Verse 30 - Living Without Force

[Eva Libre]

30th Verse

 

One who would guide a leader of men in the uses of life

will warn him against the use of arms for conquest.

 Weapons often turn upon the wielder.

 

Where armies settle,

nature offers nothing but briars and thorns.

After a great battle has been fought,

the land is cursed, the crops fail,

the earth lies stripped of its Motherhood.

 

After you have attained your purpose,

you must not parade your success,

you must not boast of your ability,

you must not feel proud;

you must rather regret that you had not been

able to prevent the war.

 

 You must never think of conquering others by force.

Whatever strains with force

will soon decay.

It is not attuned to the Way.

 Not being attuned to the Way,

its end comes all too soon.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

Whatever strains with force,

         will soon decay.

I eschew any and all forms of violence,

         I take the line of least resistance,

In all of my actions.

 

 

Do The Tao Now

 

In line with altering the way you look at the world, today change every television channel and radio station that presents an image or audio of the use of force or violence.  Then increase that "no tolerance" policy to include movies, videos, and games that have beatings, homicides, and chase scenes.

 

Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Eliminate verbal and/or physical force in all situations.

 

Examine the relationships in which you experience conflict.  Make a concerted decision to use less harsh language and to completely veer away from becoming physical in the resolution of any altercation.  Practice stopping thoughts of violence by shifting right in the moment to a stance of listening.  Bite your tongue !  Stifle yourself !  Hold back any response at all for the time being.

 

These are great reminders to you to become attuned to the Way.  Remember, any act of force will definitely produce a counterforce, so if you insist on escalating devastation, your weapons will be turned back upon you.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Refuse to participate in violent actions in any way.

 

Create distance between any form of violence and yourself.  This includes listening to TV or radio reports or even perusing newspaper articles about the uses of force taking place all over the planet.  See if you're justifying hearing or reading about hostile activities as a need to be "fully informed".  Once you know that force is being applied anywhere in the name of subjugating others, you'll realize that the constant repetition of that news makes you a participant in the violence.  By refusing to allow such energy into your life, even as a passive observer, you keep yourself attuned to the Way.

 

Eventually, when enough of us are unwilling to tolerate such behavior in any form, we'll be closer to bringing an end to the use of force on our planet.  Remember that every use of force, even the smallest, creates a counterforce.

 

Here's what a great 16th-century poet, Saint John of the Cross, advises:

 

You might quiet the whole world for a second

if you pray.

 

And if you love, if you

really love,

 

our guns will

wilt.

 circa 1965

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Those who rule in accordance with Tao

               do not use force against the world

For that which is forced is likely to return --

Where armies settle

               Nature offers nothing but briars and thorns

After a great battle has been fought

               the land is cursed, the crops fail,

               the Earth lies stripped of its motherhood

 

A knower of the Truth does what is called for

               then stops

He uses his strength but does not force things

In the same way

               complete your task

               seek no reward

               make no claims

Without faltering

               fully choose to do what you must do

This is to live without forcing

               to overcome without conquering

 

Things that gain a place by force

               will flourish for a time

               but then fade away

They are not in keeping with Tao

Whatever is not in keeping with Tao

               will come to an early end

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

He who would assist a lord of men

          in harmony with the Tao

Will not asset his master in the kingdom

          by force of arms

Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return

 

Wherever a host is stationed,

briars and thorns spring up.

In the sequence of great armies,

there are sure to be bad years.

 

A skillful commander strikes a decisive blow and stops.

He does not dare to assert and complete his mastery.

He will strike a blow, but will be on his guard

          against being vain or boastful or arrogant

          in consequence of it.

He strikes it as a matter of necessity;

He strikes it, but not from a wish for master.

 

When things have attained their maturity,

          they become old.

This may be said to be not in accordance with the Tao,

And what is not in accordance with it

          soon comes to an end.

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "War" (address)

 

War begins to look like an epidemic insanity,

Breaking out here and there like the cholera

          or influenza

Infecting men's brains.

 

When seen in the remote past,

          in the infancy of society,

Appears a part of the connection of events

          and in its place, necessary.

 

War and peace thus resolve themselves

          into a mercury of the state of cultivation.

At certain stages, the man fights,

          if he be of sound body and mind.

At a certain higher stage,

          he makes no offensive demonstration.

His warlike nature is all concerted into

          an active medicinal principle.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

30

CONFLICT

 

Your children will challenge you

and your power.  Do not use force

or intimidation to manage them.

 

Remember, wars bring suffering

to all.  The winners and the losers

both have bitter harvests.

 

When your child engages you in

conflict, bring it full circle without

physical, mental, or emotional

violence.

 

Withdraw, be still.  Try to

understand what the child needs,

whether it be a firm boundary

or a listening heart.  Then calmly

exert your authority with love,

end the conflict and restore

harmony.

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

A New Translation by Victor H Mair

based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

 

30 (74)

 

One who assists the ruler of men with the Way

              does not use force of arms against all under heaven;

Such a course is likely to boomerang.

 

Where armies have been stationed,

               briars and brambles will grow.

 

A good general fulfills his purpose

                              and that is all.

He does not use force

               to seize for himself.

