Verse 54 - Living as If Your Life Makes a Difference

[Eva Libre]

54th Verse

  

Whoever is planted in the Tao

will not be rooted up.

Whoever embraces the Tao

will not slip away.

 

Generations honor generations endlessly.

Cultivated in the self, virtue is realized;

cultivated in the family, virtue overflows;

cultivated in the community, virtue increases;

cultivated in the state, virtue abounds.

 

The Tao is everywhere;

it has become everything.

To truly see it, see it as it is.

In a person, see it as a person;

in a family, see it as a family;

in a country, see it as a country;

in the world, see it as the world.

 

How do I know this is true ?

By looking inside myself.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

I am like a great wave of energy

         that illuminates a room.

Everyone will see the light

         and become affected.

 

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Dedicate a day to extending kind thoughts and acts toward your family, your community, your country, and the world.  In your family, encourage someone who's struggling with low self-esteem.  In your community, pick up litter and recycle it without judgment.  In your country, spend a few moments in silent prayer, sending loving energy to those who are in positions of power - then do the same for the world, including any so-called enemies.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Choose an area to concentrate

on making a difference.

 

Don't entertain doubt about your impact on the world; instead, develop a vision for Earth and convince yourself that you are perfectly capable of contributing to this vision, whether it's grandiose or small.  See a world without hatred, disrespect, or violence; where the environment is respected and cared for; and where cancer, AIDS, starvation, child abuse, weapons of all kinds, or any other detrimental or demeaning scenarios disappear.

 

The anthropologist Margaret Mead addressed this idea in the following observation: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Realize how much your life matters.

 

It's said that when a butterfly flaps its wings, that energy flows thousands of miles away.  Therefore, everything you think and do extends outward and multiplies.  Live your life knowing that the difference you choose to make is toward wholeness, not destructiveness.  Even if no one sees or acknowledges it, an act of unkindness contains energy that impacts our entire universe.  And a silent blessing or thought of love toward others contains a vibration that will be felt throughout the cosmos.

 

William Blake's vision expresses this idea:

 

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

 

Be conscious of how very much you matter to all of creation.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Truth, once established, can never be uprooted

Goodness, once imbibed, can never be stripped away

          A sacrifice to a higher cause is never lost

          An offering to an ancestor never goes to waste

 

When a person embodies Tao

          his heart becomes true

When a family embodies Tao

          it thrives

When a village embodies Tao

          it is protected

When a country embodies Tao

          it prospers

When the world embodies Tao

          it reveals its perfection

 

Tao is everywhere

          it has become everything

To truly see it, see it as it is

In a person, see it as a person

In a family, see it as a family

In a country, see it as a country

In the world, see it as the world

 

How have I come to know all this ?

Tao has shown me -

          Tao as all this !

 

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

What Tao's skillful planter plants

          Can never be uptorn;

What his skillful arms enfold,

          From him can ne'er be borne.

Sons shall bring in lengthening line,

Sacrifices to his shrine.

 

Tao, when nursed within one's self,

          His vigor will make true;

And where the family it rules

          What riches will accrue !

The neighborhood where it prevails

          In thriving will abound;

And when 'tis seen throughout the state,

          Good fortune will be found.

Employ it in the kingdom o'er

          And men thrive all around.

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Power", Journals 1841, and "The Progress of Culture"

 

All power is of one kind.

The mind that is parallel with the laws of nature

Will be in the current of events and strong

          with their strength.

 

Who has learned to root himself in being,

          and wholly to cease from seeming,

He is domestic, and he is at the heart of nature.

 

Concentration is the secret of strength.

The importance of one person who has the truth

          over nations who have it not,

Is because power obeys reality, and not appearance,

          according to quality, and not quantity.

 

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

54

INFLUENCE

 

Right mothering is honored from

generation to generation.  Like an

old tree with untold roots, it holds

firm through countless storms.

 

Behave toward yourself with

loving kindness, and serenity

will emanate from you.

 

When you are serene,

your life is in order.

When your life is in order,

your family is harmonious.

 

Your family affects your

community.  Your community

influences your culture.

