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- CommentAuthorLuke Abbott
- CommentTimeMay 2nd 2006 edited
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 39
Of old, these came to be in the possession of the One:
Heaven in virute of the One is limpid;
Earth in virtue of the One is settled;
Gods in virtue of the One have their potencies;
The valley in virtue of the One is full;
The myriad creatures in virtue of the One are alive;
Lords and princes in virtue of the One become leaders in the empire.
It is the One that makes these what they are.Without what makes it limpid heaven might split;
Without what makes it settled earth might sink;
Without what gives them their potencies gods might spend themselves;
Without what makes it full the valley might run dry;
Without what keeps them alive the myriad creatures might perish;
Without what makes them leaders lords and princes might fall.Hence the superior must have the inferior as root; the high must have the low as a base.
Thus lords and princes refer to themselves as 'solitary', 'desolate', and
'hapless'. This is taking the inferior as root, is it not?Hence the highest renown is without renown,
Not wishing to be one among many like jade
Nor to be aloof like stone. -
[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.Of old, these came to be in the possession of the One parallels the Judeo Christian Islamic idea of God. It would be very easy for the people of the world to 'agree' that God is God, the same for everyone, yet tribal instinct rules, doesn't it. But, that is okay! Once I began seeing us as tribal animals, like every other social animal on the planet, I quit desiring the ideal, e.g., "can't we all just get along". This has made it much easier returning to [the] roots of reality.
Speaking of reality, the superior must have the inferior as root is one tough cookie to swallow isn't it? We are instinctively driven to reach for the superior and reject the inferior. We divide the One, seeking to keep the 'the beautiful and the good' part and toss the 'ugly and the bad'. This is not only futile, but a waste of half of the whole - the One. Oh Nature, you old hoodwinker you. Fortunately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which means we see what we want to see. Oh yes, it is a bit ironic. The "Dao De Jing" (Tao Te Ching) could be subtitled the "Dao Fan Hua Jing", the "Way of Irony Classic".
Not wishing to be one among many like jade, Nor to be aloof like stone, seems odd at first. Jade is a semiprecious stone, and stone is as common as, well, stones. Today, I interpret this as saying that each of us, though one among the many, still feel ourselves as 'special' like jade (our pesky ego
). On the other hand, once we pop some of that fantasy, we realize we are as common as stone. Just another animal on the planet. Ironically, that awareness sets us apart, aloof, from the multitude. Going from one extreme to the other, only tosses us back and forth. In the end, somewhere in between works better and feels best, like...
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