Verse 51 - Living by Hidden Virtue

[Eva Libre]

51st Verse

  

The Way connects all living beings to their Source.

It springs into existence,

unconscious, perfect, free;

takes on a physical body;

lets circumstances complete it.

 

Therefore all beings honor the Way

and value its virtue.

They have not been commanded to worship the Tao

and do homage to virtue,

but they always do so spontaneously.

 

The Tao gives them life.

Virtue nourishes and nurtures them,

rears and shelters and protects them.

The Tao produces but does not possess;

the Tao gives without expecting;

the Tao fosters growth without ruling.

This is called hidden virtue.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

The Great Tao has no expectations for me,

         no demands, no battles or wars to fight,

and no history to live up to.

 

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Plan a day of letting go: Let go of thinking, and discover the all-embracing nature of the mind.  Let go of preconceptions and ideas, and experience how things really are.  Let go of needing to control others, and discover how capable they really are.  Take time to find your answers to the question What might really happen if I let go ?  As you do this exercise, you may be surprised to discover that you find more of the hidden virtue in your life, which then changes the way you see yourself.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Practice feeling safe and protected.

 

Live each day trusting in the hidden virtue that's both within you and that caused you.  Keep in mind that the feeling of being secure, shielded, and nurtured won't come from anything you might possess.  Instead, it will arise when you know that you're in constant contact with a virtuous power that lies within every cell of your being.  This hidden force is responsible for your very presence.

 

You sprang into existence by virtue of Tao; and while your every breath and action aren't commanded to do so, they nevertheless pay homage to the inner virtue that is your life.  That power is in my hand as I write these words, and it's in your eyes as they read this page.  Trust in it.  Worship it.  Feel safe in the force that remains hidden.  This is all you need to feel complete.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Remember that the Tao produces - it doesn't possess.

 

Do the same and you'll achieve the wisdom of this verse.  Be a caretaker, not an owner.  Don't attempt to control anyone; instead, foster growth without dominating or ruling.  When you're in a supervisory role, allow others to activate their hidden virtue as much as possible.  Just as you wish to feel protected and trust in that invisible force that animates you, so does everyone you encounter.  I emphasize this word because there are no exceptions.

 

Witter Bynner's translation of this 51st verse of the Tao Te Ching states:

 

All created things render, to the existence and fitness

they depend on . . .

Do you likewise:

Be parent, not possessor,

Attendant, not master.

Be concerned not with obedience but with benefit,

And you are at the core of living.

 

I urge you to remember the phrase "Do you likewise", and live by hidden virtue.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Tao gives all things life

          Te gives them fulfillment

Nature is what shapes them

Living is what brings them to completion

Every creature honors Tao and worships Te

          not by force

          but through its own living and breathing

 

Though Tao gives life to all things

          Te is what cultivates them

Te is that magic power that

          raises and rears them

          completes and prepares them

          comforts and protects them

 

To create without owning

To give without expecting

To fill without claiming

          This is the profound action of Tao

          The highest expression of Te

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

All things are produced by the Tao,

          and nourished by its outflowing operation.

They receive their forms according to the nature of each,

          and are completed according

          to the circumstances of their condition.

Therefore all things without exception

          honor the Tao,

And exalt its outflowing operation.

Thus it is that the Tao produces all things,

Nourishes them, brings them to their full growth,

Nurses them, completes them, matures them,

          maintains them, and overspreads them.

 

It produces them and makes no claim

          to the possession of them;

It carries them through their processes

          and does not vaunt its ability in doing so;

It brings them to maturity and exercises

          no control over them -

This is called its mysterious operation.

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Nature", "Spiritual Laws" and "The Method of Nature" (address)

 

The method of nature: who could ever analyze it ?

The simplicity of nature is not that

          which may be easily read,

But it is inexhaustible.

The spirit and peculiarity of that impression is

That it does not exist to any one or to any number

          of particular hands,

But to numberless and endless benefit.

There is in it no private will, no rebel leaf or limb,

          but the whole is oppressed by

          our superincumbent tendency.

