Translation
Know its male, abide by its female, and be a small stream for all under heaven.
Serving as a small stream for all under heaven, constant virtue will never leave you,
And you will again return to infancy.
Know its white, abide by its black, and serve as a model for all under heaven.
Being a pattern for all under heaven, constant virtue will never be in error,
And you will again return to moderation.
Know its honor, abide by its disgrace, and be a valley for all under heaven.
Being a valley for all under heaven, constant virtue will be sufficient,
And you will again return to simplicity.
Simplicity loosens the standard, and allows a wise person to serve as an elder.
This is how even the greatest control never cuts.
1) know its male (powerful, imposing), defend (observe, abide by, close to) its female, serve as (be, mean) heaven under small stream. 知其雄，守其雌，为天下溪。(zhī qí xióng, shŏu qí cí, wéi tiān xià xī.)
2) serve as (be, mean) heaven under small stream, always virtue (integrity) no (not) leave, 为天下溪，常德不离，(wéi tiān xià xī, cháng dé bù lí,)
3) duplicate (again) return in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) baby. 复归于婴儿。(fù guī yú yīng ér.)
4) know its white (pure, clear), defend (observe, abide by, close to) its black, serve as (be, mean) heaven under type (style, pattern) 知其白，守其黑，为天下式。(zhī qí bái, shŏu qí hēi, wéi tiān xià shì.)
5) serve as (be, mean) heaven under type (style, pattern), always virtue (integrity) no (not) error (mistake), 为天下式，常德不忒，(wéi tiān xià shì, cháng dé bù tè,)
6) duplicate (again) return in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) without extreme. 复归于无极。(fù guī yú wú jí.)
7) know its flourish (honor, glory), defend (observe, abide by, close to) its disgrace (dishonor), serve as (be, mean) heaven under valley. 知其荣，守其辱，为天下谷。(zhī qí róng, shŏu qí rŭ, wéi tiān xià gŭ.)
8) serve as (be, mean) heaven under valley, always virtue (integrity) be (therefore, only then, your) foot (sufficient;, full), 为天下谷，常德乃足，(wéi tiān xià gŭ, cháng dé năi zú,)
9) duplicate (again) return in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) simple (plain). 复归于朴。(fù guī yú pò.)
10) simple (plain) break-up (come loose) standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) serve as (be, mean) implement (capacity, talent), sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people) use of standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) serves as (be, mean) public elder (senior, chief, head). 朴散则为器，圣人用之则为官长。(pò săn zé wéi qì, shèng rén yòng zhī zé wéi guān cháng.)
11) incident (happening, cause, intentionally, therefore) big make (control, regulate, system) no (not) cut. 故大制不割。(gù dà zhì bù gē.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
I’m tempted again to update a few words. This time it’s abide by and normalcy. , which I’d change to keep watch and rule or standard… perhaps. But I won’t because I’d likely just want to change them again later. It makes more sense to refer to the alternative synonym-like meanings for the characters given below the translation. After all, blending these into a meta-meaning allows me to interpret more deeply than would be possible if just relying on one translated meaning for the character.
Reflections:
I’m going to do something a little different this time and combine the similarities in the first three “know its” sections. Doing this should permit me to make this reflection more comprehensive.
First, we have two principles, “know” and “abide”, to think about. Here it is important to consider the other related meanings (synonyms) for the character I translated as abide: Shŏu (守) = guard; defend; keep watch; observe; abide by; close to; near. A constant keep watch is a key prerequisite to “be a…”, “constant virtue will…”, and “you will again return to…”. This is no ‘one and done’ operation. (Note: The synonyms for the character for “know” are less important for us now. All the same, here they are: Zhī (知)= know; realize; be aware of; inform; notify; tell; knowledge; be in charge of.)
Know its male, its white, its honor, Abide by its female, its black, its disgrace
And be a small stream, a pattern, a valley for all under heaven,
Constant virtue will never leave you, will never be in error, will be only then sufficient,
And you will again return to infancy, to moderation, to simplicity.
