Tao Te Ching, Ch 81

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna Chor-kok Lam 

Chapter 81

Truthful words are not beautiful.

Beautiful words are not truthful.

Those who are good do not debate.

Those who debate are not good.

Those who know the Truth never show they have wide learning.

Those who show they have wide learning do not know the Truth.

The sages do not accumulate.

The more they assist others, the more they gain.

The more they give others, the more they possess.

The Truth of Heaven benefits and does not harm.

The Truth of sages assists and does not contend.

 

 

Review

 

This is the last Chapter of the Tao Te Ching. There are totally 81 Chapters in the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching is one of the earliest scriptures in China. The most ancient scripture in China is the Yi Ching. The word, Yi, in Chinese, means “changing” or “simple”. The Yi Ching is the most ancient Chinese scripture telling us the ever-changing and simple rules of our world, how we should react and behave in different situations of our life. The Yi Ching is a book for divinations. There are totally 64 hexagrams in the Yi Ching. The even number 8 times 8 is 64; therefore, there are 64 hexagrams in the Yi Ching. From number 8, we go higher to number 9. In the Yi Ching, number 9 means the highest stage we can attain, therefore, number 9 is the symbol for the greatest emperor. The Yi Ching tells us the rules and principles of this world with even number of divinations for the whole book. The Tao Te Ching tells us the Truth, the Eternal Truth, with the odd number 9 times 9, resulting in 81 Chapters. Therefore, the Tao Te Ching is the forwarding step. From the Yi Ching, knowing the basic rules of the world, we go to the Tao Te Ching, knowing the Eternal Truth which has created this world.

 

In the Tao Te Ching, the Truth is the One only, therefore, odd number is used to signify the Truth as there are 81 Chapters in the Tao Te Ching. In Islamic faith, Allah is also the One only. His name is “Ahad” in Arabic, the only One and indivisible One. There are totally 99 names of Allah mentioned in the Quran and conveyed by Prophet Muhammad. For the number 99 is also the odd number, where 100 minus 1, it equals 99. Prophet Muhammad tells us that the names of Allah should be in odd number because Allah is the One only, without the second or any pairs.

 

In the Quran, Allah tells us that He creates every being in pairs, with male and female (i.e., Yang and Yin in the Tao Te Ching) while He Himself is the single, neither male nor female. The Tao Te Ching tells us that the Truth, Tao, is the One only, while in the Quran, Allah also tells us that He is the One only. Both scriptures use the odd number to signify the Truth. In ancient Hindu scriptures, like the Upanishads and the Yoga Sutra, the highest stage of spirituality is alone-ness, being alone, without any companion, which also means the One only.

 

Here in this last Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us how the Truth is expressed for us. The first is as follows:

 

“Truthful words are not beautiful.

Beautiful words are not truthful.”

 

Beautiful words are the outward appearance only which cannot last long.  The ever-lasting Truth is the unspeakable, which is inward us, i.e., our actual spiritual stage inward us. The beautiful words are the flowers only, while the fruit is the Truth perceived inward us. We should take the fruit and discard the outward flowery embellishment. The Truth is simple and plain, without any coloring and decoration, as Lao Tzu tells us in the previous Chapter:

 

“The Truth (Tao) in its passage through the mouth is without flavor.

Look at it, it cannot be seen.

Listen to it, it cannot be heard.

Use it, it cannot be exhausted.”

(Chapter 35)

 

Truthful words can be very plain and simple, no need of any decoration and artificial manipulation; however, Lao Tzu does not totally reject beautiful words but he only stresses that truthful words are necessary we need to uphold. Only beautiful words without the Truth are harmful to people if people prefer falsehood more than the Truth, thus Lao Tzu says in another Chapter:

 

“Beautiful words when offered will win respect in return.

Beautiful deeds can upgrade a man above others.”

(Chapter 62)

 

Therefore, the best way to communicate with people is truthful and beautiful words, but if we can only use either one to communicate with people, we should use plain and simple words but truthful. Then Lao Tzu tells us the second way of expressing the Truth:

 

“Those who are good do not debate.

Those who debate are not good.”

 

As Lao Tzu tells us in the beginning of the Tao Te Ching, the Eternal Truth and the Eternal Name are unspeakable, then how can we know the Truth by debating? To debate on something is to clarify our understanding and eliminate falsehood, but it cannot help us to know the Truth. We should only debate a little bit, then stop debating anymore. The Truth is silent inward us, which we should keep our mind restful and do not react outwardly. Then the light of the Truth will shine forth gradually, therefore, all spiritual practices require us to meditate silently to keep our mind at rest. The more we keep on expressing and debating, the more we will go out from our inner light, and we will get lost with argumentative views and ideas, thus Lao Tzu advises us in the previous Chapter:

 

“Too many words hasten failure.

Better hold fast to the emptiness.”

(Chapter 5)

 

 

The Truth, like space, is emptiness. Only when we devoid of everything in us, we can see the Truth, the light inward us. Then Lao Tzu tells us the third:

 

“Those who know the Truth never show they have wide learning.