 

Nature converts itself into a vast promise,

          and will not be rashly explained.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

51

FLOW

 

Everything comes from One

consciousness.  The harmonious

rhythms we call happiness.

The discordant rhythms

we call pain.

 

Your child is attracted to the

One in you, to the Way which

nurtures, shelters, guides, and

protects.  It flows from you,

harmonious with the world from

which your child has come.

 

The Supreme nurtures without

grasping, shelters without

claiming, guides without

interfering, and protects

without smothering.

 

The closer you are to the Way,

the more your child will

trust you.

[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

 

51 (14)

 

          The Way gives birth to them and integrity nurtures them.

          Matter forms them and function completes them.

 

For this reason,

          The myriad creatures respect the Way

           and esteem integrity.

           Respect for the Way and esteem for integrity

                are by no means conferred upon them

                     but always occur naturally.

 

          The Way gives birth to them,

                nurtures them,

                rears them,

                follows them,

                shelters them,

                toughens them,

                sustains them,

                protects them.

         It gives birth but does not possess,

                acts but does not presume,

                rears but does not control.

 

         This is what is called "mysterious integrity".

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The Dao gives life to them; virtue nurtures them, matter gives them physical form, and characteristic potential completes them.

 

Once things achieve life, they are nurtured.  Once nurtured, they acquire physical form [xing].  Once they have physical form, they achieve completion [cheng].  What is the origin from which life comes ?  It is the Dao.  What is the source from which they are nurtured ?  It is virtue [de].  What is the cause [yin] of their physical form ?  It is matter [wu].  What is the agency [shi].  It is this cause [yin] alone that makes it possible for each and every thing to have physical form.  It is this characteristic potential [shi] alone that makes it possible for each and every thing to achieve completion.  From the way all things achieve life to the way the potentiality [gong] of things reaches completion, all these processes have an origin.  Because there has to be an origin for them, this origin without exception is the Dao.  Thus, if we trace these processes back to their ultimate origin, we arrive inevitably at the Dao.  It is when we follow them back to their individual causes [yin] that we find separate terms for these causes. (1)

 

This is why the myriad things without exception must honor the Dao and esteem virtue. 

 

The Dao is the origin of all things, and virtue is the power behind their potential [de].  It is only after they originate that they have a potential, so this is why they must honor the Dao.  Any neglect of virtue will result in harm, so this is why they must esteem it.

 

This honoring of the Dao and this esteeming of virtue, none are ordered to do so, yet it always happens spontaneously.

 

[Ming, "ordered (to do so)," in both cases is written jue, "confer noble status."] (2)

 

The Dao gives them life, and virtue nurtures them, that is, grows them, rears them, ensures them their proper shapes, matures them, and protects them.

 

Ting [stand up straight] means "ensure their proper shapes" [pin qixing]. Du [poison; cure with medicine] means "complete their physical natures" [chengqizhi] [thus, "matures them"]. (3)  Each obtains the protective shade it needs to ensure that no harm comes to its body.

 

He gives them life yet possesses them not.  He acts, yet they do not depend on him.

 

He provides for them but possesses them not.

 

They mature, yet he is not their steward.  This we call mysterious virtue. (4)

 

He [the sage] has virtue, but they [the people] are unaware of his being master, for it emerges from the secret and the dark. (5)

 

 

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)  Alan Chan discusses this passage and provides a partial and somewhat different translation in Two Visions of the Way, 51-52.  The major difference is that Dr Chan translates shi (characteristic potential) as "environment", which, though possible, is in my opinion unlikely, given other similar occurrences of shi in Wang's commentary, such as those at section 9, first and second passages.

