Tao Te Ching Ch 19

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna Chor Kok Lam

 Chapter 19

Exterminate the intelligent, discard the clever,

people will benefit a hundredfold.

Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,

people will again be filial and compassionate.

Exterminate wits, discard profit,

there will be no more thieves and bandits.

These three, being mere adornments, are not enough.

People must have something they should follow:

Show plainness, embrace simplicity;

Have little thought of themselves and as few desires as possible;

Exterminate learning, there will be no worries.

 

 

 

Review

 

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu describes saints are as pure as a baby. They return to their pure nature resembling the Truth (Tao). They do not need to learn many in the outside world in order to retain their purity. On the contrary, the more they acquire from the outside world, the more they will go far away from their original place of purity. Then they will be covered by a lot of stuff unrelated to their pure nature. They cannot see their pure nature just like the sun being covered by lots of clouds. What people need to do is very simple. Just return. Do not go further.

 

Return to simplicity leading to a simple life, to live simply is a must for spiritual seeking. If people want lots of entertainments, lots of decorations, lots of luxuries, lots of delicacies, lots of achievements and recognitions from people, then there will be no end of craving for the outside world. The more people like the world, the harder they will tend to look at themselves inwardly without the disturbance of the outside world. Therefore, Lao Tzu tells people to discard as much as we can everything belonging to the world, even people value so much, like intelligence, cleverness, benevolence, rectitude, wits and profit.

 

In the Holy Scripture of Sikhism, “Siri Guru Granth Sahib”, the Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak also teaches the same:

“Nanak has taken to the Sanctuary of the Lord’s Holy Saints.

He has given up power, wisdom, cleverness and egotism.”

(Gauree, 5^th Mehl, 211)

         

Being intelligent and clever is necessary for people to deal with other people in their life. Inside our heart, the ultimate is the purity of Tao only, where no one we need to deal with. Then what is the use of being intelligent and clever, attaining the PhD in any knowledge field? What is the use of any qualifications and achievements if we want to go inside ourselves to seek the Truth, not to the outside world? To return to our pure nature, we will live simply and naturally. We will naturally be kind to people as the Truth is beneficial to all creatures, without harm. Then what is the use of teaching people rectitude to be filial and compassionate? They can naturally do so without being told. On the contrary, if people lose their pure nature, all the teaching of morality will be only outward enforcement which cannot be endured with effort and would likely turn into hypocrisy for people’s recognition, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“Exterminate the intelligent, discard the clever,

people will benefit a hundredfold.

Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,

people will again be filial and compassionate.”

 

All we need is to go inwardly to seek ourselves, while our teaching in most ways induces people to look at the outside world, to look at other people, and do not look at themselves and finally lose themselves. They do not know how pure or impure they are, but they only know very well all the happenings and knowledge of the outside world. To lose oneself inwardly by gaining everything outwardly, what is the use? People with purity attaining their pure nature will not have greed for too many belongings and material needs. They are contented by their simple life with the Truth. How will they need to have wits to impress people to be successful? They do not want all these burdens turning them away from their purity. What is the need to be a thief and a bandit to steal and rob to harm others? It is totally against their pure nature. They do not want to gain and take away anything from others. This is the marvel of of Truth, only beneficial and harmless, thus Lao Tzu further says:

 

 “Exterminate wits, discard profit,

there will be no more thieves and bandits.”

Do not teach people to be greedy, cunning and selfish with a lot of intelligence, wits and cleverness, which will be a disaster in our society. Teach people to hold fast to their purity, the Oneness of the Truth. To retain people’s purity is what we only need to do. How can we retain our purity by not being polluted with greed, anger, jealousy, hatred and delusion? Here Lao Tzu tells us that by only exterminating and discarding the intelligence, cleverness, benevolence, rectitude, wits and the profits are not enough. What we need to do is to build up a simple life with less and less desire. Do not learn too much which will attract us to turn too much outwardly and forget the inward Oneness, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“These three, being mere adornments, are not enough.

People must have something they should follow:

Show plainness, embrace simplicity;

Have little thought of themselves and as few desires as possible;

Exterminate learning, there will be no worries.”

 

Here Lao Tzu tells us three ways to retain our purity:

 

“Show plainness, embrace simplicity;”

 

(1) First, saints should show plainness to people in order to let people follow the good conduct of plainness, without hypocrisy, cunningness, cleverness and wits. They are gentle, honest and straightforward to people. People must have a simple living.

 

“Have little thought of themselves and as few desires as possible.”

 

(2) Second, people must have little thought of themselves, apart from the Truth. Always remember the Truth. Do not care for their body too much as how to make their body more comfortable. To be healthy and strong does not mean that our body should be always in comfort. The desire to make us more and more comfortable must be curbed. We must have as few desires as possible. About 2500 years ago, Sri Gautama Buddha in India told people that desire was the cause of suffering for people which must be exterminated. Although Lao Tzu never says desire is the cause of all sufferings in our life in the Tao Te Ching, he is the same as Sri Buddha telling people to have few desires as possible in order to live a good and truthful life. Lao Tzu is also the same as Sri Buddha. He never encourages people to have many desires.

 

“Exterminate learning, there will be no worries.”

 

(3) This is the last way Lao Tzu tells us in this Chapter. In the Chinese original texts, Lao Tzu tells us to “exterminate learning” without referring specially to moral codes. Moral codes are only one of the learning we should discard. Whatever knowledge which is overdone turning our attention to the outside world far away from the original purity, we should not indulge in it. Otherwise, we will get lost in the outward appearance of the world without knowing our pure nature. Very often people with a lot of knowledge are very argumentative and do not know the Truth indeed. By knowing a lot without the purity of mind and heart, people will have more darkness than the simple-minded with purity, which is the cause of trouble or suffering as Lao Tzu proclaims. If we can follow what Lao Tzu says about the three ways, we can attain what he ends with the verse:

 

“There will be no worries.”