Translation
The people are hungry because taxes eat much,
That is why they are hungry.
The people are difficult to govern because of their expectations,
That is why they are difficult to govern.
The people take death lightly because they seek life’s flavor,
That is why they take death lightly.
Only the man without use for life is worthy of a noble life.
1) the people (civilian) of be hungry (starve; famish; famine; crop failure) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (her; its; that; such) upper (up; higher; superior) eat (food; feed) tax of much (more; too many; excessive), 民之饥以其上食税之多，(mín zhī jī yĭ qí shàng shí shuì zhī duō,)
2) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) be hungry (starve; famish; famine; crop failure). 是以饥。(shì yĭ jī.)
3) the people (civilian) of difficult (hard; troublesome) rule (govern; order; peace; > government; control) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (her; its; that; such) upper (up; higher; superior) of have (exist) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support), 民之难治以其上之有为，(mín zhī nán zhì yĭ qí shàng zhī yŏu wéi,)
4) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) difficult (hard; troublesome) rule (govern; order; peace; > government; control). 是以难治。(shì yĭ nán zhì.)
5) the people (civilian) of light (softly, un-important, gently) die (extremely; deadly; fixed; rigid) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (her; its; that; such) beg (request; seek; try; demand) give birth to (grow; existence; life) of thick (deep; large; generous; rich in flavor), 民之轻死以其求生之厚，(mín zhī qīng sĭ yĭ qí qiú shēng zhī hòu,)
6) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) light (softly, un-important, gently) die (extremely; deadly; fixed; rigid). 是以轻死。(shì yĭ qīng sĭ.)
7) husband (man) only (alone) nothing (without; not) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) give birth to (grow; existence; life) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) (者), <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) virtuous (worthy, able) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) expensive (precious; noble) give birth to (grow; existence; life). 夫唯无以生为者，是贤于贵生。(fū wéi wú yĭ shēng wéi zhĕ, shì xián yú guì shēng.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/iP_iQQfbpu4 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:
The people are hungry because taxes eat much,
That is why they are hungry.
This line is usually viewed as a comment on government and society as a whole. While this is true on the surface, it misses the point by being prone to political bias among other things. In the end, government and society are but reflections of the individuals that form them—that’s us. It pays to look for deeper meaning.
The human ability to imagine and then harbor expectations is the key to understanding this whole chapter. Our expectations on future outcomes are how we tax ourselves from spending our entire moment in the present, for example. Or, think of our expectations in life as the hunt for future ‘food’. The chasm that separates the present reality from the ‘food’ that we seek after creates a hunger, which can be almost as, if not more, distressing as a hunger for actual food.
The people are difficult to govern because of their expectations,
That is why they are difficult to govern.
It is certainly true that the people are difficult to govern because of their expectations. Examples abound for anyone with access to a decent knowledge of history. Examined more deeply, it becomes obvious that one’s expectations also make the governance of one’s life more difficult. The hunger that expectations create can become a vicious spiral that creates even greater expectations, rather than simply building the unknowable future step-by-step from the present. (See Science Proves Buddha Right!)
One’s expectation feed right back onto one’s sense of self-guilt. The gap between who you naturally are and who you imagine yourself to be, or could be, creates a persistent level of stress. Some will argue that setting such personal goals is necessary for otherwise you’d just sit back and ‘vegetate’. The fact is, you will unavoidably and naturally do what you need to do. If anything, your expectations will get in the way of fulfilling your life’s dharma—destiny, duty, fate. The mistaken notion that one has an actual choice in life is directly linked to one’s expectations for their life… not only their life, but also the lives of others as well. This make self-judgment, and by projection the judgment of others, unavoidable. In this way, expectations get in the way of an effective efficient life. (See Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking?)
The only possible way I’ve found out of this is by deeply realizing the consequences of harboring expectations. Indeed, when I viscerally—intuitively—know the adverse consequences, it becomes practically impossible to harbor them. It is self-correcting. This is not different from viscerally knowing that driving too fast easily leads to accidents and death. You can’t help but slow down! Deep realization is a universal motivator. The only hitch comes in acquiring it. Pain and suffering are catalyst to a huge extent.
The people take death lightly because they seek life’s flavor,
That is why they take death lightly.
I remember in youth seeking life’s flavor. I see that as a completely natural process of life that seems to apply to all animal, and certainly to the ‘higher’ forms, e.g., kittens, puppies, ponies, etc. For humans, expectations further fuel this natural youthful vigor. Of course, in youth, I could not have cared less. Seeking life’s flavor blinds us to the deeper forces of nature at play.
Now, at 80, I naturally no longer scurry around to seek life’s flavor. Age clearly has that effect on all animals… life slows down as the years increase. Additionally, knowing that my time on earth is short certainly helps me not take death lightly. Although, I suspect that it is the slowing down, more than the knowledge, which generates such intuitive clarity. The natural slowing down creates the intuitive respect for death, i.e., We only understand what we [intuitively] already know
Not only can I not take death lightly any longer, I’ve come to see death as a friend in waiting. If I were Mother Nature setting up the process of life, I’d make the process of aging difficult enough that when death arrives the individual would welcome it. In other words, aging lessens the seeking of life’s flavor and thus prepares us for death. Simply put: life ≈ work; death ≈ rest. (See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations.)
