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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 38
A man of the highest virtue does not keep to virtue and that is why he has virtue.
A man of the lowest virtue never strays from virtue and that is why he is without virtue.
The former never acts yet leaves nothing undone. The latter acts but there are things left undone.
A man of the highest benevolence acts, but from no ulterior motive.
A man of the highest rectitude acts, but from ulterior motive.
A man most conversant in the rites acts,
but when no one responds rolls up his sleeves and resorts to persuasion by force.Hence when the way was lost there was virtue; when virtue was lost there was benevolence;
When benevolence was lost there was rectitude; when rectitude was lost there were the rites.The rites are the wearing thin of loyalty and good faith And the beginning of disorder;
Foreknowledge is the flowery embellishment of the way And the beginning of folly.Hence the man of large mind abides in the thick not in the thin, in the fruit not in the flower.
Therefore he discards the one and takes the other.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations -
[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.Right off the bat I favor the literal, 'Superior virtue not justify itself, and so has virtue' over D.C. Lau's. One of our core cognitive weaknesses lies in how we rationalize - justify - our actions. The article, Go Ahead, Rationalize. Monkeys Do It, Too pointed this out nicely. Note also how belief accompanies the inferior actions. And what is belief but our clever rationalization of reality.
Notice the layered consequences of loss. This exemplifies my preference for a 'symptomatic' view of reality, i.e., I think of everything I see as simply a symptom of yet deeper causes. This chapter points to the essential cause - loss (and its cousins, emptiness, silence, nothing, weakness, failure). Not only does the female always gets the better of the male by stillness, the female causes the male. Of the two, 'yin and yang', the 'yin' is the foundation, i.e., The myriad creatures in the world are born from Something, and Something from Nothing. (No wonder it's a male 'dominated' world... Hint: think symptoms.
)The polished version first:
Superior virtue not justify itself, and so has virtue.
Inferior virtue never deviates from virtue and so is without virtue.
Superior virtue without acting and yet without belief.
Inferior virtue without action and yet has belief.
Superior benevolence acts and yet without belief.
Superior justice acts and yet has belief.
Superior etiquette acts and yet when no one conforms,
Normally roles up sleeves and resorts to force.
Hence, Virtue follows loss of way.
Benevolence follows loss of virtue.
Justice follow loss of benevolence.
Etiquette follows loss of justice.
Flimsy loyalties and disorder accompany etiguette.
Forknowledge of the way, magnificent yet the beginning of folly.
The great man dwells in the solid, not in the flimsy.
Dwell in the solid, not in the magnificent.
Hence, he leave that and takes this.And now a literal rendering as best as I can:
superior virtue not virtue right (this, justify) take as virtue.
inferior virtue not miss (deviate from) virtue take as without virtue.
superior virtue without action (becomes) and yet without think (believe; consider).
inferior virtue without action (becomes) and yet has think (believe).
superior benevolence acts (becomes) of and yet without think (believe).
superior justice act (becomes) of and yet have think (believe).
superior ceremony (rite, manners, etiquette, gift) becomes of and yet no one of do agree,
standard (norm, rule)push up sleeves but throw of.
hence lose way after that virtue.
lose virtue after that benevolence.
lose benevolence after that justice.
lose justice after that ceremony (rite, manners, etiquette, gift).
ceremonal man loyal trust of thin (flimsy) and in disorder.
forward knowledge, way of magnificent yet foolish on beginning.
correct and great man, dwell its solid (true, real, honest, fruit), not dwell its thin.
Dwell its solid (true, real, honest, fruit), not dwell its magnificent (splendid, prosperous, flourishing).
hence, leave that get this.Note: 'without acting' (wu wei) is a Taoist concept of human conduct that lets things takes their own course.
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- CommentAuthorTheNowSeeker
- CommentTimeNov 15th 2007 edited
Interestingly, the word ‘virtue’ - virtutem - has an origin in ‘manliness / mailness’ ‘valor’ and ‘worth.’
Surface level, it could appear that we must conquer the animal within and rise to prove our valuable human dignity through gallant effort for moral excellence. Only then can harmony be ‘achieved’ and we can bring ourselves back in line with the Tao. Sound familiar?As I settle myself to allow the word to dissolve, gravity drips my awareness through the cracks to an inferior root: If you would have a thing laid aside it must first set up. Therefore Virtue rears us from nothing into this something, and we can only ‘watch them return.’
Victor H. Mair’s rendering is ‘..superior integrity does not insist upon..integrity,’ which for me, reminds me more.
Until i learn it, this lesson still appears almost all day everyday to me, as I try ‘too hard’ not to ‘meddle’ e.g. shush friends who want to complain in restaurants..
ops: oh the irony. -
TheNowSeeker:
Interestingly, the word 'virtue' - virtutem - has an origin in 'manliness / manliness' 'valor' and 'worth.'
It is also related to virile, it seems. I see biology as the driving force behind this connection with manliness, strength, virility. The all impressive 'yang' that grabs our attention. Now, when we look at the more subtle whole picture, we see that the 'yin' - the female - is the power behind the thrown. Odd that we are stuck with the word virtue to describe what is essentially the opposite. Don't you just love it. Trapped by our preconceptions. How do we wrangle our way free?
Until i learn it, this lesson still appears almost all day everyday to me, as I try 'too hard' not to 'meddle' e.g. shush friends who want to complain in restaurants..
ops: oh the irony.It is the journey of, "... as I try 'too hard'...", not the "until I learn it", that makes life worth living. Yet, part of the illusion that drives us lies in our deep seated feeling that it is success that counts. I've found only a continuous returning awareness keeps the illusion illusionary. Illusion illusionary? Does that make sense? Illusion illusionary is like when two negatives make the opposite... right?
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