Translation
The river and sea can serve as king for a hundred valleys,
Using their adeptness in being below.
Hence, they can support a hundred valleys as king.
Accordingly, a wise person,
Desiring to be above the people, must using speech, be below.
Desiring to be ahead of the people, must using life, be behind.
Accordingly, a wise person,
Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down,
Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired.
Accordingly,
All under heaven cheerfully push forward, yet never tire.
Using such non-contention,
Is the reason, under heaven, nothing can contend with it.
1) river sea (big lake) of <conj.> so (therefore; as a result) can (be able to) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) hundred (numerous; all kinds of) valley (grain) king (grand; great)(者), 海之所以能为百谷王者，(hăi zhī suŏ yĭ néng wéi băi gŭ wáng zhĕ,)
2) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (its; their; they; that) good (satisfactory; be adept in) below (down; under; lower; inferior) of, 以其善下之，(yĭ qí shàn xià zhī,)
3) reason (cause; on purpose; hence) can (be able to) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) hundred (numerous; all kinds of) valley (grain) king (grand; great). 故能为百谷王。(gù néng wéi băi gŭ wáng.)
4) <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)
5) desire (wish; want; about to) upper (higher; superior) the people (civilian), certainly (must) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) speech (word; say; talk) below (down; under; lower; inferior) of. 欲上民，必以言下之。(yù shàng mín, bì yĭ yán xià zhī.)
6) desire (wish; want; about to) earlier (first) the people (civilian), certainly (must) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) body (life; oneself; personally) back (after) of. 欲先民，必以身后之。(yù xiān mín, bì yĭ shēn hòu zhī.)
7) <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)
8) get along (with sb., manage <frml > dwell; live_place) upper (higher; superior) <conj.> and (yet, but) the people (civilian) no (not) weight (heavy; important; deep), 处上而民不重，(chŭ shàng ér mín bù chóng,)
9) get along (with sb., manage <frml > dwell; live_place) front (forward; before) <conj.> and (yet, but) the people (civilian) no (not) evil (harm; calamity; impair; kill). 处前而民不害。(chŭ qián ér mín bù hài.)
10) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) land under heaven happy (cheerful, music) push (shove; grind; cut) <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) be disgusted with (be tired of; be satisfied). 是以天下乐推而不厌。(shì yĭ tiān xià lè tuī ér bù yàn.)
11) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (its; their; they; that) no (not) contend (vie; strive; argue), 以其不争，(yĭ qí bù zhēng,)
12) reason (cause; on purpose; hence) land under heaven no one (nothing) can (be able to) participate in (give; get along with, and) of contend (vie; strive; argue). 故天下莫能与之争。(gù tiān xià mò néng yú zhī zhēng.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/Gu-1AG0ZhIA 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?
Nothing this time.
Reflections:
The river and sea can serve as king for a hundred valleys,
Using their adeptness in being below.
Hence, they can support a hundred valleys as king.
Looking closely at nature’s workings helps clue me in to reality… the truth, as it were. I’ve never had much faith in human understandings of reality. There always seems to be some agenda being pushed forward, although I admit science is probably less guilty of this than politics or religion. Certainly, such agendas usually sound good on the surface. “Peace on Earth and good will to mankind” sounds great. But is it Nature’s way, or is it actually only what people wish for? The Tao Te Ching seems to avoid much of that by turning to nature as its model, which tends to be the opposite of much of the ‘common sense’ view of life. As chapter 40 puts it In the opposite direction, of the way moves.
For example, don’t people tend to see the leaders of society—kings, presidents, CEO’s, rock stars—as the elite forces above the common folk… the hundred valleys? Here we see that a real leader, using their adeptness in being below, they can support a hundred valleys as king. Simply put, any leader of the masses must actually follow the will and wishes of the masses to be successful. Leaders don’t actually lead! And yet, who gets the blame when things don’t work out, or the credit when things do? … The leaders! There’s a lot of hypocrisy all around. Fittingly, chapter 18 reveals the downside of our superior intelligence… When intelligence increases, there exists great falseness.
This leader / follower dynamic is more unusual for a genuinely virtuous leader. If the masses lean toward harmful ways, the wise person can’t just “lead” them away from that. So, how does one remain adept in being below and yet turn the tide? Chapter 65 reveals the secret, Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people, They will use it in order to fool them. In effect, one can’t lead people where they don’t want to go… directly anyway. Offering a more benign alternative that still matches their visceral need is essential, and that is a very tricky balance. The reason it is essential to fool them is that no one can understand what they don’t already intuitively know. (See We only understand what we already know)
Accordingly, a wise person,
Desiring to be above the people, must using speech, be below.
