The Door of all Wonders:
The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching
by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam
Chapter 58
When
the government is loose, people are simple.
When
the government is severe, people are cunning.
Misfortune
is what fortune depends upon.
Fortune
is where misfortune hides beneath.
Who
knows their limit?
There
is no determined outcome.
The
right changes again into the wrong.
The
good changes again into the evil.
It
has been long since people being confused.
Therefore,
the sage is square-edged but does not pierce.
He has
sharpness but does not scratch.
He
is straightforward but not presumptuous.
He
shines but does not dazzle.
Review
The Tao Te Ching is not only written for
spiritual guidance of individual life, but also practical guidance of social,
economic and political affairs. It can benefit all people in all affairs. Here
in this Chapter, Lao Tzu starts with the verses telling us how the government
should do to benefit people in order to avoid from harming them:
“When
the government is loose, people are simple.
When
the government is severe, people are cunning.”
Simplicity is the ideal life principle for
Lao Tzu. To be simple, people can live in peace and harmony without pain and
sorrow. People do not need to be aggressive to each other. People do not need
to envy or even to take away any belongings of anyone because we all have
simple good life. No one needs to be extremely wealthy but sufficient
provisions for living only. What the government should do is to provide simple
good living environment for people. They should rule the country with integrity
by loose measures in order to set a model for people to be simple and loose to
each other.
This is what an ideal government should be.
To be a small government in a country, people can have much freedom to develop
themselves naturally for mutual benefit. It is the law of nature that people
should have mutual benefit to each other in order to survive better as a whole.
However, if the government is very severe and strict which controls all affairs
of people’s livelihood, people will live totally under the instructions of the
ruling class unnatural to their well-being. How can anyone set all the rules
and regulations in details to suit all different situations of different
people? The Truth embodying as the Virtue is infinite and cannot be restricted
and limited. If people are restricted by endless rules and regulations, they
will become artificial and suffocated without simplicity of living.
It is also why Lao Tzu tells people not to
teach with endless words. The more words people are going to teach people, the
more falsehood they are going to lead people to have. Lao Tzu tells us to be
simple, to live with simplicity, to teach with simplicity and to govern with simplicity.
Then people can be simple dealing with each other. If people tell someone to
avoid doing evil by putting endless examples of evil deeds, it will turn into opposite
way. They are encouraging people to know numerous evil behaviours which people
will never imagine in their life if they have their simplicity of mind and
soul, therefore, Lao Tzu tells us it is dangerous and harmful if we lose our
simplicity by endless and heavy moral teaching.
If the government rules the country with
detailed instructions to avoid doing something, people will become more cunning
with different types of skills to survive better in the restricted and
complicated situations. They will not give mutual benefit to each other but
only to avoid doing any goodness to each other for self-defense or for their
own self-interest. Since people cannot retain their simplicity, they will turn to
be cunning, which is opposite to the Truth, far away from the Truth. Then Lao
Tzu tells us more:
“Misfortune
is what fortune depends upon.
Fortune
is where misfortune hides beneath.”
People all like fortune and dislike
misfortune. They try hard to get fortune and avoid misfortune. However, Lao Tzu
tells us that both fortune and misfortune come and go hand to hand, one by one.