The question becomes, just how does one abide by (keep watch, observe, defend…) these somewhat abhorrent qualities: disgrace, black, female? Yes, disgrace feels abhorrent, but certainly not black or female, per se. To truly understand this I need to plunge deeper… much deeper.
These Know its male…, Know its white…, and Know its honor… all align on the active yang side of the correlations column. Abide by its female…, abide by its black…, and abide by its disgrace…, all align on the passive yin side of the correlations column. “What?” you ask. I’m referring to the ‘dipolar perception’ that dominates the human mind, or at least our mind’s language. It may help to take a quick look at this example of a correlations column. Next, we need to take a closer look at this term “dipole”.
The Mind’s Perception Dipole
A dipole is a term in physics that refers to a pair of separated electric charges or magnetic poles, of equal magnitude but of opposite polarity, i.e., negative (–) vs. positive (+) or N. vs. S. Life has adopted this natural dynamic to perceive its surroundings in a way that promotes survival in a competitive environment. In life forms with a nervous system, neurons communicate through an electrochemical process… (–) vs. (+). Given this, it is not surprising we see reality in a (–) vs. (+) mode. This (–) vs. (+) dynamic influences how humans label their perceptions: yes vs. no, good vs. bad, yin vs. yang, life vs. death, active vs. passive, go vs. stop, hot vs. cold, before vs. after, hard vs. soft, heaven vs. hell, male vs. female, white vs. black, and so on.
This dipolar-like perception is essential for survival in the wild. It boils choices down to the simplest level — yes (+) vs. no (–). The human ability to think and remember makes this both a blessing and a curse. Chapter 1’s, These two are the same coming out, yet differ in name hints at the curse. Not only do we see things with a false ‘yin yang’ named simplicity, our dipolar memories nag our moment-to-moment awareness constantly. For us, dipolar-like perception hinders feeling “These two are the same coming out” reality.
A view of Oneness informs the core of most religions, even though each expresses it differently. The funny thing is, even this meta-view of a Oneness versus the many arises out of the brains dipolar-like perception. This feels like a house of mirrors.
Breaking Out of this House of Mirrors
Chapter 52 begins to offer a solution of sorts. The first four lines read:
Our escape route out of this house of mirrors is “to observe its origin”. This “observe its origin” is the same character we’re discussing here — shŏu (守 ) = abide by, keep watch, observe, defend! This sounds just fine. Now all we need to know is how in fact to do it.
Having faith in word meaning keeps the mind stuck in the ‘perception dipole’. This just keeps the issue, any issue, ping ponging between yang and yin, spinning around and never resolving. Of course this faith in word meaning lies at the core of the disease to which chapter 71 refers… Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Loosening word-meaning’s hold on the mind corresponds to chapter 56’s Subdue its sharpness, untie its tangles, Soften its brightness, be the same as dust. Otherwise, we are left with the only other option in life, as chapter 52 reminds us… Open the exchange, help its affairs; to the end, oneself no relief. (See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations for one way to help loosen word-meaning.)
Why the Focus on the Yin Side of the Perception’s Dipole?
Note that while both the yin/yang poles are acknowledged, the yin pole is the one to abide by. Similarly, Buddha’s Noble Truths begins by stating that “Life is sorrow” and then proceeds to offer way to mitigate this. Why this emphasis on the yin side of things?
Compare the yang qualities on the left side of this chart with the yin qualities on the right side. Note that the “know its” refers to those on the left while the “abide by” refers to those on the right. Does anything jump out at you right off the bat? Ponder!
Can you see that the qualities on the left side correspond more to characteristics that energize life. They are innate de facto attributes of youth. We all experience them to one degree or another from the cradle on. Therefore, we innately “know” these qualities. They drive survival. In addition, these survival instincts drive us to do all we can to avoid most of these yin qualities. Of course, it is not all ‘black and white’. Indeed, we need some of those yin qualities to have a healthy balanced life, e.g., sleep, silence, surrender, relax, passive, female. Nevertheless, we generally need and push for the ‘life’ qualities, and fear and pull back from ‘death’ qualities.
