Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing)

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Chapters

51

One Tao gives them birth, next hidden virtue and glory fosters them.
Matter gives them physical form. some get shaped according to intrinsic designs, perfected by first being allotted its primal strength.
Sets of circumstances and tendencies complete them.
So all things of the universe worship their intrinsic ways (Tao forms) and honour virtue.
There is hardly one who does not honour inborn modes of living and standard accommodations, so in one way or other all who accommodate likeably do homage to set Tao structure, and concomitant native, later, possibly unfolded growth power. Conclusion: all things of the universe honour Tao and exalt good te without being ordered by anybody.
From this: the right praise always come spontaneously. And this is so of its own accord.
Proficient Tao hardly needs any right to be worshipped, Hardly does its best fit, proper unfoldment prowess or power claim the right to be honoured. Its just like this: Some Tao produces them and concomitant, abundant virtue fosters them. Said in other words:

The right Tao gives them birth,
A proper te fosters them, Tao [deep structure] and might enough can rear and develop, can feed, nurture and shelter. In other words: grant some harbour of security, protect and give deep, strong peace in a place fit for that end.
Just the right Tao could be a prolongation of some deft was always and of itself so.
Yes, the right Tao gives birth, shields from storms, and seems hardly possessive. The right shields hardly lay claim to you.
Good Tao bore you and the power" of Tao evolved or reared you (a bit), made you grow [naturally, according to innate designs] brewed for you personally, sort of.
A man must rear others, control some, but never lean upon them.
By such natural designs just Tao can act and also help, but it hardly appropriates.
Just be chief among them, but hardly manage them. This can be called the superior power. See: The superior power hardly controls anybody!
And this is the [program of developing fit] mystic might.

52

There was a [bang] start of the universe, call it the mother of the world.
Who has found that mother Tao, also understands [some of] her sons (things) by it. From the mother, we can know her sons.
Having understood some sons, yet keep to the inner, subtle mother.
Who has known the sons will hold to the mother, for one's whole life can be protected from danger by it. [So they say.]

Shut down life's various openings. Close its doors, and till the end your strength may remain. Next, your whole life can seem without toil.

On the other hand; open the mouth busy about affairs, and to the end of life there will be no help or salvation coming to you [from the outer realm].

Good sight implies seeing what is very small. Seeing what is small is called [Zen] enlightenment.

Who stays by some good conduct is strong. So use the light and return to clear sight through the bright light of the subtle, shining inner realm [debated in Buddhism]
By this art, never cause yourself future distress, [but see well in advance by the inner realm's sight and bright light; or just psyche such things out,] thereby preserved from most harm.
This is called resorting to the always-so, or practising the eternal.
That act is also called to steal the absolute.

53

Once started on the great [lax] highway, if I had but little [Vossing] knowledge I should, in walking on a broad way, fear getting off the road. On the main path (Tao), I would avoid the by-paths.
Some Tao main path is easy to walk [or drift] on, but safe and easy.
All the same people are fond, men love by-paths, love even small by-paths:
The by-path courts are spick-and-span. And the fields go untilled, nay, exceedingly weedy. They are content to let their fields run to weed.
All the while granaries stand quite empty and some exceedingly empty.
They have elegant, in clothes and gown to wear, some furnished with patterns and embroideries,
Some carry sharp weapons, glut themselves with drink and
Foods enjoyed beyond limit,
And wealth and treasures are accumulated in excess, owning far more than they can handle and use.
This is to [molest] the world towards brigandage, it is robbery as extravagance. In the end they are splitting with wealth and possessions. Wealth splits, tends to.
This cannot be a highway of Tao (the way).

54

Well planted can hardly be plucked. Who is well established (in Tao) can hardly be pulled away. The firmly grounded is hardly easily shaken.
Who has a firm grasp does not easily let go. Who has a firm grasp of Tao can't be separated from it. A really firm grasp can't be relaxed.

