The Tao of Chuang Tzu

The Tao of Chuang Tzu

Taoism and Confucianism are the two great philosophical traditions of China. While most Westerners trace Taoism to the Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu, Taoism derives at least as much from the philosopher Chuang Tzu, who lived in the 4th Century BC. Both the Tao Te Ching and the Tao of Chuang Tzu are composite texts written and rewritten over centuries with input from multiple anonymous writers. Each has a distinctive style, the Tao Te Ching poetic mysticism, the Tao of Chuang Tzu funny fantasy dialogues. Both texts flow from reflections on the nature of Tao, which was the central issue in Ancient China's philosophical dialogues. Hui Tzu had much influence on Chuang Tzu. Hui Tzu appears more often in dialogue with Chuang Tzu than any other figure, and the stories suggest a long-term philosophical interaction, a relationship between philosophical friends.

Rather than prescribing right action, the Tao of Chuang Tzu is filled with fantasy conversations among diverse individuals including millipedes, convicts, musicians, and the wind. His poetry and parables teach an essential lesson—open-minded receptivity to all the different voices of Tao. Each has insights that might be surprisingly valuable.

Chuang Tzu prefers fishing to high status and political office. Politics has no attraction for Chuang Tzu, because schemers who struggle against the Tao fall into pits that they dig for themselves. This anti-political stance is more than self-preservation. Chuang Tzu's egalitarian perspectives undermine China's Confucian authoritarianism. While Confucians assert that proper order occurs only when a society follows a single Tao, Chuang Tzu suggests that society could function just fine with people following many Tao's.

Chuang Tzu's most dramatic stories link Taoism to Zen—the mysticism of losing oneself in activity, the absorption in a highly cultivated way. His most famous example describes a butcher who carves flesh with the concentration of a dancer immersed in elegantly choreographed performance. We discover our untarnished human-nature by exercising skills with focus that reaches beyond ourselves to connect intimately with the Tao.

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A Turtle Wagging its Tail in the Mud: Chuang Tzu was fishing on the P'u River when the Prince of Ch'u sent an official to see him and said, "Our Prince desires to burden you with the administration of the Ch'u State." Chuang Tzu went on fishing without turning his head and said, "I have heard that in Ch'u there is a sacred tortoise that died when it was three thousand years old. The Prince keeps this tortoise in a chest in his ancestral temple. Now would this tortoise rather be dead and have its remains venerated, or would it rather be alive and wagging its tail in the mud?"

The official replied, "It would rather be alive, and wagging its tail in the mud."

"Leave me." cried Chuang Tzu. "I too will wag my tail in the mud."

A Screeching Crow: Hui Tzu was Prime Minister in the Liang State, and Chuang Tzu was passing through Liang on his way to a sacred mountain. Someone remarked, "Chuang Tzu has come to Liang. He wants to take over Hui Tzu's position as minister." Hui Tzu felt threatened by Chuang Tzu, and searched throughout the countryside for to find him. Hui Tzu searched for three days and three nights. Eventually Chuang Tzu found Hui Tzu, and said, "A lovely phoenix spends its winters near the South Sea. In spring it flies from the South to the Northern Mountains. During its spring migration, the phoenix does not alight except on the wu-t'ung tree. It eats nothing but the fruit of the bamboo and drinks only the purest spring water. As the phoenix flew over a barren prairie, a Crow feasting on a rotten carcass of a rat looked up and screeched at the phoenix. Are you not screeching at me over your kingdom of Liang?"

Happy Fish: Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu strolled on to the bridge over the river Hao, when Chuang Tzu observed, "See how the small fish dart about. That is the happiness of the fish."

"You are not a fish." said Hui Tzu, "How can you know what makes a fish happy?"

"And you are not me." replied Chuang Tzu, "How can you know that I do not know what makes a fish happy?"

"If I, not being you, cannot know what you know," argued Hui Tzu, "it follows that you, not being a fish, cannot know the happiness of the fish."

"Let's return to your original question," said Chuang Tzu. "You asked me how I knew the happiness of the fish. Your very question shows that you knew that I knew. I knew it, from my own feelings, on this bridge."

The Pheasant in a Field: A pheasant in a field must travel ten steps to get a peck, a hundred steps to get a drink. Yet pheasants do not want to be fed in a cage.

