Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

A person of superior virtue is not virtuous, and this is why he has virtue.  A person of inferior virtue never loses virtue, and this is why he lacks virtue.  A person of superior virtue takes no conscious action and so acts out of nothing.  A person of inferior virtue takes conscious action and so acts out of something. (1)  When a person of superior benevolence takes action, he acts out of nothing.  When a person of superior righteousness takes action, he acts out of something.  When a person of superior propriety takes action and no one responds, he pushes up his sleeves and leads them to it. (2)  Therefore one resorts to virtue only after losing the Dao, resorts to benevolence only after losing virtue, resorts to righteousness only after losing benevolence, and resorts to propriety only after losing righteousness.  Propriety consists of the superficial aspects of loyalty and trust and is thus the beginning of disorder.  Foresight consists of the flower of the Dao and is thus the origin of duplicity.  This is why the really great man involves himself with its substance and not with its superficial aspects.  He involves himself with its fruit and not with its flower.  Therefore he rejects the one and takes the other. 

1.  Virtue [de] consists of attainment [de].  Because this means constant attainment without loss and benefit without harm, we use "virtue" as the name for it.  Where does one attain virtue ?  One attains it from the Dao.  By what does one fulfill the Dao ?  One fulfills it by functioning out of nothing.  If one's functioning is out of nothing, no one will not be upheld [zai]. (3)  Therefore, as far as the people are concerned, if one applies nothing to them, not a single one will be disorderly, but, if one applies something to them, they will lack the means to escape with their lives.  This is why, although Heaven and Earth are vast, they have nothingness [wu] for heart/mind [xin], (4) and, although the sage sovereign is great, his rule is based on emptiness [xu].  Therefore I say that if one looks at it in terms of Fu [Return], the heart/mind of Heaven and Earth is seen. (5)  If we think of it in terms of the solstice, the perfection [zhi] of the former kings is witnessed.(6)  Therefore, if one is able to extinguish his self-interest and nullify his personal existence, no one within the four seas will fail to look to him, and no one from near or far will fail to gravitate to him. (7)

2.   If one regards oneself as something special and possesses a heart/mind of his own, this one body of his will fail to keep itself whole, its flesh and bones rendered incompatible.  This is why the person of superior virtue only functions if it is with the Dao.  He does not regard his virtue as virtue, never holds on to it nor makes use of it.  thus he is able to have virtue, and nothing fails to be done.  He attains it without seeking it and fulfills it without conscious effort [wei]. (8)  Thus, although he has virtue, he does not have a reputation for "virtue".

3.  The person of inferior virtue attains it by seeking it and fulfills it with conscious effort, then he establishes goodness as the way to keep people in order.  Thus a reputation for "virtue" is acquired by him.  If one tries to attain it by seeking it, he will surely suffer the loss of it.  If he tries to fulfill it by making conscious effort, he will surely fail at it.  Once the name "goodness" appeared, there was a "not good" corresponding to it. (9)  Thus it is that "a person of inferior virtue takes conscious action and so acts out of something".  One who acts out of nothing stays free of biased action [pianwei].  Those who are incapable of acting without conscious effort/deliberate action [wuwei] are always persons of inferior virtue, that is, those concerned with benevolence, righteousness, or propriety and etiquette.

4.  The text always clarifies the distinction between superior and inferior virtue by citing examples of inferior virtue to serve as contrasts to superior virtue, so, when it arrives at the person of inferior virtue who still has the lowest possible capacity for acting out of nothing, he turns out to be the person of superior benevolence.  That is, he is a person whose capacity is such that he can act out of nothing.  Because, when he [the person of superior benevolence] acts, he acts out of nothing, those who act out of something regard it [disinterested benevolence] as calamitous. (10)

5.  The root [of action] is found in no conscious effort [wuwei] and the mother [of action] is found in the nameless [the Dao].  If one rejects the roots and discards the mother and instead turns to the child, (11) although one's merit might become great because of it, there surely will be instances when benefit [ji] fails, and, although one might acquire a praiseworthy reputation, falsehood too will surely arise. (12)

6.  If one is incapable of accomplishment without deliberate action or of ruling without deliberate application, this, of course, means that conscious effort is involved.  Therefore there appear those who promote the sweeping application of benevolence and love.  Such love may be free of biased self-interest, however.  Thus, "when a person of superior benevolence takes action, he acts out of nothing".