Only the man without use for life is worthy of a noble life.
It may help to consider the opposite of the man without use for life: The man having use for life is self-absorbed in a pursuit of his agenda. The key word here is use for life as apposed to living life, or letting life play out. Seeking life’s flavor is simply using life to achieve one’s own agenda, one’s own expectations. Such self-centered self-absorption feels to be not worthy of a noble life.
Finally, I have to ask myself why I feel this way about what it takes to be worthy of a noble life. Nature doesn’t care. Evolution makes use of all possible approaches to life, including having the use for life. After all, as chapter 5 observes, The universe is not benevolent, and all things serve as grass dogs (‘sacrificial lambs’). I imagine social instinct accounts for my feeling here. Selfishness can easily work against the common social good. More broadly, it is the common social good, not the accomplishments of any individual that determine evolutionary outcomes.
A moment with eternity is worth a lifetime of prep.
Every morning I bike down to the beach here, do tai chi, and then stand in the surf for a few moments waiting for eternity to open my mind’s door. Recently, while waiting and watching, I realized that I spend a lot of my mind’s time preparing for my few moment with eternity. And a few moments is all I get, if I’m lucky. Of course, that’s the point. All my prep improves my chances profoundly. The biology of life is such that even a moment with eternity is rare. No life form evolves to make that connection to eternity on awareness’s main stage. Survival is awareness primary purpose, which is essentially, The people take death lightly because they seek life’s flavor. We innately avoid death, and so take death lightly. And yet, death (entropy) is the ultimate destination of every life’s journey. This fear of loss makes eternity difficult to appreciate. For some background on the eternity story, see You are Immortal!
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/XVErIeQijlY
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
None per se…
Reflections:
Taking this personally, I wonder how do I “tax” myself, and in that way cause myself to be “hungry”. Now, I know many translations (interpretations) prefer to see this in a political context, along the lines of ‘Rulers tax the people, which makes them hungry’. Certainly, that has been the case throughout the history of civilization, with the poorest people carrying the greatest tax burden. But so what?
Bemoaning the ‘unfairness’ of it never changes it, as history shows. Hierarchical structure of civilization always means that the top will always be at the top! Even in revolutions against the established order, the ‘bottom’ takes over and settles into the ‘top’. Communism comes to mind, not as the ideals it professes, but rather as what it is in reality. Only when we leave our favoritism behind and see the natural process at work will we be able to deal with it in ways that are more effective and balanced. It will never be ‘perfect’ because civilization is an imperfect social construct for managing millions of ‘tribe mates’, but having the courage to face reality can only help improve our ability to deal with it.
Pointing fingers at suitable scapegoats whether those at the ‘top’ or ‘bottom’, comes very naturally. This instinctive approach works just fine in the wild, especially for the non-thinking animal kingdom. For us, that train has left the station. Our thinking gets us into trouble. Our only hope to mitigate this is through more impartial thinking. Given how much emotion drives thought, this is a lot easier said than done!
Just what is a noble life? Take a look at the character meanings, 贵 (guì) 生(shēng). expensive (precious; noble) give birth to (grow; existence; life). When I am not expecting more out of life than I am giving to life each moment, I feel worthy of a noble life. It isn’t that I sit passive and let the world run me over. Indeed, it has nothing to do with activity; it is simply doing without doing — wéi wú wéi (为无为). As chapter 3 and 63 say,
Doing without doing, following without exception rules,
And…
Do without doing,
Be involved without being involved.
Taste without tasting.
I imagine that comes off sounding a bit too passive. However, it really means being at one with the moment, applying 100% of my awareness to that alone, and nothing to thoughts that feed hungry expectations, i.e., expectations are merely the ‘doing’ that takes place in the mind… a mental doing without doing, so to speak.
Naturally, Doing without doing is not possible to practice perfectly.; we can’t practice what we preach because of that nasty old thinking disease (re: chapter 71). Even so, it helps to see this as speaking to what is simply and naturally so. All I need to do is ‘follow’ that which is naturally so, and remain imperfectly perfect… or is it perfectly imperfect. Either way, that is doable.
Immortality is a state of mind.
Last night I was semi dreaming, semi thinking of my parents and my brother. I will soon be joining them in death. I often feel this in a general way, joining all those who have gone before. Feeling connected to all those who have gone before and to the past, imparts a sense of immortality. That is, as long as the feeling is absent expectations or longings. Impartiality is essential. This experience is another aspect of the ‘fact’ that time is merely a reflection of our expectations. Only the man without use for life is worthy of a noble life. A lust for life, or as this chapter put it seek life’s flavor, returns death. Or as chapter 50 says,
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
There was just one extraneous comma to delete this time. On the last line, there was some misconstruing of the meaning of noble life… Only the man without use for life is worthy of a noble life. Some took that to refer to royalty—’the Nobilty’, kings, queens. The actual word is guì (贵) which means expensive; costly; dear; highly valued; valuable; precious; of high rank; noble.