Those who show they have wide learning do not know the Truth.”

 

Throughout the whole Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu always tells us not to show off, not to act with pomp and show, not to care for the outward honor and fame, but only act with truthfulness and simplicity. We should resign our post if we have completed our task, never grasping the power and authority. How many rulers in the world can know this Truth and can put it in practice? If so, many wars, cruelties, calamities and conflicts can be avoided.

 

Those who really know the Truth will never show off their wide learning in whatever aspects because they know very well that all the wide learning is not the Truth. Those who think that all the wide learning is the Truth do not know the Truth, thus Lao Tzu tells us in the previous Chapter:

 

“A man who thinks he has foreknowledge is

the flowery embellishment of the Truth and the beginning of folly.”

(Chapter 38)

 

Lao Tzu also tells us that those who know that they do not know are closer to the Truth than those who do not know but think they know. Thus, Lao Tzu says in the previous Chapter:

 

“He who knows what he does not know is the highest.

What he does not know but thinks he knows is sick.”

(Chapter 71)

 

In the Upanishad, the most sacred Hindu scripture also tells us the same:

 

“To whomsoever it is not known, to him it is known.

To whomsoever it is known, he does not know.

It is not understood by those who understand it.

It is understood by those who do not understand it” (Kena Upanishad II.3)

 

Therefore, Lao Tzu tells us in the very beginning:

 

“The truth that can be spoken is not the Eternal Truth.

The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.”

(Chapter 1)

 

“Mystery of the Mystery,

The Door of All Wonders”

(Chapter 1)

 

By some scholastic view of the revised version, this Chapter ends with three rules of expressing the Truth, however, the ancient editor of the general version suggested more to give a conclusion about the path of the Heavenly Truth and the sages who act with the Truth, which our review has mentioned in Chapter 77. Now we can go through this final conclusion, as the golden rules, once again, telling us how the Truth acts, how the sages act:

 

“The sages do not accumulate.

The more they assist others, the more they gain.

The more they give others, the more they possess.

The Truth of Heaven benefits and does not harm.

The Truth of sages assists and does not contend.”

 

This is the end of the Tao Te Ching. Here let us end with the following poem which seems dedicated to us:

 

“What should I say, or speak or describe?

Only You Yourself know, O Lord of the Total Wonder.

Nanak takes the Support of the Door of the One God.

There, at the True Door, the Gurmukhs sustain themselves.”

(By Guru Nanak in SGGS, 355) [1]

 

 

 

Note:

 [1] See note [4] in Chapter 1. Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was the First Guru  in Sikhi. The word, “Gurmukhs”, means the people who attain liberation, the highest in spirituality, by the teaching of the Guru of the Truth, not by their own ego.

 

 

 

The End of the Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

 

 

 

May the Lord, the Heavenly Truth,  bestow upon  us 

by reading this Commentary 

the virtues of  Truthfulness,

Simplicity and Compassion!

                                                                                    

 

 

 

OM, AMEEN

Tao Te Ching, Ch 80

The Door of all Wonders:

 The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam 

Chapter 80

Reduce the size and population of the state.

Ensure that even though people have different kinds of tools, 

they will not use them.

Ensure also that people will not move to distant places

because they look on death seriously.

Even though they have ships and carts, 

they will have no use for them.

Even though they have armour and weapons,

 they will not make a show of them.

Let people return to the use of the knotted rope.

Let them find relish in their food and beauty in their clothes.

Let them be contented in their abode and be happy in the way they live.

Those adjoining states are within sight of one another,

and the sounds of dogs barking and cocks crowing

in one state can be heard in another,

yet people of one state will grow old and die

without having had any dealings with people of another state.

Review

    Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us his ideal country for people. It need not be a big country with large population. On the contrary, Lao Tzu thinks that a small country with small population is ideal for people to live, therefore, he begins with the following:

“Reduce the size and population of the state.”

    An ideal country for people need not be large in area and population. What we need is simple and carefree life. To make our life simple, we do not need many belongings, entertainments and social interactions with different people. We should lessen all these to make more time and space for us to enjoy our life with proper working and resting. To live in a large country with big cities, our life will become hustle and bustle with a lot of variations of eating, drinking, clothing, working, entertaining and social interaction. People in the modern society have got lost easily in the glamour of the city life. They do not have much time and space to stay quietly contemplating on their inner life. They also do not have much chance to enjoy the beauty of the nature because the natural environment has been exploited for construction of different buildings, facilities and artificial decorations. People themselves become artificial and unnatural. They do not know what their pure nature should be. To live in a small state, our life will turn to be simple, which is friendly to our pure nature. Then Lao Tzu further elaborates how this small state should be:

“Ensure that even though people have different kinds of tools,

they will not use them.”

    To make our life simple, we do not need many different kinds of tools and devices to deal with our chore, and we also do not need many entertainments and recreations. Our time is short in a day, we should live with simplicity. Do not bother our life too much with complex of different work and activities.

“Ensure also that people will not move to distant places

because they look on death seriously.”

