Verse 68 - Living by Cooperating

[Eva Libre]

68th Verse

 

A good soldier is not violent.

A good fighter is not angry.

Good winners do not contend.

Good employers serve their workers.

The best leader follows the will of the people.

 

All of them embody the virtue of noncompetition.

This is called the virtue of noncontending.

This is called employing the powers of others.

 

This since ancient times has been known

as the ultimate unity with heaven.

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

Whatever I fight,
          weakens me,
What I cooperate with,
          strengthens me.
          
           
Do The Tao Now

Affirm that you'll think of your opponent as an extension of yourself in your next competitive encounter.  Vow to mentally send that person love, surround him or her in light, and pray that he or she will perform at the highest level.  Then note how your own performance improves and carries you to a new level of excellence.


Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao) 
by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer -

 

Declare that you're not going to fight.

 

Don't fight colds, illnesses, or even serious afflictions. Don't fight with family members, or against political opinions. Don't fight addictions, and most important, don't fight yourself. Instead, make the shift to living by cooperating. If you have cancer or arthritis cells in your body, talk to them from that perspective: “If you insist on living in my body, I wish to live in harmony, peace, and total health with you; otherwise, I invite you to take up residence elsewhere.” This may sound strange, but it puts you back in harmony with the Tao, which isn't violent, hateful, or angry.

Also, when it comes to your children and other family members, see yourself as their ally, daily practicing the “virtue of non-contending”.

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer –

 

Practice seeing yourself in everyone else.

 

If someone you love is hurting, you experience their pain. Therefore, whenever you say or do something that's harmful to someone you love, you're doing something to harm yourself. Extend this awareness to all of humanity - after all, you share the same origination spirit or Tao with every living being in the universe. When you see your own spirit in a cooperative embrace with all others, you'll know what Lao-tzu means by “the ultimate unity with heaven”.

Here are some marvelous words from Pablo Casals that express this thought:

When will we [teach our children] what they are ?

We should say to each of them:

Do you know what you are ?

You are a marvel. You are unique.

In all the years that have passed,

there has never been another child like you.

Your legs, your arms, your cunning fingers,

the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo,

a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.

Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up,

can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel ?

[Eva Libre]

From  The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

68
EMPOWERMENT

A good soldier is never hateful.
A good fighter is not angry.
A good employer encourages
leadership.

The best parenting shows
choices rather than
delivering ultimatums.

Empowerment is the natural
means to grow a good
human being.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

The best warrior
leads without haste
fights without anger
overcomes without confrontation
He puts himself below
and brings out the highest in his men

This is the virtue of not confronting
of working with the abilities you have
of complying with the laws of Heaven

This is the ancient path that leads to perfection

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

He who in Tao's wars has skill
Assumes no martial port;
He who fights with most good will
To rage makes no resort.
He who vanquishes yet still
Keeps from his foes apart;
He whose behests men most fulfill
Yet humbly plies his art.

Thus we say, “He ne'er contends,
And therein is his might.”
Thus we say, “Men's wills he bends,
That they with him unite.”
Thus we say, “Like Heaven's his ends,
No sage of old more bright.”

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - “Journals 1849”

It is a vulgar error to suppose that
a man must be ready to fight.
The utmost that can be demanded of the man
is that he is incapable of a lie.
You may spit upon him; nothing could
induce him to spit upon you -
No praises, no possessions, no compulsion
of public opinion.
You may kick him; he will think it
the kick of a brute,
and will not kick you in return,
But neither your knife, nor pistol
will ever make the slightest impression.

[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

 

68 (33)

 

A good warrior is not bellicose,

A good fighter does not anger,

A good conqueror does not contest his enemy,

One who is good at using others puts himself below them.

This is called "integrity without competition",

This is called "using others",

This is called "parity with heaven",

     -- the pinnacle of the ancients.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

One good at being a warrior is not warlike.

 

"Warrior" refers to a commander of troops.  "Warlike" describes a fondness for aggressive action.

 

One good at warfare avoids anger.

 

Such a one holds back and does not go first, joins in but does not start the singing. (1)  thus he has nothing to do with anger.