Desiring to be ahead of the people, must using life, be behind.
It is important to view this as neither proscriptive nor prescriptive. To me, the Tao Te Ching is more descriptive of how nature works than anything else. Of course, if a person is seeking guidance in life, they can easily interpret the message as a prescription or a proscription to follow for their life.
Accordingly, a wise person must be below, be behind is saying that a wise person has no choice in the matter. The preceding first three lines show the deep intuitive level that a wise person’s actions must arise from, i.e., meaning, beyond intention, beyond any personal agenda.
Now, at first you may have some trouble with these lines, Desiring to be above and Desiring to be ahead of the people. On the surface, it suggests the wise person harbors an agenda they wish to accomplish. In contrast, there are many examples of how desire is something not to be desired. Here is a selection…
Always enables the people to be unlearned and without desire, #3
See simply, embrace the plain, and have few personal desires. #19
With desire choosing anything, of doing I see no satisfied end. #29
Always without desire, befits the name small. #34
I am without desire and the people simplify themselves. #57
Taking this, the wise person desires non desire, #64
Such absence of desire appears able and virtuous – how odd! #77
Buddha’s Fourth Nobel Truth helps shed deeper light on desire… There is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent on what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his duty. He who is wise will enter this path and make an end to suffering. When desire equals duty, desire transforms into a primal intuitive need, so to speak. Here, there is no agenda. (See Buddha’s Truths Pertain To All Life)
Accordingly, a wise person,
Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down,
Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired.
Accordingly, a wise person, dwells above and dwells ahead and yet doesn’t hinder the people in any way. This brings me back to the river and sea. Neither exerts any influence over the streams and water falls up river. The wise person, like the river and the sea are void of any intention for whatever happens ‘up stream’. In being below and behind, all one can do is, as chapter 3 puts it, Do without doing, follow without exception rules.
Yet as good as this sounds, survival instincts ultimately and naturally drive life’s interactions. Thus, one can only be a wise person to a degree. The wise person is still human, unlike the river and the sea, and so at some level survival instincts will always kick in… as they naturally must. This is why it is wiser to interpret this chapter as a description rather than as guidance for how to behave in life.
Accordingly, all under heaven cheerfully push forward, yet never tire.
Using such non-contention,
Is the reason, under heaven, nothing can contend with it.
Just imagine if nature took the lead over all under heaven, ‘telling’ it what to do and how best to do it! The pressure would be unbearable. As it happens, nature allows all under heaven to make ‘mistakes’ and live out their days. Nature has no intention, and thus uses such non-contention in its dealing with all under heaven.
When I observe nature, I notice that contention—the battle for survival—is operating on every level of life… from bacteria and viruses on up. Without contention (and cooperation, of course) life would be impossible. So what is the problem here really? Not surprisingly, chapter 71 suggests the key difference… Realizing I don’t know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Thinking that we know spawns many of our intentions to act. This leads to contention with how things are—reality—driven by a pre-planned, pre-thought agenda, not the spontaneous processes of contention that play out in nature overall. Simply put, contention spawned by intention causes otherwise avoidable problems in life. As chapter 16 warns, Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results.
One aspect of this may be a little puzzling initially. Meaning, if a person acts completely spontaneously without any intention (i.e., thoughts regarding the pluses or minuses of the action) is this not actually the using life, be behind kind of action? I don’t see why not. This is the way of all life on earth… action without intelligence-based intention. In this sense, we are all wise persons when our action is deeply spontaneous… again, as chapter 3 puts it, Do without doing, follow without exception rules.
This nature based contention is contending without intending. Of course, animals with larger brains do have some degree of intention driving at least certain actions, e.g., a clever raccoon opening a latch to get food. However, nothing comes close to intention driven by human imagination, and our disease only amplifies this.
Note: It is safer and more helpful to adopt this Using such non-contention as your model for life guidance instead of the Accordingly, a wise person, dwells above and dwells ahead. Actively attempting to change your behavior will always become a battle—self contention. Conversely, Using such non-contention will always become a surrender of ego, i.e, non-contention is the opposite of pushing to change anything. I’d say surrendering ego is a little like falling asleep. Trying to only keeps you awake. I suppose this is all a Catch-22 of sorts.
