(The author believes the only “true” translation of the Tao must be a mistranslation, for, as 老子 himself said, 道可道非常道, or ‘Tao as Tao not eternal Tao’. Enjoy this ongoing mistranslation!)
25.
Something formless and complete, from before the universe was born—silent, empty, independent and unchanging—taking careful steps yet with no danger lying in wait—it can be used as the mother of the universe. I don’t know her name, that character we call Tao, but the force that comes from that name is called “Great”. This Greatness is known when it departs from us, and as it departs is seen as a vision in the distance, and from a distance is known as its opposite.
Therefore, just as the Tao is great, the sky is great, the earth is great, human beings are also great. Within the region’s midriff can be found these four greats, yet people alone encompass all the rest.
Humans obey the law of earth. Earth obeys the law of heaven, while the Tao’s method is that of nature.
26.
That which is heavy becomes an insubstantial root easily plucked from the ground by the tiny hands of pathetic infants. The tranquil youth becomes an impetuous monarch snapping at his harem when they fail to satisfy his absurd request. According to the gentleman’s view, it is right and proper to remain close to the baggage cart throughout the long day’s march. Although this aforementioned gentleman has his glorious observations of the firmiana tree,[1] his swallow features just got to go and start burning like that. He would sever the right arm to keep the left arm satisfied.
But how should the lord and master avail himself of his myriad chariots as they carry him gently before the kingdom? What of the master’s burdens? Multiplied by ten thousand, yet considered a simple life under heaven? A lighter approach and the man loses his rooting. If he becomes more active and impetuous, then the monarchy is lost.
27.
Good deeds leave no trace.[2] Good words are without the defect-in-jade disgrace. There is no need to make good decisions. Goodness is irrelevant and cannot be opened.[3] Those who are able to knot the rope do so without leaving a knot on the rope for people to know.
It’s according to these principles that holy people are always fairly competent at rescuing others from whatever situation they may find themselves in, and the same can be said as regards the sage in relation to creatures in general. What is called for in situations such as this is to attack your understanding as if it were nothing more than a particularly feral animal currently latched to the ankle or by the mouth and flinging feces everywhere as it thrashes back and forth. This is called “attack the bright understanding”.
All of which causes the good person not to be recognized as a specialist in goodness, and the not-good person to be offered the salary that should really have gone to the good people. Not expensive that teacher, not love that salary. However wise, great confusion is called wanting in subtlety.
28.
Know yourself to be a male bird or animal, and inside this a female bird or animal, and become as the mountain stream of the universe. Being a mountain stream of the universe, you will not lose your eternal virtue, instead return-returning to baby time. Knowing this pale purity, and defending this blackness within the black, you will become as one with the universe’s ultimate formula for loving, living, and party-going.[4]
Embracing this formula of the universe, and eternal virtue will not be misused, instead return-returning to a lack of fanaticism. Know that honor, defend that insult, and becoming as the valley of the universe, eternal virtue is sufficient, and often the person retrieves the state of plain wormy wood.
When plain wood is scattered it then becomes a utensil. The sacred person uses it, consequently becomes a government official with a long career, causing this great system of ours not to rupture.
29.
Wanting to obtain the world and also to be changed by the world, the person will naturally not succeed. The universe is a spirit-like thing, but as being? Those who are active, fail it. Those who grasp it, lose it.
Causing some creatures to advance and some to follow, some to be strong and some lean and emaciated, some to push down and some to overthrow.[5] It is for this reason that the holy person leaves behind excessiveness, leaves behind extravagance,[6] leaves behind slippery peacefulness and the exaltation of her followers.
30.
The person who is a master in his or her abilities to assist people according to the Tao, does so without the army’s help, being a powerful person under heaven. This matter is truly distant. Briars and thorns sprout up around the teacher of this place. After the great armies have passed through, there will naturally be a fierce and evil year.
A good person gets the fruit and then stops, not daring to pluck many other fruits from the blossoming tree in their efforts to become strong once they’ve already achieved possession of the single necessary fruit. You got the fruit but don’t feel pity for those who do not have the fruit. You got the fruit but don’t stab those who have no fruits. You got the fruit but do not then become a spirited horse as a result of now having a fruit. You got the fruit yet have not already obtained it.[7] You got the fruit, yet you are not strong.
