Translation
For managing people’s daily affairs, there is nothing like frugality.
Only the frugal man is said to serve from the start.
Serving from the start he is said to deeply accumulate virtue.
Deeply accumulating virtue, as a rule he is said to be limitless.
Being limitless, as a rule no one knows his utmost point.
No one knowing his utmost point, he can have the country.
Having the origin of the country, he can long endure.
This is called deep roots, solid foundation,
Long life, enduringly watchful of the way.
1) rule (govern; manage; peace) human (man; people) matter (affair; thing; involvement) sky (heaven; day; nature) no one (nothing) like (seem; as if) stingy (miserly). 治人事天莫若啬。(zhì rén shì tiān mò ruò sè.)
2) husband (man) only (alone) stingy (miserly) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) early morning (long ago; early; in advance) clothes (dress; serve; obey; be accustomed to). 夫唯啬是谓早服。(fū wéi sè shì wèi zăo fú.)
3) early morning (long ago; early; in advance) clothes (dress; serve; obey; be accustomed to) say (call; name; meaning; sense) of weight (heavy; important; deep) store up (accumulate, amass) virtue (moral character; heart). 早服谓之重积德。(zăo fú wèi zhī chóng jī dé.)
4) weight (heavy; important; deep) store up (accumulate, amass) virtue (moral character; heart) standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) nothing (without; not) be unable to. 重积德则无不克。(chóng jī dé zé wú bù kè.)
5) nothing (without; not) be unable to standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) no one (nothing) know (realize; tell) his (its; their; they; that) utmost point (extreme; pole; extremely). 无不克则莫知其极。(wú bù kè zé mò zhī qí jí.)
6) no one (nothing) know (realize; tell) his (its; their; they; that) utmost point (extreme; pole; extremely) can (may) have (exist) country (state; nation). 莫知其极可以有国。(mò zhī qí jí kĕ yĭ yŏu guó.)
7) have (exist) country (state; nation) of mother (origin) can (may) older (elder; chief_ long; of long duration; strong point) for a long time (long; of a specified duration). 有国之母可以长久。(yŏu guó zhī mŭ kĕ yĭ cháng jiŭ.)
8) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) deep (difficult; profound; intimate; dark) root (base; cause; origin) solid (firm> originally) foundation (root), 是谓深根固柢，(shì wèi shēn gēn gù dĭ,)
9) long life for a long time (long; of a specified duration) look at (regard; watch; inspect;) of road (way, principle; speak; think). 长生久视之道。(cháng shēng jiŭ shì zhī dào.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/ESZ7_zBoIOs 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
For managing people’s daily affairs, there is nothing like frugality.
Only the frugal man is said to serve from the start.
This serve from the start really caught my eye today. Timing is everything. As chapter 8 says, In action, satisfactory is time. And what is life overall but a flow of action within time. To be sure, there is a lot of bio-chemical mental activity occurring in humans, which often interrupts the flow. In the end, living life is about movement. I recently took a deep look at this. (See The Motivation Behind Doing at the end of chapter 48) Here is a short excerpt:
Happiness? When you think about it, happiness really amounts to living a meaningful life. Lacking a sense of meaning, life feels pointless and even depressing, which can make life’s habit-forming escapes even more addictive I imagine. Thus, we could rewrite the complete progression this way: fear ⇒ need ⇒ movement ⇒ happiness. This shows why ideas, pleasures, objects, success or money alone never bring happiness. They only are meaningful when they are an integral part of the flow. For example, if a fear of poverty drives your need to work hard (movement) you will feel life meaningful, and probably end up with money as well. But, it is the need driving the movement that instills meaningful happiness, not any resulting wealth.
Being frugal in action, in life, is “simply” a matter of being patient and present from the start. This occurs naturally when you are more intent on the process (movement flow) than on the future result (reward). Conversely, being wasteful of life is a result of rushing ahead to some imagined future moment in time. Without a doubt, human imagination is a very double-edged blade.
