Verse 66 - Living by Emulating the Sea

[Eva Libre]

66th Verse

 

Why is the sea king of a hundred streams ?

Because it lies below them.

Humility gives it its power.

 

Therefore, those desiring a position

 above others must speak humbly.

Those desiring to lead must follow.

 

Thus it is that when a sage stands above the people,

they do not feel the heaviness of his weight;

and when he stands in front of the people,

they do not feel hurt.

 

The sage stays low

so the world never tires of exalting him.

He remains a servant

so the world never tires of making him its king.

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

I do not put myself above others,
          or see myself as superior to anyone.
I am like the great ocean,
          where all streams flow to me
because I stay low, and thus,
          I am a servant to all.

           
Do The Tao Now

Dedicate a day to leading by serving, as opposed to giving orders.  Find occasions to stifle your learned habit of interfering and telling others what to do, and allow them to flow to you instead.  Commit to this principle further by encouraging someone to make the decision rather than following your orders.


Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao) 
by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer –

 

Never assume that you know what's best.

 

Even if you're older, wiser, and richer than others and have more influence and power than they do, never assume that you know what's best for anyone. Instead, imagine yourself as the great ocean that allows and encourages the smaller streams to come to you. Stay low, speak softly, and remain humble - and let others be in control of their lives as much as is humanly possible. By seeing yourself as the all-receiving sea, you remove your ego from the picture and thus become like one of the leaders referred to in this verse of the Tao Te Ching. No one should feel the heaviness of your directions or be hurt by your instructions.

A situation that allowed me to implement this advice occurred on the day I wrote this essay. I live on Maui, and my 90-year-old mother is in Florida, where my daughter Saje also resides. My mother was experiencing a stomachache and nausea from some strong medication she'd taken, so I phoned my daughter to see if she had any suggestions for getting some yogurt to her. Saje's immediate response was, “We have some yogurt right here - I'll take it over to Grandma's.” Rather than giving her an order and instructing her to tend to her grandmother, I allowed my daughter to be of service while I stayed in the lowest possible place.

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer –

 

Remain a servant.

 

See yourself as someone who's on this planet to assist others. Look for opportunities to be of aid, particularly to those who need your leadership. Remember that the great sea serves everyone by being a life-supporting receiver of all who wish to partake of her bounty, so practice emulating her by expressing the Tao.

[Eva Libre]

From  Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

Why do the hundred rivers
turn and rush toward the sea ?
Because it naturally stays below them

He who wishes to rule over the people
must speak as if below them
He who wishes to lead the people
must walk as if behind them
So the Sage rules over the people
but he does not weigh them down
He leads the people
but he does not block their way

The Sage stays low
so the world never tires of exalting him
He remains a servant
so the world never tires of making him its king

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

That whereby the rivers and seas are able to receive
the homage and tribute of all the valley streams,
is their skill in being lower than they -
It is thus that they are the kings of them all.
So it is that the sage, wishing to be above men,
puts himself by his words below them,
And wishing to be before them,
places his person behind them.

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - ”Greatness”

A sensible man avoids introducing the names
of his creditable companions,
And is content putting his fact or theme
simply on its ground.
You shall not tell me that your commercial house,
your partners or yourself are of importance;
You shall not tell me that you have learned
to know men;
You shall make me feel that
your saying so un-says it.

[Eva Libre]

From The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

66
EQUANIMITY

The sea is the greatest of all the
waters because it allows the rivers
and streams to empty into it.

Parents with the greatest power
in their children's lives are those
to which the child can go without
fear.

The wise mother facilitates her
child's growth with firm, loving
kindness. She receives his
mistakes and tantrums with
equanimity.

Because she does not push, harass,
or manipulate, she does not invite
rebellion. Her children love and
respect her and trust her with
their pain.

[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

 

66 (29)

 

     The river and sea can be kings of

               the hundred valley streams

          because they are good at lying below them.

For this reason,

     They can be kings of the hundred valley streams.

For this reason, too,

     If the sage wants to be above the people,

          in his words, he must put himself below them;

     If he wishes to be before the people,

          in his person, he must stand behind them.

