Verse 27 - Living by Your Inner Light

[Eva Libre]

27th Verse

 

A knower of the truth

travels without leaving a trace,

speaks without causing harm,

gives without keeping an account.

The door he shuts, though having no lock,

cannot be opened.

The knot he ties, though using no cord,

cannot be undone.

 

Be wise and help all being impartially,

abandoning none.

Waste no opportunities.

This is called following the light.

 

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher ?

What is a bad man but a good man's job ?

If the teacher is not respected

and the student not cared for,

confusion will arise, however clever one is.

This is the great secret.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

What is a good man

          but a bad man's teacher ?

What is a bad man

          but a good man's job ?

 

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Find one person labeled "bad", and use that opportunity to do your job.  Be a teacher by reaching out and sending a loving message to him or her -- perhaps you could pass along a book, write an e-mail or letter, or make a phone call.  Just do one thing as a "good" person today, even if it's for a stranger living in a prison cell.  He or she is your assignment right now.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

Trust in yourself.

 

Develop an inner code of conduct that's based exclusively on your irreversible connection to the Tao.  When you trust this wisdom that created you, you're trusting yourself.  Know that nothing could ever dissuade you from your internal code of honesty, and live by this standard.  If you encounter an easy opportunity to cheat, perhaps because you've been handed too much change by a hurried cashier, make the decision to be down-to-the-penny honest.  Furthermore, have faith in yourself to go on a trip with a minimal amount of planning.  allow yourself to trust in the energy of the Tao to guide you, rather than relying upon fixed plans arranged by someone else. 

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

Don't judge yourself or others.

 

Don't criticize the behavior or appearance of those you've assessed to be "bad people".  Instead, switch your thoughts to something along these lines: I am my own student and have this opportunity to learn that I'm instructing rather than judging.  I will now cease critiquing myself or any other, and teach by being the Tao.  If the entire world of the 10,000 things knew the simple truth that we are all one, then in my opinion war, hostilities, confusion, and even illness would cease to exist.

 

Why not be one individual who chooses to respect yourself and all others as teachers and as students ?  When you see the world as full of opportunities to help, one thought and one action at a time, you'll be living by your inner light.

 

The great Sufi poet Hafiz speaks of this in his poem "No More Leaving":

 

At

Some point

Your relationship

With God

Will

Become like this:

 

Next time you meet Him in the forest

Or on a crowded city street

 

There won't be anymore

 

"Leaving"

 

That is,

 

God will climb into

Your pocket.

 

You will simply just take

 

Yourself

 

Along !

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

A knower of the Truth

          travels without leaving a trace

          speaks without causing harm

          gives without keeping an account

The door he shuts, though having no lock,

          cannot be opened

The knot he ties, though using no cord,

          cannot be undone

 

The Sage is always on the side of virtue

          so everyone around him prospers

He is always on the side of truth

          so everything around him is fulfilled

 

The path of the Sage is called

          "The Path of Illumination"

He who gives himself to this path

          is like a block of wood

          that gives itself to the chisel --

Cut by cut it is honed to perfection

 

Only a student who gives himself

          can receive the master's gift

If you think otherwise,

          despite your knowledge, you have blundered

 

Giving and receiving are one

This is called

           "The great wonder"

           "The essential mystery"

           "The very heart of all that is true"

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

The skillful traveler leaves no traces

          of his wheels or footsteps;

The skillful speaker says nothing

          that can be found fault with or blamed;

The skillful reckoner uses no tallies;

The skillful closer needs no bolts or bars,

          while to open what he has shut will be impossible;

The skillful binder uses no strings or knots,

          while to unloose what he has bound

          will be impossible.

 

In the same way the sage

          is always skillful at saving men,

And so he does not cast away any man;

He is always skillful at saving things,

And so he does not cast away anything.

This is called "hiding the light of his procedure".

 

Therefore, the man of skill is a master to be looked up to

          by him who has not the skill;

And he who has not the skill is the helper

          of the reputation of him who has the skill.

If the one did not honor his master.

          and the other did not rejoice in his helper,

An observer, though intelligent,

          might greatly err about them.

This is called "the utmost degree of mystery".

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Considerations by the Way", "Education"

 

Tis as easy to twist iron anchors,

          and braid cannons, as to braid straw,

To boil granite, as to boil water,

          if you take all steps in order.

 

By simple living, by an illimitable soul,

          you inspire, you correct, you instruct,

          you raise, you embellish all.