 

(2)  The text in brackets is not part of Wang's commentary but an interpolation from some later commentary.  "In both cases" refers to two versions of the Laozi that are worded mo zhi jue er chang ziran (none are conferred noble status [for so honoring the Dao and virtue], yet it always happens spontaneously).  A sentence much like the one in brackets actually occurs in the Daode zhenjing jizhu (Collected commentaries on the True Classic of the Way and Virtue), 7:20 (17040A): "The two editions of Ming Huang [Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang] and Wang Bi in both cases write ming as jue."  For scholarship on this problem, see Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 337; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 138 n. 9.  I should note that both Mawangdui texts and Fu Yi's composite edition all have jue instead of ming in the text of the Laozi.  See Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 104.  The Wang Bi edition contained  in the Daozang does have a passage of commentary for section 51, third passage: "One who is honored and esteemed only after he has been conferred noble status is not really honored and esteemed" (Wang Bi, Laozi Daodejing zhu [Commentary on Laozi's Daodejing], 3"15 [16110A]).  It is unlikely, however, that this passage of commentary can actually be attributed to Wang Bi.

 

(3)  The first part of this passage, "Ting [stand up straight] means 'ensure their proper shapes' [pin qixing].  Du [poison; cure with medicine] . . .", is missing from the base text but occurs in a quotation of this passage in Li Shan's (ca. 630-89) commentary to Liu Jun's (462-521) Bian ming lun (Discourse on ways to approach fate), in Wenxuan, 54:8a, and in Xu Jian's (fl. ca. 700) Chuxue ji (Notes for the first steps in learning).  For the latter, see Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 338.  Cf. Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 138 n. 10.

 

(4)  For this and the previous passage, cf. section 2, third passage; section 10, last passage; and section 77, second passage.  "Mysterious virtue" is also defined in section 65, fourth passage.

 

(5)  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 10, last passage.

 

[Eva Libre]

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

 

Every being in the universe

is an expression of the Tao.

It springs into existence,

unconscious, perfect, free,

takes on a physical body,

lets circumstances complete it.

That is why every being

spontaneously honors the Tao.

 

The Tao gives birth to all beings,

nourishes them, maintains them,

cares for them, comforts them, protects them,

takes them back to itself,

creating without possessing,

acting with expecting,

guiding without interfering.

That is why love of the Tao

is in the very nature of things.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

The Tao gives birth to all beings . . .

creating without possessing,

acting without expecting,

guiding without interfering.

 

Everyone is one but not the same.  No two fingerprints are the same, no two blades of grass, no two snowflakes, no two pebbles.  All of these together make up the way of it, perfect and undivided.  Each apparent separateness is a micro-glimpse of the whole, each word spoken, each syllable broken down, each wave of a hand or crossing of the legs, each squeeze of toothpaste onto the bristles of a toothbrush.  Each is different, each is necessary.  Someone lives, someone dies, someone laughs, someone grieves.  For now, that's the way of it, until it's not.

 

I look up and there you are.  You have never existed before.  I am meeting you for the first time, and you're my everything.  I love that you appear now.  Thoughts might say that we've met before, maybe we've had dinner or worked together, but for me you are entirely new.  I notice that you're being breathed and nourished, that you're doing well in your happiness or your sorrow, that you're absolutely supported - the ground supports you, the chair supports you, you even have hair.  You are the way of it: my internal, my everflowing, creative, all-loving self.

 

If you ask me to do The Work with you, I'm happy to join you there.  Inquiry is where I can be understood.  I am you in the answers.  We meet in the center.  It's the only way I can be seen or understood: in the center, the heart.

 

Whenever you invite me, I'll jump into your dream.  I'll follow you through the tunnel, into the darkness, into the darkest pit of suffering.  I'll meet you there, I'll take you by the hand, and we'll walk through it together into the light.  There's no place I won't enter.  I'm everything, everywhere.  What I've heard from many people is "Thank you for going to hell and coming back for me."  You are my echo, you are every concept I ever believed when I was so confused.  Every suffering that's ever been felt - I'm the teacher of that.  I go back for what's left of myself.  There's total freedom here: all suffering has ended, for now.  And since the external turned out to be the internal, as long as there is one person suffering, it's my suffering.  I don't experience it from here, but there's no separation.  "There" is here.  And I remember the illusion.  Love comes back to connect with itself even in its purest state.  That's what I refer to as the reentry.  Until you're free, I'm not free.  I know that you're free.  And if you tell me you're not, I understand, because I used to believe that, too.

