Translation

Its peace easily manages, Its presence easily plans,
Its fragility easily melts, Its timeliness easily scatters,
Acts without existing, Governs without disorder.
A tree barely embraceable grows from a fine tip.
A terrace nine layers high rises from piled earth.
A thousand mile journey begins below our feet.
Of doing we fail, Of holding on we lose.

Taking this, the wise do nothing, hence never fail,
Hold nothing, hence never lose.
People in their affairs always accomplish some, yet fail.
Being as careful at the end as the beginning as a rule never fails.
Taking this, the wise person desires non desire,
And does not value difficult to obtain goods.
Learns non learning and turns around people’s excesses,
In order to assists all things naturally and never boldly act.

his (its; their; they; that) peaceful (quiet; calm) easy (amiable) hold (grasp; support), his (its; their; they; that) have not (did not) sign (omen; portent, foretell) easy (amiable) stratagem (plan; work for; seek; plot; consult.)

his (its; their; they; that) fragile (brittle; crisp; clear > neat) easy (amiable) melt, his (its; their; they; that) minute (tiny) easy (amiable) break-up (come loose).

do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) of at (in) have not (did not) have (exist), rule (govern; order; peace; > government; control) of at (in) have not (did not) in a mess (disorder; chaos).

so big that one can just get one’s arms around of tree (timber; wooden; coffin) give birth to (grow; existence; life) at (in) fine long hair (writing brush) end (nonessentials; dust).

nine layer (tier; floor) of platform (stage; terrace) get up (remove; pull; appear) at (in) pile up (accumulate; continuous; involve) soil (earth; land; ground; local; native; homemade; unenlightened; opium).

a thousand li (a long distance) of go (travel, do, be current) beginning (start> only then) at (in) foot (leg; enough; full; as much as) below (down; under; lower; inferior).

do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support)?be defeated (lose; beat; fail; decay) of, hold (manage; stick to, carry out; observe) ?lose (miss; let slip; mistake) of.

<grm> is (<formal> this; that) use (take; so as to_and; as well as) sage (wise man), nothing (without; not) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) reason (cause; on purpose; hence) nothing (without; not) be defeated (lose; beat; fail; decay),

nothing (without; not) hold (manage; stick to, carry out; observe) reason (cause; on purpose; hence) nothing (without; not) lose (miss; let slip; mistake).

the people (civilian) of go in for (be engaged in; deal with) ordinary (normal; constant; often) at (in) several (some) accomplish (become; result) <conj.> (and / but (not) be defeated (lose; beat; fail; decay) of .

careful (cautious) end (death; eventually; whole; all) in compliance with (like; as if; can compare with) beginning (start> only then) standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) nothing (without; not) be defeated (lose; beat; fail) matter (affair; thing; involvement).

<grm> is (<formal> this; that) use (take; so as to_and; as well as) sage (wise man) desire (wish; want; about to) no (not) desire (wish; want; about to) ,

no (not) expensive (precious; noble) hard to come by (rare) of goods (commodity; money; idiot).

study (imitate; knowledge) no (not) study (imitate; knowledge), duplicate (turn around, answer, recover) many (numerous; crowd; multitude) human being (man; person) of place cross (past; through; over; exceed),

use (take; so as to_and; as well as) assist (complement; supplement) all things on earth of at ease (natural; free from affectation) <conj.>and / but (not) no (not) bold (dare; be certain) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support).

Original

其安易持，
其未兆易谋。
其脆易泮，
其微易散。
为之于未有，
治之于未乱。
合抱之木生于毫末。
九层之台起于累土。
千里之行始于足下。
为者败之，
执者失之。
是以圣人
无为故无败，
无执故无失。
民之从事常于几成而败之。
慎终如始则无败事。
是以圣人
欲不欲，
不贵难得之货。
学不学，
复众人之所过，
以辅万物之自然而不敢为。

Commentary, February 2011

Sure, it is easy to maintain, deal with, break, or dissolve something while it is essentially nothing. A question worth asking is how does ‘nothing’ become something in the first place (besides the slightly mystifying Something and Nothing produce each other)? One obvious cause is our old ‘friend’ desire.