When we are having fortune, sooner or later, misfortune will come to replace
fortune. So do not feel elated when fortune is waving its hands to us. In the
same way, when we are having misfortune, sooner or later, fortune will also
come to replace misfortune. Therefore, we also should not feel too depressed
when we are having misfortune. We should know that this world is ever changing
without stability. Ancient scriptures tell us that our world is not the real
world but world of delusion only. In Hindus religious faith, our world we are living
is made of illusions called “Maya” in Sanskrit. All the pleasures and pains in
this world we are experiencing are the delusions which do not have any
stability and are subject to change like a wheel turning round and round which
can never stay long in a moment. Buddhism borrows the same philosophy from
Hinduism, perceives this world in the same way. This world of delusion without
actual meaning is what Gautama Buddha says, “Everything is pain”. So does the same the Yoga Sutra tell us:
“Because of the sufferings caused by the
changes and anxieties and the samskaras [1] of them, and from the clash
of the gunas [2], to the clear-sighted, everything is pain alone.” (Yoga Sutra 11.15)
The real meaning of life lies on the Truth
only, which leads us to the higher horizon of perception and understanding of
this ever-changing world. In the Quran, Allah gives us the guidance in clear
words:
“Know that the life of this world is but
amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and
competition increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose
(resulting) plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries, and you see it
turned yellow; then it becomes (scattered) debris. And in the Hereafter is
severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the
worldly life except the enjoyment of
delusion.” (Quran 57:20)
This delusion of
worldly life Lao Tzu further elaborates:
“Who
knows their limit?
There
is no determined outcome.
The
right changes again into the wrong.
The
good changes again into the evil.
It
has been long since people being confused.”
In this worldly life, there is no stability
of fortune and misfortune, right and wrong, even good and evil. People can be
right at this moment and turn to be wrong at the next moment. People seem good
at a moment and will turn to be evil, sooner or later, in different situations.
“Who knows their limit?” It is the bewilderment people have in this worldly
life. So, what should we behave? How can we follow the sage to live in this
worldly life? Lao Tzu tells us to be always honest and straightforward like the
sage:
“Therefore,
the sage is square-edged but does not pierce.
He has
sharpness but does not scratch.”
For the sage abiding in the Truth, he is
honest and straightforward without any craftiness to show off or to outwit
anyone. He never tells lies but always keeps his truthfulness. To be truthful
is the unalterable principle of the Truth. Telling lies is harmful to our spiritual
life, however, to be honest and straightforward does not mean that we can harm
anyone by telling the Truth with harsh words. A true sage can tell the Truth to
people without harming anyone. This is the marvel of the Truth which only benefits
people and will never harm anyone. The sage even benefits people by blaming
people with honesty and sincerity, thus Lao Tzu says the sage is “square-edged”
which means to be straightforward without any crookedness.
The sage is not cunning, but he does not
harm anyone with his “square-edged” character because he “does not pierce”. He
will never pierce anyone by his honesty or by harsh words. His harsh words are
different from the cunning and crooked people without knowing the Truth. The “sharpness”
of the sage is the honesty which is different from evil and cunning people in
the way that he does not harm anyone, thus Lao Tzu says the sage “does not
scratch” by his sharpness. How does the sage never harm anyone by his “square-edged”
and “sharpness”? Lao Tzu continues to tell us the reason:
“He
is straightforward but not presumptuous.”
The straightforward character of the sage
is not “presumptuous” which means he will never act to exceed the limit. He
will never be excessive in his words and deeds. In the Quran, Allah tells us
whatever we are doing anything should never exceed its limit. Everything has
its limit we should know and stop doing more. The sage knows when to stop by
his words and deeds, therefore, he will never harm anyone by his honesty and sincerity.
Instead, the sage must have been protected by the Truth in this worldly life full
of crookedness and excessive deeds.
The righteousness of the sage also does
not harm anyone by telling people’s bad deeds. The sage does not want to show
that he is morally better than anyone. He keeps himself ordinary by appearance,
thus Lao Tzu says:
“He
shines but does not dazzle.”
The sage has light shining outwardly but
this light is mild and gentle which does not intend to attract any people. The
sage is not a movie star to shine brightly and strongly to dazzle the eyes of
people. No one will be jealous of the sage’s merits and shining appearance.
This is the maturity of the sage not to seek any attention of anyone. He is
always keeping himself gentle and mild.
This is the highest spiritual attainment
people can have which Lao Tzu tells us in the whole Tao Te Ching. If good
people still have intention to shine brightly to impress people to seek any
recognition from anyone, they are not reaching the highest stage of spiritual
attainment. They need more time to grow and to be mature enough to hide their
brightness and sharpness in the proper way.
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