Tao Te Ching, Ch 33

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

 Chapter 33

Those who know others are wise.

Those who know themselves are wiser.

Those who overcome others are strong.

Those who overcome themselves are stronger.

Those who know contentment are rich.

Those who proceed strongly have will-power.

Those who do not lose their base will endure.

Those who die but do not perish are ever-lasting.

Review

“Those who die but do not perish are ever-lasting.”

    In this Chapter,  theTao Te Ching tells us the aim of spiritual life, i.e “those who die but do not perish”. Our body definitely will die one day. Then, who is the ever-lasting? How can people die but do not perish? In Hindu scriptures we know that we all have an eternal soul inside every one of us which is called “Atma” in the Upanisad-s. “Atma” is a Sanskrit word. The translation can be “the Self” or “the Supreme Self”. It is the eternity inside us. Our life force comes forth because of the existence of the Self. Otherwise, our body is a dead body without the Self inside. When the Self with the life breath goes away, we are dead. Everyone says someone is dead when he or she has no breathing and no heart beating, a dead body only. Then the body will decay soon.

    Most people do not know their Supreme Self inside them. They only identify themselves as the body of some characters and deeds. This body is the identification of our limited ego, I am so on and so on… When people die, everything is gone. However, Hindus scriptures tell us that our eternal soul will keep on the journey of birth and death like a wheel rolling ceaselessly which is called in Sanskrit, “samsara”, i.e. transmigration. However, we forget in each birth what our soul experienced in the past life with the past body. This life journey can be upward or downward by entering into different forms of existence. Without knowing our Real Self as our real identity, our life is in vain only experiencing birth and death. The ultimate aim of our life is to realize our real life, the Supreme Self with divine nature totally different from the bodily identification. All the religious faiths aim at this spiritual life, which is real and ever-lasting. It is the highest goal of life to know our real identity, to go beyond the body, and this world.

    This world is like a dream with dream-like qualities. Whatever happens, it comes and goes. Everything in this world is ever changing without any stability. Our body is changing from childhood, to adulthood and finally to old age. The real unchanging is our Supreme Self only. The main theme of the Upanisad-s is “Self-realization”. It tells us there is the Supreme Self in every being which every being does not know. To know this Supreme Self in us, our goal is attained. There will be no more we need to attain. In one of the oldest Upanisad-s, it says:

    “He who dwells in all beings, yet is within all beings, whom no beings know, whose body is all beings, who controls all beings from within, he is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal.” (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad III.7.15)

    To realize our Real Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal, is our ultimate aim of life. Once we can attain, we will realize that we die but do not perish. We become the immortal, the ever-lasting. This awareness does not need any external recognition by anyone. It is not any fame or honor, nor any worldly achievements for anyone to take a certificate of approval, which is what Lao Tzu says here with the deepest sense:

“Those who die but do not perish are ever-lasting.”

        This is Self-realization. This is the main theme of this Chapter, thus Lao Tzu starts with:

“Those who know others are wise.

Those who know themselves are wiser.”

    Many people do not know other people. They only think they know by their own imagination and false perception. They may be wrong but they do not know. It is much wiser for people to understand other people when approaching them, and also know what other people think about them. However, no matter how much we know about other people, what we should know first is to know ourselves. Without knowing ourselves, we get lost in all senses. What is the goodness of doing anything without fully understand what we want? Thus Lao Tzu says those who know themselves are wiser than those who know others. If we lose ourselves, we lose everything. If we know ourselves, we know what we should do. Then Lao Tzu says further:

“Those who overcome others are strong.

Those who overcome themselves are stronger.”

    We must know ourselves first. Then we can start doing what is good for us. We all have the duty to look after ourselves. Then we can go forward to deal with other people. We all need to have self control. We need to overcome ourselves first before overcoming other people. It is much worth to overcome ourselves to make us progress in life than overcoming other people without controlling ourselves. Prophet Muhammad teaches us the same:

    “The strong is not he who overcomes the people with his power, but the strong is he who controls himself while being in anger.” (Bukhari, VII, #6114)

    Our ultimate aim is inside of us. To attain the ultimate goal of life is much stronger than attaining any pride and vanity in life. In Hindu culture, yoga is the art of self-control in life. The one who practices yoga is called yogi. In the Yoga Sutra, an ancient Hindu scripture, tells the practice of yoga with division of eight paths. The first two paths tell us what a yogi should not do and should do. A yogi must be contented in simple living without any greed. This contentment is a spiritual attainment. They are contented because they always have peace within which no one can take it away. This spiritual contentment makes them free from the worries of lacking anything, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Those who know contentment are rich.”

    No matter how much material prosperity we have, we are not actually rich in spiritual sense. Without spiritual attainment, we are poor within though outwardly we can have a lot of money. Without contentment, people want to accumulate more and more wealth which shows that they are poor within. What we need to accumulate is the spiritual assets which make us have peace and contentment. This is the spiritual attainment we need to strive hard for. To be contented with simple life without material craving is repeatedly told in the Tao Te Ching:

“The five colours make man’s eyes blind;

The five sounds make his ears deaf;

The five tastes injure his mouth;

Riding and hunting make one wild in the heart.

Goods hard to obtain make one behave wrongly.”

(Chapter 12)

“People must have something they should follow:

Show plainness, embrace simplicity;

Have little thought of themselves and as few desires as possible…”

(Chapter 19)

“Knowing contentment,

You will suffer no disgrace.”

(Chapter 44)

“There is no disaster greater than being insatiable.

There is no fault greater than desiring.

Hence in being contented, 

one will always have enough.”

(Chapter 46)

    How can we attain peace and contentment? It is by the will power with strong base, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Those who proceed strongly have will-power.

Those who do not lose their base will endure.”

    We all must have strong will power to uphold the Truth as our strong base. We should never forget our base. With strong foundation, we can go upward to achieve higher and higher. We can endure if we have the strong base. Those who lose their base will perish soon.

    In a conclusion, Lao Tzu tells us that we should have five virtues in order to attain the supreme goal. These five virtues are: to be wise, to be strong, to be rich, to have will power and to have endurance. Then ultimately we will attain our Self-realization to become ever-lasting. It is the Self-journey, no course and no certificate. It is you yourself who realize.