    We also do not need to travel long distance to move to another country to earn our living if we can have a simple livelihood with the nature. If people can enjoy their homeland so much, they do not want to take the risk of going out to other countries to settle their new life. They cherish their life so much in their homeland. They look on death seriously, so they do not want to migrate to the strange place. In the ancient China, people usually migrated to other places for livelihood because they suffered very hard in their homeland like famine or great oppression from the authority. Then Lao Tzu further elaborates:

“Even though they have ships and carts, they will have no use for them.”

    Imperialism started when the western powers could travel far away to different corners of the world to start war and exploit people, to colonize different countries making them end up with poverty and underdevelopment, which is the reason Lao Tzu tells everyone to return to their simple living. Do not covet other people’s belongings. People will not rob and steal if they are contented with what they have. They even do not need to have ships and carts to travel on land and by sea. Let all these transportation means useless if we do not need to travel long distance.

“Even though they have armour and weapons,

they will not make a show of them.”

    We also do not need to start war against anyone to rob and exploit. If we are all living in different small states, what is the need of showing off the armour and weapons? They are only useful for big countries to manifest its power. If all people are contented with simple life, then what is the need to fight against each other to retain their power and authority? All these weapons and armour are useless. Then people will have more time and natural resources to improve their life rather than wasting all the resources to prepare for wars to steal and rob and exploit.

    Just if people can enjoy their simplicity, warfare will be gone. If our world can use our resources to help people improve their livelihood instead of having large expenditures on weapons and war preparation, there will be no more hunger, thirst, homeless and poverty in our world. However, our real situation is that many countries in our world have made incredibly large expenditures on arm force every year; therefore, Lao Tzu tells us the ideal country for people when we all return to our simplest life:

“Let people return to the use of the knotted rope.”

    This is the simplest way of life in China when people only used knotted rope to assist them to record their livelihood. At that time, the primitive people even did not have pen and paper to record their life. This is the way of primitive life which Lao Tzu wants to give us a great impact of his words on the importance of simplicity.

    Lao Tzu is a great philosopher on humanitarianism. He does not mean that we all should live like animals in the forest. He just reminds us to live in a civilized way with simplicity, the way where everyone can have sufficient provisions without greed, worries and conflicts, thus Lao Tzu says:

“Let them find relish in their food and beauty in their clothes.

Let them be contented in their abode and be happy in the way they live.”

    What Lao Tzu appreciates is the small rich country where every resident can live well with food, clothing and customs. We can see many countries in our world have used large resources for fighting each other or making rich people much richer instead of making sure that everyone can meet their basic needs. To return to our simplicity, we do not need to travel abroad and we also do not need to start war with other countries. Let every small country be contented with what their natural environment nourishes them in the form of their culture and customs. Our world before imperialism started by the western powers was much more in peace without large-scale of warfare. Taking the example of China, how a country was exploited by many western powers including Japan and finally ended up with the Second World War and extreme poverty of the majority.

    For more than 2500 years ago, Lao Tzu foresaw the evil of countries interacting with each other for robbing and exploitation by industrial revolution, imperialism and colonization from 18th century to 20th century. Therefore, Lao Tzu shows us another picture how small countries should be contented with their own life and resources without any greed and even curiosity to interact with each other. People of different countries do not intend to know each other no matter they are far or near. Here Lao Tzu tries to give us the impact of his words by exaggerated expression:

“Those adjoining states are within sight of one another,

and the sounds of dogs barking and cocks crowing

in one state can be heard in another,

yet the people of one state will grow old and die

without having had any dealings with people of another state.”

Tao Te Ching, Ch 79

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

 Chapter 79

After settling a great enmity between two persons,

there must be remaining resentment.

Do good to a person who has done you an injury, *

how can this be considered perfect?

Therefore, the sage takes the left-hand tally**

but does not demand any payment from the people.

The man of virtue takes charge of the tally.

The man of no virtue takes charge of taxation.

The Truth of Heaven shows no favouritism.

It is forever on the side of good people.

 

*This verse in Italic is placed in Chapter 63, while many commentators suggest that this verse should be placed here for making the meaning in this Chapter much clearer. Our review will follow the revised version including this inserted verse.

 **the left-hand tally: the half part of the contract held by the creditor, as a proof of the debt. In ancient China, the proof of the debt was carved on a piece of wood or bamboo which then was divided into the left half and the right half. The creditor would keep the left half of the proof, while the debtor would keep the right half.

 

 

 

Review

 

In this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us how to deal with the enmity between two persons. In the previous Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us not to take the retaliated action by ourselves though we have been wronged. The reason is by doing so we will easily hurt ourselves as we are not the experts doing the retaliated action:

 

“There is a regular executioner whose charge is to kill.

To kill on behalf of the executioner is what is described

as chopping wood on behalf of the master carpenter.

To chop wood on behalf of the master carpenter,

there are none who can escape hurting their own hands instead.”