Chuang Tzu Dreamed he was a Butterfly: Once upon a time, Chuang Tzu dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering from flower to flower. He was conscious only of happiness as a butterfly, unaware that he was Chuang. He awoke, and was himself again. After awaking, he did not know if he was a man dreaming he was a butterfly, or if he was a butterfly, dreaming that he was a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The distinction is the transformation of material things.

Three in the Morning: To wear out your intellect in an obstinate adherence to the individuality of things, not recognizing that all things are One. That is called Three in the Morning. What is Three in the Morning? A monkey keeper told his monkeys that he would feed them feed nuts—three in the morning and four at night. Upon hearing about the feeding schedule, the monkeys became angry. Then the keeper said they could have four in the morning and three at night, and they were all pleased. The number of nuts remained the same, but the distribution conflicted with the monkeys' likes and dislikes. The Sage brings all the contraries together and rests in the natural Balance of Heaven, according to the principle of following two courses at once.

Hard and white:

Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, “What do you think of when I say the word quartz?”

Chuang Tzu replied, “I think of a hard white stone.”

Hui Tzu replied, “What is hard and what is white?”

Chuang Tzu, “Even a child knows what we mean when we say hard and white. Have your convoluted philosophical musings made you confuse the concepts of color and texture?”

Hui Tzu continued, “You say hard and white as if they are two different things, but in the stone they are inseparable—they coincide within the same space. They are in a sense two, but unlike a pair of shoes one cannot be taken away from the other. No animal can be both an ox and a horse, but a stone can be both hard and white.”

Chuang Tzu replied, “You spend too much time on hair-splitting debate.”

Hui Tzu asks a stupid question:

Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "Is it truly human nature to lack passions?"

"Certainly," replied Chuang Tzu.

Hui Tzu asked, "But if a man lacks passions, what makes him a person?"

Chuang Tzu replied, "Tao gives people expression and form. We do not need passions to be human."

"How could a person lack passions?" asked Hui Tzu.

Chuang Tzu answered, "Passions arise from approval and disapproval—likes and dislikes. By a person without passions, I mean one who does not permit likes and dislikes to disturb his internal economy. This person accepts his nature and does not try to improve upon it."

"But how should we live," asked Hui Tzu. "Shouldn't we improve our lives?"

"Tao gives us expression," said Chuang Tzu, "and mother earth gives us form. We should not permit likes and dislikes to disturb our internal economy. But now you are devoting your intelligence to externals, and dissipating your chi. Lean against a tree and sing; or sit against a table and sleep. Life presents marvelous opportunities, yet you squander your existence contemplating the meaning of hard and white."

The Useless Sacred Tree: As a carpenter was traveling he reached a Shady Circle where he saw the Sacred Li Tree. It was so large that its shade could cover a herd of several thousand cattle. It towered up eighty feet. A dozen boats could be cut out of it. Crowds stood gazing at it, but the carpenter took no notice, and went on his way without even casting a look behind. His apprentice said, "Ever since I have handled an adze in your service, I have never seen such a splendid piece of timber. How was it that you did not stop to look at it?"

"Forget about it. It's not worth talking about," replied his master. "It's good for nothing. Made into a boat, it would sink; into a coffin, it would rot; into furniture, it would break; into a pillar, it would be worm-eaten. Its wood lacks quality, and it is of no use. That is why it has reached such old age."
When the carpenter reached home, he dreamed that the sacred tree spoke to him: "What are you comparing me to, fine-grained wood? Look at the cherry-apple, the pear, the orange? As soon as their fruit ripens they are stripped and treated with indignity. Their boughs are snapped. Thus, these trees cause their own injury by their value. They cannot fulfill their allotted lifespan, and perish prematurely because they destroy themselves for the admiration of the world. Throughout my life I have tried to be useless. Through my uselessness, I have avoided being cut down. While I am useless to humans, I have become exceedingly useful to myself. Is a good-for-nothing carpenter fit to talk of a good-for-nothing tree?" When the carpenter awoke and told his dream, his apprentice asked, "If the tree worked so hard to be useless, how did it become sacred?"

The mountain trees invite their own cutting down; lamp oil invites its own burning up. All people know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

Tao of Butchering an Ox: Hui Tzu's cook was butchering an ox. Every blow of his hand, every heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every movement of his cleaver was in perfect rhythm.