 

One good at conquering the enemy does not join with him.

 

"Join with" means "contend with".

One good at using men places himself below them.  We refer to these as the virtue in not fighting and the power in using men.

 

If one attempts to use men but does not place himself below them, their power will not be used. (2)

Such a one is called a companion worthy of Heaven, the ultimate attainment achieved for all time.

 

 

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) Cf. section 10, fifth passage.

(2) Cf. section 66.

[Eva Libre]

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

The best athlete
wants his opponent at his best.
The best general
enters the mind of his enemy.
The best businessman
serves the communal good.
The best leader
follows the will of the people.

All of them embody
the virtue of non-competition.
Not that they don't love to compete,
but they do it in the spirit of play.
In this they are like children
and in harmony with the Tao.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

The best leader
follows the will of the people.

 

I follow the way of it, which is always revealed in the moment. It's God's will, and it's always crystal clear. When you no longer have a will of your own, there is no time and space. It all becomes a flow. You don't decide, you flow from one happening to the next, and everything is decided for you.

For ten years before February 1986, I was depressed - for the last two, so deeply depressed that I could barely leave my bedroom. Every day I longed to die. I used to go for weeks at a time without brushing my teeth, because every time I thought of brushing my teeth, a belief would arise: “What's the use? It all adds up to nothing anyway.” I was a dead woman, and why bother brushing your teeth when you're already dead ? But after my mind became clear, if I was in bed and heard the voice say, “Brush your teeth”, I would follow that, and nothing could stop me. I would get out of bed, I would fall out of bed if I had to, I would crawl on my belly into the bathroom, put the toothpaste on the toothbrush, and brush my damn teeth. I didn't care about cavities, I cared about one thing: honoring the truth inside me. Do you want to have an epiphany ? Do you want to stand in front of the burning bush ? Here's my burning bush: Brush your teeth.

To respect the way of it is to follow the simple directions. If you have the thought that the dishes need washing, wash them. That's heaven. Hell is asking why. Hell is “I'll do it later”, “I don't have to do it”, “It's not my turn”, “It's not fair”, “Someone else should do it”, and on and on, ten thousand thoughts a minute. If it comes to you to do something, just do it. All the unquestioned thoughts about that action are how you hurt yourself. Doing what's next, without a mental argument, is devotion to God. It's a wonderful thing to just listen and obey, to listen and do. And if you follow the voice, you eventually realize that there's not even a voice. There is no voice, there's only movement, you are the movement, and you just watch it do itself. What comes next is not your business. You just move, and you undo every judgment you have about that. If it hurts, undo it.

It's April, and I'm on book tour, in Washington, DC. A month ago, my doctor told me that I have osteoporosis and I need to walk more. More exercise, more calcium, a weekly pill, or my bones will crumble. I love his opinion. It amuses me, and I'm glad to follow his directions. When Stephen and I and our friend Adam arrive at the hotel, we're told that our rooms won't be ready until three o'clock. It's noon; there are three hours to go. Obviously now is the time to walk. How about near the Jefferson Memorial ? The taxi drops us off at an intersection, and we start walking. Cherry blossoms ! Everywhere we look, the most indescribably lovely blossoms. They are in full bloom - at their peak, we're told. Thousands of people have planned their vacations to be here at this precise moment. We had no idea about the cherry blossoms until suddenly there they were, in all their glory. Obviously the master plan was for us to see the blossoms in full bloom. My doctor's plan was for me to walk. The hotel's plan was to keep us from the rooms until they were cleaned. We could have gone through this experience with stories about how tired we were after five weeks of nonstop traveling, how much we needed to rest, how inconsiderate of the hotel, what poor planning on the publicist's part, et cetera. But if our room had been ready, we would have missed the cherry blossoms. The way is clear, but only when the mind is clear.