By your own act, you teach the beholder

          how to do the practicable.

According to the depth from which you

          draw your life,

Such is the depth of your manners and presence.

 

By the permanence of nature,

          minds are trained alike,

And are made intelligible to each other.

 

Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

27
KNOWLEDGE

Someone who travels often knows
the best routes.  Someone who
speaks for a living knows when to
pause.  Someone who works with
numbers knows how to add and
subtract in her head.

A wise mother knows: It is
her state of consciousness
that matters.

Her gentleness and clarity
command respect.  Her love
creates security.

To learn the Way, children need
to respect the Mother.  To learn the
Way, mothers need to cherish the
Child.

Thus each follows nature and
find the Self.

[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

 

27 (71)

 

          He who is skilled at traveling

                    leaves neither tracks nor traces;

          He who is skilled at speaking

                    is flawless in his delivery;

          He who is skilled in computation

                    uses neither tallies nor counters;

          He who is skilled at closing things tightly

                    has neither lock nor key,

                              but what he closes cannot be opened;

          He who is good at binding

                    has neither cord nor string,

                              but what he binds cannot be untied.

 

For these reasons,

          The sage

                     is always skilled at saving others

                               and does not abandon them,

                               nor does he abandon resources.

          This is called "inner intelligence".

 

Therefore,

          Good mean are teachers for the good man,

          Bad men are foils for the good man.

          He who values not his teacher

                    and loves not his foil,

          Though he be knowledgeable,

                    is greatly deluded.

 

          This is called "the wondrous essential".

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

One good at traveling leaves no tracks or prints.

 

He follows the path of the Natural, neither formulating nor implementing, thus things attain perfection without his leaving track or print on them.  (1)

 

One good at words says nothing flawed or blameworthy.

 

He follows the nature of things, neither distinguishing nor discriminating, thus no flaw or blame can be laid at his door.

 

One good at reckoning does not use bamboo tallies.

 

He follows the count of things without relying on external forms.

 

One good at locking up has no lock yet what is locked cannot be opened.  One good at typing up has no cord yet what is tied cannot be untied.

 

He follows the natural bent of people, neither formulating nor implementing, thus, though he used neither lock nor cord, no opening or untying can occur.  These five [traveling/acting, using words, reckoning, locking up, and typing up] all refer to how one should avoid formulating and implementing.  Instead, he should follow the nature of the people and not try to carve [zhi] them into shapes according to forms external to them. (2)

 

This is how the sage is always good at saving people, so no one is discarded.

 

The sage does not establish punishments and names in order to impose restraints on the people. (3)  Nor does he create promotions and honors (4) in order to cull and discard the unworthy.  He enhances the natural state of the myriad folk but does not serve as the starting point for them. (5)  Thus the text says, "no one is discarded".  Because he does not exalt the worthy and the resourceful, the common folk do not contend.    Because he does not value goods hard to get, the common folk do not become thieves.  Because he does not allow them to see desirable things, the hearts/minds of the common folk are not subject to disorder. (6)  It is because he keeps the hearts/minds of the common folk from desire and from going astray that "no one is discarded".

 

Always good at saving things, and so nothing is discarded.  This is what is known as maintaining the light.  Thus the good man is the teacher of men who are not good. (7)

 

He fosters goodness as a means to teach those who are not good.  Thus the text refers to such a one as "teacher".

 

Men who are not good are material for the good man.

 

Zi [material] means qu [included]. (8)  The good man relies on goodness to keep in order those who are not good; he does not (9) rely on goodness to discard those who are not good.  this is why men who are not good are included by the good man.

 

But if they do not value their teacher, and he does not cherish his material, no matter how wise, one will become greatly lost.

 

No matter how much intelligence one has, if he depends on that intelligence but does not conform to [the natural bent of] things, he is sure to get lost on the way ["way" (dao) is a pun on "Dao"].  Thus the text says, "one will be greatly lost".

 

This is called the "profoundly subtle". (10)

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)  Xing, "travel", can also mean "act".  Alan Chan provides a translation (significantly different from mine in places) of Wang's commentary to section 27 and compares it to the Heshang Gong commentary in Two Visions of the Way, 165-67.

 

(2)  Cf.  Wang's commentary to section 28, last passage.

 

(3)  The base text reads "forms" (xing) instead of "punishments" (xing).  However, "punishments" is the more likely; Cf section 2 of Wang's Outline Introduction, which reads: "If one tries to control people with punishments, cleverness and treachery will surely arise; if one tries to define with names how people should behave, order and consideration will surely be lost".  However, see also section 17, last passage. 