"Well done!" cried Hui Tzu.

"Sire," replied the cook laying down his cleaver, "I have always devoted myself to Tao, which is higher than mere skill. When I first began to butcher oxen, I saw before me a whole ox. After three years practice, I saw no more whole animals. And now I work with my mind and not with my eye. My mind works without the control of the senses. Falling back upon eternal principles, I glide through joints, according to the anatomy of the animal. I avoid muscle and tendon, and never chop through bone. A good cook changes his cleaver once a year, because he cuts. An ordinary cook, one a month, because he hacks. But I have had this cleaver nineteen years, and although I have cut up many thousand oxen, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone, for joints contain spaces between the bones, and the edge of a chopper slips easily into those spaces. Thus, I have kept my chopper for nineteen years as though fresh from the whetstone. Nevertheless, when I come upon a knotty part which is difficult to tackle, I am all caution. Fixing my eye on it, I stay my hand, and gently apply my blade, until the part yields."

Thus, a simple butcher spoke his Tao to Hui Tzu, but Hui Tzu did not hear.

Hui Tzu and the large gourd: Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "The Prince of Wei gave me a seed, and I planted it. It bore a gourd as big as five bushels. Now had I used the gourd for holding water, it would have been too heavy to lift; and had I cut it in half for ladles, the ladles would have been too big. It was so big that it was useless—so broke it to pieces."

"It was useful, but you not understand the use of large things," replied Chuang Tzu. "There was a man of Sung who had a recipe for a salve that healed chapped hands. His family was silk-washers for generations. A stranger heard of his fine salve, and offered him a hundred ounces of silver for this recipe; whereupon the man called together his clansmen and said, "We have never made much money by silk-washing. Now, we can sell the recipe for a hundred ounces in a single day. Let the stranger have it." The stranger got the recipe, and eventually had an audience with Prince of Wu. The Prince of Wu was preparing to send his navy into battle at the beginning of winter. The stranger offered to supply salve to protect the sailor's cold wet hands. The navy defeated the enemy, and the stranger received a piece of the King's territory as a reward. Thus, while the salve cured chapped hands the same in both cases, its applications were different. Here, it secured a title; there, the people remained silk-washers.

"Now as to your five-bushel gourd, why did you not make a float of it to cross rivers and lakes? You complain of its being too big for holding things. You would have discovered its greatest use if you had used it to hold nothing."

Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "I have a large tree, called the ailanthus. Its trunk is so irregular and knotty that it cannot be measured out for planks; while its branches are so twisted that they cannot be cut out into discs or squares. It stands by the roadside, but no carpenter will look at it. Your words are like that tree—big and useless, of no concern to the world."

"Have you never seen a wild cat," asked Chuang Tzu, "crouching down in wait for its prey? It springs about, until it gets caught in a snare and dies. On the other hand, there is the yak with its ponderous body, too big to catch mice, but not threatened by a snare. Now if you have a big tree and are at a loss of what to do with it, why not plant it in the Village of Nowhere, in the great wilds, where you might loiter idly by its side, and lie in blissful repose in its shade? There it would be safe from the axe. For being of no use to others, what could worry its mind?"

Leveling all Things:

Tsech'i of Nankuo sat leaning on a low table. Gazing up to heaven, he sighed and looked as though he had lost his mind.

Yench'eng Tseyu exclaimed, "What are you thinking about that your body should become like dead wood, your mind like burnt-out cinders?"

Replied Tsech'i, "Today I have lost my Self. Do you understand? Perhaps you only know the music of man, and not that of Earth. Or even if you have heard the music of Earth, perhaps you have not heard the music of Heaven. The wind is the breath of the universe. At times, it is inactive. But when active, all crevices resound to its blast. Have you never listened to its deafening roar? Caves and dells of hill and forest, hollows in huge trees are like nostrils, and some like mouths, and others like ears. And the wind swirls through them bellowing, wailing, whistling in front and echoing behind, now soft with the cool blow, now shrill with the whirlwind, until the tempest is past and silence returns. Trees quake, twist and twirl."

"Well, then," enquired Tseyu, "since the music of Earth consists of hollows and apertures, and the music of man is made with pipes and flutes, of what consists the music of Heaven?"

