Tao Te Ching, Ch 68

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

Chapter 68

The one who excels as a warrior does not appear warlike;

The one who excels in fighting is never roused in anger.

The one who excels in defeating his enemy does not contend.

The one who excels in employing others humbles himself before them.

This is known as the virtue of non-contention.

This is known as making use of the efforts of others.

This is known as matching the sublimity of the Heaven.

Review

   The Truth in the Tao Te Ching can be beneficial to all aspects of our life. We all need the Truth as the guidance in all aspects. The rulers need the Truth to rule the country well. The warriors need the Truth to lead their war for victory and bring good results in return. Unlike many people in Buddhism who uphold non-violence in whatever situations, Lao Tzu does not deny the rightful use of warfare. He tells us how we should behave in a war to uphold the Truth which can be beneficial to all. Lao Tzu tells us to be gentle and humble, but he does not mean that we should allow people to bully us and do wrong to us.

 

Warfare is a means can be used in need. In the previous Chapters, Lao Tzu has told us the principles of warfare in accordance with the Truth. The Quran also tells us how to act in the warfare in order to uphold the righteousness the same as told in the Tao Te Ching. The oppressed ones should fight back in the war if they have no other choice for releasing themselves from cruelty. Prophet Muhammad shows us the best model of acting in the warfare for upholding the Truth, the righteousness, which is the same principle told in the Tao Te Ching.

 

Here in this Chapter, Lao Tzu tells us again how an excellent warrior should behave. We all can be the excellent warrior coping with difficult situations like Prophet Muhammad who completed his mission of proclaiming Islam in the Middle East, facing severe attack, violence and persecution, by using minimum counterforce to protect people who chose Islam as their guidance of life. First, Lao Tzu tells us the following three principles:

 

“The one who excels as a warrior does not appear warlike.

The one who excels in fighting is never roused in anger.

The one who excels in defeating his enemy does not contend.”

 

An excellent warrior who can fight very well in war will never pose as a warrior by outward appearance. We can imagine a warrior should be very strong, arrogant and threatening in appearance. Lao Tzu tells us not to do so. We must not be warlike. We must be gentle and mild in order not to provoke any unnecessary conflict with anyone; hence Lao Tzu says he will never be aroused in anger. People who are easily getting angry will do anything harmful which will bring about misfortune only. Sometimes they may be used by evil people to achieve their evil intentions. People who are aroused in anger will behave wrongly and madly by making mistakes to ruin themselves or others. A clear-minded person will never be angry for long. His anger can be subdued in short time and will act rationally.

 

As warfare is the last resort of all means, an excellent warrior will never provoke any competitions with anyone. For Lao Tzu, competitions are not good for people who want to practice the Truth in life. The Truth will never make any competitions with anyone. It is only beneficial to all and let all achieve their goodness in their own way. There is no need to compare with anyone and to make any competitions to outwit anyone. An excellent warrior will avoid from provoking his enemies to attack him. He will defeat his enemies by the misdeeds of his enemies to themselves rather than to him. He will not make himself a target for contention.

 

These three basic principles we should always bear in mind in order to lead a good life in this conflicting world where people are always getting easily to oppose each other to harm each other unnecessarily. Then Lao Tzu tells us the fourth principle how we become the employer to employ other people to make people do good work for us:

 

“The one who excels in employing others humbles himself before them.”

 

Humility is the virtue always told in the whole Tao Te Ching. The sage is humble to act as a model for the whole world to follow. A good ruler should be humble to their people to put his own interest behind the general public. A large country should be humble to the small countries in order to welcome the small countries as cooperative partners. Humility can join people together to be cooperative rather than competitive to each other. Cooperation can bring harmony among people if everyone is humble to each other. They will see their defect and try to correct themselves without feeling hurt or harmed by anyone.

 

The Truth is the justice. The Truth is the righteousness. It is “One” only.  When we all are the One only, how can we make competitions among anyone? There is no competition in the Truth, in the righteousness. All these four principles are highly exalted by Lao Tzu as follows:

 

“This is known as the virtue of non-contention.

This is known as making use of the efforts of others.

This is known as matching the sublimity of the Heaven.”