(Chapter 74)

 

Then who is the “regular executioner” that we can trust to uphold the righteousness among people without faults? We human cannot avoid making mistakes but the Heavenly Truth, Tao, does not have any mistake. It is the Heavenly Truth acting as the regular executioner to reward our deeds. This is the law of karma which calculates and rewards our action accurately. This law of karma is the law of cause and effect. Our every action in thought, in speech and in the body is a cause for the future reward, i.e., the effect. Karma in Sanskrit means “action” or “work”. All our work acts like a seed which will sprout and grow. This law of karma is the core teaching in Hinduism. We should do good work for having good returns while bad return will come if we do wrong and bad. It is an accumulated effect like a chain tying us tightly.

 

Who does this calculation? In the Quran, Allah says He does this accounting work the best. In the Tao Te Ching, Allah is the Heavenly Truth doing this accounting work for everyone:

 

“The Truth of Heaven excels in overcoming though it does not contend,

in responding though it does not speak,

in attracting though it does not summon,

in planning though it appears slack.”

(Chapter 73)

 

The same as in the Quran, the Heavenly Truth will not make any mistakes, any addition or omission in this rewarding system:

 

“The net of Heaven is cast wide.

Though it is loose, yet nothing ever slips through.” 

(Chapter 73)

If the Heavenly Truth can do the rewarding work with perfection, then how can we settle the enmity between two persons? Some teaching tells us that we should do goodness to the person who has injured us, but Lao Tzu questions about it:

 

“After settling a great enmity between two persons,

there must be remaining resentment.

Do good to a person who has done you an injury,

how can this be considered perfect?”

 

This similar question was asked also in “Analects”, the narration of the words of Confucius when dealing with different people. A person asked Confucius to comment about the teaching to tell people to do benevolence to the one who injured us. Confucius asked the person how to reward to those who do benefit to us:

 

 “How can we do benevolence to both those who do harm to us and those who do benefit to us? Can we treat them the same? Is it fair to do so?”

 

 The person was in doubt. Then Confucius says that we should do righteousness to the one who injured us but should do benevolence to the one who did benefit to us. In this way, we can treat people fairly.

         Although Lao Tzu does not give us the answer here as the same as Confucius tells us, they are very close to each other. Both think that doing benevolence to the one who injured us may lead to some defects like unfairness among people. The “remaining resentment” is resulted due to the unfair treatment among people. Therefore, Lao Tzu says:

 

“After settling a great enmity between two persons,

there must be remaining resentment.”

 

Lao Tzu tells us the question further that if we cannot do any rightful action to the one who injured us, then what should we do? There is no doubt that we should forgive people, but it does not mean that we should endure unrighteousness and harmful deeds as something righteousness and beneficial. To forgive is our attitude to eliminate hatred to people but it does not mean that we accept the wrongdoing, returning the good deeds and the bad deeds as the same. This is the point questioned by both Confucius and Lao Tzu. To eliminate remaining resentment, we should uphold the righteousness among people without faults. Who can do so? It is only the Heavenly Truth can do.

 

We should hand over our burden to the Heavenly Truth to do righteousness for us. Here Lao Tzu tells us about two types of people, the sages and the ordinary people, how they treat their debt. First, Lao Tzu tells us how the sages act:

 

“Therefore, the sage takes the left-hand tally

but does not demand any payment from the people.”

 

The left-hand tally was a piece of certified wood or bamboo noting the debt. The creditor could demand the debtor to return the money. In the traditional Chinese society, this left-hand tally was held usually in gentle way to allow the debtor with difficulty to delay the payment. Unlike taxation in the ancient Chinese society, the creditor with the left-hand tally would not use violence to enforce the payment. The taxation system was much more severe. The tax collectors would use violence to oppress people to give the tax required by the emperors. Those who failed to give the required amount of tax would be punished and imprisoned for doing hard work; therefore, Lao Tzu tells us that we should follow the man of virtue rather than the man of no virtue:

 

“The man of virtue takes charge of the tally.

The man of no virtue takes charge of taxation.”

 

We should act like the man of virtue to forgive and let the Heavenly Truth do the rightful action if we cannot get the return from the debtor. We should treat our debt as taking charge of the tally. Let the Heavenly Truth do the work undone. We should not act like the man of no virtue treating people as taking charge of taxation. We may harm ourselves or other people by enforcing our demand to people. Then more grievance and resentment among people may result which is opposite to the way the Truth acts. The Heavenly Truth can do the best because:

 

“The Truth of Heaven shows no favouritism.

It is forever on the side of good people.”

 

We human may easily have special favour to some people, and neglect some people, hence corruption may happen easily, however, there is no corruption in the Heavenly Truth. “It is forever on the side of good people”. What we need is to do good deeds. We do not need to fear to be treated unfairly by the Heavenly Truth, the best and the final judge. We must have this faith as strong conviction in our life; then we can release and hand over our burden to the Heavenly Truth with ease.

 

 

Tao Te Ching, Ch 78

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam 

Chapter 78

Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water.

Yet nothing is better than water to overcome the hard and strong.

