Translation
Adept at prevailing without the rut of an outward sign.
Adept at speech without the flaw of banishment and blame.
Adept at counting without a plan or paper.
Adept at closing without locking, yet cannot be opened.
Adept at a conclusion without restriction, yet cannot be undone.
Using this, the wise person is:
Always adept at helping people because he abandons no one.
Always adept at helping things because he abandons nothing.
This says he follows the pattern honestly.
Thus, those who are adept are models for those not adept.
Those not adept support those who are adept.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter.
This wisdom, although perplexing,
Is called an essential wonder.
1) good (be adept in) go (be current; prevail; do) nothing (without; not) the track of a wheel (rut; > way; idea) mark (trace; an outward sign). 善行无辙迹。(shàn xíng wú chè jì.)
2) good (be adept in) speech (word; say; talk) nothing (without; not) flaw (defect; shortcoming) banish (censure; blame). 善言无瑕谪。(shàn yán wú xiá zhé.)
3) good (be adept in) number (count) no (not) use (apply <polite> eat <frml> hence) counter (prepare; plan) plan (strategy; bamboo slips used for writing on). 善数不用筹策。(shàn shŭ bù yòng chóu cè.)
4) good (be adept in) shut (close; stop up; obstruct) nothing (without; not) shut door lock <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) approve (can) open (start). 善闭无关楗而不可开。(shàn bì wú guān jiàn ér bù kĕ kāi.)
5) good (be adept in) tie (settle; conclude; affidavit) nothing (without; not) rope (restrain) make an appointment (arrange; restrain) <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) approve (can) separate (divide; untie). 善结无绳约而不可解。(shàn jiē wú shéng yāo ér bù kĕ jiĕ.)
6) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people). 是以圣人 (shì yĭ shèng rén)
7) ordinary (normal; constant; often) good (be adept in) rescue (save; salvage; help; relieve; succour) human (man; people), happening (reason; cause; hence) nothing (without; not) throw away (discard; abandon) human (man; people). 常善救人，故无弃人。(cháng shàn jiù rén, gù wú qì rén.)
8) ordinary (normal; constant; often) good (be adept in) rescue (save; salvage; help; relieve; succour) matter (the outside world), happening (reason; cause; hence) nothing (without; not) throw away (discard; abandon) matter (the outside world). 常善救物，故无弃物。(cháng shàn jiù wù, gù wú qì wù.)
9) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) make a surprise attack on raid (follow the pattern of; carry on as before) bright (clear; honest; know). 是谓袭明。(shì wèi xí míng.)
10) happening (reason; cause; hence) good (be adept in) human (man; people) (者) no (not) good (be adept in) human (man; people) of teacher (master; model; example). 故善人者不善人之师。(gù shàn rén zhĕ bù shàn rén zhī shī.)
11) no (not) good (be adept in) human (man; people) (者) good (be adept in) human (man; people) of money (expenses; subsidize; support; natural ability). 不善人者善人之资。(bù shàn rén zhĕ shàn rén zhī zī.)
12) no (not) value (expensive, precious; noble; > your) self (one’s own; certainly) teacher (master; model; example), no (not) love (like; treasure; take care of) self (one’s own; certainly) money (expenses; subsidize; support; natural ability), 不贵其师、不爱其资，(bù guì qí shī, bù ài qí zī,)
13) though (although; even if) wisdom (resourcefulness) big (great) be confused (be lost; perplex; fascinate; enchant), 虽智大迷，(suī zhì dà mí,)
14) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) demand (force, important; want; ask for) wonderful (excellent; fine; ingenious; clever; subtle). 是谓要妙。(shì wèi yāo miào.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(Trump era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/M8rVYilL1QQ is the link to the Zoom video of this month’s Sunday meeting. The shorter first part of the meeting begins with a chapter reading followed by attendees’ commentary, if any. A little later on begins the longer open discussion part of the meeting when those who wish to discuss how the chapter relates to their personal experience.
Corrections?
None this time.
Reflections:
Adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign.
Adept at speech without the flaw of banishment and blame.
Adept at counting without a counting scheme.
Adept at closing without locking, yet cannot be opened.
Adept at conclusion without restraint, yet cannot be undone.