"The effect of the wind upon these various apertures," replied Tsech'i, "is not uniform, but the sounds are produced according to their individual capacities. Who agitates their breasts? Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous. For whether the soul is locked in sleep or in waking hours the body moves. We are striving and struggling with the immediate circumstances. Some are easy-going and leisurely, some are deep and cunning and some are secretive. Now we are frightened over petty fears, now disheartened and dismayed over some great terror. Now the mind flies like an arrow from a bow, to be the arbiter of right and wrong. Now it stays behind as if sworn to an oath, to hold on to what it has secured. Then, as under autumn and winter's blight, comes gradual decay, and submerged in its own occupations, it keeps on running its course, never to return. Finally, worn out and imprisoned, it is choked up like an old drain, and the failing mind shall not see light again.

"Joy and anger, sorrow and happiness, worries and regrets, indecision and fears, come upon us by turns, with ever-changing moods, like music from the hollows, or like mushrooms from damp. Day and night they alternate within us, but we cannot tell whence they spring. Could we for a moment set our fingers upon their very Cause?

"But for these emotions I should not be. Yet but for me, there would be no one to feel them. So far we can go; but we do not know by whose order they come into play. It would seem there was a soul; but the clue to its existence is wanting. That it functions is credible enough, though we cannot see its form. Perhaps it has inner reality without outward form.

"Take the human body with all its two-hundred bones, nine external openings and six organ systems, all complete. Which part of it should I love best? Do you not cherish all equally, or have you a preference? Do these organs serve as servants of someone else? Since servants cannot govern themselves, do they serve as master and servants by turn? Surely there is some soul which controls them all.

"But whether or not we ascertain what is the true nature of this soul, it matters but little to the soul itself. For once coming into this material shape, it runs its course until it is exhausted. To be harassed by the wear and tear of life, and to be driven along without possibility of arresting one's course, --is not this pitiful indeed? To labor without ceasing all life, and then, without living to enjoy the fruit, worn out with labor, to depart, one knows not whither—is not this a just cause for grief?"

"Men say there is no death, to what avail? The mind withers and the body decomposes. Is this not a great cause for sorrow? Can the world be so dull as not to see this? Or is it I alone who am dull and others not so?"

Now if we are to be guided by our prejudices, who will be without a guide? What need to make comparisons of right and wrong with others? And if one is to follow one's own judgments according to his prejudices, even the fools have them! But to form judgments of right and wrong without first having a mind at all is like saying, "I left for Yu:eh today, and got there yesterday." Or, it is like assuming something which does not exist to exist. The illusion of assuming something which does not exist to exist could not be fathomed even by the divine Yu: how much less could we?

For speech is not mere blowing of breath. It is intended to say some thing, only what it is intended to say cannot yet be determined. Is there speech indeed, or is there not? Can we, or can we not, distinguish it from the chirping of young birds?

How can Tao be obscured so that there should be a distinction of true and false? How can speech be so obscured that there should be a distinction of right and wrong? Where can you go that the Tao does not to exist? What words cannot be proved by clever debate? The Tao is obscured by our inadequate understanding, and truth is obscured by flowery expressions. Hence the affirmations and denials of the Confucian and Motsean schools, each denying what the other affirms and affirming what the other denies brings us confusion.

There is nothing that is not this; there is nothing that is not that. What cannot be seen by another person can be known by me. Hence I say this emanates from that; that also derives from this. This is the theory of the interdependence of this and that.

Nevertheless, life arises from death, and vice versa. Possibility arises from impossibility, and vice versa. Affirmation is based upon denial, and vice versa. Thus, the true sage rejects all distinctions and takes refuge in Nature. For someone may base it on this, yet this is also that and that is also this. This also has its right and wrong, and that also has its right and wrong. Does the distinction between this and that really exist? When this and that are both without their correlates, we can discover the axis of Tao. And when that axis passes through the center where the Infinite converges, affirmations and denials blend into the infinite One.

To assert that a finger in illustration of a finger is not a finger is not so good as to take something that is not a finger to illustrate that a finger is not a finger. To assert that a horse in illustration of a horse is not a horse is not so good as to take something that is not a horse to illustrate that a horse is not a horse. So with the universe, which is but a finger, but a horse? The possible is possible: the impossible is impossible. Tao operates, and the given results follow; things receive names and are said to be what they are. Why are they so? They are said to be so. Why are they not so? They are said to be not so. Things are so by themselves and have possibilities by themselves. There is nothing that is not so and there is nothing which may not become so.