Therefore,

     He is situated in front of the people,

          but they are not offended;

     He is situated above the people,

          but they do not consider him a burden.

     All under heaven happily push him forward without

                         wearying.

     Is this not because he is without contention ?

Therefore,

     No one under heaven can contend with him.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The reason the river and the sea are able to be kings of all the river valleys is that they are good at keeping below them.  Thus they are able to be kings of all the river valleys. (1)  This is why, if one wishes to be above the common folk, he must use his words to place himself below them. (2)  If one wishes to be at the front of the common folk, he must use his person in such a way that they think of him as behind them. (3)  Therefore the sage positions himself above, yet the common folk do not regard him as heavy; he positions himself in front, yet the common folk do not regard him as an obstacle.  Therefore all under Heaven happily promote him without ever tiring of it.  It is because he does not contend that none among all under Heaven can contend with him. (4)

 

 

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. section 28, first passage; section 32, last passage; and section 61, first passage.

(2)  Cf. section 68, penultimate passage.

(3)  Cf. section 7, second passage; and section 28, first passage.

(4)  Cf. section 22, last passage.

[Eva Libre]

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

All streams flow to the sea
because it is lower than they are.
Humility gives it its power.

If you want to govern the people,
you must place yourself below them.
If you want to lead the people,
you must learn how to follow them.

The Master is above the people,
and no one feels oppressed.
She goes ahead of the people,
and no one feels manipulated.
The whole world is grateful to her.
Because she competes with no one,
no one can compare with her.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

All streams flow to the sea
because it is lower than they are.
Humility gives it its power.

 

The material world is a metaphor of mind. Mind rises into its projections and must eventually come back to itself, just as streams flow back to the sea. No matter how brilliant the mind, no matter how large the ego that takes credit for its actions, when it comes to see that it doesn't know anything, that it can't know anything, it flows back to the origin and meets itself again, in all humility.

Once you realize what is true, everything flows to you, because you have become the living example of humility. The mind realized is content to stay in the lowest, least creative position. Out of that, everything is created. The lowest place is the highest place.

Less than a week after my return from the halfway house, word spread about my change, and strangers began calling me on the phone, asking me questions or asking if they could come see me. They would call me at all hours: in the middle of the night, all day long, often all night long - people from 12-step programs, people from the street, people from long distances away, people who had been told about me by the friend of a friend. What I heard in their questions was a longing. They would ask, “How can I find your freedom ?” and I'd say, “I don't know. But if you want to see what it is, come live with me. All I know is that you're welcome to what I have.”

There was a continuous stream of people coming to the house. One person would come, the phone would ring, then two more would show up, five, six, maybe a dozen by the evening. They had heard that I was a saint, a Master, a Buddha. They would say I had something called “enlightenment”. I had no idea what that meant. It sounded like having the flu. When they looked at me with wonder in their eyes, I felt they were seeing me as some kind of freak, and that was okay with me. I knew I was free, but I was still being bombarded by all the delusions that humanity has ever suffered from. It didn't feel enlightened to me.

For about a year, I had to write down the beliefs that kept arising in my mind. I had to write them down and inquire, in order to hold reality firmly. They came very fast - hundreds, thousands of them. Each belief felt like a meteor crashing into a planet, trying to demolish it. Someone would say, or I would hear in my mind, “It's a terrible day”, and my body would start to shake. It was as if I couldn't bear the lie. It didn't matter whether I or someone else spoke it, because I knew it was all me. The cleansing, the undoing, inside me was instantaneous, whereas when I offer inquiry to people, they’re doing it in apparent time and space - in the density that looks like time and space. But for me, the timelessness was obvious. So, when a belief hit me, I would sit and write it down and put it up against the four questions and then turn it around. That first year, I was writing all the time, crying all the time. But I never felt upset. I loved this woman who was dying through inquiry, this woman who had been so very confused. I kept falling in love with her. She was irresistible.