Fast-forward to September. Ross's dog, Oakley, has jumped into the canal in front of my house. The French doors have been left open, and this big, simple-hearted golden retriever bolts through the doors, leaps the fence, and plunges into the water, in hot pursuit of ducks. The ducks don't seem to be too concerned; they look over to see who is making such a commotion, then paddle off, quacking, faster than he can swim. The next day, I see Oakley's muddy paw prints across the otherwise spotless floors, and my heart melts. As I clean the floors, the love that I experience for this animal is huge. I know what the prints are for. They connect me to my granddog and to my son and to the lightheartedness of the animal world, and I love that I am that. The unquestioned mind might see them and get upset, thoughts might attack the dog, attack my son for his lack of discipline, attack myself for not seeing the open doors sooner; there are thousands of combinations the mind might use to attack the apparent other in its quest to maintain body-identification. But the questioned mind sees no opposition. It delights in everything life brings.

My three-year-old twin granddaughters, Hannah and Kelsi, open the kitchen cupboard and pull out the most marvelous treasures, pots and pans and spoons, and the internal portion of a coffee press. Days later, I notice that the coffee press is still out. I love that they have left a piece of their curiosity and freedom behind. My house is very simply decorated; there's nothing extra. And now the coffee press. I love what it adds. You never know who your interior decorators are until they appear. And as I place the coffee press back in its old familiar position, hidden away under the counter, I don't miss it. The house is always decorated perfectly.

This morning I had the thought to shower, and I notice that I stayed with the e-mail. I find that fascinating. Showering was a wonderful idea. Will it move to that or not? It's exciting to wait and watch and allow life to move at its own pace as it continues to do what it does. For no reason, when a few dozen e-mails are finished, the body rises. Where is it going? It thinks it's going to the shower, but there's no way to know, not ever, until it's standing there in the shower stall, turning the knob. And until the water comes out, there is still no way to know if a shower will happen. As the water pours over my body, the thought arises, “What a wonderful idea !”

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 68 -

This verse of the Tao Te Ching asks you to reconsider what you think you have to do to be a winner. In the Western world, getting ahead most often implies having to be in a state of contention and competition - basically, you must defeat the other guy by getting what you want before he does. Lao-tzu asks you to change this kind of thinking by embodying “the virtue of noncompetition”, which can work for you even in a society where conquering and being number one are so highly valued.

The Tao Te Ching teaches that all of the 10,000 things emerge from the same state of nonbeing. Here there's only oneness, which implies complete collaboration, not competition. Who can there be to defeat if you see yourself in everyone ? You'd be picking a fight with yourself ! Lao-tzu asks that you follow his advice and choose to live by cooperating.

Believe it or not, this can actually work to your advantage in athletic competitions. Rather than thinking of an opponent as the enemy and employing anger and mental and physical violence, remind yourself of Lao-tzu's words in the opening of this verse: “A good soldier is not violent. A good fighter is not angry. Good winners do not contend”. Instead, such individuals view their opponents as a part of themselves and as crucial members of this dance of life. So rather than being angry and hateful toward opponents in a tennis match or football game, see them as a part of you that's working to help you achieve excellence. Without them, you couldn't improve, get a good workout, or become victorious.

Do as Lao-tzu advises and “[employ] the powers of others” to elevate yourself to the status of winner. That is, cooperate with your opponents by wanting them to play at a high level - the best they're capable of. Shift your focus from being upset or self-reproaching to the task at hand. See the ball, move the ball, or remain upright and balanced in a martial-arts contest. When anger isn't a component, your game will go to a new level. And this is true of the athletic field as well: What you fight weakens you; what you cooperate with strengthens you. So change your thinking about competing to cooperating in all areas of your life, including your work.

I practice this concept by thinking of every person whose purpose is to help improve the quality of life on our planet as being my partner, on my “team”. I cannot conceive of anyone out there whom I'm in competition with for any external prize. If they sell more books than I do, I applaud their good fortune; in fact, I'll tell as many people as I can to buy their products. If they make more money, get more publicity, or teach more people, I celebrate by thinking, My teammate has helped me with my mission.

When I play a close tennis match, I silently send love and encouragement to my opponent. When I'm less stressed, less angry, and less violent in my thinking, I'm living in the moment that Lao-tzu calls “the ultimate unity with heaven”. My level of excellence soars, regardless of the outcome on the scoreboard.