Therefore take a twig and a pillar, or the ugly person and the great beauty, and all the strange and monstrous transformations. These are all leveled together by Tao. Division is the same as creation; creation is the same as destruction. There is no such thing as creation or destruction, for these conditions struggle against leveling together into One.

Only the sages understand this principle of the leveling of all things into One. They discard the distinctions and take refuge in ordinary things. Ordinary things serve a purpose; therefore, they retain the wholeness of nature. Seeing wholeness, we comprehend, and comprehension leads us to surrender to the Tao. There it stops. To stop without knowing how it stops. This is Tao.

Is there room for speech?

If all things are One, what room is there for speech? But, if I can say the word one how can speech not exist? If speech exists, we have One and speech, which equals two; and two and one equals three, which eventually leads to a point that even the best mathematicians will fail to reach a final solution.

Hence, if from nothing you can proceed to something, it follows that it would be still easier if you were to start from something. Since you cannot proceed, stop here. Now Tao by its very nature can never be defined. Speech by its very nature cannot express the absolute. Hence distinctions arise. Such distinctions are: "right" and "left," "relationship" and "duty," "division" and "discrimination, "emulation and contention".

The Sage knows that the Tao extends beyond the limits of the ordinary world, but does not talk about it. Within the limits of the external world, the Sage talks but does not make comments. Regarding the wisdom of the ancients, the Sage comments, but does not expound. Thus among distinctions, there are distinctions that cannot be made; among things expounded, there are things that cannot be expounded. How can that be? The Sage keeps his knowledge within him, while men in general set forth theirs in argument, to convince one another. Those who argue do so because they do not understand the nature of the Tao.

Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu remained friendly rivals after Hui’s death.

Chuang Tzu was accompanying a funeral when he passed by the grave of Hui Tzu. Turning to his attendants, he said, "There was once a plasterer who, if he got a speck of mud on the tip of his nose no thicker than a fly's wing, would get his friend Carpenter Shih to slice it off for him. Carpenter Shih, whirling his hatchet like the wind, sliced off every bit of mud without injury to the nose, while the plasterer just stood there completely unperturbed. Lord Yuan of Sung, hearing of this feat, summoned Carpenter Shih and said, “Could you try performing it for me?” But Carpenter Shih replied, “It's true that I was once able to slice like that but the material I worked on has been dead for many years.” Chuang Tzu concluded the story, and spoke to his old friend Hui Tzu. “Since you died, Hui Tzu, I have had no material to work on. There's no one I can talk to any more."

Tao:

A perfect Tao cannot be given a name.
A perfect argument employs few words.
Perfect kindness does not concern itself with kindness.
Perfect integrity is not critical of others.
Perfect courage does not push itself forward.

The Tao that is manifest is not the Great Tao.
Speech that argues falls short of its purpose.
Kindness that has fixed objects loses its scope.
Integrity that is obvious is not genuine.
Courage that strives toward goals never accomplishes anything.
Knowledge that stops at what it does not know is the highest knowledge.

Who knows the argument that can be argued without words?
Who knows the Tao that does not declare itself as Tao?
Those who know this enter the realm of the spirit.
To be poured into without becoming full, and to pour out without becoming empty,
This is the Master's art.

The Sages set their spirits free, by considering knowledge extraneous.
Agreements are for cementing relationships.
Goods are only for social dealings, and
Handicrafts are only for serving commerce.
The Sages do not contrive; therefore, they have no use for knowledge.
Sages do not disrupt harmony; therefore, they have no need for cementing of relationships.
They have no loss; thus, they have no need to acquire.
They sell nothing; therefore, they have no use for commerce.
The Tao feeds them the essential qualities, and fed by the Tao they have no need to be fed by man.

The Masters wear the human form, but avoid human passions.
Because they wear the human form they associate with humans.
Because they avoid passion, the questions of this and that do not trouble them.
Small things occupy the concerns of humans; great things reside in the Tao.

The Masters:

With the strength that comes from within, the Masters are still.
Like mountain lakes, they are pure, tranquil, and deep.
Neither appealing to the Tao in their own defense, nor suffering from its effects,
The Masters reside beyond the command of suffering and reward.