The first line. Adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign, immediately brought to mind that common saying, “Leave no trace”, which is about leaving a forest or any natural area as you found it. Well, life is essentially a ‘natural area’, so without the ruts of an outward sign would apply to all action. All together, these five lines advise how the wise person approaches life. For me, chapter 3 puts this approach more succinctly, Doing without doing, following without exception rules, i.e., wéi wú wéi or just wú wéi.
Adept at speech without the flaw of banishment and blame parallels Christ admonition “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged”. The idea is easy enough to understand; the great difficulty lies in putting it into practice. The principle barrier to practicing this lies in the belief in free will. If you believe people have free will, then it will logically follow that they can willingly choose the right action, and avoid doing wrong. Believing this, how can you possibly not cast blame on those who “choose” to do wrong, or praise those who “choose” to do right? See Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking?
Speaking of how we make our choices in life, there is a simple, albeit hypothetically, bottom-up chain-of-causation that applies to all living things. (Note: > = gives rise to, begets, causes,)
Entropy > fear > need > action (i.e., negentropy) > life meaning > “happiness”
See the bottom of this chapter’s Reflections for more on this chain of causation.
Using this, the wise person is:
Always adept at helping people because he discards no one.
Always adept at helping things because he discards nothing.
This says he follows the pattern honestly.
What pattern is this referring to? I assume it refers to the five Adept at statements above. Accordingly, the helping people and the discards no one or nothing can’t be taken too literally for that would be leaving some noticeable ruts of an outward sign!
Interestingly, the act of helping is essentially a subtle form of control. Therefore, the wise person will be very careful in how he follows the pattern honestly. Again, this is where following the first line, Adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign, makes all the difference. “Leave no trace”. Seeing helping as being a form of control can be difficult since helping others is regarded as a highly desirable moral action. And certainly, helping others furthers social cohesion. Nevertheless—to paraphrase wéi wú wéi—the closer one can help without helping, the more likely one can avoid disrupting natural outcomes.
Thus, those who are adept are models for those not adept.
Those not adept support those who are adept.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter.
This wisdom, although perplexing,
Is called an essential subtlety.
Those who are adept are models for those not adept. Being a model for someone is a very passive non-meddlesome role. Again, it is being adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter would have been more the rule during our ancestral hunter-gatherer era when groups were composed of small closely connected individuals. The norm was egalitarian. The hierarchical social structure of civilization is otherwise. Here, people praise those who are adept and often trouble over those not adept. See The Tradeoff.
This wisdom, although perplexing, Is called an essential subtlety. I assume this wisdom is perplexing due to the fundamental shift in social systems, from egalitarian to hierarchical. It would not be at all perplexing to our distant ancestors! See Who Are You? Series.
This bottom up chain of causation may easily be misconstrued because of the imprecise ways words are often interpreted. The synonym-like parallel meanings below help mitigate this.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/aq7Z1_hLsrg
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
The bottom-up chain-of-causation that applies to all living things.
(Note: > = gives rise to, begets, causes,)
Entropy > fear > need > action (i.e., negentropy) > life meaning > “happiness”
First, consider this process that lies at the heart of living things: Complexity, as seen in living organisms arises because a system is not at equilibrium. Such systems, known as “dissipative structures,” are open systems that are driven far from equilibrium by a constant influx of energy and matter from their environment. They are able to maintain a highly ordered state by continuously dissipating free energy and expelling the produced entropy into their surroundings.
The bottom up chain of causation may easily be misconstrued because of the imprecise ways words are often interpreted. The synonym-like parallel meanings below help mitigate misinterpretation.
Entropy ≈ equilibrium, dead, stable, orderless, information maximally uncertain (knowledge of a system’s microscopic configuration is minimal because all accessible microstates are equally probable),
Fear ≈ insecurity, anxiety, worry, concern, unease,
Need ≈ desire, want, wish, expectation, crave, lust,
Action ≈ movement, hunt & gather, plan, pursue, practice, play, progress, walk & run, think & talk,
Life meaning ≈ significance, importance, purpose, raison d’être,
Happiness ≈ contentment, success, accomplishment, non-equilibrium processes, purposefully utilize information, dissipate free energy and producing entropy which is then expelled into the environment. Information is the mechanism by which systems resist this entropic drive.
