Tao Te Ching Ch 27

The Door of all Wonders: 
The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching
by  Nirguna Chor-kok Lam

Chapter 27

One who excels in travelling leaves no tracks.

One who excels in speech makes no defects.

One who excels in reckoning uses no counting rods.

One who excels in shutting uses no bolts,

yet what he has shut cannot be opened.

One who excels in tying uses no cords,

yet what he has tied cannot be undone.

Thus the sage always excels in saving people, and so abandons no one.

He always excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing.

This is called having enlightenment.

Hence the good person is the teacher the bad person learns from.

The bad person is the material for the good person.

People who do not respect the teacher, nor value their material,

though they seem clever, they are in great bewilderment.

This is called the subtlest wonder.

Review

    In this Chapter, Lao Tzu begins with five parables to depict how people abiding in the Truth act in their life:

“One who excels in travelling leaves no tracks.”

    First, they are like people travelling on the road without leaving any footsteps or tracks of their chariots. In ancient China, unlike modern times, the roads were not covered with concrete and cement but with soil and sand naturally there. Therefore, it was almost impossible not to leave any track when walking or driving a cart on the road.

“One who excels in speech makes no defects.”

    Second, they speak without any defects, no loose talking for nothing good and meaningful. Whatever they speak, it is only the Truth, no falsehood.

“One who excels in reckoning uses no counting rods.”

    Third, they are excellent in calculation without using any devices. In ancient China at the times of Lao Tzu more than 3000 years ago, people normally used counting rods for accounting and calculation, whereas Lao Tzu says the person who is the most excellent in calculation i.e. the people abiding in the Truth, need not any devices for the best calculation.

“One who excels in shutting uses no bolts,

yet what he has shut cannot be opened.”

    Fourth, this parable is even more unbelievable. The person who is excellent for shutting the door does not need any bolts to do so while no one can open it. Without using bolts, what else can he use to shut the door?

“One who excels in tying uses no cords,

yet what he has tied cannot be undone.”

    Fifth, this is the same unbelievable. The person who is excellent for tying a knot also does not need any cords while no one can unfasten the knots he made. Without cords, what else can he use to tie a knot?

    We as human are limited beings in this world, so we are bound by different conditions. However, the Truth is infinite, without limitation. Our body is limited and restricted, while our soul can merge with the Truth to become infinite. Our spiritual world inward us is not limited if we can realize the eternity within us. This is what Lao Tzu intends to tell us again and again. Our mind can have unlimited imagination to tackle problem and complete tasks but we can hardly explore our potential in the infinite sense. There is a Supreme Person inside every one of us but no one can know this Truth until we strive hard to find out. This is our main concern in spirituality. This is also the main theme in the Tao Te Ching to tell us this Supreme Person, how we can achieve this last stage of human to be divine in our nature, i.e. to be Oneness with the Truth. The Truth inside us is the Supreme Person inside us.

    The person who realizes the Truth is called the sage that Lao Tzu is trying so hard to make us recognize his virtues. So what is the virtue of the sage here Lao Tzu wants to tell us?

“Thus the sage always excels in saving people, and so abandons no one.

He always excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing.”

    The sage that Lao Tzu tells us repeatedly is going to save everyone and everything without wasting and discarding them. He is infinite not restricted by the finite. Everyone and everything can have the way to be used and saved. The mind of the sage is so vast that he sees the past, the present and the future at the same time. He has got the whole picture, so he knows what to do to save people and material and make them useful in their right positions. He is beneficial, so he will not abandon people doing things opposite to the Truth. The Truth is beneficial to all beings, with mothering nature to nourish all creatures. The Truth is also not extravagant. The virtue of the Truth is to be thrifty to preserve material, not to waste material. To be economical in consuming material is the ideal life for sages in this material world. To waste material can make people corrupted in spirituality. Without enlightenment, people cannot do it, thus Lao Tzu says:

“This is called having enlightenment.”

    Then Lao Tzu further elaborates how we can deal with good and bad people in our life according to the Truth. This is the Supreme Principle of our life people can hardly tell us except in the Tao Te Ching:

“Hence the good person is the teacher the bad person learns from.

The bad person is the material for the good person.”

    We mostly know that we should learn and follow the goodness and virtues of good people, and we should avoid the bad people. Mostly people would dislike the bad people and avoid them. They would talk ill about them, or try to correct them by blaming or any gentle way. If they fail, they will be frustrated and getting hurt more or less. However, Lao Tzu tells us more that we should know the demerits of other people as a material to upgrade ourselves. This material can act as a warning to look at ourselves whether we have the same demerit or not. If we have, then we should correct ourselves first instead of correcting others without correcting ourselves. If we do not have that demerit, we should bear in mind as a warning to ourselves not to misbehave in the same way as we realize its defects from another person. In addition, if we can help the bad people correct themselves by our proper advice, we will enhance goodness to people as a whole. Then spiritually we are growing up not only by getting along with good people but also learning lesson from bad people. We can avoid the defects by people showing to us. So Lao Tzu says we should cherish both of them, good and bad experiences with people, for our better spiritual awareness.

    Therefore, we do not need to feel upset by bad experience with bad people but positively learn to become better for ourselves and try to help the bad people if they seek for help and guidance. To experience good and evil, we then know what we want to be. We know what is evil and what is good, then we can choose what we want by our determination. It is the meaning of our life to experience both good and evil. Then, Lao Tzu tells us the worst situation of people:

“People who do not respect the teacher, nor value their material,

though they seem clever, they are in great bewilderment.”

    The worst situation for people is that they cannot see any goodness among people and they also cannot learn to avoid from having the same defects of other people. They think they are the best, infallible, nothing wrong they can do. Although they may look very clever and smart, for Lao Tzu they are greatly bewildered. What Lao Tzu wants to tell us is that we should not have likes and dislikes of people. We do not need to love and hate when dealing with people because everyone can have merits and demerits only to what extent we know. We value the experience with different people and see the Truth. Do not praise people too much. Also do not find faults with people with hatred or contempt. Value all of them as lessons to make us grow better and live better.

“This is called the subtlest wonder.”