The last meaning, noble, fits best in my view. The myth perpetuated for ‘the Nobility’ was that these classes of people were noble. A good example of the meaning here would be a firefighter who rushes into a burning building to save someone without regard for his own life.
Commentary:
This lays out the facts of life in the bluntest way that only the Tao Te Ching is usually capable. I love it. The people are difficult to govern because of their expectations explains what is ‘wrong’ with politics ‘today’. Of course, it is always ‘today’ when it comes to problems caused by people’s expectations. To see the various factions all clamoring for their piece of the pie is so tribal, and naturally so (being the tribal animal species that we are). What amazes me is why I have trouble taking that at face value. If I see dogs fighting over a bone, I just chalk it up to their animal nature. Why is it always a challenge when observing the same thing happening among our species? Perhaps because I am also human; I have a vested concern in the situation. Fortunately, I can now laugh it all off. Humor and sanity go together like love and marriage.
The people take death lightly because they seek life’s flavor. Seeking life’s flavor can easily turn into a ‘take all you can’ approach to life. This always has undesirable repercussions. I find it much more satisfying to ‘give all I can’ to life. Indeed, ‘giving’ of yourself is the cornerstone of religious’ paradigms. (Buddha’s truths and eight-fold path point out a way of giving that works best for me.) A little motto of mine for years has been: ‘Rather than do what you like; like what you do’. The former is a seeking life’s flavor approach. The latter counterbalances that.
Only the man without use for life is worthy of a noble life may explain some of President Obama’s political difficulties. The more firmly tied to one’s agenda, the less one is able to be without use for life. Simply put, agenda = use for life. I believe Obama (like Bush before him) sincerely wished to change the political climate… to reach across the isle. Wishing isn’t enough. One must be particularly impartial to do that in fact! Obama and Bush were not impartial enough (mature) when they were elected. Perhaps if they had been 20-30 years older they would have been impartial enough to pull it off. Life is a learning experience, and with that experience comes increasing wisdom. Chapter 16 speaks to this:
Devote effort to emptiness, sincerely watch stillness.
Everything ‘out there’ rises up together, and I watch again.
Everything ‘out there’, one and all, return again to their root cause.
Returning to the root cause is called stillness, this means answering to one’s destiny;
Answering to one’s destiny is called the constant, knowing the constant is called honest.
Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results.
Knowing the constant allows, allowing therefore impartial,
Impartial therefore whole, whole therefore natural,
Natural therefore the way.
The way therefore long enduring, nearly rising beyond oneself.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
The closest parallel to taxes I see in nature is the parasite. Parasites that give as much as they take are symbiotic relationships beneficial to both organisms. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are an example. The larger an ‘organism’ of the governed and governing, the more difficult it is to maintain such a symbiotic balance. Too many self-interested parties take more than they give, and like leaches suck away the juices for their own benefit – not for the greater good of the ‘organism’. At heart, the pragmatic conservative realizes this difficulty, while the liberal puts their eggs in the basket of ‘if only’ idealism (1).
Too fond of action reminds me of trying to remove a bug from my tea cup. The more I stir up the water (fondest of action) the more chaotic the situation, the more difficult it is to fetch the bug. The most efficient way to deal with a problem is to be let the conditions settle down enough to perceive the mysterious sameness, and then take action with minimal expectations (2).
I would include the word personal when talking about how people take death lightly. They treat their own death lightly for they are preoccupied with seeking life’s flavor, the promises of what life has to offer going forward. The problem: we really only have this moment; the next is only a promise. And even when fate fulfills the promise we aren’t fully present to appreciate it because we’re still off seeking life’s flavor tomorrow.
Only the man without use for life means having no use for the ‘objective’ aspect of life. In other words, use for life comes down to the flavor one is seeking to get out of life. Here the eye is always looking out for the promise of some ideal future reward. This is at odds with making the most of one’s moment. Like the old saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
(1) I’m not referring to particular political parties here. A pragmatic conservative in the Taoist sense would be more ruthless. As D.C. Lau puts it, It is just because one has no use for life that one is wiser than the man who values life. Political parties, left or right, push their brand of ‘if only’ ideals in a tug-of-war that wages on and on. Another way to explain what I mean by conservative is by correlations:
Liberal ≈ complex, full, need, struggle, evolves, definite, anxious, modern
——- ———– —— ————- —–——- ———– —— ————- —–——- ———– —— —
Conservative ≈ simple, empty, content, surrender, revolves, ambiguous, patient, ancient
(2) D.C. Lau translated these lines as, It is because those in authority are too fond of action, That the people are difficult to govern. While true, that seems to go beyond what the Chinese says. Two characters, have+do ( 有为) translates as youwei which means promising or young and promising. Thus for me, these lines really speak more to people’s expectations, the promise of the future. Our expectations, and the desire that drives them, are our greatest liability when it comes to following the way.