I know, desire gets such a bad rap. I think of desire as a composite of need + thought. Thought is uniquely human, while need is the universal driving force for all life. Honestly though, I see this breaking down even further; just as something produce each other, so also do need and fear. So desire is actually more like a blending of need, fear and thought. Two of these are essential survival instincts. Thanks to human cleverness, only we are capable of taking these a step further, ending up with mountains of something out of mole hills of nothing. So yes, ‘Taking this, the wise person desires non desire’, certainly makes sense.

Of course, the wisdom to desire non desire, not value difficult to obtain goods, and learn non learning is only evident to those who feel the no-brainer sense of this already. Our failure to understand this is the most straightforward reason for why the world is the way it is. I often feel mystified that people can be so irrational—not so much the nameless masses or the foolish and uncouth. I mean, we all know ‘we’ don’t have a clue. What baffles me more are the leaders of society, the cognoscenti elite, that run things. As chapter 75 puts it, those in authority are too fond of action. Alas, they are no wiser than the poor and meek. If anything, just the opposite; they are even less likely to have little thought of self and as few desires as possible. Their drive to lead the pack and change the world makes them even less likely than others to ‘desire not to desire, not value goods hard to come by, and learn to be without learning‘. (Who knows, perhaps Jesus had this partly in mind when he said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”.)

Yet, something in me, even to this day, expects more of them… the leaders of society. Why? It’s so irrational on my part! My social ideals (driven by a fairness instinct’?) coming face to face with the real of ‘what is’ leaves me feeling continually awestruck. If I didn’t realize the natural science behind this disconnect (ideal vs. real) I’d probably feel angry. Without a doubt, the more impartiality I bring to what I observe, the more kindliness I feel. While it can be difficult seeing things as they are, it’s even harder being ignorant⁽¹⁾.

Happily, this chapter ends with some useful peace-of-mind advice. It is stated awkwardly; perhaps seeing it from another angle will help: Learn non learning tells me to take much less seriously all that I’ve come to realize, (i.e., when your discernment penetrates the four quarters, are you capable of not knowing anything?) Only then do I find myself able to turn around people’s excesses, in order to assists all things naturally and never boldly act.

Don’t take this to mean I actually do something ‘out there’ to make good the mistakes of the multitude, or help the myriad creatures to be natural and to refrain from daring to act. That would be flat out impossible… although, Lord knows countless “do gooders⁽²⁾” try. Just the opposite in fact. Merely understanding what is happening helps me ‘make good the mistakes of others’, without resorting to action. ‘To be natural’ is ‘to be just so’ (?? ziran). Seen this way, it is easy to find beauty in how-it-is, and not push to remake the world to fit an ideal view of how-it-should-be.

In other words, when I can see great perfect seems chipped, it becomes easy to let it be—easily manage, easily plan, easily melt, easily scatter. The Taoist path is about changing our point of view rather than the world ‘out there’. What we see out there is truly a reflection of who we are, what we fear, what we need—our desires, our agenda. As the agenda changes, the world we see changes. We are told, ‘the sage desires not to desire, and does not value goods which are hard to come by‘! Desire is the true culprit that causes us to ‘ruin things when on the verge of success‘⁽³⁾.

⁽¹⁾ I can’t imagine ignorance being bliss for anyone who thinks. Neither can I imagine nature, animals, infants, trees, and such, being ignorant or having desire. It is thinking that makes both ignorance and desire what they are. When we think, we step into a whole other world – a virtual world of ideals for what should or shouldn’t be – and we pay a price.

⁽²⁾ As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Of course, we can’t help trying to do good; social instinct drives us. The good we are pushing is only a projection of our own desires, which accounts for any unintended and unfortunate consequences.

⁽³⁾ Or as I translated it, People in their affairs always accomplish some, yet fail. I first became keenly aware of some of this while working with wood. When sawing by hand, for example, I’d always tend to rush it. This invariably lead to ruin, if not materially, then spiritually (i.e., lack of contentment). I eventually realized that the only way forward was through turning back. Finish the task at hand, deal with it completely before jumping on to the next ‘bauble’ of desire always leaves me with a better taste in my mouth.