On a personal note:
Now, I feel I’ve laid out how life plays out. Of course, this view will not go over well with most people! Why? I suspect that we innately can’t take seriously any view that doesn’t offer a solution. Seeing how nature works doesn’t really provide any solutions for mastering nature, as it were. Seeing how nature works can only help one, as chapter 3 puts it, Do without doing, follow without exception rules. The difficulty for living things (us included) is that we innately feel a need to act and solve the “problem”… the “problem” essentially is entropy which has no solution. Hey, you might even say, it is the solution!
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/QQbmn20LdVY
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections:
I don’t’ know how the “to” crept into Line 2… but it’s gone now. I also moved the comas in Lines 5 and 6 before “must” where they serve their purpose better.
Reflections:
Lines 5 & 6 caught my eye today, apart from their grammatical problem.
Desiring to be above the people, must using speech, be below.
Desiring to be ahead of the people, must using life, be behind.
These lines call life like it is. Instinct urges all hierarchical animals, including human’s desire, to be above and to be ahead of others. This is simply social survival. In the real world, this can often play out in subtle ways. Some will ‘claw’ their way up, others get ahead using feigned mannerisms of be below and be behind.
Ethics is using speech and using life to accomplish our desired end to be above and ahead. Just saying please and thank you are obvious ways of using speech. Bringing patience to bear in virtually every action is certainly a key way of using life. The most effective ‘Taoist’ use of these occurs when done with deep sincerity. On the other hand, there is the more cynical and manipulative use of these to win the day. Such would only appear to be non-contention. Scratch the surface and there is bound to be some clawing taking place. 😉
The more listening, watching, tasting, etc., that precedes action-in-each-moment, the more likely you are to be using life to follow (be behind). This is how one ‘flows’ in the moment. Of course, desire is all too often pulling us out of our flowing moment. The formula, desire = need + thought suggest where and how we get too far ahead of ourselves. Chapter 71, nails it: Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. This obviously offers us a way to return despite the distracting pleasures and pains of the moment. I find it boils down to what I truly want of life. Alas, what I truly want of life is hard to review when distracted. Is this not simply a tug-of-war between what I truly want of life and life’s distractions?
Mistakes and failure sow the seeds of success
Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down,
Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired.
Success in raising children or teaching anyone anything lies in allowing for mistakes. Although, encouraging mistakes is more sincere when, in self-honesty, we realize that without failures, there can be no success. Mistakes are an essential ingredient of the learning curve. Due to thought and projection of our life onto other people (e.g., our children, ‘students’, etc.) we easily try to ‘help’ them avoid making their mistakes; often the same mistakes we made growing up.
Truth is, such ‘help’ is a hindrance weighing them down. We are trying to ease our own fear of failure through ‘helping’ others avoid failure. This usually fails because one can’t understand what one doesn’t already know; and one can’t know without making the mistakes. (See One only understands what one already knows.) Finally, there is also the fact that it is easier for us to ‘help’ other people avoid their mistakes than to be self-honest enough to diligently face our own ongoing ‘mistakes’.
What can contend with nothing?
Asking, “What can contend with nothing?” is being a bit facetious, I suppose. Naturally, the answer is nothing! That reveals one subtle secret of non-contention. This may help to see these last two lines from a slightly different angle.
Using such non-contention,
Is the reason, under heaven, nothing can contend with it.
The void, emptiness, fear, nothing, silence, all correlate. (See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations) These are the features nature uses — or ‘the Tao’ if you like — to hoodwink all under heaven cheerfully push forward, yet never tire. The vacuum passively attracts all under heaven into the game of existence. Modeling that as best we can works wonders… and to be sure, a little goes a long way. Chapter 7 hints at how this can manifest itself:
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
I see a number of minor changes to make this chapter read a little smoother (see Suggested Revision: below).
The ‘wise person’ referred to here, often used in the Tao Te Ching, is shèngrén (圣人) which means wise man / person. Shèng (圣) means holy, pure, sage, saint. See last weeks chapter 65 post for more on this, and the profound difference between wise and clever / intelligent. Intelligence, wit, and resourcefulness are the trophies cultures seek.
Commentary:
There were some misgivings about the views of, “Desiring to be above the people must, using speech, be below. Desiring to be ahead of the people must, using life, be behind.” Why would anyone seeking to follow the way (the ‘Tao’) desire to be above or ahead of the people?