 

He fulfills his purpose,

               but is not proud;

He fulfills his purpose,

               but is not boastful;

He fulfills his purpose,

               but does not brag;

He fulfills his purpose

               only because he has no other choice.

 

This is called "fulfilling one's purpose without using force".

 

If something grows old while still in its prime,

This is called "not being in accord with the Way".

Not being in accord with the Way

               leads to an early demise.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

One who would assist the ruler of men in accordance with the Dao does not use military force to gain power over all under Heaven.

 

Even one who, in accordance with the Dao, assists the ruler of men may not use military force to gain power over all under Heaven, so how much more this is true for the ruler of men who devotes himself to the Dao !

 

As for such matters, he is wont to let them revert. (1)

 

Whereas one who consciously works at governing earnestly wants to have effect and make things happen, one who has the Dao earnestly wants things to revert to where no conscious effort [wuwei] is involved.  Thus the text says: "As for such matters, he is wont to let them revert".

 

Where armies deploy, there thistles and thorns grow.  The aftermath of great military operations is surely a year of famine.

 

In other words, an army is a cruel and wicked thing.  Not beneficial, it is surely harmful, for it devastates the people and ravages the land.  Thus the text says: "There thistles and thorns grow".

 

One good at this desists when result is had and dares not use the opportunity to seize military supremacy.

 

Guo [result] means ji [relief].  This says that the good military leader sets out to relieve people from danger and then desists.  He does not use military force to gain power over all under Heaven.

 

Have result but do not take credit for it; have result but do not boast about it; have result but do not take pride in it;

 

I do not regard the Dao of military leadership worthy of esteem and use it only when there is no other choice, so what is there to take credit for or boast about ?

 

Have result but only when there is no choice; have result but do not try to gain military supremacy.

 

In other words, although one sets fort to succeed and relieve people from danger, this should only be done in cases where there is no other choice and only to quell violent insurrection.  One should not go on to take advantage of such results to gain military supremacy.

 

Once a thing reaches its prime, it grow old.  We say it goes against the Dao, and what is against the Dao comes to an early end. (2)

 

"Its prime" refers to the sudden rise of military power and is a metaphor for the use of military force to gain supremacy over all under Heaven.  "A whirlwind does not last an entire morning, and a rainstorm does not last an entire day". (3)  This a sudden rise goes against the Dao and will come to an early end. 

 

Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary.

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

(deb's note - "section" is used for verse in these notes.)

 

(1)  Wang's commentary suggest that qishi haohuan be translated "as for such matters, he is wont to let them revert".  Most commentators, however, seem to read it as "such matters tend to rebound" (cf. "those that live by the sword die by the sword"), an interpretation popular among translators of the Laozi.

 

(2) Cf. section 55, last passage.

 

(3) Section 23, second passage.

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

 

Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men

doesn't try to force issues

or defeat enemies by force of arms.

For every force there is a counterforce.

Violence, even well intentioned,

always rebounds upon oneself.

 

The Master does his job

and then stops.

He understands that the universe

is forever out of control,

and that trying to dominate events

goes against the current of the Tao.

Because he believes in himself,

he doesn't try to convince others.

Because he is content with himself,

he doesn't need others' approval.

Because he accepts himself,

the whole world accepts him.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

She understands that the universe

is forever out of control,

and that trying to dominate events

goes against the current of the Tao.

 

How do we respond to a world that seems out of control ?  The world seems that way because it is out of control -- the sun rises whether we want it to or not, the toaster breaks, someone cuts you off on your way to work.  We've never had control.  We have the illusion of control when things go the way we think they should.  And when they don't, we say we've lost control, and we long for some sort of enlightened state beyond all this, where we imagine we'll have control again.  But what we really want is peace.  We think that by having control or becoming "enlightened" (and no one knows what that means) we'll find peace.

 

Before I woke up to reality in 1986, I had a symbol for that: my children's socks.  Every morning they would be on the floor, and every morning I would have the thought, "My children should pick up their socks".  It was my religion.  You could say that my world was accelerating out of control -- in my mind there were socks everywhere.  And I would be filled with rage and depression because I believed that these socks didn't belong on the floor (even though, morning after morning, that's where they were) and that it was my children's job to pick them up (even though, morning after morning, they didn't).  I use the symbol of socks, but you might find that for you the same thoughts apply to the environment or politics or money.  We think that these things should be different than they are right now, and we suffer because we believe our thoughts.

 

At forty-three, after ten years of deep depression and despair, my real life began.  What I came to see was that my suffering wasn't a result of not having control; it was a result of arguing with reality.  I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer, and that this is true for every human being.  Freedom is as simple as that.  I found that suffering is optional.  I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment.  That joy is in everyone, always.  When you question your mind for the love of truth, your life always becomes happier and kinder.

 

Inquiry helps the suffering mind move out of its arguments with reality.  It helps us move into alignment with constant change.  After all, the change is happening anyway, whether we like it or not.  Everything changes, it seems.  But when we're attached to our thoughts about how that change should look, being out of control feels uncomfortable.