This potentially offers a way to look inward, explore, and get a deeper understanding of what makes people (and life in general) tick. For starters, take any action (physical or mental) you experience and determine the need that causes it. Then take that need and see if you can detect the fear (worry, insecurity, unease, etc.) from which that need arises. This last step, discerning how insecurity and the like are the cause of need can be extremely obscure
If that’s the case, try taking a simple action like raising a cup of water to your mouth. Then imagine what it would feel like not being able to do that simple task. That would evoke a certain level of insecurity, regret, frustration, etc. This implies that you feel a need to have the freedom to move—raise the cup to your mouth. Beneath that need is the fear (insecurity) of not being able to have the freedom / ability to do that simple action.
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
Perhaps I’ll change discards in lines 7 and 8 back to abandon; I say more below. That would change these to:
Always adept at helping people because he abandons no one.
Always adept at helping things because he abandons nothing.
I also notice the book has the last lines of this chapter as: This wisdom, although perplexing, Is called an essential subtlety. Yet, the online Word-for-Word translation has This wisdom, although perplexing, Is called an essential wonder. It seems I forget to change the online version when I changed the book. On the other hand, the online version has abandons instead of discards. Clearly, any word’s synonyms are appropriate. It is much more significant how one interprets words, and is always fluid… and naturally so! Fortunately, we always have Chapter 1 to bring us back down to earth:
Perhaps it is time for me to stop fiddling with it and just let it be. Nailing it down is impossible… and naturally so! That is why I include the various synonyms for each character. If one doesn’t resonate, just pick one that does. The secret to understanding the Tao Te Ching, or any scripture really, lies in interpreting it such that it reflects what you intuitively know. After all, We only understand what we already know. In other words, the Tao Te Ching can’t teach you what you don’t already know. All it can do is be a spokesman for your intuition.
Reflections:
Adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign.
Adept at speech without the flaw of banishment and blame.
Adept at counting without a counting scheme.
Adept at closing without locking, yet cannot be opened.
Adept at conclusion without restraint, yet cannot be undone.
These “adept at” lines made sense right away except for the last one, Adept at conclusion without restraint, yet cannot be undone. Finally, I thought, I may have a correction to make, so I checked out the word-for-word section in the translation. It would make more sense I suppose to say, Adept at tying without rope, yet cannot be untied. This comes closer to how D.C.Lau put it, One who excels in tying uses no cords yet what he has tied cannot be undone.
Thinking it over, I see why I chose the synonym I did. Here is the literal word-for-word of this line. I’ll highlight in red the synonyms I chose:
good (be adept in) tie (settle; conclude; affidavit) nothing (without; not) rope (restrain) make an appointment (arrange; restrain) <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) approve (can) separate (divide; untie; undo). 善结无绳约而不可解。(shàn jiē wú shéng yāo ér bù kĕ jiĕ.)
Making the view murkier forces me to ponder deeper. In doing this today, I noticed a key word — without. The ideal I see here is being adept at something without some extra baggage. In other words, conclusion with restraint is not a true conclusion. The baggage here is some form of restraint. As chapter 24 says, Such ways are called surplus food and superfluous forms.
Using this, the wise person is:
Always adept at helping people because he discards no one.
Always adept at helping things because he discards nothing.
The key word here is discards. The nothing and no one are secondary. Why does one discard anything really? Discard, and its synonyms, throw away, abandon, reject, all feel especially forceful acts far different from the passive ‘letting things be’. The song, “Let It Be” by The Beatles comes to mind. To put discards nothing (non-discarding) in a positive sense, I’d put the two lines this way:
Always adept at helping people because he let’s them be.
Always adept at helping things because he let’s them be.
Adepts at living without ___’something’___, is simply letting ‘it’ be ‘it’. Exactly what the ‘something’ is, or what one could ‘let be’ is truly a subjective question that each of us would answer according to our needs and fears. All this reminds me of the walk in nature motto: “Take nothing and leave only footprints”. That is quite the opposite of humanity’s impact on the nature so far. The actual character in question here is ( 弃 qì) throw away; discard; abandon. Perhaps abandon would be a better choice, although I would prefer ‘let’s them be’.
This says he follows the pattern honestly.
Nature’s process definitely has a pattern to it, and a pattern within the pattern, and within that a still more subtle pattern…and so on… or not so subtle, perhaps. What blinds us to nature’s obvious patterns is our emotional stake in life. How can any attempt to follow the pattern honestly, let alone notice a pattern in the first place stand up against our deep-seated emotional stakes in life? Always adept at letting (you name it) be, or being adept without (you name it) hinges on the emotional baggage and biases we haul through life.