It is because nothing can replace water.

That the weak overcomes the strong, 

the soft overcomes the hard,

everyone in the world knows, 

yet no one can put into practice.

Therefore, the sage says,

“The one who takes on himself the humiliation of the state

is worthy of being the Ruler.

The one who takes on himself the calamity of the state

is worthy of being the King of the world.”

The truthful words seem to be opposite.

Review

   

In many Chapters of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu always remains us that to be soft, mild and gentle is more powerful than to be hard and strong. This mild and gentle power can endure long, while the strong and hard power cannot last long, only bursting powerfully in limited and short duration, like the weather of typhoon and torrential rain:

 

“Thus, strong wind cannot last all morning.

Sudden downpour cannot last all day.

Who makes this so?

The Heaven and the Earth.

Even the Heaven and the Earth cannot be long-lasting.

How can human be?”

(Chapter 23)

 

Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu keeps on telling us the power of being soft and weak, like water, which seems the softest and weakest, but its power can be unbelievable. In the Tao Te Ching, water is always used to resemble the Truth. The Heavenly Truth is as soft as water but very powerful, far more powerful than being hard and strong. Here Lao Tzu tells us once again:

 

“Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water.

Yet nothing is better than water to overcome the hard and strong.”

 

Water is essential for all living creatures. Without water, no one can survive. We all need water to nourish our life. Water can overcome the hard and strong. Yet water is very soft and gentle. It is because no power is possible without water. How can a person act with strong and hard power if he does not have water? His life is endangered, how can he be strong? Thus, Lao Tzu tells us the reason why water, though seems to be soft and weak, can overcome the hard and strong:

 

“It is because nothing can replace water.”

 

Can people live without water? Can people find anything to replace water? The answer is “no” only. Then we can see how the soft and weak can be very powerful in the way if we know how to make use of it. The soft power is more enduring than the strong and threatening power. It makes people follow us without using arm force to kill and harm. We can see this Truth in our Chinese History. Those dynasties which used gentle power to rule the people could last longer than those dynasties which used harsh and oppressive power to rule the people. The harder the empire to rule the people, the rebellious force would be harder and harder.

 

This Truth seems very easy for people to understand. People will take off their clothes by themselves if they feel very hot in strong sunlight while they will keep their clothes tightly when facing strong wind. The strong wind cannot enforce people to take off their clothes by themselves while the sunlight can do it with ease. Though we all know this Truth, people can seldom practice it. We tend to use strong and hard power to command to make people submissive to us, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“That the weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard,

everyone in the world knows, yet no one can put into practice.”

 

Lao Tzu is a great philosopher who tells the world to use the soft and mild power rather than using the hard and strong power. He tells us to let people develop themselves in the healthy environment without being disturbed and harmed. However, many times in our human world, those who have power tend to be harsh to their people while those who do not have power tend to be weak and submissive. Both act without knowing the Truth. For Lao Tzu, there should not be anyone who is going to oppress and be oppressed. To oppress and to be oppressed are both opposite to the way the Truth acts.

 

It is why throughout the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu always tells the ruling class with power and wealth to be soft, mild, gentle and humble, rather than only telling the general public to be soft and weak. The more powerful you are, the more you should be humble, which is the advice Lao Tzu tells us all the time. We can set a model for people to follow the virtues of truthfulness and simplicity if we are on the top level of the society. Then our society will be in harmony. The strong will not oppress the weak while the weak can be well-cared to uplift themselves. It is the duty of the ruling class to use the mild and gentle power to look after their people rather than oppressing them for their own benefit, thus Lao Tzu says in the following:

 

“Therefore, the sage says,

“The one who takes on himself the humiliation of the state

 is worthy of being the Ruler.

 The one who takes on himself the calamity of the state

is worthy of being the King of the world.””

 

As the rulers and kings who have more power and resources than anyone, they should take their duty to be beneficial to their people, therefore, Lao Tzu says that they should take on the humiliation of the state and also the calamity of the state. They should act to solve this humiliation and calamity instead of doing nothing to enjoy with luxurious and comfortable life. The humiliation and calamity of their people is their own humiliation and calamity that they should try hard to tackle which is the real duty they should do well. Those rulers and kings who can work to be beneficial to their people, their countries can last long with peace and harmony because they have the Truth, acting with humanity.

 

However, in our actual world, people turn to the opposite way. Those rulers who have power and resources will keep their vested interest strong and neglect the hardship of the grass roots. They live in the five-star-hotels or even more luxurious palaces and castles while the poor people in their own country cannot live and eat well at the minimum level. They receive the tax from their people every year to accumulate their wealth while they do nothing to improve the basic need of their people. Ironically, we all think it should be alright as the noble class should be treated with all care while the low class should be neglected. We will bow down to the noble class who eat well and dress nicely while we should look down upon the poor people who can only beg. This is the picture I saw every time I was in India, the only underdeveloped country I visited the most. But I saw the same situation in African countries also by reading, how the rich people eat a meal in a restaurant cost far more than the amount of the whole-year salaries of poor people. Ironically, we human take this situation as normal, thus Lao Tzu says:

 

“The truthful words seem to be opposite.”

