Tao Te Ching Ch 8

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna CK Lam

Chapter 8

The Highest Good resembles water.

Water benefits all creatures without contending with them.

It stays in low places that people dislike.

Therefore, it is close to the Truth.

People with the Highest Good are:

Dwelling with the right location;

Feeling with great depth of silence;

Sharing with great kindness;

Speaking with great integrity;

Governing with great administration;

Handling with great capability;

Acting with right timing.

As they do not contend, they are beyond reproach.

 

 

Review

 

“The Highest Good resembles water.”

 

 What is the Highest Good? How can it resemble water? Water nourishes all creatures and never takes away anything from any creatures because of its benefit to them. Lao Tzu says water will never have any competition with anyone. Water would not claim its greatness or talent by contending with anyone, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“Water benefits all creatures without contending with them.”

 

How is water without contention? How does water never contend with anyone? The answer comes forth:

“It stays in low places that people dislike.”

 

Naturally water flows downward by the law of gravity. So, water is always staying at the low places as in the riverbed at the bottom. Lao Tzu says most people do not like to be at the low position while water is always keeping there. The marvel is the following:

 

“Therefore, it is close to the Truth.

 

Humility is the highest virtue and always auspicious as repeatedly told in the Tao Te Ching. Why is humility so highly valued by Lao Tzu? It is because to be humble is to be closest to the Truth. So, to be in low places that means to be humble. To be humble can never let us forget the Truth as there is always something greater that we should bear in mind. That is the Truth. The nature of water, to be in low places, does not contend with anyone, but always benefits all creatures, is the truth itself manifested in water. Therefore, water is used to symbolize the Truth. When we think of water, we will think of the Truth as “it is close to the Truth”.

 

To be like water does not mean only to be humble. A person who is deep in the Truth is humble and capable of achieving goodness. If we are weak and nothing good, we must be humble to upgrade ourselves to higher level. The highest level is to attain the Truth inside us. Lao Tzu tells us how a person acts like when he is like water himself, which means he is the embodiment of the Truth:

 

“People with the Highest Good are:

Dwelling with the right location;

Feeling with great depth of silence;

Sharing with great kindness;

Speaking with great integrity;

Governing with great administration;

Handling with great capability;

Acting with right timing.”

 

To be like water is to abide in the Truth. This personality would be very talented and auspicious to people. They are in their right position doing their work with peace and silence, never disturb people. When they speak, they would speak honestly, with great integrity and share with great kindness. They will never tell lies, as lies harm the Truth and corrupt their root, their foundation. People abiding in the Truth have compassion which we all need basically as a human. If any moral teaching that makes people abide by a strict code of conduct without compassion in life, it is not the Truth. Those people having the Truth are worth to be at the ruling position to govern people and benefit people. They are the people best at the ruling position in a society. They are very capable of work and know the right time and right place to handle the work as the Truth is auspicious and beneficial to all people. Whenever and wherever they are doing their duties, auspicious time and auspicious place will be there, so Lao Tzu says:

 

“Governing with great administration,

Handling with great capability, and

Acting with right timing.”

 

They are really very rare in our society, so they are called saints as they have benefited people so greatly that people keep remembering them in history. All the saints are humble like water, never to be arrogant aiming to get fame and honor. They are in the low position having the modest living, like Gautama Siddhartha (565 BC-486 BC), Prophet Jesus (6-4 BC? - 30-36AD?) and Prophet Muhammad (570 AD-632 AD). Gautama Buddha relinquished his kingdom to be a monk to find a way of life eliminating all sorrows for people to follow. So, there is his teaching of the rightful way of life to people. Prophet Jesus refused to be exalted as the potential king to revive the kingdom of Israel, and always lived in poverty as he aimed at the spiritual life which was so lacking among all people in Jewish tradition. They had the religion as the Moses tradition, but they did not have spirituality in the real sense. Both Buddha and Jesus were saints to guide people, but they did not govern people in the ruling position. So even rarer and rarer are the saints who abide in the Truth with deep spirituality but also become a ruler to govern people. This is extremely rare, which is the ideal of Lao Tzu: to let the Truth rule the whole world.

 

Prophet Muhammad was this rarest kind of saint who ruled his people by the Truth, by the revelation of Allah. He insisted on living in poverty though he was a ruler highly exalted by his followers, and even after he successfully unified the whole Arabic Peninsular with one religion of God, Islam. He taught the rightful way of life to all Muslims both in the secular and spiritual aspects. He has been always highly honored by all Muslims.

 

This is the ideal of Lao Tzu, to let the Truth rule the people. But they are very rare in history. Mostly, saints do not rule people. Most rulers in our world history are interested in worldly affairs without abiding in the Truth. They want fame and private interest. They accumulate wealth and concern benefits for themselves as much as they can. Therefore, they will be found full of misdeeds after they have gone, and no one wants to memorize them with any admiration. They contend wealth with the general public. They contend honor with other capable people. So, they are to be reproached as they did harm to the general welfare. That is always what is happening in our history. Rare are the saints who can rule the people with the Truth. They never contend with people but only try to benefit them, so does the water. Who can reproach a person with the Truth who is only giving goodness and benefits? It is why Lao Tzu says in the end:

 

 “As they do not contend, they are beyond reproach.”