7.  As such love cannot be applied universally, there appear those who, with a little more truing here and a little less straightening there, try to apply righteousness [yi] and moral principles [li].  They rage against the crooked and bless the straight, assisting that one and attacking this one, for they act with something in heart/mind when dealing with matters.  Thus, "when a person of superior righteousness takes action, he acts out of something".

8.  As straightening cannot make people sincere, there appear those who turn cultural institutions and ceremonial etiquette into superficial ornamentation.  Because those who esteem cultivation and etiquette interact by wrangling and faultfinding, anger arises where opinions conflict.  Thus it is "when a person of superior propriety takes action and no one responds, he pushes up his sleeves and leads them to it".

9.  The greatest thing possible, how can this be other than the Dao ?  How could any lesser expression adequately serve to honor it ? (13)  Thus, although its virtue is replete, its enterprise great, and its rich abundance embraces the myriad things, (14) each thing still has access to its virtue, but none in itself can encompass all of it.  Thus Heaven cannot serve to uphold it, Earth serve to cover it, or man serve to support it. (15)  Although the myriad things (16) are noble, their functioning is based on nothing, and they cannot reject having nothingness as their embodiment.  If one were to reject having nothingness as his embodiment, he would lose his power to be great.  This is what is meant by "one resorts to virtue only after losing the Dao".

10.  If one's functioning is based on nothing, he has access to the mother.  This is how it is possible, without his laboring at it, for absolutely all people to live an orderly existence.  However, if one falls from this, he will lose the mother that gives birth to functioning.  If one is incapable of unconscious effort, he will value sweeping application [of benevolence].  If one is incapable of such sweeping application, he will value truing and straightening.  If one is incapable of truing and straightening, he will value ornamental etiquette.  This is what is meant by one "resorts to benevolence only after losing virtue, resorts to righteousness only after losing benevolence, and resorts to propriety only after losing righteousness".  Propriety as such gets its start when loyalty and trust lack sincerity.  the frank and unconventional, refusing to go along with such pretense, heap scorn on how superficial this is, while those obsessed with minute detail wrangle over its application.  When benevolence and righteousness emerge from within, acting out of them is still false, so how much less likely that efforts at external ornament will long endure !  Thus "propriety consists of the superficial aspects of loyalty and trust and is thus the beginning of disorder".

11.  Foresight means knowing something before others do, and it refers to those who belong to the "inferior virtue" category of persons.  These people dry up their intelligence in the pursuit of foresight and apply their knowledge to devise schemes to deal with the masses.  They might get at the innate tendencies of things [qing] but are responsible for the thick spread of treachery.  They might enrich their reputations but in doing so ever increase the loss of sincerity and honesty.  The more they labor, the more situations become obscure; the more effort they make, the more entangled with filthy weeds the government becomes.  The more they dry up their sovereign's sagehood and intelligence, the more harm befalls the common folk.  If one discards the self and leaves things alone, peace will be had without conscious effort. (17)  If one holds fast to simplicity and the uncarved block, (18) he need not follow any system of criminal law.  However, one becomes besotted with what wins him [reputation] and rejects what this [the uncarved block] holds for him.  thus "foresight consists of the flower of the Dao and is thus the origin of duplicity".

12.  If one has access to the mother that provides success, "the myriad folk model their behavior on him, yet he does not tell them to do so", (19) and the myriad affairs are managed by him, yet he labors not.  It is because one functions not by using forms and rules and not by using names that it becomes possible for benevolence and righteousness, propriety and etiquette to manifest and display themselves.  If one upholds the people with the great Dao and presses down on them with the nameless, (20) they will have nothing to exalt and their hearts/minds will have nothing to scheme for.  As each person tends to his own proper efforts and acts out of his own sense of sincerity, the virtue of benevolence deepens, the practice of righteousness rectifies itself, and propriety and etiquette become pure accordingly.

13.  When it [the Dao] is rejected as the means to uphold [the people] and discarded as the means to sustain their lives, use is then made of the concrete forms it takes and application made of what the intelligence perceives of it.  If [it takes the form of] benevolence, one shows it esteem.  If [it takes the form of] propriety, one makes it the object of dispute.  Therefore the deepening of the virtue of benevolence is impossible for one who uses [the form of] benevolence, the rectification of the practice of righteousness is not achieved by one who uses [the form of] righteousness; and the purification of propriety and etiquette is not attained by one who uses [the form of] propriety.