 

How can people appreciate what Lao Tzu tells us here if “the truthful words seem to be opposite”? Our rulers should enjoy the best while the grass roots can live without care. This is our perception. Would you think the rulers should be humble themselves to serve the public as all the time advocated in the Tao Te Ching? Prophet Muhammad is the sage that ruled his people with the virtues of the Tao Te Ching. Unlike other very well-known sages in different religions such as Jesus and Buddha, Prophet Muhammad did rule his people in the Arabic Peninsular dealing with both secular and religious affairs.

 

     Among all the messengers of Allah, Prophet Muhammad was the Last Prophet from Allah who gave us the Quran, the direct revelation from Allah. The life and teaching of Prophet Muhammad had been clearly recorded in detail, so that we can appreciate and learn from Prophet Muhammad as the clear and detailed guidance in our life. Prophet Muhammad was a perfect model for us to follow in various roles. He was not a monk, but he told us the truth by living his life not only by words more than a monk can do. He was a perfect father, son, husband, brother, relative, friend, master, spiritual teacher, social reformer, political leader, spiritual leader, devotee of Allah and ascetic. Prophet Muhammad could make himself as God for people to worship as he had attained much more favourable conditions to do that far more than Jesus and Buddha could have. No! Prophet Muhammad never allowed people to do that. His words and deeds were so truthful and great that He never intended to pretend to be greater than us, like some god or statue for people to worship only.

 

In the Quran, Allah says Prophet Muhammad has a sublime character, a great moral character:

 

“By the pen, and all that they write! By the grace of your Lord, you are not a mad man. Most surely, you will have a never-ending reward, for you are truly of a sublime character.” (Quran 68:1-4)

 

Truly, the more I know about Prophet Muhammad, the more love and respect I have to him. It is not only a personal point of view. Even scholars with conscientious studies, should regard Prophet Muhammad was the real saint who made contribution to mankind ranked the top among all the saints. One of them was the historian, Michael H. Hart, who ranked Prophet Muhammad as the number 1 among all the most influential persons in our world including all the religious founders and saints. In his book, “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History”, he said,

 

“My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels.” 

 

By different narrations of his companions during his lifetime, Prophet Muhammad was well-known as an honest, generous, humble and forgiving person. He lived in modesty without luxury. He cared his people much with great humanity. He respected women more than anyone in his own times even in the whole world that his companions might feel it was not their Arabic culture and tradition to treat women with care and dignity rather than the potential slaves of someone. However, how many people have really followed Prophet Muhammad even among the Muslim countries? In the Islamic history, we can find easily rulers with extreme luxurious living and cruelty of the Muslims to people including Muslim women. Most people follow their cruel and violent instincts taking any religious faith as rituals only. There are so many sages in different religions, but we can find all the crimes and cruelty in different religions even including Buddhism. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu knows it very well. He always expresses about his teaching that:

 

“Everyone in the world knows,

yet no one can put into practice.”

 

The reason behind is:

 

“The truthful words seem to be opposite.”

Tao Te Ching, Ch 77

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

 Chapter 77

Is not the Truth of Heaven like stretching a bow?

The high it presses down.

The low it lifts.

The excessive it takes from.

The deficient it gives to.

It is the Truth of Heaven to take from what has in excess

in order to make good for what is deficient.

The way of man is otherwise.

It takes from those who are lacking

in order to offer more to those who already have more than enough.

Who can take what he himself has in excess and offer this to the world?

Only those who abide in the Truth.

*Therefore, the sages do not accumulate.

The more they assist others, the more they gain.

The more they give others, the more they possess.

The Truth of Heaven benefits and does not harm.

The Truth of sages assists and does not contend.*

Therefore, the sages act without conceit,

accomplish their tasks yet claim no credit.

They do not wish to show off their merits.

 

*Note: The 5 verses in italics are in Chapter 81 in the widely circulated general version of the Tao Te Ching, while commentators suggest those verses should be placed here in Chapter 77 as they are more related in meaning. Here in the review of this Chapter, these extra verses are included for explanation and appreciation in order to make the meaning of this Chapter more complete.

 

 

Review

 

Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us three paths, the path of Heavenly Truth, the path of human beings, and the path of the sages who are abiding in the Truth, the Heavenly Tao. First Lao Tzu tells us the path of Heavenly Truth:

 

“Is not the Truth of Heaven like stretching a bow?

The high it presses down.

The low it lifts.

The excessive it takes from.

The deficient it gives to.”

 

Here Lao Tzu uses a parable to tell us how the Truth of Heaven beneficial to all beings, like stretching a bow, by taking action to make all beings turn into their equilibrium to maintain balance among them. The Truth tells us to possess what we need but not to be excessive or to be deficient. Both the excessive and the deficient in possession of belongings will cause imbalance in us with the environment. This is how the Heavenly Truth will do:

 

“It is the Truth of Heaven to take from what has in excess

in order to make good for what is deficient.”