Losing their attachments, they avoid consternation.
Free from burdens, they rejoice in their emancipation.
Possessing freedom without bounds,
Health, contentment and confidence are their greatest possessions, and freedom is their greatest joy.

The Masters are exhilarated, even among the dejected.
They are healthy, even among the afflicted.
They are serene, even among the agitated.
They are cordial, even among the embittered.
They are humble, even among the arrogant.
They are intrepid, even among cowards.
They are kind, even to the loathing.
They are charitable, even to the ravenous.
They are respectful, even of the insolent.

Because they do not seek renown, the Masters do not need reputation to be noble.
Because they do not desire material goods, they do not need possessions to be wealthy.
Because they do not seek to dominate, they do not need physical strength to be powerful.
Because they do not consider prestige an asset, they do not consider obscurity a liability.

No complications, no pressing searches, no desperate enterprises.
The Masters pass their lives in peaceful serenity neither alienating anyone nor submitting to anyone.

Only the serene can know the subtle essence.
To become free from turmoil is supreme attainment of purity.
Those who become pure may reach spiritual illumination.
Those who reach spiritual illumination find solace even within a storm.
Their minds are not agitated, and their spirits are not disturbed.
Their perceptions are accurate, and they understand the meaning.

Serene and aloof, attacks do them no harm.
Sensitive and responsive, their actions are effective.
Adaptive and resilient, they move without rigidity.
Emptying their minds of structure, they understand without learning.
Thus in their emptiness, they fill with insight.
They see without looking, and succeed without striving.
Losing their preferences, they can enjoy all circumstances.
They do not attain happiness. It attains them, after they cease struggling.

The Masters are not afraid.
They do not tremble.
Since externals have no hold on them, they fear no hardships.
Celebrating their consciousness, they forget about lowliness.
Secure in virtue, they forget about poverty.
They lean on a pillar that never shakes, and they travel a road never blocked.
They are empowered by an energy that is never exhausted, and
They learn from a teacher who never dies.

Whatever they do, they embrace the inevitable; thus, calamity cannot trouble them.
Humanitarianism compels them, but arms cannot threaten them.
Righteousness corrects them, but profit cannot seduce them.
They will die for justice, but riches or rank will not corrupt them,
For they have reached the end of sorrow, and they have laid down their burdens.
Desiring nothing, they miss nothing.
Beyond judgment and sorrow, they are pure and free.
Beyond the pleasures of the senses, beyond time, they are full of power, fearless, wise, and exalted.

Those, whose law resides within themselves, walk in solitude.
Their acts are influenced by neither approval nor condemnation.
They have no great exploits, no plans.
If they fail, they suffer no sorrow.
No self-congratulation in success.
They scale cliffs, never dizzy, plunge in water, never wet, and walk through fire never burnt.
They sleep without dreams awake without worries.

The Masters know no lust for life, no dread of death.
Their entrance is without gladness.
They withdraw from this existence without resistance. Easy come easy go.
They do not forget where from, nor ask where to,
Nor drive grimly forward fighting their way through life.
They take life as it comes, gladly; take death as it comes, without care; and travel away, beyond.

They have no mind to fight things greater than themselves.
Neither do they contrive to help the Tao along.
Minds free, opinions gone, brows clear, faces serene.
Are they cold? Only cool as autumn.
Are they hot? No warmer than spring.
All that comes from them spreads in silence, like the four seasons.

The Masters harm no other beings by their actions.
Yet, they do not consider themselves compassionate.
They do not bother with their own interests,
But they do not despise others who do.
They do not struggle to make money, yet they do not make poverty a virtue.
They take an independent path, yet they do not pride themselves on walking alone.
The Masters remain unknown in perfect virtue.
Although they receive neither rank nor rewards, they prevail as the greatest of all humans.

The Masters have conquered all inner worlds with their calm, and with great gladness,
They know that they have finished.
They have awakened from their sleep.
Full of power, they are fearless, wise, exalted.
They have vanquished all distractions. They see by their purity.
They have come to the end of the Way.
All that they had to do, they have done.

Thus, the sages have said:

No-self is true self,
And the greatest person
Is nobody.

