Verse 17 - Living as an Enlightened Leader

[Eva Libre]

17th Verse

 

With the greatest leader above them,

people barely know one exists.

 Next comes one whom they love and praise.

Next comes one whom they fear.

Next comes one who they despise and defy.

 

When a leader trusts no one,

no one trusts him.

 

The great leader speaks little.

He never speaks carelessly.

 He works without self-interest

and leaves no trace.

When all is finished, the people say,

"We did it ourselves."

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

I fully trust that others, do know,

               what is best for themselves,

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Choose some situations with your children (or anyone you've been designated to supervise) to become an active observer.  Nod, smile, frown, or gesture without saying a thing, where you previously would have readily interfered.  Notice how your active observing impacts those you've been assigned to lead.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Instead of believing that you know what's best for others,

trust that they know what's best for themselves.

 

Allow other people to share their thoughts about the path they see for themselves.  Let your position be known, but also convey that you trust them to make the right choice.  Then step back and peacefully believe that the way you look at this situation will change.  Offer praise when those in your charge are making their own decisions, even when their behavior may conflict with yours.  Trust yourself to give the best response by not seeing yourself as knowing what's right.  Remember this phrase from the Tao Te Ching: "When a leader trusts no one, no one trusts him".  the surest way to gain the faith of those you govern or supervise is to allow them to make as many decisions as possible.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Take pride in refusing to take credit

for the achievements of others.

 

If you look at others' accomplishments as a reason for you to be rewarded, promoted, or complimented, change your viewpoint.  Let praise go to those who are the beneficiaries of your leadership.  Speak less frequently and suspend your self-interest -- instead, allow everyone in your care to speak for themselves.  Change how you see their performance from being a credit to your skill to the thrill they exhibit over their accomplishment.  You'll cease wanting credit, and alternatively feel the happiness and pride that they're experiencing.

 

This is how Hafiz described it in his 14th-century poetry:

 

Even

After

All this time

The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe

Me."

Look 

What happens

With a love like that,

It lights the

Whole 

Sky.

 

Love those you're entrusted to lead, just as the sun loves our planet.  Simply be there to serve, never demanding anything in return.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

17

TRUST

 

A wise mother does not 

unnecessarily interfere with her

child's life.

 

Your children have their own

process -- their own thoughts,

feelings, and reactions -- which

must be allowed to unfold.

 

If you childhood was painful you

may get overinvolved with you

children's lives and smother them.

Or you may find yourself forcing

them to think and feel the way

you do, to adopt all your values

and live the life you wish you had.

 

If you do not trust your children's

process, your children cannot

trust anyone or anything.  Your

confidence in them builds their

confidence in themselves.

 

Assist your children in such a 

way that they think, "We did it

ourselves !"

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

To know Tao alone,

               without trace of your own existence,

               is the highest

Next comes loving and praising it

Then fearing it

Then despising it

 

If one doesn't trust himself

               how can he trust anyone else ?

 

The great ruler speaks little

               and his words are priceless

He works without self interest

              and leaves no trace

When all is finished, the people say,

               "It happened by itself"

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

In the highest antiquity, the people

     did not know that there were rulers.

In the next age they loved them and praised them.

In the next they feared them;

     in the next they despised them.

Thus it was that when faith in the Tao

     was deficient in the rulers,

     a want of faith in them ensued in the people.

 

How irresolute did those early rulers appear,

     showing by their reticence the importance

     which they set upon their words !

Their work was done and

     their undertakings were successful,

     while the people said,

           "We are as we are, of ourselves !"

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Politics"

 

The old statesman knows that society is fluid;

There are no such roots and centers;

But any particle may suddenly become

     the center of the movement.

 

The wise know that foolish legislation

     is a rope of sand,

     which perishes in the twisting;

That the state must follow, and not lead

     the character and progress of the citizen.

 

The appearance of character makes the state unnecessary.

The wise man is the state. 

[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

17
(61)

Preeminent is one whose subjects barely know he exists;

The next one is one to whom they feel close and praise;

The next is one whom they fear;

The lowest is one whom they despise.

 

When the ruler's trust is wanting,

          there will be no trust in him.

Cautious,

          he values his words.

When his work is completed and his affairs finished,

          the common people say,

                    "We are like this by ourselves." 