The importance of chapter 71 cannot be over stated: Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. This disease is the greatest impediment to seeing nature’s pattern. Is this not a catch-22? It is a dilemma where mutually conflicting conditions prevent honesty. Simply said, being honest requires leaving behind the emotional baggage that offers us comfort and security. What we believe is true is the fortress behind which we shield ourselves from the vast unknown. Yet, until we suspend our belief in what is, how can we peek into the unknown? The vast unknown we dread is the “wondrous entrance” to the pattern we seek to follow honestly. As chapter 1 concludes, Dark and dark again, the multitude, of wondrous entrance. This ironic paradox brings us to the final challenge of this chapter.
Thus, those who are adept are models for those not adept.
Those not adept support those who are adept.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter.
I see each person embodying both adept and not adept. Two sides of one coin. Every one of us excels in some aspects of life and just the opposite in other aspects. That is nature’s pattern. Yet, we hold out for a higher rung in the ladder of ‘goodness’ we pride ourselves in, and kick ourselves for our failings in the other.
The Tradeoff investigates this lost soul’s dilemma we all must face. However, it is not ‘that bad’. Meaning we would not, could not, give up our gains to return to the old ways of our egalitarian ancestors. Evolution moves onward. The trick for me is having the courage to allow nature to play out on its own terms, not project my own agenda on the world. Doing that only blinds me and binds me. Life=work, struggle, gain, surprise, completion, progress; Death=rest, loss, weakness, return, boredom. As you can see, even in life, I experience forms of ‘death’, and in ‘death’ I experience forms of life. It is a full package deal, yet we continue to hold out for one without the other. The folly of linear thinking, and not realizing we don’t know. That disease and the ‘benefits’ it appears to bring prevents us from beholding the pattern and following the pattern honestly.
This wisdom, although perplexing,
Is called an essential subtlety.
In the final lines of this chapter, we have our entire upbringing in the hierarchical social structure of civilization to overcome in order to perceive the essential subtlety. Well, not so much overcome as see through its shenanigans. Hierarchical order is endemic in every facet of civilized life. Returning to chapter 2 helps bring us closer to the essential subtlety by exposing civilization’s hierarchical paradigm for the linear artifice it is.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
These “adept at” lines (1-5,7-8) say more than meets the eye at first glance. I’ll pull some of these apart to help in reading between the lines, as they say. At least this offers a little more food for thought…
Line 3: I changed “plan or paper” to “counting scheme“. Here is the original: chóu (筹 counter, prepare, plan); cè (策 plan, scheme, strategy, bamboo slips used for writing on). I think of “counting scheme” as synonymous to statistics somewhat, which we know can be misleading—Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Now I’ll include the translation for the following whole lines and include details (meanings, synonyms) for what I regard to be the more pertinent characters.
Line 4: Adept at bì (闭 shut; close; stop up; obstruct), without guān (关 shut; close; turn off; lock up; shut in; close down; pass; barrier; critical juncture; concern) jian (楗 door lock) yet cannot kāi (开 open; start).
Line 5: Adept at jié (结 tie; knit; knot; weave; congeal; form; forge; cement; settle; conclude) without shéng (绳 rope; cord; string; restrict; restrain) yuē (约 make an appointment; arrange; restrain) yet cannot jiě (解 separate; divide; untie; undo; allay; dispel; dismiss; explain; interpret; solve; understand).
Line 7: Always adept at jiù (救 rescue; save; salvage; help; relieve; succor) people gù (故 incident; happening; reason; cause; hence) wú (无 nothing; without; not) qì (弃 throw away; discard; abandon) people.
Line 8: Always adept at jiù (救 rescue; save; salvage; help; relieve; succor) wù (物 matter; the outside world) gù (故 incident; happening; reason; cause; hence) wú (无 nothing; without; not) qì (弃 throw away; discard; abandon) wù (物 matter; the outside world).
Line 14: Finally, a closer look at the last line: Is called yāo (要 demand; force_yào_important; want; ask for) miào (妙 wonderful; excellent; fine; ingenious; clever; subtle).
Commentary:
For me, this chapter speaks to the value of being open to all things—impartiality in the broadest sense of the word (Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial). Chapter 73 also points to this ultra wide view: Nature’s net is vast and thin, yet never misses. This is essential if one is going to see beyond one’s blind spot—nature’s bio-hoodwink as I like to call it. Just being aware that this occurs gives me plenty of pause.