14.  It is when one uphold them [the people] with the Dao and unites and controls them with the mother that benevolence may be manifest but there is no esteem of it, and righteousness and propriety may be displayed but there is no wrangling over them.  It is by making use of the formless that forms become perfect.  If one preserves the child by holding fast to the mother and makes the branch tips flourish by enhancing the roots,(21) forms and names will all exist, but anomalies will not occur.  Such great beauty [damei] (22) will make a companion worthy of Heaven, and superficiality will not arise.  Therefore the mother must not be kept at a distance, and the roots must not be lost.  Benevolence and righteousness are born of the mother; they must not be mistaken for the mother.  Implements are produced by the artisan; they must not be mistaken for the artisan.  When one discards the mother and makes use of the child, rejects the roots and takes the branch tips, if this is manifest in names, there will be distinctions, and, if this is manifest in forms, there will be limits.  One may enlarge their size to the utmost, but there is sure to be something they do not encompass. (23)  One may make them as praiseworthy as possible, but there are sure to be those who cause calamity and distress.  If success depends on making such conscious effort, how is that worth engaging in ?

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)  I have followed the base text -- shangde wuwei er wu yi wei xiade wei zhi er you yi wei -- because, from Wang's commentary, this appears to be the text as he knew it.  The same "person of superior virtue" sentence occurs partially in the Mawangdui A text and completely in Mawangdui B, but the following "person of inferior virtue" sentence is missing in both.  Fu Yi's composite text based on old manuscripts has the same second sentence, but the first sentence reads shangde wuwei er wu buwei, "A person of superior virtue takes no conscious action and nothing remains undone", which requires that the second sentence mean something like "A person of inferior virtue takes conscious action and so has nothing for his efforts".  See Mawangdui Hanmu boshu, 101.  The Han Fei zi also quotes the text of the Laozi as "a person of superior virtue takes no conscious action and nothing remains undone" (6:113C [section 20]).  This passage has attracted much attention form commentators throughout the ages, and preference seems to be for the text as it appears in the Fu Yi composite edition.  See Hatano, Roshi Datokukyo kenkyu, 248; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 98 n 12.  Wagner suggests that Wang Bi read it this way also (see "The Wang Bi Recension of the Laozi", 51), but I see nothing in Wang's commentary to support this view and a clear indication that he did not.

2.  Cf. section 69, second passage.

3.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 34, second passage, which reads in part: "Each of the myriad folk will obtain his proper place, and it will be as if the Dao had done nothing for them."  ie, when the sage ruler acts out of nothing -- in perfect unconscious accord with the Dao -- each person will fulfill his natural destiny.

4.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 32, first passage.

5.  Cf.  Tuanzhuan (Commentary on the Judgment) of Hexagram 24, Fu (Return), in the Yijing (Classic of changes), which reads in part: "In Fu (Return) we can see the very heart and mind of Heaven and Earth !"  Wang's commentary says:

Return as such means "to revert to what is the original substance [ben]", and for Heaven and Earth we regard the original substance to be the mind/heart [xin].  Whenever activity ceases, tranquility results, but tranquility is not opposed to activity.  Whenever speech ceases, silence results, but silence is not opposed to speech.  As this is so, then even though Heaven and Earth are so vast that they possess the myriad things in great abundance, which, activated by thunder and moved by the winds, keep undergoing countless numbers of transformations, yet the original substance of Heaven and Earth consists of perfectly quiescent nonbeing [wu, nothingness].  Thus it is only when earthly activity ceases that the heart/mind of Heaven and Earth can be seen.  If Heaven and Earth were to have had being [substance, actuality] instead for this heart/mind, then it never would have been possible for all the different categories of things to become endowed with existence.

(Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 286;

see Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 336-37)

6.  Cf. Xiangzhuan (Commentary on the Images) of Hexagram 24, Fu (Return), in theYijing (Classic of changes), which reads: "Thunder in the Earth: this constitutes the image of Fu [Return].  In the same way, the former kings closed the border passes on the occasion of the winter solstice, and neither did merchants or travelers move nor sovereigns go out to inspect domains."  Wang's commentary says:

The winter solstice is the time when the yin principle commences its Return [begins to become quiescent], and the summer solstice is the time when the yang principle commences its Return [begins to become quiescent].  Thus to undergo Return as such means to reach perfect stillness and great tranquility.  The former kings behaved in such a way that they acted as do Heaven and Earth.  For activity to be subject to Return means that it becomes quiescent; for movement to be subject to Return means that it comes to a halt; and for matters to be subject to Return means a disengagement from matters [wu shi].

(Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 286-87;

see Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 337)

Suggestions have been made that "perfection [zhi] of the former kings" should be read "intention [zhi] of the former kings", but, in my opinion, this seems unnecessary and does not result in a better reading.  See Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 252; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 97 n 7.

7.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 7, first passage.

8.  Cf. section 47, last passage.

9.  Cf. section 2, first passage.

10.  The text here is ambiguous and perhaps corrupt, but the drift of Wang's argument is clear.  In it, he apparently refers to both Confucians, whose cardinal virtue is benevolence, in such a way that he seems to damn them with faint praise -- as if the greatest of Confucians, the person of superior benevolence, could only be the least of Daoists -- and the Legalists, who regard all ostensibly disinterested behavior with skepticism and hostility.  For attempts to amend the text, in my opinion unnecessary and misleading, see Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 254-56; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 99 n 17 and 18.

11.  Cf. Wang's commentary to  section 52, second passage.

12.  Cf. section 18.

13.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 25, fifth and sixth passages.

14.  Cf. section 5 of the Xici zhuan (Commentary on the Appended Phrases), Part One, of the Yijing (Classic of changes), which reads in part: "As replete virtue and great enterprise, the Dao is indeed perfect !  It is because the Dao exists in such rich abundance that we refer to it as 'the great enterprise' " (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 54; see Zhouyi zhengyi [Correct meaning of the Changes of the Zhou], 71:13a).

15.  Cf. paragraph 4 of Wang's commentary to section 4, which reads in part: "As Earth must keep its physical forms [xing], its virtue [de] cannot exceed what it upholds, and, as Heaven must remain content with its images [xiang], its virtue cannot exceed what it covers.  Thus neither Heaven nor Earth can equal it [the Dao]"; and paragraph 1, which reads in part: "Therefore, although one might know about government as it applies to the myriad folk, if he govern without regard to the Dao with its two modes [the yin and the yang], he cannot serve to support them."

16.  The text from "but none in itself" to "the myriad things" is not present in the base text but occurs in two editions of Wang's commentary preserved in the Daozang (Daoist cannon): Daode zhenjing jizhu (Collected commentaries on the True Classic of the Way and Virtue), 6:9 (17017A); and Wang Bi, Laozi Daodejing zhu (Commentary on Laozi's Daodejing), 3:2-3 (16064B-16065A).

17.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 5, first passage.

18.  Cf. section 19.

19.  Section 2, third passage.

20.  Cf. section 37, fourth passage.

21.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 57, first passage.

22.  Cf. Zhuangzi: "Heaven and earth have their great beauties but do not speak of them; the four seasons have their clear-marked regularity but do not discuss it; the ten thousand things have their principles of growth but do not expound on them.  The sage seeks out the beauties of Heaven and Earth and masters the principles of the ten thousand things.  Thus it is that the perfect man does not act, the great sage does not move: they have perceived [the Way of] Heaven and Earth, we may say" (Zhuangzi yinde, 58/22/16; cf. Watson, Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 236).

23.  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 25, fourth through sixth passages.

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

The Master doesn't try to be powerful;

thus he is truly powerful.

The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;

thus he never has enough.

The Master does nothing,

yet he leaves nothing undone.

The ordinary man is always doing things,

yet many more are left to be done.

The kind man does something,

yet something remains undone.

The just man does something,

and leaves many things to be done.

The moral man does something,

and when no one responds

he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.

When goodness is lost, thee is morality.

When morality is lost, there is ritual.

Ritual is the husk of true faith,

the beginning of chaos.

Therefore the Master concerns himself

with the depths and not the surface,

with the fruit and not the flower.

He has no will of his own.

He dwells in reality,

and lets all illusions go.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

The Master doesn't try to be powerful,

thus she is truly powerful.