Serving from the start he is said to deeply accumulate virtue.
Deeply accumulating virtue, as a rule he is said to be limitless.
I can’t help but notice nature’s patient and present flow. Nature’s frugality serves from the start, so clearly it has deeply accumulating virtue. Unsurprisingly, I also notice how this deep-seated frugality is innate for all life on earth… in the wild at least. For civilized humans, not so much. Why?
In the wild, life is constrained by circumstances. The survival cost of being less frugal—less patient and present—is great. Interestingly, humanity has been hell bent on shielding itself from any threat to its survival and personal comfort. When you think about it, this is civilization’s whole raison d’être (see The Tradeoff). One unintended consequence here is that this allows us to be much less frugal overall.
Even further back, our species has been inventing tools and techniques over the last several hundred thousand years. We’ve pursued this path all along with the short-term intension to improve our survival and comfort. This is completely understandable! What animal, given the cognitive, social and manual ability, wouldn’t follow the same path as we have?
So, that is the why. Humanity has devised—“upgraded”—its circumstances to circumvent the natural rebalancing pushback nature provides other animals in the wild. Circumstances in the wild compel frugality by pushing back on every animals urge to get more of what is pleasurable and avoid what is painful. We have devised numerous ways to defeat that constraint on our natural urges. We want what we want, we want it now, and we devise ways to achieve that aim. Nature’s induced frugality becomes a casualty.
Being limitless, as a rule no one knows his utmost point.
No one knowing his utmost point, he can have the country.
Having the origin of the country, he can long endure.
Fear, need, and the desires that arise from those emotions define our limits. Indeed, what we want most in life turns out to be the source of our wasteful frustration, stress, and sorrow. Being limitless, as a rule no one knows his utmost point describes an ideal state wherein one has transcended fear and need, worry and desire.
That ideal certainly runs throughout most every spiritual story. The Bhagavad Gita puts it bluntly a number of time, e.g., 2:56
“He whose mind is untroubled by sorrows, and for pleasures he has no longings, beyond passion, and fear and anger, he is the sage of unwavering mind”.
This ideal can sound great on paper, and there have been many prophets promising to deliver on this ideal one way or another. Alas, as chapter 65 notes, Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people, They will use it in order to fool them. This is not surprising given that most—if not all—people will only listen and take to heart a story they want to hear. Politicians and prophets alike must heed this natural fact to “succeed”.
Yet, I wonder if the Tao Te Ching isn’t being too generous. After all, any ancient adept in the way should be restrained by an insight described in chapter 56… Knowing not speak; speaking not know. On the other hand, why should we assume ancient adept in the way is referring to people? Indeed, nature and its bio-hoodwink are totally dedicated to fooling us (see How the hoodwink hooks.) There is a host of ironies to ponder here. 🙂
This is called deep roots, solid foundation,
Long life, enduringly watchful of the way.
On a practical note, long life, enduringly watchful of the way points to what we can actually do to improve our chances at the challenge presented at the beginning, i.e., For managing people’s daily affairs, there is nothing like frugality. Being watchful of the way, at a minimum, is realizing what is going on at the cellular level, so to speak. I notice two contrasting ways to approach life: (A) One strives to live up to nearly universal spiritual ideals. (B) One comprehends as deeply as possible how nature works and resolutely permits that knowing to guide action.
The first choice is actually a futile pursuit of the unnatural and impossible. Nevertheless, it offers something people throughout time have been able to hold on to, which maintains cultural cohesion and historical longevity. The much less popular second choice requires acknowledging the all-encompassing influence nature has over our existence. This threatens the ego—the illusion of self. You lose agency over your life, tossing freewill out the window. (see Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking? ) On the plus side, this second choice does work to a degree. How well it works depends on how watchful of the way you actually are and how gracefully you can, as chapter 3 puts it, Do without doing, follow without exception rules.
