Verse 37 - Living in Simplicity

[Eva Libre]

37th Verse

 

The Tao does nothing,

but leaves nothing undone.

 

 If powerful men

 could center themselves in it,

the whole world would be transformed

 by itself, in its natural rhythms.

 

 When life is simple,

pretenses fall away;

our essential natures shine through.

 

By not wanting, there is calm,

and the world will straighten itself.

When there is silence,

one finds the anchor of the universe within oneself.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

The Tao does nothing,

         but leaves nothing undone.

            

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Print or copy the first two lines of this 37th verse: "The Tao does nothing, but leaves nothing undone."  Read the words repeatedly until you've committed them to memory; then go for a 30-minute walk and take note of their truth.  The air, sky, clouds, grass, wind, and flowers . . . nothing natural that you see is undone, but nothing is taking place to work it all out.  It is all accomplished by the truth of these words.

 

I'm reminded of a 13th-century poem by Rumi called "Nibble At Me", which applies perfectly to this section of the Tao Te Ching:

 

Nibble at me.

Don't gulp me down.

How often is it you have a guest in your house

who can fix everything ?

 

Let your all-knowing guest fix things while you live naturally.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Cultivate your unique, natural self.

 

Practice allowing your essential nature to shine by not enforcing judgments on yourself that were imposed by others.  Remind yourself that you don't have to do anything:  You don't have to be better than anyone else.  You don't have to win.  You don't have to be number 1 or number 27 or any other number.  Give yourself permission to just be.  Stop interfering with your unique natural being.  Lighten the burden you carry to be productive, wealthy, and successful in the eyes of others; and replace it with an inner assertion that allows you to access the Tao.

 

Affirm:  I am centered in the Tao.  I trust that I am able to straighten myself out, and so is the world.  I retreat into silence, knowing that all is well.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Expect to see the essential nature of

others by remaining silent.

 

Deliberately bite your tongue and zip your lips at the precise moment that you're tempted to get involved in the lives of those around you.  Become aware of your inclination to tell others, particularly your family members, how they should be conducting their lives.  Even if you hold off for a few moments before you butt in to someone else's business, you're on your way to allowing those around you to find their anchor of the universe within themselves.  This new discipline of resisting your habit to get involved by pausing before interfering will enable you to see how capable everyone truly is when they're in the energy field of someone who allows rather than dictates.

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

The Tao in its regular course does nothing

          for the sake of doing it,

And so there is nothing which it does not do.

 

If princes and kings were able to maintain it,

All things would of themselves

Be transformed by them.

 

If this transformation became to me

          an object of desire,

I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.

 

Simplicity without a name

Is free from all external aim.

With no desire, at rest and still,

All things go right as of their will.

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Character" (lecture)

 

When a man, through stubbornness,

          insists to do this or that,

Something absurd or whimsical,

          only because he will,

He is weak.

He blows with his lips against the tempest;

He calms the incoming ocean with his cane.

 

Shun passion, fold the hands of thrift,

Sit still and truth is near;

Suddenly, it will uplift

Your eyelids to the sphere:

Wait a little, you shall see.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

37

DOING

 

A wise parent does little,

yet so much gets done !

 

After all, the Eternal does nothing,

yet the entire universe goes on.

 

When you get too busy, stop and

return to center.  When you are

centered, you easily keep things

in order.  When things are in order,

there is not much to do.

 

A wise parent does little,

yet so much gets done !

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Tao does not act

          yet it is the root of all action

Tao does not move

          yet it is the source of all creation

 

If princes and kings could hold it

          everyone under them would naturally turn within

Should a doubt or old desire rise up

          The Nameless Simplicity would push it down

The Nameless Simplicity frees the heart of desire

          and reveals its inner silence

 

When there is silence

          one finds peace

When there is silence

          one finds the anchor of the universe within himself

[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

 

37 (81)

 

The Way is eternally nameless.

If feudal lords and kings preserve it,

The myriad creatures will be transformed by themselves.

After transformation, if they wish to rise up,

I shall restrain them with the nameless unhewn log.

By restraining them with the nameless unhewn log,

They will not feel disgraced;

Not feeling disgraced,

They will be still,

Whereupon heaven and earth will be made right by themselves.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The Dao in its constancy engages in no conscious action,

 

It complies with the Natural.  (1)

 

Yet nothing remains undone. (2)

 

In either getting its start or achieving its completion, every one of the myriad things, without exception, stems from what is done in this way. (3)

 

If any lord or prince could hold on to it, the myriad folk would undergo moral transformation spontaneously. (4)  Once nurtured, should desire arise, I would press down on it with the nameless uncarved block.

 

In "once nurtured, should desire arise", "arise" means the formation of desire.  "I would press down on it with the nameless uncarved block" means that I would not play the master.

 

With the nameless uncarved block, they too would stay free of desire.

 

There would be no desire or contention. (5)

 

 Achieving tranquility by keeping them free of desire, all under Heaven would govern themselves. (6)

 

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. Wang's commentary to section 25, last passage.

 

(2)  Cf. section 3, last passage; section 48, third passage; and paragraph 2 of Wang's commentary to section 38.

 

(3)  The base text reads zhi (being governed) instead of shi (getting its start), but similar statements in Wang's commentary link starting with completion, so it is likely that the text should also read shi (start) instead of zhi (govern) here.  Cf. Wang's commentaries to section 1, second and third passages, and section 21, third passage.  However, although the text seems to make good sense as it stands (except for the shi /zhi problem), it has been judged corrupt in other places, and various attempts have been made to amend it, none of which, in my opinion, either are necessary or present better readings.  See Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 243-44; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 92n. 1. 

