Tao Te Ching, Ch 51

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

Chapter 51

The Truth gives all creatures life.

The Virtue rears them.

Substances give them shape.

Circumstances bring them to maturity.

Therefore, all creatures revere the Truth and honour the Virtue.

Yet the Truth is revered and the Virtue is honoured,

not because this is decreed by any authority,

but because it is natural for them to be treated so.

Thus the Truth gives them life.

The Virtue rears them:

It brings them up and nurses them;

It brings them to fruition and maturity;

It feeds them and shelters them;

It gives them life, yet claims no possession.

It benefits them, yet exacts no gratitude.

It is the steward, yet exercises no authority.

Such is called the Highest Mysterious Virtue.

Review

“The Truth gives all creatures life.”

    How does the Truth give all creatures life? The Tao Te Ching tells us the mystery of creation in the following verses:

“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)

    Here “the non-being” is the origin, the Truth, Tao, the unmanifest, while “the being” is the Virtue, Te, the manifestation of the Truth.

“All creatures in the world are born from Something,

and Something from Nothing.”

(Chapter 40)

    Here “Something” is the “being”, the Virtue, the manifest, while “Nothing” is “the non-being”, the Truth, the unmanifest.

“Tao creates One; One creates Two;Two create Three;

Three create all creatures”

(Chapter 42)

    Tao is the origin, the unmanifest. First, Tao manifests itself as the One. From the One, it further manifests itself as two, i.e. non-being and being, the Truth and the Virtue. From the Two, it further manifests itself as different combinations of three types of attributes in all creatures. (See the review in Chapter 42)

    The Truth is the One, non-being, therefore, it is invisible, without any forms, names and shapes. We cannot see it with our eyes. We cannot hear it with our ears. We cannot touch it with our skin. The Truth is beyond our sense organs. However, when the Truth manifests itself into the being, it further manifests itself into every creature. The manifestation of the Truth is the Virtue which rears all creatures. It is the living force that nourishes all creatures. We live by this vital energy as the life breath in every creature, thus Lao Tzu says:

“The Virtue rears them.”

    The Virtue is the primordial energy, the living force to maintain our life. We are living by the sustenance of this vital power. It is so we live with this vital power and so we die if this vital power leaves our body. Our body is the material matter made of different elements. In Chinese philosophy, these material elements are metal, wood, water, fire and earth. In Indian culture, the five elements are earth, water, fire, air and space. All creatures are made of these five elements as said here also:

“Substances give them shape.

Circumstances bring them to maturity.”

    Here “substances” are the five elements, no matter they refer to the Chinese philosophy or Indian philosophy. Here “circumstances” refer to the different combinations of these five elements and its development according to different situations, i.e. different time and places. All creatures grow from new born into maturity and finally die. This is the complete process for all creatures. All creatures rely on the Truth and the Virtue for existence, thus Lao Tzu tells us:

“Therefore, all creatures revere the Truth and honour the Virtue.”

    It is the summary of the Tao Te Ching for us to know that we all should revere the Truth and honour the Virtue. Our pure nature, if not yet being harmed and polluted, is to revere the Truth and admire all virtuous deeds without anyone telling us to do so. It is our inborn nature to follow the goodness not the evil and harm, otherwise, people were extinct long ago. In the Quran, Allah tells us that all creatures in our nature glorify Allah ceaselessly:

    “The seven heavens and the earth and all who dwell therein glorify Him. There is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise; but you do not understand their glorification. Truly, He is forbearing and most forgiving.” (Quran 17:44)

    The Quran tells us the Truth. The Tao Te Ching also tells us the Truth. The Truth is the One only. Allah is the One only, called “Ahad” in Arabic, i.e. the One. Here Lao Tzu tells us why we all revere the Truth and honor the Virtue. It is not by any compulsion. It is our natural instinct inbuilt, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Yet the Truth is revered and the Virtue is honoured,

not because this is decreed by any authority,

but because it is natural for them to be treated so.”

    To be natural is to follow the right path to the Truth. We will revere the Truth and honor the Virtue. We will have virtues in us naturally if we are not harming ourselves with unnatural tendency turning away from the Truth. In the Quran, Allah tells us to follow the religion of our pure nature which is innate in every one of us. Therefore, Islam is the religion telling us to follow our pure nature created by Allah:

    “Devote yourself single-mindedly to the Religion. And follow the nature as made by God (Allah), that nature in which He has created mankind. There is no altering the creation of God. That is the right religion. But most people do not realize it.”   (Quran 30:30)

    What is Allah doing for us ceaselessly? Allah is the Truth and the Virtue in the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu tells us the answer:

“Thus the Truth gives them life.

The Virtue rears them:

It brings them up and nurses them;

It brings them to fruition and maturity;

It feeds them and shelters them.

It gives them life yet claims no possession.

It benefits them yet exacts no gratitude.”

    One of the names of Allah in Islamic faith told by Prophet Muhammad is “Rahman”, which means “generally merciful” to all beings in Arabic. Allah is Rahman who is generally merciful and compassionate to all creatures without demanding anything from them. Whether the creatures are good or bad, the mercy is with them all the time to rear them, bring them up and nurse them. See the sun, the clouds, the rain, the wind give benefits to all creatures, no matter they do goodness or not. It is only because our Creator is generally merciful to all without demanding anything from all creatures. All the creatures do not need to ask for this mercy but the mercy is always given without any charges and conditions. This is Rahman[1], one of the descriptions of Allah. Rahman does not exercise any authority to reward or punish any creatures by giving or not giving His mercy and His nourishment, hence Lao Tzu says the Virtue is the “steward” supervising all affairs of living but exercises “no authority”, so here Lao Tzu says:

“It is the steward yet exercises no authority.”

    Allah is always giving all of us mercy though we do not realize it. We even are not aware of this mercy. See we breathe air every moment for our existence. We do not think anything special that we can breathe freely with comfort. We do not know the mercy of subsistence behind. It is so natural for us to enjoy the sun, the moon, the sea, the air and the wind, and so on, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Such is called the Highest Mysterious Virtue.”

    Allah is Rahman who has the Highest Mysterious Virtue, as described in the Tao Te Ching. This Virtue we should learn to benefit anyone we even do not intend to do so. Then we will not expect kindness returned. This is the Highest Virtue, no expectation of kindness from anyone. Our kindness is our pure nature only. If we do not expect any kindness from everyone, we will be free from any results of our kindness. Sometimes, people may be kind to us with the same level. Sometimes, it is not. But we do not change our natural character, no matter people return the same kindness to us or not. Then, our virtue, the good nature will be stable and real to us, without double character or any cunningness. 

       This is the Highest Virtue that we should have. This is also the Mysterious Virtue as said by Lao Tzu because our Lord, the Truth, Allah, Rahman, also has this Virtue. We do not know Allah much. What we can know is very little. Therefore, we say it is mysterious. The Truth is mysterious to us. Its revelation in the Quran and in the Tao Te Ching is generally merciful to all of us.

Note:

[1] In Islam, the mercy of Allah has two levels, which are identified by the names “Rahman” and “Rahim”. Rahman is the name meaning generally merciful and compassionate to all beings as explained in the review above. The other name, Rahim means specially merciful and compassionate to those creatures which do good deeds in their life. Allah, as Rahim will be even more merciful to the beings with good deeds and virtues. Allah will reward them more, but this rewarding does not deprive of anything which Allah is generally merciful to all beings. Islam is the religion  revealed by Allah. We know more about our Creator, both as Rahman and Rahmin, by Allah's revelation only.