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The "very highest" by those below is just known to exist.

 

"Very highest" [taishang] refers to the "great man" [daren].  When a great man is above [in the position of sovereign], he is referred to as the "very highest".  The very highest there above "tends to matters without conscious effort and practices the teaching that is not expressed in worlds." (1)  The behavior of the myriad folk is modeled on him, yet he does serve as the starting point for them. (2)  Therefore, those below know that he exists but nothing more.  This refers to how they follow the one above. (3) 

 

The next is he who is a parent to them, in whom they rejoice.

 

This one is incapable of "tend[ing] to matters without conscious effort and practic[ing] the teaching that is not expressed in words" but instead establishes goodness [shan] and promulgates its practice, enabling those below to obtain a parent in whom they rejoice.

 

The next is he whom they fear.

This one is no longer able to lead the people with mercy [en] and benevolence [ren] but relies on the power of force.

The next is he whom they treat with contempt.

This one is not able to keep the people in order with governance [zheng] (4) but instead relies on intelligence [zhi] to govern his state, so those below know how to circumvent his laws, which are not obeyed.  Thus the text says, "they treat [him] with contempt."

  

If one fails to have trust, a corresponding lack of trust in him occurs. (5)

If one uses one's body in violation of its nature [xing], illness will occur.  If one tries to enhance the condition of the people but violates their authenticity [zhen], ill will and conflict will arise.  If one's trust [xin] in them fails, he himself will suffer loss of trust, for such is the Dao of nature [ziran].  Once one finds himself in a situation where trust fails, it is not something that knowledge can relieve [ji].

 

He takes his time, oh, as he weighs his words carefully.  And, when success is had and the task accomplished, the common folk all say, "We just live naturally". 

When things happen "naturally", not the slightest prefiguring can be seen, so his intentions cannot be discerned.  Because no person can thus alter what he says, his words will surely elicit agreement.  Thus the text says, "He takes his time, oh, as he weighs his words carefully".  He "tends to matters without conscious effort", "practices the teaching that is not expressed in words", "and does not use rules to govern the people". (6)  Therefore, when success is had and the task accomplished, the common folk do not know how it happens.  (7) 

 

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) Section 2, second and third passages.  Cf. section 63, first passage.

 

(2) Cf. Section 2, third passage; Wang's commentary to section 37, fifth passage; and section 34, second passage.

 

(3)  Hatano Taro argues that this sentence is out of place and actually belongs at the head of Wang's commentary to the fifth passage, "If one fails to have trust, a corresponding lack of trust in him occurs".  See Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 121.  Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 41 n. 2, without acknowledging Hatano, repeats the same argument.

 

(4)  Cf. Lunyu (Analects) 2:3: "If the people are led by governance [zheng] and kept in order by punishment [xing], they will evade these without shame".  Cf. section 57, fourth section.

 

(5)  Identical to section 23, last passage.

 

(6)  "Use rules to govern the people" translates yi xing li wu, reading xing (forms) as "rules" and li (establish) as li (oversee/govern), but as xing (form) and xing (punishment) are used interchangeably in early texts, it might equally be translated as "use punishment to govern his people".  Besides sharing a phonetic similarity, the two probably are conceptually related: punishment used to share/form correct behavior (cf. the English expression "whip them into shape").  If we look back to Wang's commentary to the second passage, however, we see that the ruler who cannot "tend to matters without conscious effort and practice the teaching that is not expressed in words . . . establishes [li] goodness [shan] and promulgates its practice".  That is, he establishes forms or rules of good behavior and encourages their habitual application.  In contrast, "punishment" should surely be associated with the next, inferior kind of ruler, who can only govern by force.  Reading  liwu (establish the people) as liwu (oversee, govern the people) seems likely given that Wang uses a similar expression, li zhong (oversee, govern the mass of common folk), in his commentary to theXiang zhuan (Commentary on the Images) to Hexagram 36, Mingyi (Suppression of the Light), in the Yijing (Classic of changes): "One who displays brilliance in overseeing [governing] the mass of common folk will harm them and make them false" (Lynn, The Classic of Changes, 357-58; see Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 396).  Similar expressions also occur elsewhere in Wang's commentary to the Laozi and in the Laozi itself; see section 17, last passage, and section 59, fifth passage (li guo [oversee, govern the state]); and section 60, second passage (li tianxia [oversee,{govern} all under Heaven]).