This innate bias for the ‘life’ supporting yang side is the central reason for the emphasis on the yin qualities. We desire the yang all too naturally. We turn away from the yin side… it’s no ‘fun’. By emphasizing the yin side of the coin, the Tao Te Ching and Buddha are calling us to confront our fears and weakness if we wish to return to a more natural equilibrium. We need to give ‘equal time’ to the yin side, especially in the circumstance of civilization. Why? Civilization does all it can to minimize the yin side of the reality. (For a deeper look at this, see The Tradeoff. )
Note: Need and attraction are emotions underpinning the left YANG. These drive survival’s ‘fight’ instincts. Fear and aversion are emotions underpinning the right YIN. These drive survival’s ‘flight’ instincts. By the way, don’t think of ‘female’ as a woman. ‘Female’ is a broad YIN principle, and has little to do with gender.
Abide by its disgrace is supporting the lower position
Abide by its disgrace if taken to heart means taking responsibility for the state of the world. That is what it means to “support the lower position”. From this angle, it is ‘me’ and not ‘them’ that is the cause of the world’s sorrows. Taking responsibility eliminates contention. Absent contention, endless possibility opens up. As chapter 68 has it…
Of course, taking responsibility for the state of the world becomes much less possible if one believes people have free will, and can be held responsible for their actions. Then, “It’s your fault, not mine” easily becomes the biological default response to what trouble us.
You can’t lose supporting the lower position
Naturally, you will fail at abiding by its disgrace. That’s ironically not a problem; if fact failure may even be an asset unrealized. Is not failure a disgrace of sorts? Failure is approximately equal to disgrace. These correlate. These are the yin qualities this chapter counsels us to abide by. So, even if you lose, you win, as it were. Take the lower position, female role.
The subtler aspect to abiding by the yin is that it vanishes. Let me put this in other words. If the whole universe was the color blue, would you be able to see blue? No. You wouldn’t be able to see blue because there would be no contrast vis-à-vis not blue. The Zen riddle, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” comes to mind. It is the dipolar distinction that makes something… anything… observable. Without that it is Nothing. If you embrace the yin totally, the yin vanishes into a singularity. Of course, that’s not entirely possible with the brain we have, but it is possible to begin to… Subdue its sharpness, untie its tangles, Soften its brightness, be the same as dust.
Finding Natural Simplicity in Civilization’s Complexity
Simplicity loosens normalcy and allows a wise person to be a public elder. It helps to consider the other meaning for the character I translated as normalcy. Zé ( 则) = standard; norm; criterion; rule; regulation. This pretty much describes civilization’s modus operandi. Civilization is the establishment of standards, norms, criterion, rules, and regulations.
Abiding by the yin side results in, as chapter 52 puts it, Already knowing its offspring, return to observe its origin Nearly rising beyond oneself…. and in the process, nearly rising beyond civilization. This may parallel Christ’s advice, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” In any event, if one wants to regain some natural equilibrium, one needs to rein it in, slow down, be still. And with that…
This is how even the greatest control never cuts.
Chapter 56 sums it all up
Chapter 56 blends the ‘one’ and the ‘many’ like dust. The less sharply and hard you define matters, the better able you are to “observe its origin”, not the dipolar-like labeled model.
‘Profound sameness’ is the name of the Taoist game.
‘Profound sameness’, or simply sameness, is a yin quality and so would be on the right side of the preceding YANG vs. YIN chart above. Conversely, difference is a yang quality and so would be on the right side of the chart. Knowing differences is an innate characteristic from birth on. Observing similarity is much more tentative and subtle. Biologically speaking, differences stimulate us and sameness tends to bore us.
