Verse 75 - Living by Demanding Little

[Eva Libre]

75th Verse

 

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit;
trust them, leave them alone.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

I place fewer and fewer demands upon others,
        and especially on my self.
                  
I am free to commune with nature,
        work, play, read or just do nothing.

                    
Do The Tao Now

Take a break from all that occupies your mind, including your responsibilities.  Even if it's only for 15 minutes, clear your mind, empty your “demand file”, and allow yourself the freedom that comes with being less exacting.

When you complete this, do the same with your children or someone who reports to you at work.  Put your arm around them and ask them to go for a brief walk, just doing nothing but being together in nature.  Then let them return to their responsibilities at their own pace.

If you're thinking that your child or employee needs an imperious overseer, perhaps they've become that way because you haven't trusted them to be self-reliant.
 
Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)
by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer -

Don't overtax yourself

Lao-tzu's reminder that excessive taxation will lead to a loss of spirit applies to you as well. If you weigh yourself down with excessive demands, you'll wear yourself out or develop symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry, heart disease, or any number of physical ailments. Give yourself a break from self-imposed pressures that burden you, allowing yourself plenty of free time to commune with nature, play with your children, read, see a movie, or just do nothing.

[Eva Libre]

Advice From Dr Dyer -

Trust those you're entrusted to lead

Don't continually monitor those you're responsible for raising or supervising; instead, develop a trust in your less experienced charges. They must be allowed to use their own minds, for they also have a destiny to fulfill that's orchestrated by the Tao. So demand less and encourage more as much as you can, allowing them to pursue their own excellence and happiness. Your trust will lead to their trusting themselves and the wisdom that created them.

 

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

Why are the people starving ? -
Because their grain is being eaten up by taxes
That's why they're starving

Why are the people rebellious ? -
Because those above them meddle in their lives
That's why they're rebellious

Why do the people regard death so lightly ? -
Because they are so involved with their own living
That's why they regard death so lightly

In the end,
The treasure of life is missed by those who hold on
and gained by those who let go

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

The people suffer from famine because
of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors.
It is through this that they suffer famine.

The people are difficult to govern because
of the excessive agency of their superiors.
It is through this that they are difficult to govern.

The people make light of dying because
of the greatness of their labors
in seeking for the means of living.
It is this which makes them think light of dying.
Thus it is that to leave the subject of living
altogether out of view
Is better than to set a high value on it.

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - ”Politics”

The whole institution of property on its present tenures
is injurious, and its influence on persons
deteriorating and degrading;
Truly, the only interest for the consideration of the state
is persons;
Property will always follow persons.
The highest end of government is the culture of men.
If men could be educated, the institutions will
share their improvement,
And the moral sentiment will write the law of the land.

[Eva Libre]

From The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

75
CRITICISM

Children starve if their parents
eat all the food.

Children rebel if their parents
brook no compromise.

Children have no love for life if
their parents squeeze it out of
them. They spend their lives
grieving for their lost joy.

Begin to notice when you are
critical and controlling with your
child. Observe yourself and check
your behavior before it gets
acted out.

Find out what you need and
give it to yourself. When the little
child in you gets the love, support,
and encouragement it needs,
your critical behavior will
naturally disappear.

[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

75 (40)

Human hunger
is the result of overtaxation.
For this reason,
There is hunger.

The common people are not governable
because of their superiors' actions.
For this reason,
They are not governable.

The people make light of death
because of too much emphasis on the quest for life.
For this reason,
They make light of death.

Now,
Only she who acts not for the sake of life
Is wiser than those who value life highly.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The reason the common folk starve is that the ruler eats too much grain tax.  This is why they starve.  The reason the common folk are hard to govern is that the ruler takes deliberate actions [you-wei].  This is why they are hard to govern.  The reason the common folk take death lightly is that they place too much emphasis on life.  This is why they take death lightly. (1)  It is only by acting without regard for life that one becomes more of a worthy than one who values life.

 

In other words, the reasons for the common folk indulging in deviant behavior and the reasons for government ending in chaos always stem from the ruler and never stem from the subjects.  The common folk model themselves on their ruler.

 

 

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)  That is, they indulge in behavior characterized by greed, arrogance, craving, and desire that leads to death; cf. section 50, second passage, and Wang’s commentary there, especially paragraph 3.

[Eva Libre]

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

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.

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

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.

I trust everyone. I trust them to do what they do, and I'm never disappointed. And since I trust people, I know to let them find their own way. The wonderful thing about inquiry is that there's no one to guide you but you. There's no guru, no teacher who, in her great wisdom, shows you the answers. Only your own answers can help you. You yourself are the way and the truth and the life, and when you realize this, the world becomes very kind.

When my daughter, Roxann, attended her first workshop with me, it was in 1993, with a large group of therapists present. She was working on “the mother from hell” - which was how she had experienced me sometimes as she was growing up. She couldn't bear to look at me as she was doing her Work; it was hard for her even to hear the sound of my voice. I was the root of her problem, she thought, and I was also her salvation; she had to ask the monster for help, which made her furious. At a certain moment she became very passionate and got right in my face and said I should have mothered her differently. I said, “That's not my job. Mother yourself, honey. You be the mother you always wanted”. Later she told me that that was the greatest gift I ever gave her. It turned out to be her freedom. I know the privilege of mothering myself. It's hopeless to see it as anyone else's job. Here's what I've told all my children: “You have the perfect mother. I'm responsible for all your problems, and you're responsible for the solutions.”

