing more compassionate as the years roll by. When my mind's 'take home view' doesn't resembled anything, emotional tremors pass sooner and I [chref=16]return[/chref] to equanimity more quickly.
The literal Chinese (characters) puts some of this slightly different: For example, kindness rather than compassion (though both correlate). Perhaps kindness offers a simpler view: thus, being kind one could afford to be courageous. How does kindness (or compassion) help us afford to be courageous? Acceptance is certainly a prerequisite to feeling kindness and compassion. Personally, I find acceptance is also a prerequisite for, and source of, courage. Perhaps I should say true courage. Action that is driven by competition and 'machismo' self validation, while appearing courageous, is otherwise. True courage rises up from the [chref=61]lower position[/chref].
Acceptance - the source of courage? Much of the time we [chref=53]prefer by-paths[/chref] in our attempt to avoid the inevitable. Accepting reality in lieu of an idealize expectation simplifies life; accepting how things are helps us to 'move on' in all situations; that is courage. Hmm,... I suppose 'right understanding', in turn, is a prerequisite for acceptance. Or is it the other way around? Shoot, I don't know,... they all correlate and, it is a mute point anyway.
Example #2: The third treasure is, put more literally, not daring to act in the world in advance. Thanks to 'future thought' we get ahead of ourselves, jump the gun, chomp at the bit, and otherwise [chref=55]egg on the breath[/chref]. Awareness does anything it can, but be present (i.e., the 'grass is always greener' instinct). Thus, this advice: not daring to act in advance therefore can accomplish steadily. I'd put it like this: We get further by returning to where we are.
Example #3: Frugal therefore can spread. Essentially the same, but with fewer [chref=23] words [/chref]... ahh!