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Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Chapter 21 was originally featured on the 4th week in December, 2005.
Note: 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 21
In his every movement a man of great virtue
Follows the way and the way only.As a thing the way is
Shadowy, indistinct.
Indistinct and shadowy,
Yet within it is an image;
Shadowy and indistinct,
Yet within it is an essence.
This essence is quite genuine
And within it is something that can be tested.From the present back to antiquity
Its name never deserted it.
It serves as a means for inspecting the fathers of the multitude.How do I know that the fathers of the multitude are like that?
By means of this. -
[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read,
the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]From the present back to antiquity reminds me of going cross country in wilderness and cave exploring. It is crucial to know where you were to know where you are going. Life, for me, is no different. Pondering from the present back to antiquity, to the 'big bang' and even before helps put the present in perspective. Before the 'big bang'? Ah yes, this is one of my favorite images... Darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there. I know not whose son it is. It images the forefather of God.
What is great virtue anyway?
The Oxford University Press dictionary says: virtue >n. 1 behavior showing high moral standards. ->a quality considered morally good or desirable. ->a good or useful quality of a thing.
My English-Chinese dictionary says: Virtue is 'de', (as in Dao De Jing, or as 'Te' in Tao 'Te' Ching). 'De' translates to: virtue; righteousness, morals; moral character. The character for 'de' is composed of three others characters 'zhi' , straight; 'shin', heart, mind; and 'chi', step. String them all together and we get 'step - straight - heart - mind'. Mmmmm.... doesn't that feels a bit shadowy and indistinct, yet within it is an essence?
It is crucial to plumb the depths of word meaning, if we are going to 'take them with anything more than a grain of salt'. Virtue carries significant Christian connotation, and 'de' carries significant Confusion connotation. To feel the Taoist sense of this word let's review how it is used in the Tao Te Ching. My view is that how a word is used in the Tao Te Ching helps define its 'Taoist' meaning. We don't usually read things this way, but rather rely on our 'habitual' use of words and our preconceptions to give sentences meaning. Doing that with the Tao Te Ching only increases confusion. It is very helpful to have meaning flow both directions. Now, consider these excerpts which point to the Taoist sense of virtue ('de').
A man of the way conforms to the way; a man of virtue conforms to virtue;
If you are a valley to the empire, Then the constant virtue will be sufficient
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