 

(4)  "Promotions and honors" translates jinshang, but the base text has jinxiang, "direction of advance", which does not make sense in this context.  See Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 73 n. 9.  Lou thinks that jinshang should be construed as verb plus object, "promote the worthy".  I think it more likely that it is a noun-plus-noun construction, parallel to the "punishments and names" of the previous sentence.

 

(5)  Cf section 2, third passes; Wang's commentary to section 17, first passage; and section 64, last passage.

 

(6)  Cf section 3, first passage; section 12, second passage; section 49, fifth passage, paragraph 1; and section 64, seventh passage.

 

(7)  Section 27, fourth, fifth, and sixth passages, as well as Wang's commentary to them, bear comparison with section 49, first through fifth passages, and section 62, second and fourth passages, along with Wang's commentary to all seven.

 

(8)  Wang's gloss of zi, "assets" or "material", as qu, "included", surely derives from the fact that qu, "include", is the opposite of qi, "discard": if the good man does not "discard" bad men, he must "include" them.   Zi in its verbal sense means "rely on", "make use of", so, strictly speaking, Wang must have read this passage as "Men who are not good are made use of/worked on by the good man".

 

(9)  The base text lacks the negative bu, "does not"; however, the overwhelming consensus among textual scholars of Wang's commentary is that the passage must have a negative here to make sense.  See Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyu kenkyu, 193, and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 37 n. 13.  Without the negative, the passage could only be read as "he relies on goodness to eliminate the lack of goodness", that is, get rid of the sin and not the sinner.  In my opinion, this reading is possible but not likely, given the context.

 

(10)  "Profoundly subtle" translate yaomiao.  Although Wang does not comment on this passage, others usually regard it as a summary comment on the section as a whole that refers to the sage described earlier. 

[Eva Libre]

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

 

A good traveler has no fixed plans

and is not intent upon arriving.

A good artist lets his intuition

lead him wherever it wants.

A good scientist has freed himself of concepts

and keeps his mind open to what is.

 

Thus the Master is available to all people

and doesn't reject anyone.

He is ready to use all situations

and doesn't waste anything.

This is called embodying the light.

 

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher ?

What is a bad man but a good man's job ?

If you don't understand this, you will get lost,

however intelligent you are.

It is the great secret.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher ?

What is a bad man but a good man's job ?

If you don't understand this, you will get lost,

however intelligent you are.

It is the great secret.

 

How can I not be available to anyone who asks me for help ?  I love people just the way they are, whether they see themselves as saints or sinners.  I know that each of us is beyond categories, unfathomable.  It's not possible to reject people unless you believe your story about them.  And, really, I don't accept or reject; I welcome everyone with open arms.

 

This doesn't mean that I condone the harm that people do, or any form of unkindness.  But no one is bad by nature.  When someone harms another human being, it's because he or she is confused.  This is as true of ordinary people as of the murderers and rapists I work with in prisons.  They've been protecting -- to the death -- the sacred, stressful thoughts that they believe.

 

If I see a mother hitting her child, for example, I don't stand by and let it happen, and I don't lecture the mother.  She is innocently acting from a belief system she hasn't questioned.  Because she believes her stressful thoughts -- "The child is disrespectful", "He isn't listening", "He shouldn't talk back", "He shouldn't have done what he did", "He needs to be forced into submission" -- she has to strike out.  It's very painful to be confused.  So when I see the mother, who is me, hitting the child, who is me, my way is to move to the mother, because she's the cause of the problem.  I might go up to her and say, "Can I help ?" or maybe "I know how painful it is to hit your own child.  I have done that, too.  I've been there.  Would you like to talk about it ?"  Love doesn't stand by -- it moves with the speed of clarity.  It includes both the mother and the child.  To help the mother work with her thoughts is also to help the child.  And I know that ultimately I'm not doing it for either of them, I'm doing it for myself, for my own sense of what's right.  So activism becomes very personal, and in my experience it's more effective with a clear mind and no agenda.

 

It's the same with any commitment.  I keep my commitments to people because they're commitments to me.  They're my business: they have nothing to do with the other person.  Several years ago, when I was in Cologne, a German friend of mine asked me to come to the hospice as quickly as possible.  He was dying, and he said that his dearest wish was for me to hold his hand and look into his eyes as he died.  "Of course", I said.  "I'll come right away."  The hospice was in another city, about an hour's drive away.  Another German friend offered to be my driver.  His hidden agenda was to do some errands in the city while I sat with the dying man.