 

(7)  Wang's elaboration on the descending order of efficacy in rulership -- with spontaneous identification with the Dao rated as the best and government by deliberate application of intelligence as the worst -- is reminiscent of similar remarks made by his contemporary, Ruan Ji (210-63) in the Tong Lao lun (General discussion of the Laozi): "The three august ones were in accord with the Dao; the five sage emperors submitted to virtue; the three kings exercised benevolence; the five hegemons practiced righteousness; and those who managed their states by force depended on intelligence.  This accounts for the difference between good rulership and bad and for its degeneration from the substantial to the flimsy" (Quan sanguo wen [Complete prose of the Three Kingdoms era], 45:8a [1310B]).  for other variations on this theme and its long tradition associated with the Laozi and Daoism, see Hsiao, A History of Chinese Political Thought, 1:575-82 and 607-30.

[Eva Libre]

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

 

When the Master governs, the people

are hardly aware that he exists.

Next best is a leader who is loved.

Next, one who is feared.

The worst is one who is despised.

 

If you don't trust the people,

you make them untrustworthy.

 

The Master doesn't talk, he acts.

When his work is done,

the people say, "Amazing:

we did it, all by ourselves!"

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy 

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

 

The Master doesn't talk, she acts.

When her work is done,

the people say, "Amazing:

we did it, all by ourselves !"

 

I love being invisible.  There's no responsibility in it, no one to save, no one to teach.  I'm always the student: open, excited, new.  I'm always filled with what's beautiful; I'm the bottomless container that always has room for more.  If I had a responsibility, it would be to help you realize your own truth.  You see it, you say it, it comes from within you, and I am the witness.  My finger points you back to you.  You're all that's left of my existence, for as long as you believe that you exist.

 

A friend of mine had what people call a near-death experience.  She was about to enter heaven, she said, but at the last moment she was called back, and she returned to the world to save us.  She didn't save herself first, then come back for us, which is the proper order of things.  The most attractive thing about the Buddha was that he saved one person -- himself.  It's like the instructions on an airplane for when the pressure drops: first pull down the mask and put it over your own face, then put it over your child's.

 

I know what it is to enter heaven and not look back, and I know the arrogance of thinking that people need to be saved.  If I can walk into the light, so can you.  You can't help us with your words: "There it is, over there. Follow me."  No.  You do it first, then we'll follow. This savior thing is lethal.  

 

I don't ever see myself as a "spiritual teacher".  Of course, you can use me by asking me a question.  I answer you, you hear what you think I say, and you set yourself free (or not).  I am your projection.  I am, for you, no more and no less than your story of me.  You tell the story of how I'm wonderful or how I'm terrible; you see me as an enlightened being and make me into an all-knowing guru or fairy godmother, or you see me as a Pollyannaish New Age flake, or simply as a good friend.  You give me to you, or you take me from you.

 

All I have to offer is the four questions and turnaround.  I offer them so that you can disassemble your own identity.  People say, "I am so-and-so, I am solid, I am real", and though I respect that, I can only project that as everything.  As people answer the questions, they begin to disassemble everything about who they think they are, everything frightening about their existence as they believe it to be, and in the process, as they disassemble the nightmare, they begin to notice that even the dream of what is beautiful isn't true.  Until eventually there's nothing left but our own nature: brilliant, infinite, free.

 

People can take inquiry home with them; they can have it for breakfast every day.  This deletes me as the power, and leaves me as something more powerful: an equal, an equal possibility of peace, the student sitting with the student.   This is the healthiest scenario, the scenario that deletes the teacher.  And aren't teachers wonderful until they're clearly seen by the mature mind ?

 

I love it when my job is deleted !  Why would I want to be seen as wise or holy ?  What would I have to gain by that but a story ?  Whatever realization I've had is for me; there's no way I can give it to you.  And even if I could give you my realization, by that very act I would be saying, "You can't do it.  I'll do it for you".  I'd be teaching dependency and telling you that the answers are somewhere outside you.  I have nothing for you but the questions.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay on Verse 17 -

 

To reflect the lesson in this verse of the Tao Te Ching means changing how you see authority -- which means viewing great or enlightened leaders as those who don't actually lead anyone !  Through the perspective of the Tao, such individuals create an environment where everyone feels that they have a personal responsibility to, and are a part of, the process.  By adopting this model of an enlightened leader, you'll be more than likely to alter the ways you criticize and admire captains of industry, government, or religion, as well as the way you guide others.