 

Through inquiry, we enter the area where we do have control: our thinking.  We question our thoughts about the ways in which the world seems to have gone crazy, for example.  And we come to see that the craziness was never in the world, but in us.   The world is a projection of our own thinking.  When we understand our thinking, we understand the world, and we come to love it.  In that, there's peace.  Who would I be without the thought that the world needs improving ?  Happy where I am right now: the woman sitting on a chair in the sunlight.  Pretty simple.

 

My children pick up their socks now, they tell me.  They understand now, they love me without condition, because when I became quiet they could hear themselves.  Everything I undo, they have to undo; they are me, living out what I believed.  The apparent world is like an echo.  the echo went out from me for forty-three years, and now it's coming back.  It's all like a breath, like a lake when you toss a pebble in, the ripples going out all those years and now they're coming back.  I undid the turmoil, and my children are losing it also.  They're losing their attachment to so many of the concepts I taught them; they're becoming quiet.  And that's what The Work does for everyone.  That's what I mean by coming back into itself.

 

The apparent craziness of the world, like everything else, is a gift that we can use to set our minds free.  Any stressful thought that you have about the planet, for example, shows you were you are stuck, where your energy is being exhausted in not fully meeting life as it is, without conditions.  You can't free yourself by finding a so-called enlightened state outside your own mind.  When you question what you believe, you eventually come to see that you are the enlightenment you've been seeking.  Until you can love what is -- everything, including the apparent violence and craziness -- you're separate from the world, and you'll see it as dangerous and frightening.  I invite everyone to put these fearful thoughts on paper, question them, and set themselves free.  When mind is not at war with itself, there's no separation in it.  I'm sixty-three years old and unlimited.  If I had a name, it would be Service.  If I had a name, it would be Gratitude.

 

You may find that you don't need to navigate a future at all -- that what appears now is all you've got, and even this is always immediately gone.  And when you've stopped making war with reality, you are what changes, totally without control.  That state of constant change is creation without limits -- efficient, free, and beautiful beyond description.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 30 -

 

If you were to explicitly follow the advice offered in this 30th verse of the Tao Te Ching, you'd be in a position to have a conflict-free existence.  Imagine that !  If our entire global population understood and lived the directives of this chapter on the Tao Te Ching, we'd finally be free of battle-related stress, along with the ravages that war has spread across our planet since we began keeping historical records.  As the 29th verse wisely instructed, there's a time for everything -- could this be the time for living without force ?

 

Here's my impression of what's being offered to you in this verse: Force creates a counterforce, and this exchange goes on and on until an all-out war is in progress.  Once war has begun, decimation and famine result because the land cannot produce crops.  Now when you create war in your personal life, it produces a dearth of love, kindness, and joy, which leaves you and everyone around you stripped of Divine Motherhood.  Lao-tzu is encouraging you to look for an alternative to force for settling disputes.  If you can find no other option, then you're encouraged to abandon any reference to yourself as winning or conquering.

 

Force includes any use of physical or mental abuse in which the weapons of hatred and intolerance are applied.  There will always be a counterforce, and what you've opted to do isn't "attuned to the Way".  This means that you'll ultimately lose -- especially when you consider that Martin Luther King, Jr., once observed that the only way to convert an enemy to a friend is through love.

 

Unfortunately, whenever force is used, resentment and ultimately revenge become the means for responding.  If we're thinking in war-zone terms, the killing of a large group of people designated as enemies leaves their sons and daughters growing up hating the vanquishers.  Ultimately, those survivors take up weapons to exact revenge on the children of those who vanquished them.  The use of force propels entire generations of people into a continuation of war.  Or as Lao-tzu puts it, "Weapons often turn upon the wielder".

 

Thinking in alignment with the Tao applies to any conflict you may experience.  When you resort to force, then disputes with your spouse, your children, your business partner, and even your neighbors will continue to intensify.  That's because the Great Way of Tao is that of cooperation, not competition.

 

The all-creating Source is always providing, asking nothing in return, and coming from a place of sharing its inherent love.  It knows that all are part of the 10,000 things, and they must cooperate with each other because they share the same origin.  So whenever you're in a mode that propels you in the direction of using force, you've lost sight of your connection to the Tao.  Moreover, any collection of people (such as communities or countries) who resort to weapons to get their points across are unattuned to the Way.  They'll leave the earth and the hearts of the people uninhabitable, except to "briars and thorns".  Your choice concerning your commitment to practicing the Tao includes refusing to participate in any manner, be it mental or physical, in anything that violates your understanding of the advice offered in this powerful passage of the Tao Te Ching.

 

Perhaps the easiest lesson presented here is the reminder to eschew the behaviors of boastfulness and pomposity for anything achieved by force.  Remember that whatever is accomplished in such a way creates a counterforce that will ultimately result in your victory turning to a defeat.  If you somehow feel that you had no other choice than to use violence to protect yourself and those you love, immediately retreat to a position that doesn't allow for bragging and self-congratulation.  Vow to work on restoring a balance of love where hatred previously resided, and do all that you can to make amends for any damage that resulted from your use of force.  This is the Way.  It has also been called wu-wei, or "nor forcing", which means to take the line of least resistance in all of one's actions, and by doing so, create more strength.