For starters, I interpret the Tao Te Ching as being a description of how nature works, not proscriptions or prescriptions of how anyone should be. That’s not saying the author/s always saw or wrote it that way. The bottom line for me is that everything falls under the domain of natural law. Understanding, as best I can, those laws (and their bio-hoodwinks) allows me to do what I ‘should’ do naturally—you might call this doing one’s natural duty. I feel Chapter 16 speaks to this somewhat:
The natural law in this case: Humans are a hierarchical species. That means that no matter where we are on the totem pole, we desire (however weakly and subconsciously) to move upward. You see this exemplified from the lowest untouchable casts of India on up. This chapter just points out how to ‘succeed’ in a natural, albeit counterintuitive, way. Taking this approach consistently is another matter. I regard this as one the marvels of the evolutionary process. We are set up instinctively to do one thing—survive. Yet, doing that full-on has the opposite outcome, more often than not. We are driven to contend to achieve merit, yet we can only find true merit through complete conformity. As we saw last week in chapter 65,
It is helpful to interpret things as referring to ‘what is inside’. For example, the empire or the people are usually thought of a objects external to oneself. In the chapter, Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down, Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired, I also interpret the people as the various sides of myself, my ideas, moods, fears, needs, the internal aspects. And no, I don’t suffer from multi-personality. Although, I can see how people who can get locked into various aspects of themselves to the point of being unaware of their other ‘sides’, i.e., Dr, Jeckle and Mr. Hyde.
Suggested Revision:
The river and sea can serve as king for a hundred valleys,
Using to their adeptness in being below.
Hence, they can support a hundred valleys as king.
Accordingly, a wise person,
Desiring to be above the people must(,) using speech(,) be below.
Desiring to be ahead of the people must(,) using life(,) be behind.
Accordingly, a wise person,
Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down,
Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired.
Accordingly, all under heaven cheerfully push forward, yet never tire.
Using such non contention,
Is the reason, under heaven, nothing can contend with it.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
D.C. Lau’s translation of this chapter left me with mixed feelings today. For example, Therefore, desiring to rule over the people, one must in one’s words humble oneself before them. I do see this playing out in real life, yet I also notice how people are drawn to those who are less than humble. Similarly, desiring to lead the people, One must, in one’s person, follow behind them does not address the traditional practice of a commander leading his troops in battle. Finally, the real world of ruling over people is based on contending and overcoming your opponent whether as a ‘alpha male’ in a gorilla tribe, or as president running for office.
Reading the literal Chinese may shed a more realistic light on this. It says, Yes, accordingly, a wise person, Desiring to be above the people, must using speech be below; Desiring to be ahead of the people, must using life be behind. This refers to a wise person, not just anyone, tyrant or otherwise. For me this speaks more of attitude than of practice. Desiring to be above the people versus Desiring to rule over the people. Rising above in the sense of virtue, integrity, self honesty, compassion, and not ruling over as D.C. Lau translated it. Certainly, these qualities help one actually ‘ruling over the people’ or ‘leading the people’, but this is secondary.
I find a closer fit lies in a sense of governing or stewardship, not ruling over. The best stewardship is possible only when one’s personal character is ‘above‘, which is closer to the point of this chapter. This chapter’s guidance helped support my “be patient and let it unfold” approach to raising my children. It worked wonderfully well. Rather than ‘ruling over’ my kids, I was more of a shadowy presence. I provided a pathway for them to follow, yet did not pressure them to walk it. As chapter 72 puts it, It is because you do not press down on them that they will not weary of the burden. It was to be their choice alone. Granted, I was approaching fifty years of age when I took on fatherhood. I could never have pulled off such a ‘taoist approach to parenting‘ had I been twenty years younger!
Perhaps all this applies more to small, family-tribe circumstances. Clearly this is one downside of leaving the hunter gatherer lifestyle for civilization. We’ve lost the readily available guidance of elders common in an ancestral tribal family structure. Interestingly, this chapter also speaks to the role a ‘God’ would play in peoples lives… Dwells above, yet the people are not weighed down, Dwells ahead, yet the people are not impaired. There you go: God equals mature parental figure; mature parent figure equals God. The idea of God is simply a natural outcome of what people long ago imagined to be an ideal parent (or perhaps an ideal ‘alpha-male’ tribal leader).