Things are large, yet they grow old. These are called Not-Tao. Not-Tao will soon end its reign of terror.
31.
Weapons, however beautiful, are utilized as a result of bad omens and hateful to all creatures, causing they who have Tao (or at least are friends with “they who have Tao”) to leave the room, while this Dao-person would only ever employ whatever weapons are concealed on her person if it were absolutely necessary. Consequently, the man of superior quality ordinarily considers the left hand the most honorable place to position his stiletto, whereas, in time of war, it is the right hand we thrust forward to perform the kill.[8]
Army people are certainly not auspicious utensils, nor are gentleman made into utensils, though the gentleman cannot help but use a spoon, especially at a dinner party. Otherwise they would simply be tranquil and flavorless. Though to achieve victory is not beautiful, beautiful people do often enjoy the smell of blood, laughing and flinging back whole curtains of hair as they slash and burn the village of some nameless indigenous population. A man who is happy to kill others will consequently follow the lowest form of ambition, that of the sea slug or cockroach, whether said man be gentleman or astronaut. [9]
The second in command of the army has his place on the left; the general commanding in chief has his on the right. Speak as if you were at a funeral while you are there in the midst of it. When killing a crowd of persons, weep over it with honest and sincere grief as opposed to sham regret. When there is a victory in this war, treat it as if it were a funeral.[10]
32.
The Tao, unchanging and nameless—is plain and small. Nothing under heaven is able to be its servant. Noblemen and kings, if they are able to abide by this boring simplicity, the ten thousand things will naturally be as if their guests. The universe studies to be agreeable, therefore declines the sweet dew of vengeance. The public is not ruled by decrees and is naturally fair. Begin to overpower fame, and you will find that you already have the name you were born with, and it’s not a bad name. Do not do away with your name only to replace it with an unrecognizable symbol.
The man who knows his limit, knows his limit, but he is not dangerous. Compare this quivering individual to the Tao that exists under heaven. He is like a river valley. Eventually he will empty into the ocean’s currents.
33.
The person who knows other people has intelligence.[11] The person who knows himself is bright.[12] The person who wins over other people has power.[13] The person who beats himself is strong.[14] The person who knows what is sufficient has wealth. The person with the powerful walk has ambition. People who do not lose their place will be around for a long time. A person who can die yet not be dead will have longevity.
34.
The great Tao hovers uncomfortably close, sigh, and exists both to the left and to the right like a kind of shimmering miasma. The ten thousand things grow out of it, but the Tao doesn’t speak much.
Before your achievement’s even been accomplished, it is already no longer yours, and even though you yearn to slaughter others, don’t.[15]
Always without desire, as your reputation is small. Everything returns to the Tao, and because of this, lives, as your reputation grows. It is because it does not become big, that it becomes big.
35.
Grasp the grand image and unless you live up in the heavens, you’re walking towards it. Live, yet without harm, in a state of complete peace. Be Joyful with this bait and passing customers will stop.
The Tao, as it exits the mouth, is flavorless! That is to say, without flavor, because only a word. Watch for it, but you won’t sufficiently see a thing that cannot be named. Listen for it, but you won’t sufficiently hear a word that disguises itself as actual living things. You’ve used it, but it obviously proved insufficient, considering that you are now reading a book about it, distraught, and in general apathetic.
36.
You will desire to suck it but must instead steadily stretch it out until the thing is like a sheet that covers many states, and there is no lump on its surface you might even attempt to suck at. You will desire to weaken it but must instead sturdily force it to grow strong like an eagle that has been fed bear-meat since it was small. You will desire to abandon it but must instead sturdily raise it up like a baby left in the dumpster round back of your apartment complex. You will desire to choose it but must instead sturdily give into it like a creeping addiction for heroin or methamphetamines. This is called the slight and tiny bright and clear understanding wherein tender weakness wins over tough force.
The fish that is not as if flayed at the abyss’ rim, and the nation of beneficial utensils, will not come about by means of showmen’s pranks.
37.
The Tao always never is, but also never is not. If noblemen and kings are able to defend it, the ten thousand things will undoubtedly transform into adoring subjects, incapable of noticing even the most glaring defects. They will transform, yet still be productive in their daily lives even if stricken by a blinding patriotism.
However, ideological blindness will be suppressed,
by nameless thoughts, and so it is desire’s always something lost.