Your culture influences the world.

 

How do I know ?

Just by looking around.

[Eva Libre]

A New Translation by Victor H Mair

based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

 

54 (17)

 

What is firmly established cannot be uprooted;

What is tightly embraced cannot slip away.

 

Thus sacrificial offerings made by sons and grandsons

          will never end.

 

Cultivated in the person, integrity is true.

Cultivated in the family, integrity is ample.

Cultivated in the village, integrity lasts long.

Cultivated in the state, integrity is abundant.

Cultivated everywhere under heaven, integrity is vast.

 

Observe other persons through your own person.

Observe other families through your own family.

Observe other villages through your own village.

Observe other states through your own state.

Observe all under heaven through all under heaven.

 

How do I know the nature of all under heaven ?

Through this.

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The well-founded will not be pulled up.

 

Only after firmly establishing the roots [foundation] does one tend to the branch tips [final details].  Thus it "will not be pulled up." 

 

The well-embraced will not get dropped.

 

Not greedy for much, one does not carry more than he is able.  Thus it "will not get dropped."

 

Such a one's descendants, accordingly, will never let sacrifices to him cease.

 

Because his descendants will hand down this Dao, the sacrifices they make to him will never cease.

 

If you cultivate it within your own person, your virtue will be authentic.  If you cultivate it within your family, your virtue will exceed all need.

 

One extends [cultivation of virtue] to others by [first cultivate it in] one's own person.  If you cultivate it within your own person, it will be authentic.  If you cultivate it within your family, it will exceed all need.  By cultivating it without fail, its application will become ever greater.

 

If you cultivate it within your village, your virtue will endure.  If you cultivate it within your state, your virtue will be abundant.  If you cultivate it among all under Heaven, your virtue will reach everywhere.  Look at the person from the point of view of the person.  Look at the family from the point of view of the family.  Look at the village from the point of view of the village.  Look at the state from the point of view of the state.

 

These all are approached in the same way.

 

Look at all under Heaven from the point of view of all under Heaven.

 

This is to look at the Dao of all under Heaven from the point of view of the hearts / minds [xin] of all the common folk in all under Heaven.  For the Dao of all under Heaven, opposition to or compliance with it results in good fortune or bad, in all cases just as the Dao operates for people. (1)

 

How do I know that all under Heaven is so ?  It is by this. (2)

 

"This" refers to what has just been said above.  In other words: How do I get to know all under Heaven ?  One comes to know it by searching into oneself and not by seeking it anywhere outside.  This is what is meant by the expression, "Know all under Heaven without even leaving your gate". (3) 

 

 

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)  Alan Chan translates, somewhat differently, Wang's commentary to this passage and compares it to the Heshang Gong commentary.  See Two Visions of the Way, 174.

 

(2)  Cf. section 21, last passage.

 

(3)  Section 47, first passage.

[Eva Libre]

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

 

Whoever is planted in the Tao

will not be rooted up.

Whoever embraces the Tao

will not slip away.

Her name will be hold in honor

from generation to generation.

 

Let the Tao be present in your life

and you will become genuine.

Let it be present in your family

and your family will flourish.

Let it be present in your country

and your country will be an example

to all countries in the world.

Let it be present in the universe

and the universe will sing.

 

How do I know this is true ?

By looking inside myself.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

Whoever is planted in the Tao

will not be rooted up.

 

We do only three things in life: we sit, we stand, and we lie horizontal.  That's about it.  Everything else is a story.  Life is not difficult; it's your thinking that makes it difficult.  That's where your happiness or misery comes from.  There are two ways to sit or stand or lie horizontal: you can do it comfortably, or you can do it with stress.  If you don't love where you are, I invite you to question your beliefs.

 

It takes a lot of courage to go inside yourself and find genuine answers to the four questions of The Work.  When you do, you lose all your stories about the world - you lose the whole world as you understood it to be.  Once you question what you believe, you begin to see clearly, because the mind is no longer at war with itself.  In fact, you become excited about reality, even about the worst that could happen.  You open your arms to reality.  Just show me a problem that doesn't come from believing an untrue thought.