 

When we got close to the hospice, he began to ask pedestrians for directions to where he wanted to go.  I reminded him that I had a commitment to keep.  He disregarded me and kept asking for directions.  I tapped him on the shoulder, looked straight into his eyes, and very clearly told him, "Please start the car.  I need to go to the hospice now."  He paid no attention.  After five minutes or so, when he had gotten the directions, he drove on and dropped me off at the hospice.  I hurried to the door and knocked.  Two very grave nuns appeared.  I introduced myself, and they said that I was too late: Gerhand had just died.

 

I had the thought, "Ah, I'm too late", and simultaneously a wordless Is it true ? rose up to meet it.  I felt a warm inner smile.  If I had believed that I was too late, I might have felt sad, disappointed, angry at my driver, angry at myself for trusting him to get me there right away, and even devastated that I had let Gerhard down at the moment of his death.  But I am always sure that reality's timing is better than mine.  I had done my best, and this was obviously the perfect moment for me to arrive, neither too early nor too late.

 

I told the nuns that I wanted to go the Gerhard's room, and they led me there.  I sat down beside him.  His eyes were wide open; he looked surprised.  I held his hand, sat with him, and had a silent, wonderful visit.  I love keeping my commitments. 

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 27 -

 

For just a moment, imagine your most valuable possessions, including a large cache of money, on a table in your bedroom and in full view of anyone who might come in.  Now further imagine that your pile of precious jewelry, cash, and important documents is completely safe -- there's no need for insurance, and no one could ever possibly steal your treasure.  Is this state of complete trust possible ?  I think so, especially since it's encouraged in this 27th verse of the Tao Te Ching: "The door ... though having no lock, cannot be opened".

 

The "knower of the truth" lives by an inner light.  This illumination shines on the fact that stealing isn't the way of truth, so it's unnecessary to lock anything up.  Possessions are safe among those who live by an inner light, which reflects the perfection of the Tao.  It's the Source you're encouraged to always carry with you and to consult when you feel the need for assistance or direction.

 

Lao-tzu advises you to give without keeping an account or expecting something in return, for this is the nature of the Tao, and you are of the Tao.  Giving is synonymous with receiving when you live by this illumination.  Trust the inner light to guide you, for it is your heritage.  Your origin is more from the Tao than from parents, culture, or country.

 

It's also important that you live more spontaneously -- you don't need to neatly wrap up each detail of your life.  Understand this and you can travel without being attached to a plan that covers every possible scenario.  Your inner light is more trustworthy than any guidebook, and it will point you in the direction that's most beneficial to you and everyone you encounter.  When you develop a trust in the Tao, you'll change the way ou look at life.  You'll marvel at the brilliance and clarity of what you being to see: Fear, anxiety, stress, and unrest will simply become facets of yourself seen in the glow of the Tao, like candles marking your way and helping you love everyone as a piece of yourself.

 

Lao-tzu advises you to "be wise and help all being impartially, abandoning none" -- that is, you don't need anyone else's rules in order to reach out to others.  Giving of yourself becomes your natural response because you're following the inner light of the Tao.  You and giving are one; you and receiving are one.  In such an arrangement, there is no one who is not you.

 

The most revealing lines of this verse remind you that a good man is but a bad man's teacher, and a bad man is but a good man's job.  This is an extremely empowering way to see life and eliminate stress and anger: If you perceive yourself to be a "good" person, then those whom you call "bad" -- including convicted felons or enemies of the other side of the world -- are you job !  Try on the view that you're here to teach yourself and others in some way, and that the work is to raise the collective energy of our entire universe.  Cultivate your awareness of the inner light that's within all.  Be the Tao ! 

 

Virtually every translation of the Tao Te Ching I've examined refers to all of us being one, and all of us needing to be there for each other.  The great secret is this: Waste no opportunity, abandon no one, respect the teachers, and care for the student.  Twenty-five hundred years later, the Tao remains elusive to most of us because it's so infrequently practiced.  Nevertheless, it must be instilled within us if we're to ever truly walk in the luminosity of the Great Way.

 

Become "a knower of the truth", as Lao-tzu advises, by forgetting the locks, chains, maps, and plans.  Travel without leaving a trace, trust in the goodness that is the root of all, and rather than curse the darkness that seems so rampant, reach out with that inner light and let it shine on those who aren't seeing their own legacy in the Tao.