Okay, I realize that the second choice is a real stretch, so I offer this alternative: A very simple way to practice frugality is to confront your expectations. Humans, unlike other animals, can harbor numerous and greatly nuanced expectations over every facet of our lives, both present and future… and even the past if you count regret as a type of expectation. Sure, animals can feel expectant in the moment in anticipation of some gain, usually food or sex I suppose. However, they don’t create vast imagined scenarios to long for or regret after.
I find that some degree of balance is immediately possible by being ruthlessly realistic in my expectations. That really means taking responsibility for the pain I feel when my expectations (ideals) go unrealized. Even that small step is challenging for I inherently blame others for my disappointments and losses. One stipulation here is that it all depends on how much I sincerely want frugality to guide my life. In other words, I can only get what I deeply and innately want of life, and not what I expect of life. And that frugality is what I call serving from the start.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/pXaaF7F0rB8
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Reflections:
The first two lines struck me today especially. These closely parallel chapter 16’s, “Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results. Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial“. I’d say also, allowing therefore serving from the start.
Voluntary frugality, in contrast to frugality imposed by circumstances, arises out of knowing the constant. One obvious symptom of my lack of voluntary frugality is a rash dash to satiate current desires. The illusion pushing this urge is the sense that satisfying the urge will bring some measure of ‘heavenly’ satisfaction. I recognize this as the natural bio-hoodwink that keeps animals in the wild continuously hunting & gathering. Each success brings contentment… even bliss… yet, for only moments. Then it is back into the game of life’s fears and worries, needs and desires. Part of our problem is that we don’t live in the wild any more, yet we still inherit instincts that evolved to serve animals living a wilderness existence. Perhaps that is the basis for that old command, “Don’t be an animal!” The folly of that dictum is obvious; it is akin to telling a tree, “Don’t be a tree!” Good luck!
One aspect of knowing the constant, is simply knowing that this hunt & gather process is continuous, and that final bliss is illusionary and perhaps the most powerful bio-hoodwink in nature. Indeed, we will always tend to feel that we don’t have enough of whatever it is that we cherish. That naturally drives us to push for more and more, rather than return and constantly to serve from the start. Resisting that drive is not a decision born of so-called free will, no matter how much we wish it so. Only when we truly know ‘in our gut’ the trick being played on us, are we more capable of wiser actions and reactions.
Serving from the start he is said to deeply accumulate virtue.
Deeply accumulating virtue, as a rule he is said to be limitless.
The promise of ‘closure’ and an end to the stress that desire instills is the fuel that drives our rash rush forward. We feel that, “If we just accomplish that ___(fill in the blank)__, the stress will end and we’ll be at peace”. Certainly, that is true in the practical short term. If you have an itch, scratch it and it ends. However, living life this way, long-term, LIMITS life. ‘Closure’ is death in disguise, not Long life, enduringly watchful of the way. In other words, frugality makes space, space allows Being limitless, as a rule no one knows his utmost point. No one knows, including you! Yes, life feels a little less secure, but that really is just allowing your self to be a more truly natural animal rather than chasing your ideal storybook life.
Now, I’m not advancing a moral position here. Indeed, if seeking one’s storybook life actually worked, I’d say go for it. Alas, I’ve not seen it so. We just can’t circumvent the natural processes that drive all life on the planet, no matter how compelling our story. The constant is called the constant because it is just that. The actual character for the constant is Cháng (常) ordinary; common; normal; constant; invariable; frequently; often; usually. The constant way (chapter 1) is not some super-spiritual, otherworldly, transcendental, ethereal phenomenon. It is just nature at its constant normal! We have difficulty embracing nature’s entirety because we desire only the pleasant, secure, and comfortable aspects that nature has to offer us. As a result, we keep wastefully running away from ourselves, towards a cherished transcendental ideal. Yep, For managing people’s daily affairs, there is nothing like frugality.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
First, I need to place a few periods at the end of sentences. Written Chinese today uses periods and other punctuation, mostly (if not completely) borrowed from the West. In the old days, sentences ended when they ended (at the end of the bamboo strip, if not sooner).