The Master doesn't try to be powerful, because she realizes how unnecessary that is.  Power doesn't need a plan.  Everything gravitates to it.  With each moment, new options are born.  It's like a Fourth of July sparkler: you light it with a match, and sparks fly.  Each moment is like that, a new opportunity to be used.  If someone says no, the Master sees options as the sparks flying from its center.  The no opens the door for something that couldn't have been foreseen.  Here is a way, and there is a way.  Each way comes from the Master's openness to possibilities.  In seeing the wisdom of the no, she keeps the door open for something better.

I never have the sense that anything I haven't done is undone.  I see the things that don't get done as things that need a different timing; I and the world are better off without them, for now.  I have hundreds of emails waiting for me on my computer, some of them from people who are desperately asking for my response, but I never feel frustrated that I don't have time to answer them.  I do the best I can, and I'm clear that people don't need me; since we all come from the same wisdom, they can give themselves what they need if I'm not available.  What really matters is always available to everyone.  Nothing comes ahead of its time, and nothing has ever happened that didn't need to happen.

Bringing inquiry to people is my job.  After that, there's nothing to offer.  I know that ultimately people don't need my help.  I go through the world helping people, it appears, and I'm only selfishly helping myself.  When you say, "Help me",  I understand that.  I've been there.  But even if I could give you freedom, I wouldn't do it.  I love you too much for that.  I leave your freedom to you.  That's the gift.

My job is to delete myself.  If there were a bumper sticker representing my life, it would say CTRL-ALT-DELETE: WWW.THEWORK.COM.  That's where I invite everyone to come join me.  Join me and delete your own beautiful self.  That's the only place where we can meet, I call it love.  

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 38 -

Here's the message behind this seemingly paradoxical verse of the Tao Te Ching: Your nature is to be good because you came form the Tao, which is goodness.  But when you're trying to be good, your essential nature becomes inoperative.  In your effort to be good, moral, or obedient, you lose touch with your Tao nature.

There's one sentence in this verse that I pondered for days before writing this short essay: "When the Tao is lost, there is goodness."  I felt perplexed because it seemed so contradictory to what the Tao Te Ching was teaching.  Finally, in a moment of contemplation while I meditated on a drawing of Lao-tzu, it became clear to me: Nature is good without knowing it were the exact words I heard in my meditation.  I then understood what Lao-tzu seemed to want me to convey about this somewhat confusing (to me) 38th verse.

Live by your essential nature, the Tao, which is oneness; it has no polarity.  Yet the moment that you know you're good, you introduce the polarity of "good" versus "bad", which causes you to lose your connection to the Tao.  Then you introduce something new -- you figure out that if you can't be good, you'll try to be moral.  And what is morality but standards of right and wrong that you try to uphold ?  As Lao-tzu seems to be saying to me, The Tao is oneness; it has no standards for you to follow.  In other words, the Tao just is; it isn't doing anything, yet it leaves nothing undone.  There's no morality; there is only the unattached Tao.  It isn't right and it isn't fair, but it is essential nature, and you're encouraged to e true to your own.

As morality is lost, the idea of ritual surfaces, so you try to live in accordance with rules and customs that have defined "your people" for centuries.  But I could almost hear Lao-tzu saying: The Tao is infinite and excludes no one.  Rituals keep you disconnected from the Tao, and you lose them by trying.  So you rely upon laws, further dividing yourself and creating chaos for yourself.  Again, the Tao just is its own true, essential nature -- it has no laws, rituals, morality, or goodness.  Observe it and live within its nature.  In other words, act without being concerned for your own ego.  Give as the Tao does, without condition or trying to be good, moral, or just.  Just give to all without preference, as Lao-tzu advises.

I admit that living by this 38th verse may be the total opposite of what you've learned in this lifetime.  It certainly represents both an intellectual and a behavioral challenge for me at times.  You may appreciate knowing that many of the scholars whom I researched regarding this verse said that Lao-tzu wrote it (and the next one) in response to his opposition to Confucius, his contemporary who laid out specific edicts and codes of conduct for the people.  What Lao-tzu seemed to be saying to me through meditation was:  Trust your own essential nature.  Let go of all polarities and live in the indivisible oneness that is the Tao.  The dichotomies of good/bad, right/wrong, proper/improper, legal/illegal, and the like can be difficult -- just remember that when they surface, the Tao is lost.