 

(4)  Cf. section 32, first passage; and section 57, last passage.

 

(5)  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 20, third passage, which reads: "Common people, befuddled by praise and advancement and excited by honor and reward, let their desires advance and their hearts/minds contend."

 

(6)  Cf. section 57, last passage.

[Eva Libre]

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

 

The Tao never does anything,

yet through it all things are done.

 

If powerful mean and women

could center themselves in it,

the whole world would be transformed

by itself, in its natural rhythms.

People would be content

with their simple, everyday lives,

in harmony, and free of desire.

 

When there is no desire,

all things are at peace.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

The Tao never does anything,

yet through it all things are done.

 

 

Try to make yourself do nothing.  You can't.  You're being breathed, being thought, being moved, being lived.  There's nothing you can do not to eat when it's time to eat, or sleep when it's time to sleep.  If you just watch, allowing whatever comes to come and whatever goes to go, you can realize in every moment that you don't need anything but what you have.

 

Where are your hands right now ?  Who put them there ?  Did you do that ?  And then, no matter what your thinking is, you -- it -- moved again.  Maybe it moved your foot.  Maybe it swallowed, or it blinked your eyes.  Just notice.  That's how you enter not-doing, where everything falls sweetly into place.

 

The miraculous life of not-doing has an intelligence of its own.  I realize that I'm not doing anything, and in that awareness the fullness that's always present is recognized.  I may find myself humming or smiling as things simply get done.  And an opposite that's equally beautiful must mirror the fullness; God must mirror God.  The experience is joy without personality or investment, watching out of eyes unknown.

 

Not my world, not my presence, nothing about me is of value to other people.  What is of value can't be seen or heard.  I'm invisible.  But what people can see, through inquiry, is their own truth.  That's where the value is; that's what can be experienced when you're tired of suffering.  You can reach out and have that, because it is your very own.  Whenever it seems personal, as if I'm the one who has it, it can't be accepted, because there is nothing personal, and people know this deep inside.  You can take the four questions and find yourself.  The questions are the path back to your self.  They don't care what the story is.  They just wait for you to answer them.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay on Verse 37 -

 

I call this the "Bite your tongue, zip your lips" verse of the Tao Te Ching.  The paradox inherent in the two opening lines intrigues me enormously: "The Tao does nothing, but leaves nothing undone."  Just imagine what we're being told to consider in this verse -- do nothing and everything gets done.  It obviously contradicts all that you and I have been taught.  Doing nothing in our culture suggests a lazy, unsuccessful, and quite possibly worthless individual.  So for a moment, let's modify the way we think about living simply and doing nothing.

 

Of all the troubles that are reported in the media -- including wars, terrorism, famine, hatred, crime, and disease -- how many are the result of interfering with the natural unfolding of creation ?  How much of the essential nature of ourselves and our planet is able to shine through ?  What would Earth be like if governments didn't meddle in everyone's lives ?  What if no one could be perceived as an enemy ?  Could there be a world where groups of people never got together to control others or to invade or conquer -- how about where oceans, mountains, natural resources, air, plants, and animals were respected and allowed to flourish without any interference ?  Suppose that such a place of simplicity and lack of interference existed . . . it would be acting exactly as the Tao does, doing nothing and yet leaving nothing undone.

 

Now shift out of this highly imaginative scenario and begin to reconsider what's meant in this passage by the concept of powerful individuals transforming the world.  When they're interfering with natural rhythms, they ultimately create difficulties that are inconsistent with the Tao.  Try to visualize great leaders who are instead centered in the Tao -- they bit their tongues and zip their lips rather than act in a hostile way, and they refuse to participate in activities that cause harm to anything on the planet.  Yes, this may be a fantasy, but it's not an impossibility when you think like a sage and are centered in the Tao.

 

The 37th verse of the Tao Te Ching can also help you change the way you look at yourself.  Let's say that you're accustomed to equating the idea of success with a take-charge kind of person.  You believe that this individual allocates responsibilities to others because he or she is a leader who's willing and able to tell others what to do and how to do it.  Well, this view is completely out of harmony with the Tao, which "does nothing" and "leaves nothing undone".  As you alter the way you look at your own power and success, you'll begin to replace strong desires with calm contentment.  When you start to allow your true nature -- which is the anchor of the universe -- to shine through, you'll recognize that the way you look at things has absolutely changed.

 

I've used this simplicity lesson in dealing with all of my children.  When I step in and tell them "how", I create resistance.  But when I bite my tongue, zip my lips, and retreat into silence, they not only figure it out themselves, but a calm energy replaces their frustration.  I've learned that my kids know how to be:  They too have the anchor of the universe within them.  They too are centered in the do-nothing, get-everything-done Tao.  They too have an essential nature that they're listening to.  As I've gotten more adept at trusting this -- not only for my children, but for everyone I encounter -- I'm more peaceful.  And guess what ?  More, not less, seems to get accomplished -- on time and without problems that used to surface because of my interference.

 

Change the way you think about the entire idea of success and power, for this isn't the result of obsessive accomplishment and continually following directions.  Start living in a world that you know works far better with less meddling.  You understand that not everyone will stop instructing others and just allow the Tao to unfold, but you can be an observer, watching others tap into their power by centering themselves.