 

And, really, I have no idea about whether you should or shouldn't suffer.  I respect your path as much as I respect my own.  I understand it if you're mesmerized by your story of who you are and you want to hold on to it for now.  If you really don't want to suffer, I'm there for you.  Through inquiry, I'll meet you as deeply as you want to go.  Whatever you say, I'll meet it; whatever you ask for, I'll give.  I love you, because I'm totally selfish.  Loving you is simply self-love.

 

I don't change, and I see change in you only if you say so.  You are my inner life.  You're the voice of my self, reporting my health at all times.  Sickness or health - it's all fine with me.  You're sad, you're not sad; you don't understand, you understand; you're peaceful, you're upset; you're this, you're that.  I am each cell reporting itself.  And, beyond all change, I know that each cell is always at peace.

 

As closely as I can describe it in words, I am your heart.  I am what you look like inside yourself.  I am the sweetest place you come from.  I am no one.  I am a mirror.  I am the face in the mirror.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 51 –

 

This passage encourages you to discover that quality within you that protects, nurtures, and shelters automatically, "without ruling".  Consciously living by hidden virtue probably means changing many of the ways in which you see your role in the grand scheme of things.  And a natural starting point would be the way you explain the mystery of how life begins.

 

If you had to describe your creation, you'd most likely say that you originated through an act of commingling between your biological parents.  If that's the only explanation for your existence, then it excludes the spontaneity and mystery that living by hidden virtue offers you.  Operating in this new way expands and redefines your conception and birth, and the world changes as a result of your modified viewpoint.

 

Living by hidden virtue allows you to get the most out of life because it means seeing that it's your choice and responsibility to decide how you're going to spend it.  Not living by hidden virtue, on the other hand, ensures that your role in a family or culture is assigned at birth (or even conception), with predetermined expectations about how you should and will function.  Your days become filled with stressful attempts to please those to whom you're biologically related.  You experience the nagging self-criticism that you're disappointing a parent or grandparent, along with unsettling desires to be free  of the pressure of your gender or placement in a designated family.  Trying to operate within this belief system can consequently keep you trapped in an unpleasant and intolerable role of servitude and obsequiousness.

 

In the 51st verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu asks you to expand your vision and begin to see yourself as a creation of the Tao. Imagine that the tiny seedling that was you didn't come from another particle, but rather from an invisible Source.  And this Source that sprung you into existence, herein called "the Way", has no preconceived doctrine dictating what you should do, whom you should listen to, where you should live, or how you should worship.  The Source, your great Mother, has no investment in the choices you make during your individual journey - it knows that the seedling that was you is perfect and free to complete itself in whatever way it chooses.  This Mother, which is the Tao, has no expectations for you . . . no demands, no battles or wars for you to fight, no history to live up to.

 

The Chinese refer to this hidden entity that brought you into existence as Te.  I'm referring to Te here as "virtue" or "character".  And Jonathan Star's translation of the Tao Te Ching interprets it in this verse as follows:

 

Though Tao gives life to all things,

Te is what cultivates them.

Te is that magic power which 

raises and rears them,

completes and prepares them,

comforts and protects them.

 

Te, then, is the virtue that's deep within you and all of creation.  This isn't a force that guarantees the physical shell will never die; it's more a characteristic that allows you to move through the material world in your body, perfectly aligned with the creative originating force.  Read this verse as a reminder that you're protected and completed by your ultimate originating Source, which isn't the same as guaranteeing your security in this phenomenal world.  Helen Keller was speaking of this very thing when she stated, "Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature . . . ".

 

The 51st verse is about learning to trust by changing your view of life to include Te, or hidden virtue.  It's about seeing yourself as a member of a family of oneness, with the same parents as all other creatures.  It's about feeling your total freedom - to produce without possessing, and to keep from becoming a possession yourself.  So give without expecting, and don't be victimized by the expectations of others.