 

A harmonious society is a society with balance among all people based on righteousness and compassion, which is the Truth of Heaven, therefore, those who have excessive resources should provide their excessive to help those who are deficient. This is the basic principle for governing a country. Our modern affluent society can run well with good taxation and social welfare system which can help those in need to live well. They do not need to steal or rob to harm people when they can improve their livelihood by proper means.

 

The Tao Te Ching tells us those who follow the Truth in their life will be safe and good, while those who do not follow the Truth will be destroyed with calamities caused by their actions. However, our human society, many times, do not follow the Truth of Heaven but the rules made by selfish human beings, i.e., the path of human without abiding by the Truth as Lao Tzu says:

 

“The way of man is otherwise.

It takes from those who are lacking

in order to offer more to those who already have more than enough.”

 

We can see so many examples in our human society how the rich people accumulate their wealth to the large extent while there are many people living in poverty with low salary and hard work. Those who are rich are blind to those who are lacking. They just want to accumulate more and more wealth to ensure their comfortable and luxurious living. It should be the duty of the ruling class to re-distribute the social resources in the way that all people can have the sufficient provisions of living. Otherwise, the government will deem as unrighteous to let the poor and lower class continue to be poor and lower as a rigid boundary among people in the society.

 

However, this is the real picture in many backward countries with a lot of social problem like poverty, high crime rate and pollution. India is a horrible society in this way, how the low caste people are so poor and low while the rich and high caste people even think that they should keep looking down upon the low caste by separating them without any act to help uplift them with the principle of humanity of righteousness and compassion. I see in my experience how the low caste people even copy the high caste people to look down upon other people in the way exactly like a king and queen oppressing the poor grass roots. I see in my experience how the Indians act very nice and kind to the rich people but very rude and harsh to the poor people treating them as beggars and criminals while they are not begging anything or committing crimes. India is only an example. There are many places in our society acting like that. Many times, people tend to be very friendly and good to high class people to let them possess more and more resources in our society but neglect the low-class people. They do not want to uplift the low-class people by keeping them poor all the time. This is the way of man Lao Tzu tells us. Then Lao Tzu asks a question:

 

“Who can take what he himself has in excess and offer this to the world?”

 

Then Lao Tzu tells us the answer:

 

“Only those who abide in the Truth.”

 

The person who has the Truth is the sage called by Lao Tzu. The reason why the traditional commentators of the Tao Te Ching advise to place the following verses in this Chapter to make the elaboration more intact as the following verses tell us the third path, i.e., the path of the sage “who can take what he himself has in excess and offer this to the world”:

 

“Therefore, the sages do not accumulate.

The more they assist others, the more they gain.

The more they give others, the more they possess.

The Truth of Heaven benefits and does not harm.

The Truth of sages assists and does not contend.”

 

This is the Truth Lao Tzu tells us here. The Truth benefits people and does not harm people. Those who harm other will suffer the consequence. In the same way, those who benefit other will also have the good return. This is the law of karma, the cause and effect of our deeds. When we assist others, it turns into the cause like a seed sprouting in the future. So, the more we give, we will take them back in the future. That is the Truth: what we sow and what we heap. We do not know what the result of our present action will be, whether good or bad, only Allah knows the best, but we can know the Truth and act with the Truth. Whether good or bad, they are all temporary. So, we should act according to the Truth, not only considering for the interest and benefit behind. We will not commit crimes to harm people even there are a lot of benefits seen.

 

If we have the Heavenly Truth within us, we can act with it. We will not contend with anyone. We will not compare with anyone. There is no jealousy or envy for the sages who do not want to compare or contend with anyone. Jealousy is an evil instinct which makes people let down other people just because they see people are better than them in some ways. Our society becomes corrupted by selfishness and jealousy among people. When people know the Truth that the more they give, the more they will take back, they will not be selfish anymore. There is no need to act against each other in order to uplift someone and let down someone. We are the One Soul only. What we do, we will get back the consequence of our deeds without missing, as Lao Tzu tells us in the previous Chapter:

 

“The net of Heaven is cast wide.
Though it is loose, yet nothing ever slips through.”

(Chapter 73)

 

As the sages do not want to compare and contend with anyone, how can they have conceit? They embrace the One only. They do not see anyone higher or lower. They will not bow down to the high class and press down the low class. They do not want to show their merits even. They see the Truth only. They identify themselves with the Truth only, thus Lao Tzu ends with the verses telling us the path of the sages:

 

“Therefore, the sages act without conceit,

accomplish their tasks yet claim no credit.

They do not wish to show off their merits.”

 

 

Tao Te Ching, Ch 76

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam 

Chapter 76

A man is supple and soft when alive, 

but hard and stiff when dead.

Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when alive,

but dried and shrivelled when dead.

Thus the hard and strong are the comrades of death;

the supple and soft are the comrades of life.

Therefore, an arrogant army will not win.

A tree that is strong will be cut down.

The hard and strong takes the lower position.

The gentle and weak takes the higher position.