 

Whatever happens, I always look for the gift in it.  I don't have eyes for anything else.  I know that if I lose anything or anyone, I've been spared.  If my husband left me, I'd think, How do I know that I don't need him ?  He's gone.  If I were to lose my legs, I'd think, How do I know that I don't need legs ?  I don't have them.  Of course, freedom doesn't mean that you let unkind things happen - it doesn't mean passivity or masochism.  If someone says he's going to cut off your legs, run !

 

How do you know that you need cancer ?  You've got it.  But to accept cancer is not to lean back and do nothing; that's denial.  You consult the best doctors you can afford, and you get the best treatment available.  Do you think your body is going to heal most efficiently when you're tense and fearful and fighting cancer as an enemy ?  Or when you're loving what is and realizing all the ways in which your life is actually better because you have cancer, and from that calm center doing everything you can to heal ?  There's nothing more life-giving than inner peace.

 

The only time you suffer is when you believe a thought that argues with reality.  You are the cause of your own suffering - but only all of it.  There is no suffering in the world; there's only an uninvestigated story that leads you to believe it.  There is no suffering in the world that's real.  Isn't that amazing !

 

Both pleasure and pain are projections, and it takes a clear mind to understand that.  After inquiry, the experience of pain changes.  The joy that was always beneath the surface of pain is primary now, and the pain is underneath it.  People who do The Work stop fearing pain.  They relax into it.  They watch it come and go, and they see that it always comes and goes at the perfect moment.

 

My eyes hurt this morning.  With Fuchs' dystrophy, there are blisters on the inside of the corneas, and sometimes the pain is intense.  In addition, my specialist asked me to put a drop of salt solution in, six to eight times a day; this dries the moisture that causes the cloudy vision, but it's also literally salt in the wound - it adds to the pain of the lesions that form and burst and continue to create scar tissue on the cornea.  Still, even after a drop, when I look at my granddaughter's face, all I see is a blur.  I notice the thought How beautiful Marley is ! and then it occurs to me that, given the progression of my disease, the time may come when I'll never see her face again.  I understand that it's unnecessary; I can't find one place in me where it ultimately matters.  I may never see any of my grandchildren as they grow up, I may never see Stephen's face again, or my children's.  And as I realize that, I look for sadness, and I can find only joy.  An overwhelming sense of gratitude for life wells up in me, for how full life is and how nothing is ever missing, how everything is the way it's supposed to be.  I continue to wait and see if I can find a need for something more, and it doesn't appear.

 

Another day, sitting in the living room, I pour hot tea from a kettle into a cup, and I don't see that the cup is cracked, and the hot tea spills out onto my left hand.  Ow !  What an adventure !  Even as my hand starts to throb, I'm aware that what I'm watching is absolute perfection.  How can I believe that my hand is not supposed to be scalded when it is ?  Why would I move from reality into a fantasy of what my hand should be ?  When inquiry is alive inside you, thoughts don't pull you away from loving whatever happens, as it happens.  Pain is always on its way out; it's the story of a past.  All the pain we have ever suffered, all the pain that any human being on this planet has ever suffered, is gone in this present moment.  We live in a state of grace.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 54 –

 

In this verse of the Tao Te Ching, you're invited to see your role in the transformation of the planet.  Instead of perceiving yourself as one insignificant individual among billions of people, you're urged to see yourself as the Tao itself.  "We Are The World" is everybody's theme song.  You do make a difference !

 

When you live with the joyful awareness that you potentially have an infinite effect on the universe, you'll radiate Tao consciousness.  You'll be like a wave of energy that illuminates a room - everyone will see the light and become affected.  Those who were unaware of their Tao nature will notice the difference, and those who were aware - but not living as if their lives mattered - will be attracted and begin changing.  So recognize and live your life as part of the Great Way, and help bring balance into the world.

 

In this 54th passage, Lao-tzu is advising you to see your divinity and revel in your magnificence.  Know that in the silent space within you, where the Tao animates every breath and thought, your life makes a difference.