In such wise, the people will rather live in tranquil suburbs,
and will therefore naturally prosper at their demeaning tasks.
38.
The highest virtue is no longer virtue. This is true due to its being widely known as virtue. The lowest virtue is not lost specifically because of its being without virtue.
The highest virtue does not exist but does not exist as a result of its existence. The lowest virtue does not exist but has virtue as a result of its existence all the same. The greatest benevolence comes into being but without being in accordance with being. The greatest justice only exists as a result of the muddy waters of being. If the ceremony is, it should be thrown away.
When you lose Tao, you will find virtue, and when you lose virtue you will find love, and when you lose love you will find justice, and when you lose justice you will find propriety. The ceremonious man is very devoted to his sense of disdain, while also in control of his head.
The knowledge that floats forward, this is the Tao of flowery magnificence and a foolish place to begin. It is according to the teachings of the elders that generosity is managed rather than residing in that disdain, that reality is managed rather than living in that flowery magnificence. Because when you remove this, you obtain that.
39.
The ancient’s obtained a person: a person obtained by heaven as like a pure vacuum of ashy gadgets; a person obtained by earth as tranquil as a penis-filled pageant; a person obtained by the gods grasping through the soul’s electric prone spirit; a person obtained by the valley that’s only whole when full of rain; a person obtained by the ten thousand things that are simply born, grow old, and die. Noblemen and kings achieve oneness by means of serving as fair under heaven.[16]
How do we know this?
When the sky cracks like an egg, who does not fear it broken, and when the ground becomes as like a jelly, who does not fear that soon all will be as if jelly pudding? And if the gods did not exist in accordance with their souls’ spirit, they would dread the eternal rest of forgotten idols. And when the valley has no surplus, there is terror that it will run dry.
Everything is lifeless and will suffer the cycle of birth and death.
If the king refuses to release power to the next in line of succession, then his subjects may also refuse to lift his carriage off the floor of the throne room, and all will be embarrassed as his blood splatters across the woodwork.
Because value has its origin in cheapness, and high has low as its foundation.
It is for this reason that noblemen and kings call themselves fatherless, scarcely loved, and without grain in their storehouses. Does this wrong become evil as a result of its cheapness? Is it wrong now that I have called it cheap and potentially a great evil? When you achieve honor without the usual accompanying reputation, you do not desire jade-like stone as if it were jade, and a stone is just a stone.
40.
In the reversal of things, we see the Tao in action. In the weakness of things, we see the Tao’s use. Under heaven, the ten thousand things are living and so possess. They possess life and so are lacking.
41.
The highest scholar smells out the Tao and diligently can walk its shining path. The middle scholar hears of the Tao as if he is living, but also as if he is already dead. The lowest scholar learns of the Tao and laughs heartily at it. If you cannot laugh at the Tao, then you have not gone far enough in your understanding of the Tao.
Which means that now we have got to establish a few phrases that really get at the heart of this irritating issue: the bright Tao seems dark; to receive the Tao seems a retreat; the Tao of the barbarians to the east seems flawed; the highest virtue seems like a valley; the greatest purity is like a disgrace; the most extensive virtue is not sufficient; the most established virtue is like something stolen. The question of virtue itself seems to have changed.
The biggest room is without corners, and the greatest utensil is not completed till evening, the greatest sound achieves rare fame, and the greatest image is without form. The Tao is hidden and without name. Man only has the Tao on loan from the ancestors for the evening.
42.
The Tao gives birth to the primary unit, and the primary unit gives birth to the secondary unit, and the secondary unit gives birth to the tertiary unit, and the tertiary unit gives birth to the whole slap-dash of various functional possibilities and possible functionalities.[17]
These ten thousand things bear their genitals to the north side of the hill yet embrace the sun on the south side of the hill.[18] Rinse the air by means of becoming peaceful.
There are people who are evil, alone and widowed, without grains, but are as like kings if measured in terms of their being. Causing it to be that things that perhaps damage it end up being beneficial, and things that benefit it could end up doing harm.
The person who understands this should teach me whatever it is they’ve learned, as I teach others what little I know, having both caused suffering and suffered myself as a result of my ignorance. If there is a powerful beam that cannot be destroyed, we will take that for our teaching father.
43.
When that which is under heaven stops being flexible, they who push their steeds to gallop with a violent whip will arrive at firm ground. They who have nothing are united. Therefore, I know that being nothing has its advantages. Instruct through not talking. Find advantage in being nothing. This is rare to attain.
