Tao Te Ching, Ch 71

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

 Chapter 71

He who knows what he did not know originally and

also knows what he does not know is the highest.

He who forgets what he originally knew and

what he does not know but he thinks he knows is sick.

The sage is free from this sickness

because he recognizes this sickness as the sickness.

Only when one recognizes this sickness as the sickness, one can be without sickness.

 

 

 

Review

 

Here in this Chapter Lao Tzu tells us about the concept of “knowing”. The original texts in Chinese are very simplified with only three words in the first phrase, literally means “know not know” (知不知). So, what is meant by the one who knows while does not know? There are two possibilities of meaning here, so do the translated texts tell us:

 

“He who knows what he did not know originally and

Also knows what he does not know is the highest.”

 

The first sentence means a person now knows what he did not know. He now has more knowledge than before. The second sentence means he knows what he does not know. He will not claim what he has no knowledge of. This person is great because he is honest and humble before the knowledge. He will not boast that he knows very much and very well what he does not know. In this way, he knows more than many people who do not know they have no knowledge of many things. This person is of the highest level in spiritually, while most people are sick in their character claiming what they do not know:

 

“He who forgets what he originally knew and

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

 

Actually, the original Chinese texts are also very simplified here with only three words, “not know know” (不知知) which can also imply two possible meanings.  The first implies the meaning that the person who should have known something, while he does not know. He is an ignorant worse than an ordinary person who has known what he should know. The second implies the meaning that he does not know but he wrongly thinks that he knows. After all, these two implications mean that a person who cannot know properly.

 

Lao Tzu describes this person as the sick people who do not know the fact that they do not know but claim that they know very well. They are not honest to the Truth. They are also ignorant to the Truth. There should be no lies, no falsehood in the Truth. A person who is dishonest to himself and to others to boast himself as a knowledgeable person is a sick person. Truthfulness is the quality of the sage who abides in the Truth. He knows himself so well that he sees both the merits and demerits he may have, therefore, he can be always humble and is not arrogant. He has no pride because he does not commit the mistakes of most people who are sick. He knows they are sick in their character; thus, Lao Tzu says:

 

“The sage is free from this sickness

because he recognizes this sickness as the sickness.”

 

If people are blind, they will not know what is wrong with them. They may even boast their demerits as very honorable and being proud of, like some people who bully others thinking that they are very great to have the power to bully other. If people do not know their sickness, how can they intend to cure themselves with the right treatment? Therefore, Lao Tzu says:

 

“Only when one recognizes this sickness as the sickness,

one can be without sickness.”

 

The sage knows what the sickness of people, so he can warn himself to prevent from catching the same sickness. Most people do not know the sickness, so they cannot prevent themselves from catching the sickness. Even worse, they embrace the sickness as something they should be proud of, like a person who imagines he or she is very rich and great without civilized manners acts rudely to people, treating all people as beggars begging anything from him or her.

 

Honestly the writer can tell by observation that the evil of caste system in India make many people sick in character. People tend to imagine they are of high caste to be rude to the people they imagine they are of low caste, in which they have no knowledge of the fact who they are and whom they are going to treat badly. They do not know themselves very well. They also do not know other people. All outward behaviors arise from their wrong imagination which they act wrongly to people. All the sickness in our outward behaviours comes from the wrong perception of knowing for a person who does not know what he should have known and also does not know but thinks he knows.

 

 This sickness is called ignorance which makes people blind to the Truth. The idea of knowing is very important for our spiritual growth. We should know ourselves very well. If we know that we do not know many things, we are closer to the Truth than those who always think that they know everything.