Next, the ancestor's Tao ways and means and their powers unite to carry the modern family on. From generation to generation firmly gripped Tao [gyrations] shall be continued without fail. Such ancestral sacrifice is not to be suspended.
When one cultivates firm grasp or well modified ancestor disciplines in one's own life, things tend to go markedly well: If you cultivate, elevate and apply well blended, ad hoc modified ancestor ways and means, jobs, routines, accomplishments, such formerly seen, halfway "inherited" cardinal Tao know-how at its best should be rewarding for yourself as an individual or person at its peak, and if so, your lifestyle could become suitable, even genuine, and its prowess likewise.
This spells such as: Apply the firm manas grasp to yourself according to "like father, like son" and you'll incur no manas problem, no such deep, unseen trouble -

From this:
Apply such inherited "firmly rooted strategy" and its various grasps to yourself, and by its id outlets and precious routines you'll be freed from much unsuitable dross.
Also apply best, united ancestor Tao (or sakti) to your family or household and your household should flourish and thrive by this syncretic way of ways. [Honour your best father(s) at their best by doing in best footsteps under his wings, in his shadows - by such as halfway inherited or taken-op proclivities.]
Apply it to the village on a wider, social scale, and the village will be strengthened or more secure.
Apply it to the kingdom, and the kingdom could prosper.
Apply it to an kingdom, and it will grow.
Cultivated in the world, sour id-based handling sets could become all-embracing.

Therefore: Delve into how "well structured, planted or formed" some things that are instituted seem to be.
By delving back through own conscious stages as parts of yourself, you can in the end contemplate and ridicule yourself a little.
The person should be some family-and-ancestors embedded "thing" in its own right.
Next you can control your household by the united Tao controls involved in it [allied to yin-yang structured cosmology].
According to (such well-planted, relations-structured schooled and trained virtue of) the individual, evaluate the individual;
According to (the same virtues of) the family, judge the family;
According to (similar blends of virtue of) the village, judge the village;
According to (the virtue of the statutes ) the state, judge the state;
According to (the crossed virtues of) the world, evaluate the world.
How do I know the world? It is from the cultivation of root-strong virtue from the level of the individual to that of the sour world - I know just by what is inside me and this, all brought together.

55

He who has a lot of mystic might also should be strong in secret able influence-might - quite free from getting harmed, at times like a tender child: full of childlike virtue at its best.
Then no poisonous insects should sting him. Fierce beasts should not seize him and wild beasts hardly attack him, clawing birds of prey should not pounce on and harass him.
The bones of this dear little one are soft and tender, his sinews tender, but his grip is quite firm.
He hardly yet knows about the union of male and female, yet his organs are fully formed and well, at times aroused. This means that his essence is at its height there and then, or means that the vital force is at its height. [It could be both.]
Such a one can cry all day without getting hoarse if his [libido as natural balance] is whole and healthy [for it]. If so it is well in accord with something eternal.
Now, to know eternity full well can be a discerning matter. To know bland harmony likewise implies to be in eternity, or if missed, it is to understand some [principle of] always-so by some degree of mental illumination. But to be well in accord with the eternal means to be free as a bird.

To fill life to the brim is to invite ugly portents, bad omens. To force the growth of life likewise spells ills. Some ready at hand or to come later on, maybe. Now, if the heart makes calls upon the life-breath, laziness or [yogic] rigidity can follow suit.
After things reach their prime, they begin to grow old, Whatever has a time of vigour also has a time of decay. Certain things age after reaching their prime.
Much is contrary to Tao. Whatever is contrary to Tao will soon perish. He who is against Tao can perish rather young. What is against Tao could soon be destroyed.

56

He who knows does not speak (artfully). He who speaks hardly knows.

Fill your openings, shut the doors,
Dull all nasty edges. Untie all tangles.
Temper or soften all glaring light.
Submerge its turmoil as unified with the world: Let all chaotic hustle and bustle be smoothed down.
This is the called the mysterious [Vossing] levelling for bland unity or deep insider identification.

Love and hatred can barely affect the gods and supermen who are said to have achieved it.
Certain forms of loss can hardly reach up to this.
It can be hard to repel and shoo such an accomplished god-being, as it is impossible to be distant and indifferent to him.
He can't be raised, can't be much humbled, and disgrace can hardly affect him deep inside.
So he is already highest of all humbled creatures. He is to be so honoured by the world.

57

Kingdoms can only be governed if rules are kept; rule a kingdom by some normal standards and with utmost discretion.
Battles, on the other hand, can be won if rules are aptly broken. Operate the army and fight some battles by (unusual) tactics of surprise and attack.
Yet administer the kingdom by engaging in no activity. Win the world by doing next to nothing, for major adherence can only be won by letting well alone.
How do I know this will be so? By this:
The more prohibitions, ritual avoidances, and taboos there are, the poorer the people will end.
The more 'sharp weapons' there are, the more troubled and chaotic the state will be, and the more benighted the whole land will grow.
The more cunning craftsmen there are, the more skills of technique, the more vicious things will appear: the more pernicious contrivances will be invented.
The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be. So: The greater the number of statutes, the greater the number of thieves in the end.
So a wise man decreed:
So long as I "do nothing" the people get transformed of themselves.
So long as I love quietude, the people will of themselves go straight.
So long as I act only by proper inactivity the people will of themselves grow rich.
I have no desires, and the people of themselves become simple as the mythological raw block'.