Review

    Throughout the whole Tao Te Ching in many Chapters, Lao Tzu always tells us to be mild and gentle rather than to be strong and hard because:

“The soft and weak will overcome the hard and strong.”

(Chapter 36)

    The Truth, Tao, is always opposite to what most people think to be. Most people think that to be strong and also harsh to people is good for showing their superiority over other people. Then they can excel and even harm anyone whenever they like because they are strong while the other people are weak. Our world becomes corrupted because those who are strong like to oppress those who are weak. They do not respect the value of righteousness and compassion. They only value the strong power to do whatever they like, however, Lao Tzu tells us to have good use of our weakness and gentleness. We must be strong inward us but we must be gentle and mild outward us. To be gentle and mild to people is much beneficial for us as the whole. Here Lao Tzu uses two parables to explain how “the soft and weak will overcome the hard and strong”:

“A man is supple and soft when alive, 

but hard and stiff when dead.”

    For Lao Tzu, to be mild and gentle is the living force purely within us like a new born baby full of pure living energy. All the babies are supple and soft but they are full of life. It is why they are very lovely. However, the old dying men are filthy, stiff and full of death, just opposite to the babies. The babies are at the start of life while the old men are at the end of life approaching to death for decaying. All people like to be close to the babies and dislike to be close to the dying men. We all like pure energy and dislike impurities. In the Gospel of Thomas, Prophet Jesus also tells us the similar idea:

“Jesus said, “The man old in days will not hesitate to ask an infant seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.” (verse 4)

    What is the secret of a new born baby going to tell an old man? The secret is told here by Lao Tzu. The Truth, Tao, is the One, in the Tao Te Ching, and also what Jesus said. The baby, to be soft and supple, is the nearest to the Origin of all beings, the Truth, while the stiff dying man is the farthest away from the living origin. Then Lao Tzu explains with another parable:

“Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when alive,

but dried and shrivelled when dead.”

    Here Lao Tzu tells us to observe the growing of grass and trees, how they are different from the sprout to withering stage. To be soft and mild is the youthful stage of life while to be stiff and hard is the old dying stage, thus Lao Tzu continues:

“Thus the hard and strong are the comrades of death;

the supple and soft are the comrades of life.”

    We should make good use of gentle power to enhance peace and harmony among people, instead of using strong and hard power to oppress and harm people. To be strong and arrogant to people is not a good sign in spirituality. A spiritually powerful people can be mild and gentle to let people be friendly together. It is the soft power. In the Quran, Allah tells us:

    “God wishes to lighten your burdens, for man has been created weak.” (Quran 4:28)

    We human should know our weakness instead of being proud and arrogant. What we cannot do and know is far more than what we can do and know. It is why Lao Tzu always tells us to be humble in order to save us from calamities of life. To be humble and meek is more spiritually mature than to be proud and sharp for outward acquisition. Here Lao Tzu warns us:

“Therefore, an arrogant army will not win.

A tree that is strong will be cut down.”

    In the Quran, Allah tells us what kind of people Allah does not like:

“And do not plead on behalf of those who are dishonest to themselves.

Surely God does not love one who is treacherous and sinful.” (4:107)

“….God does not love the evil-doers.” (5:64)

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

“O Children of Adam, dress yourself properly whenever you are at worship;

and eat and drink but exceed not the bounds:

God does not love those who exceed the bounds.” (7:31)

“God surely knows what they conceal and what they reveal.

He does not love the arrogant.” (16:23)

“Do not exult in your riches, for God does not love the exultant.” (28:76)

“Do not avert your face from people out of haughtiness and do not walk with pride on the earth: for, behold, God does not love arrogant and boastful people.” (31:18)

“….Certainly, God does not guide one who is a transgressor and a liar.” (40:28)

    Those who are hard and strong will easily tend to commit mistakes and sins as mentioned in the Quran and also in the Tao Te Ching. Both are telling us the same Truth we should be alert. Those who act against the Truth will perish like an arrogant army being defeated in a war, like a strong tree being cut down for different purposes. Then Lao Tzu ends with the following conclusion:

“The hard and strong takes the lower position.

The gentle and weak takes the higher position.”

    Here the lower position means spiritually lower near death and perishing. The higher position means spiritually higher near living and immortal. The Truth is eternal. If we can make use of the soft and gentle power within us, we are experiencing the Truth. In this way, spiritually we are at the advanced level for the immortality of our soul rather than staying at the level of the perishable body full of emotions and passions, being hard and strong without knowing the soft and gentle power within us. Prophet Muhammad also teaches the same Truth to His followers. He says:

“The example of a believer is that of a fresh tender plant. From wherever the wind comes, it bends it. But when the wind becomes quiet, it becomes straight again. Similarly, a believer is afflicted with calamities, but he remains patient until Allah removes his difficulties. Otherwise, an impious wicked person is like a pine tree which keeps hard and straight till Allah breaks it down when He wishes.”

(Narrated by Abu’huraira from Bukhari, Vol VII, no5644)