‘Profound sameness’ is simply an attempt to describe how the non-dipolar ‘original’ feels. This description can serve as your ‘canary in the coal mine’ of your mind. When we see differences, we know we are seeing an illusion projected by our dipolar perception and narrow self-interests. When we see similarities, we know we are seeing more of the ‘bigger picture… nearly rising beyond oneself as chapter 16 (and 52) says. Certainly, we can’t help feeling a dipolar-like reality; the trick is to resist thinking and believing that reality is dipolar-like. This is why chapter 28 counsels us to abide by, keep watch, defend, observe, etc., the dark and shady (yin) side of the reality’s coin.
I finish with the last three lines from chapter 52.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
Line 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7: There is a pattern that these lines share, beginning with line 1: Know its male, abide by its female, and be a small stream for all under heaven. Being a small stream for all under heaven, constant virtue will never leave you.
Be and Being are the words I chose for wéi (为) do; act; act as; serve as; become; be; mean. I previously used serve and serve as to represent wéi. Naturally, either is fine. The most important (albeit weakest) link to understanding lies in the eye of the viewer. I like to consider (contemplate) all the tangential meanings of wéi and from that distill as deep an interpretation as possible. (Truly though, I am distilling as deep a sense of what I am able to comprehend, i.e., we only understand what we know already, and that is always evolving—at least somewhat.)
Line 7: Being a valley for all under heaven, constant virtue will be only then sufficient. I regard this be only then (nǎi (乃) be, so, therefore, only then) as an important qualifier. This is somewhat similar to chapter 17’s, When trust is lacking, there is no trust. It is like honesty; there is no halfway-honesty. (Although, I suppose you could say silence is kind of halfway honesty. )
Line 8: Simplicity loosens normalcy, and allows a wise person to be a public elder. First, I exchanged normalcy for “the standard”. Again, either is fine; each is a different shade of the same thing. The particular shade we happen to see lies in our emotion’s ‘eye’, which makes choosing the so-called correct word rather impossible. That said, I feel normalcy may evoke a ‘truer color’ overall. The character in question here is zé (则) standard; norm; criterion; rule; regulation; <formal> imitate; follow. This speaks to the mellowing effect simplicity has upon orthodoxy (i.e., zhèng (正) means: straight; upright; correct; right; pure, and tǒng (统) means: gather into one; unite; all; together.) In other words, what is regarded as normal in civilization is not all that natural in the wild. Simplicity helps moderate so-called cultural norms.
There are two other words worth looking into on Line 8: Public elder is my interpretation of this character pair: guān (官) government official; public servant + zhǎng (长) elder; chief. I feel it best to deemphasize the ‘government official’ in favor of a more primitive context. ‘Government’ has become a ‘loaded’ word in modern times. In truth, ‘government’ is merely an emergent property of innate social instinct. Public elder relates to social groups (i.e. public) and elders in general, ancient or modern.
In many ways, the secret to understanding the deeper meaning conveyed in the Tao Te Ching is to accentuate the similarities between the modern and the ancient, and tone down the nominal significance of apparent differences.
Commentary:
While D.C. Lau’s references to the uncarved block make a lovely metaphor, it comes at the cost of simple accuracy, which in this case is a little ironic. The actual Chinese word is pu (朴) which just means simple, plain. Turning this adjective into a noun (i.e., the block is an object, uncarved notwithstanding) is misleading. In a way, this is making the name that can be named… The name that can be named is not the constant name.
I went back and looked at other translations to see whether D.C.Lau borrowed this block metaphor from some earlier translation. R. B. Blakney (1955) uses the word “Virginal Block”. R.G. Henricks’ and V.H. Mair’s (true translators like D.C. Lau) also refer to “uncarved wood” and “unhewn log”. It appears that R.G. Henricks borrowed his “uncarved wood” from professor Wing-tsit Chan translation (1901 – 1994, one of the world’s leading scholars of Chinese philosophy and religion).