Commentary:
The main sticking point in this chapter is, the state. The Chinese character, 国 means country, state, nation. D.C. Lau translates this as Empire, which puts an overly political meaning to it. I may have opted for using state for it can imply a state of being. While true for the English, it isn’t exactly right for the Chinese. Perhaps just going with the basic meaning, country, would be best. Countryside, country people, walk in the country, etc., at least brings it down to earth. This is still existential, but that is par for the tao! The line then reads thus:
No one knowing his utmost point, he can have the country.
Having the origin of the country, he can long endure.
Another issue raised regarded utmost point (极). Other meanings include extreme; pole; extremely; exceedingly; utmost. It is also the middle word in Tai Ji Chuan 太极拳, also known as Tai Chi, the traditional Chinese shadow boxing exercises that emphasizes balance, coordination, and effortlessness in movements to train physical and mental control and well being. D.C. Lau interprets this word as limit which works, except that I use limitless in line 4 to describe lack of limits on ability. Limit has a boundary sense to it, whereas utmost point conveys a more expansive feeling (to me anyway).
For managing people’s daily affairs, there is nothing like frugality parallels the concept of yoga. Yoga has the literal meaning of “yoke”, from a root yuj meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. Only through pulling back—frugality—can one unite. Conversely, unbridled needs and fears ends in excess and eventual disintegration.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
First I must ask, what prevents me from following the way from the start and causes me to be less frugal. One glaring factor is the tendency to put limits on myself(1). From birth I was ”brain washed” into my culture’s paradigm, beginning with being given a name. Being named right off the bat is not a promising way to “follow the way from the start”(2) , yet what choice did I have back then? Same goes for the taboos, cultural myths, and rites instilled in me from infancy.
I regard all this as symptomatic of society’s need to keep large populations of virtual strangers living in the semi-harmonious illusion of belonging to the same tribe. When we all go up to the terrace in spring, we feel a sense of communal connection. But, this is a far cry from the intimate birth-to-death intimacy experience by hunter gatherer tribes. Sure, they would have had their issues. Like any animal, barn yard politics always plays some role(3).
Many facets of civilization aim at enhancing the illusion of communal connection. We lose more and more of the real thing as population increases (no wonder we say, reduce the size and population of the state). One of the main features of civilization is the codification of ‘limits‘. These limits (taboos, rites, rituals) maintain social stability as long as everyone is onboard and keeps to their “proper place”. Just imagine if everyone was a free-thinker, a non-thinker, or even capable of not knowing anything. I imagine mega-civilization would collapse, and we’d all return to hunter gathering again. Now, would that be a step back, or a step forward? (Of course, this an unanswerable question, i.e., forward and backward produce each other.)
The remarkable feature of the Tao Te Ching is how it shows me a way to leave taboos, rites, benevolence and rectitude behind, or at least head in that direction. Merely letting go of who/what I think I am, looking inward and returning to my roots is a step in the right direction. When I no longer think that I know my limits, who else can? Am I not my own worse enemy? Overcoming myself is the greatest hurdle I face.
(1) How does being frugality help me to be limitless? On the face of it, limitless and frugality feel like opposites. Here clearly, straightforward words seem paradoxical. All I can say is, the more far reaching the view, the more useless words become at conveying it. Eventually, only practicing the teaching that uses no words remains.
(2) This is why we did not name our children for a year after they were born. Assigning labels (names) removes some of the inherent mystery. There would be plenty of time for that in the future we rightly thought.
(3) My experiences among the Akha hill tribe people in Laos and the Dayak people in Borneo showed me that politics thrives at every social level. It is just that the simpler the level, the greater the trust, and the more direct the resolutions of grievances. Simply said, there are no terrorists at that level.