Most mornings, before or after I went out walking, I would sit by a window in the sunlight and wait for an uncomfortable feeling to appear. If it did, I would be thrilled, because I knew that it was always the result of some thought I needed to clean up. I was this, too. So I would write the thought down, and there was a lot of humor in the process. The thoughts that I wrote down were almost always about my mother. I knew that if I burned through one delusion, I would burn through them all, because I was dealing with concepts, not with people. They were thoughts like “My mother doesn't love me”; “She loves my sister and brother more than me”; “She should invite me to family gatherings”; “If I tell the truth about what happened, she'll deny it and no one will believe me”. That first year, it wasn't enough that a thought was being met by inquiry, wordlessly, in my mind. The thought had to be written down. You can't stop mental chaos, however motivated you are. But if you identify one piece of chaos and stabilize it, then the whole world begins to make sense.

So I'd write the thought down and question it. Sometimes I'd sit for an hour, sometimes for a whole morning and afternoon - however long it took to meet the thought with understanding. I could always see that the thought wasn't true, that it was an erroneous assumption. I could never find any proof that would hold up. And then I'd ask, “How do I react when I believe that thought ?” and immediately I could see that it was the source of the potential suffering, not my mother. Then I would ask, “What was I before that thought ? What would I be without it ?” And I could also, so clearly, see the turnaround. I was dealing with cause-and-effect and polarities. I could see that one polarity was just as true as the other. “My mother doesn't love me”; “My mother does love me”. I was dying for a cause that had an equally true opposite. And nothing short of inquiry would stop the shaking.

I would put every concept about my mother on paper as I thought it, because those concepts were the most powerful for me. Then inquiry would clear them. I was working not with my own mother, but with the concepts that appear for every human being. We all have the same ones: “I want”, “I need”, “she should”, “she shouldn't”. I was engaged in the science of self. I was mind realizing itself, God looking into its own mirror.

Humility is our natural response to seeing what's true about ourselves. When we judge others and question that judgment, then turn it around to ourselves, that is the fire and the purification. Our knees buckle, and we learn how sweet it is to lose - how that is the winning. That's what The Work is about. Some people call it forgiveness. I call it sanity.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 66 -

Unlike the perception of God as an old white man Who created a universe where your behavior may cause you to be sentenced to damnation for eternity, the Tao is perceived as a natural energy. The Source of life isn't seen as a deity monitoring earthlings like a king or dictator, since it doesn't dole out punishments or withhold rewards. Lao-tzu taught that the Tao only asks you to live in harmony with nature.

For Lao-tzu, nature's great symbol is water, and he refers to it in many of the 81 passages. When you emulate that element, you'll begin to see that judgment and exclusion have no place in the Tao. Be like the sea, advises Lao-tzu, and the world will never tire of exalting you. The essential message presented in this verse and in many others of the Tao Te Ching is that the ocean is king of all because it knows to stay low. All streams must ultimately flow to the sea, and in the process, it becomes a servant to all. The teachings here are clear: Be humble. Never put yourself above others or see yourself as superior to anyone. The highest power is a yielding valley. Become a servant, not a dominator.

When even the tiniest waterways are left alone, they uniquely carve out a path that leads them to the sea. And the great ocean never lords its greatness and power over the rivers and streams: It doesn't rise above them and demand devotion, nor does it threaten them with punishment or extinction if they refuse to cooperate. The sea knows instinctively that the streams and rivers will naturally gravitate toward that which stays low.

Using this metaphor throughout the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu reminds you that people also tend to be instinctively drawn to those with intrinsic majesty that emerges from humility and staying low. And this position isn't uniquely held by the great master. Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, offers an almost identical message in the New Testament, centuries after the death of Lao-tzu:

Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers - not because you must, but because you are willing, as Gods wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)

Change the way you think about yourself and others as model leaders by looking to the massive life-giving sea, who's patient, accepting, and lower than the streams that flow to it. Then imitate that water power yourself by suspending your ego and releasing the need to lord anything over anyone. The people you're entrusted to lead will gravitate to you and the watercourse way of the Tao's natural flow.

You're advised to learn from the way water behaves and imitate it as much as possible in your life.