None of this really matters of course; in the end, understanding occurs in the eye of the beholder. On the other hand, it is symptomatic of what goes on behind the scenes, as it were. Sometimes (perhaps more often than not) experts can be blinded by their own expertise. Think of it this way, the more you have emotionally invested in any life long endeavor, the likely the blind spot will cloud perception of the very thing you are attempting to clarify. Also, the narrow life-long focus needed to build expertise inhibits broad ‘big picture’ perception. In short, we can’t have it both ways; each needs the other. However, in modern times, narrow expertise seems to dominate. I imagine this is an inevitable consequence of ‘progress’.
‘This is how even the greatest control never cuts’ (D.C. Lau’s Therefore the greatest cutting does not sever) feels like an inverted pyramid, with me in the valley. Looking up, I discern the sky, clouds, stars, sun, trees, birds, and so on, above me. This perception serves like a roof over my mind’s eye. It feels inclusive, protective, enveloping. I can make use of this without severing them from the whole.
Conversely, and more commonly, discernment is our means of excluding the ‘bad’ and identifying the ‘good’. Such value judgments serve our tribal instinct. In clearly knowing ‘good’ from ‘bad’ we set up ideals around which to rally tribal loyalties and identify enemies of the tribe. Alas, we are social animals and this is our DNA. The difficulty is that we think, identify and label (name) our likes and dislikes, and ever-after make these biases a permanent part of our remembered awareness. This separates us from the One and leaves us cut-off from the rest. This chapter suggests an alternative.
Simply put: the more you abide by the Active yang inclinations, the deeper the other side lurks underneath. In wanting to be ‘somebody’, we fear being just the opposite even more. Seeing one’s life set in more humble terms (lower, female, black) puts us in the valley and more in communion with heaven and earth.
Suggested Revision:
Know its male, abide by its female,
and be a small stream for all under heaven.
Being a small stream for all under heaven,
constant virtue will never leave you,
And you will again return to infancy.
Know its white, abide by its black,
and be a pattern for all under heaven.
Being a pattern for all under heaven,
constant virtue will never be in error,
And you will again return to moderation.
Know its honor, abide by its disgrace,
and be a valley for all under heaven.
Being a valley for all under heaven,
constant virtue will be only then sufficient,
And you will again return to simplicity.
Simplicity loosens normalcy
and allows a wise person to be a public elder.
This is how even the greatest control never cuts.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
We are able to cleverly overcome nature through an awareness of past, future and the apparent cause and effect relationship between the two. Furthermore, our survival biology drives us to climb, reach for and achieve meaning, position, honor, to ‘be somebody’ seemingly without end. We have an innate gut sense that ‘more is better’, even when wisdom tells us otherwise. Obviously, the higher up one climbs, the further down one has to fall. The further out on a limb one reaches, the more separated from the trunk one feels.
What natural mechanisms are in place to push back against the impulse for more and more ‘progress’? Certainly, other creatures also struggle for all they can get, (which usually means eat). However, natural conditions limit their success. That was once true of us, before our brain evolved enough to map out clever by-paths around those natural limits. Hooray! Nothing can stop us now. The world… uh, er… no, the universe is our ouster.
Well, it doesn’t always work out that way, now does it? We are also able to see how success is empty in the long run. We can see death’s doorway. Nuts! The brain that brings us success also see the failure that lurks ahead, behind, and all around. This began turning more problematic as civilization and the agricultural revolution took hold. With that came the blossoming of religion. Religion is undoubtedly humanity’s way of coping with a thinking mind that ‘knows’ too much for its own sanity.
Does religion work? I don’t suppose it really does. Religion is a symptom of a deeper disconnection; since when do symptoms cure causes? At best, religion is a palliative. For a ‘cure’, each mind must dig deep within its psyche until discernment penetrates the four quarters. Then it can feel the teaching that uses no words, the benefit of resorting to no action. Thus then, being a valley for all under heaven, constant virtue will be sufficient, and one can again return to simplicity (i.e., being the uncarved block).
Returning to simplicity, to the extent possible, fosters within me a sense of mysterious sameness wherein even the greatest cutting does not sever. In other words, it may not be perfect, but it will do.