While Nature’s way is without match, Constantly helping the charitable person, the way of animals (people included) is often otherwise, yet naturally so. Tribal instinct drives social animals to accept some and discard, banish and blame others. This is all part of bolstering our sense of security and building a base of social interdependence. However, civilized circumstances easily turn this natural social tool into ‘too much of a good thing’, i.e., a little too much discard, banishment and blame for our own good.
Nature is not one sided, but rather both sided. The great way flows, such as it may left and right. We seem to get obsessively stuck on one side or the other primarily because we think that we know. Why? Fear of emptiness and entropy drives us to cling tightly to whatever feels most solid and secure. The clinging never delivers the security it promises. This is what makes chapter 71—Realizing I don’t know is better; not knowing this knowing is dis-ease—so important. Belief easily entangles us in self-fulfilling prophecy. To me, that is irony.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter is a call to check our favorites at the door of thought. Meaning, we are each drawn to certain things that resonant with our personal natures. Feeling the attraction (or aversion) is one thing, natural and common to all animals. Pumping up our sense of certainty in the truth of our feelings blinds us and binds us… but you knew that, as did I.
It is just that I must constantly refresh that knowing. True knowing is not a static knowledge ‘thing’; rather it is living in cognitive balance. In other words, I can’t fall asleep and keep balance; I must stay awake to the dangers of loosing balance. As Buddha said, Right Mindfulness, Right Attentiveness, Right Concentration. All these are essential to Right Understanding.
Suggested Revision:
Adept at prevailing without the ruts of an outward sign.
Adept at speech without the flaw of banishment and blame.
Adept at counting without a counting scheme.
Adept at closing without locking, yet cannot be opened.
Adept at conclusion without restraint, yet cannot be undone.
Using this, the wise person is:
Always adept at helping people because he discards no one.
Always adept at helping things because he discards nothing.
This says he follows the pattern honestly.
Thus, those who are adept are models for those not adept.
Those not adept support those who are adept.
Neither value the model nor love the supporter.
This wisdom, although perplexing,
Is called an essential subtlety.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
One who excels at something reflects an underlying agenda of their part. Action follows motivation, the urge to ‘do it’. This urge is energized by the need to achieve the goal to which the action is aimed. Ironically, the greater the need (desire) to achieve the goal, the less likely the doer will feel he excels, and so relies on ‘audience’ feedback. What’s more, lacking a sense of adeptness further energizes the urge to finally ‘get it right’. The need to ‘get it right’ counteracts the sense of contentment one innately dreams of feeling once success arrives. This dynamic powers the seemingly adept results of us all (yes, even plant and animals – though without the unique complications imagination gives humans).
Even though the world ‘out there’ judges and thinks it sees true excellence, the subjective experience is otherwise. It is an ironic process where underlying need pushes for the achievement of something, and prevents the subjective experience of anything more than fleeting moments of success for the doer. The world ‘out there’, in not experiencing the subjective stress that brings success, only sees the adept results. Feeding into our one-sided perception of adeptness and perfection is hierarchical instinct which drives us to rank the apparent successes we see.
Any essential and subtle wisdom brought to bear here must play out in the discernment of the doer. The doer, by transferring his fixation on the goal to the flow of doing, can find the success he seeks in that eternal moment (as long as he remains detached from any idealized goal). In other words, have little thought of self and as few desires as possible.
In the process of life, mistakes are the first step toward becoming adept. Mistakes are commonly seen (especially by adults) as something to avoid. The folly of this is obvious; avoiding mistakes leads to a stand-still frustration with life. Embracing mistakes as the essence of life’s process redirects the eye away from the idealized goal and back to the essential and subtle moment to moment (i.e., step by step, a journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one’s feet).
The idealize goals we pursue are outside of reality. While we can image a perfect world, or action, with nothing ‘chipped‘, reality comes in pairs. Mistakes <-> perfection; life <-> death; good <-> bad. (see correlations for more). ‘One without the other’ only exists in the wishful needs of the one’s imagination. This two-fold co-generating dynamic plays itself out in those who are adept and those who are not adept. Neither to value the model nor love the supporter is unavoidable once one sees the whole picture and no longer harbors favoritism.