44.
Those who have a name for participating in life, with whom are they intimate? Those whose life consists of commodities, how much is enough? Those who obtain what they want by participating in death, which illness will take them? Because we are in search of happiness, love appears to be a big waste. Because we hoard, the most generous must die. To know that which is sufficient, but not be disgraced, to know the borders of being but not be dangerous, he will live a long long time.
45.
The greatest accomplishment is like a lack, but when you it, it won’t collapse. The largest acquisition is like flushing the toilet when you do not have restraint, but when you use it, there is no limit. The straightest line seems crooked, the greatest skill seems clumsy, the greatest debate is like mumbling. Tranquility wins over they who are impervious to all things. They who can ward off the cold win over they who have heat. Clear tranquility is what is proper under heaven.
[To continue reading, go here.]
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[1] Known as the Chinese parasol tree, or wutong (梧桐), this is an ornamental plant of tree size that is native to Asia.
[2] As we tiptoe with the delicacy of a grasshopper when we leave our cart by the river and instead pug out our cheeks as we slip through the underbrush.
[3] The good way to shut the door is to do so without using the latch, yet the door is not open. They would not look in normally, because the door has been shut in their puckered faces, but if there is an emergency, they open the door without thinking and stumble upon you in a compromising position.
[4] Even as the person becomes as a shiftless sky beneath the blubbery weight of this cold valley.
[5] The people you know will perhaps walk ahead with a strident cough or perhaps follow some drooling commandant as he saunters round the living room picking hors d’oerves out of the couch, perhaps flatter others with a few choice phrases or perhaps boast of their meager accomplishments, perhaps become strong and misuse their strength, or perhaps become frail and misused by others, perhaps be carried by those closet to them and perhaps be destroyed by those closest to them.
[6] Be it glittering trinkets or clumps of clever verbiage.
[7] Just one example of the many incomplete kindndesses that punctuate our lives as we stumble onward inconsolably.
[8] War is always ominous, and not something gentlemen partake in. However, when the world loses its way, it has no choice but to use it. Therefore, when the soldiers are used, they must be indifferent.
[9] Or, you could translate this paragraph something like, “Those sharp weapons are instruments of evil omen, and not the instruments of the superior man; he uses them only on the compulsion of necessity. Calm and repose are what he prizes; victory (by force of arms) is to him undesirable. To consisder this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.”
[10] Even if you win, you can’t be a poor sport and start cheering about how awesome you are, because then you will become the obnoxious murderer everyone thinks you are. Once you have lost your eyes and forgot the purpose of the war, you will not be able to calm down.
[11] Forever watching what goes on around the water cooler with quick glances of excitement.
[12] As they whittle themselves away to nothing.
[13] Bouncing down the hall on the balls of his feet.
[14] You harden your eyes by repeatedly poking them. You harden your feet when you sleeve them in leather.
[15] But we were speaking of the Tao and its effects upon a world it has not caused, that it coats the ten thousand things in an ethereal sheen, coating said ten thousand things without attempting to master them, as of course you should do as well, because really what is the Tao if not a tendency within each of us is in no way indistinct from the phenomena of the surrounding world, that when I speak my words are working themselves back round and into my mouth to eat me up, leaving nothing but a sudden incomprehensible gasp.
[16] Or, another way to put it: “Heaven can be heavenly; earth can be authentic and can be; God can be God and can be damn spiritual; Valleys can get their valley-ness on and can be full; Everything has its own way; Kings have the king to rule the world.”
[17] From frozen frogs to listless lizards baking on the side of the digital sea as they stare up and into their blinking bit-riddled sky, these are the ten thousand things, also known as the sea of sensate matter, that lives and breathes and becomes itself and becomes something other than itself round and round until up and down are just two sides of the same direction and left and right come together as a hand clapping.
[18] Which is to say that “genitals” and “north side of the hill” are both Yin, whereas “sun” and “south side of the hill” are Yang, and that the ten thousand things, also known as the infinite horde, contain these two things within them. All of them have some sort of reproductive impulse and all have the sun.
Gabriel Boyer has been making up stories about himself for as long as he can remember. There was never a time he was not fully seated in his various delusions. He continues to delude himself daily. You can read more about him here.