58

When the government is non-discriminative, lazy and dull, the people are contented and not spoiled, but quite generous. When the ruler looks sullen or depressed, the people will be happy and satisfied;
When the government is efficient and smart, searching and discriminative, the people are discontented, disappointed and contentious. Even if the ruler looks lively and self-assured the people will be carping and discontented.

Good fortune leans on bad fortune and bad fortune could rest on good fortune. Latent calamity is happiness, and sound happiness depends on some calamity. Fortune's route is a disaster; fortune is hidden disaster.
Who knows when the limit will be reached? Who would be able to know the ultimate results of good fortune?
They may be:
The normal will (in time) revert to deceitful.
There will hardly be any correctness (used to govern the world) any more.
The old correct will become the perverse again.
Some of the good we know of will again turn evil.
Few know it, but the people have been deluded for a long time.

Anyhow, there is a bourn where there is neither right nor wrong. It is in a realm where every straight is doubled by a crooked and every good by an ill. Surely mankind has gone long enough astray?

Therefore the wise man has firm, square principles. He is at times as pointed as a square, but hardly cuts or pierces.
His integrity is as acute as a knife but hardly cuts, hardly hurts (innocent others), so "he shapes the corners without lopping",
He is indeed straight, but does not extend his sway. He reaches his [most cherished] ends.
He is far from high-handed, he can be bright, but refrains from dazzling.

59

In managing human affairs, there is no better rule than to be sparing, which is to forestall. You can't rule men nor serve heaven unless you have laid up a store; Be [simply artistic] frugal, there is nothing better for serving heaven and ruling people.
To forestall is to be prepared and strengthened; and by being frugal in such ways one may recover quickly. To recover quickly means to accumulate [intense moral] rather much. This "laying up a store" means quickly absorbing, And "quickly absorbing" in the end means doubling one's garnered "power". Double your garnered power and it acquires a strength that nothing can overcome. By the heavy accumulation of virtue one can overcome everything. Be prepared and strengthened to be always victorious: to have infinite capacity;
If there is nothing it can't overcome, it knows no bounds, then he will acquire a capacity with limits well beyond anyone's knowledge. One can next overcome nearly everything. And only what knows no bounds is huge enough to keep a whole kingdom in its grasp. If his capacity is beyond anyone's knowledge, he is fit to rule a kingdom. Who has infinite capacity is fit to rule, but only he who having the kingdom goes to the mother, can keep it long. He who possesses the mother (Tao) of the state will last long. The mother (principle) of a ruling country can long endure.
This is called the art of making the roots strike deep by fencing the trunk, It signifies to be firmly rooted, to have deep strength, for the roots are deep and the stalks are firm, road to immortality and enduring vision, the way of long life and everlasting existence is won by making life long by fixed staring.

60

Ruling a big kingdom is like frying a small fish.
They who by Tao ruled all that is under heaven did not let an evil spirit within them display its powers. Such evil spirits did not display their supernatural powers; the spirits of wise men were hardly used to hurt other men. So when Tao is employed to rule the kingdom, spiritual beings will lose their supernatural grip and cease to harm common people. And their supernatural power will far from harm people, and the wise man also will refrain from harming people. When both do not do each other harm, virtue (power) flows towards them. If the sage's good spirit is nowhere mobilised to harm other men, he himself can be saved from [deterioration] harm.

And so, if evil spirits and supermen do not harm each other, each can be quite saved from harm. Furthermore, some of their "tall abilities" could converge. If so, virtue can be accumulated in both for ulterior benefit or towards some common [soap opera] end.

Literature
Ca: Chan, Wing-Tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1963.
Tat: Waley, Arthur, tr. The Way and Its Power. A Study of the Tao the Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought. New York: Evergreen/Grove, 1958.
Wic: Yutang, Lin. The Wisdom of China. London: New English Library, 1963.
Wl: Bynner, Witter. The Way of Life, According to Lau Tzu New York: Perigee/Penguin, 1944, 1972.

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