Tao Te Ching Ch 29

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

 Chapter 29

Whoever wants to oversee the world and do anything to it,

I see it cannot be succeeded.

The world is a sacred vessel.

Nothing should be done to it.

No one can take over it.

Whoever does anything to it will ruin it.

Whoever lays hold of it will lose it.

The sage does nothing, so he never ruins anything. *

Also, he does not lay hold of anything, so he loses nothing. *

Hence, things either lead or follow, either breathe gently or hard,

either be strong or be weak, either gain or lose.

Therefore, the sage:

eliminates the extremes, eliminates the competitiveness,

 eliminates the arrogance.

 

*These two lines in italics are the verses in Chapter 64 where traditional commentators deem as wrong insertions as the meaning is not coherent in Chapter 64. They revised that these verses should be inserted here in Chapter 29 which can complete the whole theme here. Our review will follow the revised version.

Review

   

The Tao Te Ching tells us the Truth and the way for spiritual practice not only for individual benevolence but also for the benevolence of the whole world. There are many verses in the Tao Te Ching telling us how the world should be ruled by the Truth instead of the common understanding which only sees the outward appearance of life without knowing the Truth functioning in us. Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us that the world is a sacred vessel which no one should take it as their own possession. Let the Truth rule the world by “the way it is naturally so.” (Chapter 25)

 

“Whoever wants to oversee the world and do anything to it,

I see it cannot be succeeded.

The world is a sacred vessel.

Nothing should be done to it.

No one can take over it.”

 

Who is the real owner of the world? It should be the One who creates the world, who makes the world come into existence. As starting with the First Chapter:

 

“The Non-being is called the beginning of the Heaven and the Earth.

The Being is called the mother of the whole creation.”

(Chapter 1)

 

The Truth is the real creator of the world from non-being into being, from nothing into something. It is only the Truth can keep the world in good functioning and only people abiding in the Truth can live well with the harmony of the whole world. Any individual desires going to extreme, astray from the Truth, will become artificial and harmful to our inherent pure nature bestowed by the Truth. Therefore, Lao Tzu says whoever wants to control the world and take over the world as his private asset can only ruin the world. No one can be successful to change the world according to their individual preference and will. This is exactly what has happened in our history. No empire can change the world and keep it long without destroying the world and the empire will finally get destroyed also.

 

In China, the Cultural Revolution put forth by the communists from 1966 to 1976 which aimed at eradicating the traditional Chinese culture by the substitution of the ruler’s will and preference turned the whole China into disasters bringing suffering only. Nowadays China needs to revive their own traditional culture in order to save the country from calamities of not only material poverty but also spiritual poverty. Nowadays, our whole world is controlled by the Jewish-Christian civilization dominated by the western powers. They control the whole world in all aspects which ruins the whole world. Western culture is highly materialistic without the wisdom from the East. Their religion, based on the formulation by the Roman Empire inevitably with distortions opposite to the Truth described in ancient scriptures, but has been propagated for these several centuries as the only truth that everyone should follow.

 

Deception rules our world in all forms. People become more and more materialistic without spiritual seeking. They are not humble to the Truth but blindly embrace the western values to be permissive to wrong and harmful deeds like over-eating, drinking, gambling and sex without marriage. The material affluence brought by the western culture makes us blind in one eye. We only see the material life, thinking that democracy is God we must strive hard to attain but totally blind in another eye of spirituality denying our Real Supreme Lord in our life. It is all foretold by Prophet Muhammad more than 1400 years ago that our world will be destroyed by the wrong and harmful deeds of all human beings. People only believe in falsehood. They only see the outward appearance of life but no knowledge for the Truth. No one reads the ancient scriptures but only indulges in all sorts of entertainments.

 

This world, as a sacred vessel, has got stained and ruined, not heading for any success. Gone was the history that no emperors could hold their empires for long but now we are facing the greatest deception which has been controlling our world. This is called the Age of Darkness (Kali Yuga) as the last phase of human history heading for destruction told by the ancient Hindus scriptures several thousand years ago. There may be some light in this age of darkness but in majority people go astray. Our world has been highly and quickly polluted by the last hundred years. We are losing our natural way of life not gaining anything, but we do not know, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“Whoever does anything to it will ruin it.

Whoever lays hold of it will lose it.”

 

For Lao Tzu, ideally our world should be ruled by the sages who act only according to the Truth. They do nothing, only let the Truth work. They respect the nature and let the way be naturally so. They do not lay hold of anything, so they never lose anything. It is the wisdom of living and governing the world, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“The sage does nothing, so he never ruins anything.

Also, he does not lay hold of anything, so he loses nothing.”

 

How can the sage do nothing and does not lay hold of anything? Lao Tzu tells us further:

 

“Hence, things either lead or follow, either breathe gently or hard,

either be strong or be weak, either gain or lose.”

 

The sage should understand this world is ever changing and let it be as the way it is. We should not insist on something which is changeable. Someone may lead. Someone may follow. We may lead sometimes and sometimes we should also follow. Sometimes people breathe hard, but they also need to breathe gently to make the balance of life. Sometimes we are strong but sometimes we also need to be weak. We must know when to be strong and when to be weak. Gain and loss are also coming in turns. Never insist on the gain or loss of anyone. Let the Truth function in its own way and gradually harmony can be attained as the equilibrium of living force.

Similarly, as told in Chapter 2, how our world is working:

 

“Thus, being and non-being are born together.

Difficult and easy bring about each other.

Long and short are formed together.

High and low face each other.

Notes and tones harmonize together.

Front and back follow each other.”

(Chapter 2)

 

Similarly, as told in Chapter 2, how should the sage act:

 

“Therefore, the sage does the actionless actions,

conducts the teaching of no words,

facilitates all creatures to arise without showing any authority.

He rears but does not possess.

He serves but does not expect any gratitude.

He succeeds but does not dwell on his success.

Since he does not dwell on his success, his merits will never go away.”

(Chapter 2)

Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us the same Truth, how the sage lives with the life principle of the Truth. They follow the Truth and act without action. How to act without action? The idea is very hard to grasp, so Lao Tzu tells us three principles that we should bear in mind:

 

“Therefore, the sage eliminates the extremes,

eliminates the competitiveness,

eliminates the arrogance.”

 

Firstly, as our roles and situations are ever changing, whatever action we do we must not go to the extremes. We should always stay in the middle path, to be moderate which is closer to the Truth. In the Quran, Allah also tells us that we should not do anything to exceed the limits, which turns to be harmful. Be fair with justice to all people.

 

“Do not transgress: God does not love the transgressors.” (Quran 5:87)

 

Secondly, the sages will never make competitions with anyone. There is no competition in the life of sages, so there is also no winner and loser in their life. Who wins? Who loses? Sages never take any one of them. The harmony of living is that there is no winner and no loser. Everyone holds his potential for better living for self-progress. We are interdependent with each other, not competitive with each other. If all the people are leaders without followers, our world cannot function well. A meal is prepared well by someone, and it also needs someone else to enjoy the meal. We aim at harmony, not competition. It is the way of Tao.

 

Thirdly, we should not be arrogant. We should be humble to the Truth. We should be gentle and kind to all people. Humility is the virtue Lao Tzu always mentions its importance for seeking the Truth and getting progress in us. Arrogance is opposite to the Truth bringing damage only.

 

All these three principles are for upholding the Truth only. Without having extremes, competitiveness and arrogance as the three enemies of the Truth, we can follow the Truth naturally.