 

The advice in this 17th verse is directed toward leaders of all kinds; in fact, you can personalize it by substituting the words parent or teacher for leader.  Examine the ways you view your own tactics, and then make the changes that are necessary in order to be someone who makes an enlightening difference in the lives of others.  First, you must stay in the background and become an astute observer of what's taking place; then ask yourself how, without interfering, you can create an environment that will help everyone act responsibly.

 

The Tao advises making yourself as invisible as possible if you truly wish to be an effective leader.  Thus, perhaps your best strategy would be to actually leave the room and allow everyone else to act without feeling that they need to impress you.  Maybe you should offer a slight suggestion and then an immediate departure.  A knowing smile or gesture that conveys to the group that you trust in its ability to figure things out might work best.  Possibly what's needed is for you to tell a quick story of how others have resolved similar issues.  Or you could simply meditate and send positive conflict-resolving energy to all the individuals present.

 

Whatever your decision, you'll be well aware of the need to create an environment where everyone will be able to say, "We fixed it ourselves without the need for any interference from anyone -- we really don't need a supervisor".  This approach, of course, involves suspending your desire to be seen as a strong authority figure.

 

Truly inspiring leaders get results by their own example: They encourage others to be responsible and do the right thing, but not by proclaiming and bragging about their unimpeachable management.  They create space for others to be inspired and to achieve their own greatness.  When the time comes for receiving accolades,they dissolve in the background, wanting everyone else to feel that their accomplishments arose from their own leadership qualities.  The supreme Taoist leader always leaves people to choose and pursue their own way of life, their own conception of the good.  The view of a self-styled authoritarian is not the way enlightened leaders see themselves; rather, they raise the energy of an environment through a viewpoint that elevates lower inclinations.

 

In this verse, the Tao offers three other ways of choosing to be a leader.  One option is to make a difference in the lives of others, resolving conflicts through love.  By being an instrument of love and making an effort to praise others, this leader stays in harmony with the Tao.  Those who are praised are inclined to become self-loving and act in a cooperative rather than competitive fashion.  The drawback is that using the approval and affection of a leader for motivation means turning control of one's life over to that leader.  But if you see that the choice is between love or fear, the Tao always sees love as superior.

 

The ineffectiveness of fear as a leadership style is obvious: If I can get you to do as I desire by using that weapon, then you'll only behave in these ways as long as I have the power to threaten you.  When I leave, my influence over you departs as well.  Studies have measure the effectiveness of teachers who were considered strict disciplinarians.  Students in this setting were well behaved when the feared individual was in the room, yet when he or she departed,the classroom turned chaotic.

 

The opposite was true of instructors who viewed education as an opportunity to praise and encourage students.  Their presence or absence from the room had almost no noticeable impact.  This is a great thing to keep in mind if you're a mother or father.  That is, do you want your children to behave only when you're around, or do you want them to have the self-discipline to conduct themselves wisely whether you're there or not ?  I've always believed that parents are not for leaning upon, but rather exist to make learning unnecessary.

 

The least effective means for managing others is to use tactics that will encourage them to despise you, for the moment they leave your sight, they'll defy all that you say and stand for.  Dictators almost always find this out the hard way, when the people they've abused rise up to threaten them in the same intolerable fashion in which they've been treated.  Children who despise a parent similarly tend to emulate the hateful tactics to which they were subjected, or they detach themselves completely from that dictatorial adult and spend years attempting to heal the scars from the terrible treatment.

 

The enlightened leader trusts those whom he or she is in a position to govern.  This view results in trust, as he or she who has faith in the people will be trusted by them in turn.  Consequently, they'll be able to say, "We did it ourselves".  So raise your children to be self-sufficient, to make their own decisions as soon as they're able, and to feel pride in the decisions they do make.  See yourself as an enlightened leader, and show the world a new type of leadership.  Children who grow up with such a view will be the next generation of great leaders that Lao-tzu describes.