Ultimately there is only you: you are your own suffering, you are your own happiness. What you give is what you receive, and I love that. I am always receiving for myself what I give to others. Sacrifice is not a word that holds any meaning for me, since, in my experience, giving something away doesn't - can't - mean giving it up. When I give it to you, it's me I'm giving it to. There's no separation.

Yesterday a young woman spent five minutes telling me how beautiful and kind and wise I am. Her face was flushed with the joy of telling me; she was in love with her story of Byron Katie. As I listened, looking into her eyes, I didn't need to say, “Turn it around”, because that was automatically happening in me. Everything she said about me I was seeing in her, since I can only be her reflected image. Through her thoughts, I was seeing who she was; it was her own nature she was describing. If she had told me the sad story that I've heard from others so many times - “I'm lost, I'm miserable, nothing makes sense, I'm not good enough, life is unfair, how could he do that to me? ” - I would have sat without any sadness or concern, since I know that on the deepest level everyone realizes that it's all untrue. When someone tells a sad story, I hear a mind that believes that it believes what is not, and I am touched by the impossible attempt to make the unreal real. In this I experience my own mind again, and I feel just as joyful as when I sit with the happy, adoring, adorable young woman of yesterday.

Expectation and no expectation are the same. I expect anything to happen, and it does. I expect nothing to happen, and ultimately I'm always right. Nothing has ever happened but a thought. I expect you to love me, and however you act toward me, however you feel, the fact is that you always love me. You may think that you don't, but you can't not love me. Thoughts seem to block this awareness, and if they're stressful, I invite you to question them and set yourself free. The awakened mind is its own universe. There's nothing outside it. (Delightedly, there's nothing inside it either.)

When mind projects as another, it only meets itself again. There can never be two. Someone says, “Hello, Katie, it's a wonderful day”. How benevolent the way of it, that it would greet itself like this, out of nowhere. Someone else says, “It's a terrible day”, and the mind leaps with joy in the pure experience of itself. The I-know mind, the mind that seems to suffer, the awesome, dear, humorous trickster, will challenge the wisdom and sanity of its balanced self, as it continues to wake up. But ultimately there is no separation. Every thought makes up the world of what it names joy, lightheartedness, inclusion, goodness, generosity, rapture, and (my favorite term) friendship. Ultimately, mind becomes its own friend.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 75 -

This verse was intended to help the ruling classes and the nobility manage the realm. Understand that during the warring-states period in ancient China, rulers used onerous methods to impose order on the masses: They tended to keep all the tax money that was collected from the people for themselves, flaunting their good fortune in the faces of the impoverished. Those who were overtaxed and overburdened would lose their spirit and sense of loyalty and ultimately rebel against the laws imposed upon them.

This book you're holding in your hands isn't intended as a social commentary to enlighten political leaders who take advantage of their positions (although I'd certainly invite any of them to take heed of Lao-tzu's advice !). Rather, I wrote it to help you apply the inherent wisdom in each of the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching. So you're invited to change the way you look at assisting others to stay inspired and have contented and peaceful lives.

You may believe that demanding more from those in your charge, such as your children or co-workers, creates more productivity, but Lao-tzu suggests the opposite is true. Demand little, he advises, and even leave people alone as much as possible. And the imposition of excessive taxation on the masses can have an analogous component for you to consider when it comes to how you treat those you're responsible for leading.

Government officials often vote to raise more and more money for pet projects and even their own personal benefit simply because they have the authority to do so. Since they're in charge of lawmaking, they write rules that allow them to be abusive toward the very people who pay their salaries and provide them with all of their benefits. In virtually all cases, those who are being taxed to provide luxurious lifestyle perks receive far less in the way of benefits than those who are the recipients of that tax. In other words, the rule makers and others in power are using their positions to take advantage of ordinary people. When this becomes too prevalent, those ordinary people become restless and disruptive, with scant respect for authority. As Lao-tzu puts it “People lose their spirit”.

Rather than demanding more because you're older, bigger, richer, or more powerful, leave those you're in charge of alone whenever feasible, trusting in their inherent wisdom to do the right thing. Overbearing, taxing authorities create rebellion and chaos - and you'll create the same unless you check your inclinations and reverse yourself by being less demanding instead of more.

I've practiced this approach to leadership my entire adult life by keeping the number of people who work for me and require my supervision to an absolute minimum. My demands on my manager / secretary / all-purpose assistant are few and far between, and she's been my sole employee for three decades. I allow her to negotiate contracts, to make all arrangements for speaking events, and to manage my very large business with an absence of demands from me. I don't tell her what time to come to work, what to wear, or how to talk to people; and my reward for being a boss with minimal demands is someone who's fiercely loyal, who can be depended on to do the right thing, who loves her job, and who is indispensable to me.

I behave the same way toward my editor, who has also been with me for 30-plus years. I write from my heart, allowing the words to flow onto the page, and then I send it to her. I trust this woman implicitly and allow her to do what she incarnated to do with no demands from me. My reward for being non-intrusive is to have my books beautifully and professionally polished. My editor and I also enjoy a loving, peaceful relationship, with both of us content and proud of the work we were destined to produce. While what I'm describing may seem impossible to you, it can absolutely be attained when you trust in the Tao to manage all of the details of both your professional and personal life.