Tao Te Ching

http://www.human.toyogakuen-u.ac.jp/~acmuller/contao/laotzu.htm

Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu
Translated by Charles Muller

The Tao that can be followed is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming is the origin of the myriad things.
Therefore, always desireless, you see the mystery
Ever desiring, you see the manifestations.
These two are the same--
When they appear they are named differently.

Their sameness is the mystery,
Mystery within mystery;
The door to all marvels.

2.
All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful.
Herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good.
Herein lies evil.

Therefore
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficulty and ease bring about each other.
Long and short delimit each other.
High and low rest on each other.
Sound and voice harmonize each other.
Front and back follow each other.

Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei (unattached action).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her.


3.
If you do not adulate the worthy, you will make others non-contentious.
If you do not value rare treasures, you will stop others from stealing.
If people do not see desirables, they will not be agitated.

Therefore, when the sage governs,
He clears peoples minds,
Fills their bellies,
Weakens their ambition and
Strengthens their bones.

If the people are kept without cleverness and desire
It will make the intellectuals not dare to meddle.

Acting without contrivance, there is no lack of manageability.

4.
The Tao is so vast that when you use it, something is always left.
How deep it is!
It seems to be the ancestor of the myriad things.
It blunts sharpness
Untangles knots
Softens the glare
Unifies with the mundane.
It is so full!
It seems to have remainder.

It is the child of I-don't-know-who.
And prior to the primeval Lord-on-high.

5.
Heaven and Earth are not jen,
And regard the people as straw dogs.
The sage is not jen,
And regards all things as straw dogs.
The space between Heaven and Earth is just like a bellows:
Empty it, it is not exhausted.
Squeeze it and more comes out.

Investigating it with a lot of talk
Is not like holding to the center.


6.
The valley spirit never dies.
It is called "the mysterious female."
The opening of the mysterious female
Is called "the root of Heaven and Earth."
Continuous, seeming to remain.

Use it without exertion.


7.
Heaven and Earth last forever.
The reason that Heaven and Earth are able to last forever
Is because they do not give birth to themselves.
Therefore, they are always alive.
Hence, the sage puts herself last and is first.
She is outside herself and therefore her self lasts.

Is it not through her selflessness
That she is able to perfect herself?

8.
The highest goodness is like water.
Water easily benefits all things without struggle.
Yet it abides in places that men hate.
Therefore it is like the Tao.

For dwelling, the Earth is good.
For the mind, depth is good.
The goodness of giving is in the timing.
The goodness of speech is in honesty.
In government, self-mastery is good.
In handling affairs, ability is good.

If you do not wrangle, you will not be blamed.


9.
To hold until full is not as good as stopping.
An oversharpened sword cannot last long.
A room filled with gold and jewels cannot be protected.
Boasting of wealth and virtue brings your demise.
After finishing the work, withdraw.

This is the Way of Heaven.


10.
Pacifying the agitated material soul and holding to oneness:
Are you able to avoid separation?
Focusing your energy on the release of tension:
Can you be like an infant?
In purifying your insight:
Can you un-obstruct it?
Loving the people and ruling the state:
Can you avoid over-manipulation?
In opening and closing the gate of Heaven:
Can you be the female?
In illuminating the whole universe:
Can you be free of rationality?

Give birth to it and nourish it.
Produce it but don't possess it.
Act without expectation.
Excel, but don't take charge.

This is called Mysterious Virtue.


11.
Thirty spokes join together in the hub.
It is because of what is not there that the cart is useful.
Clay is formed into a vessel.
It is because of its emptiness that the vessel is useful.
Cut doors and windows to make a room.
It is because of its emptiness that the room is useful.
Therefore, what is present is used for profit.

But it is in absence that there is usefulness.


12.
The five colors blind our eyes.
The five tones deafen our ears.
The five flavors confuse our taste.
Racing and hunting madden our minds.
Possessing rare treasures brings about harmful behavior.
Therefore the sage regards his center, and not his eyes.

He lets go of that and chooses this.


13.
Accept humiliation as a surprise.
Value great misfortune as your own self.

What do I mean by "Accept humiliation as a surprise"?
When you are humble
Attainment is a surprise
And so is loss.
That's why I say, "Accept humiliation as a surprise."

What do I mean by "Value great misfortune as your own self"?

If I have no self, how could I experience misfortune?

Therefore, if you dedicate your life for the benefit of the world,
You can rely on the world.
If you love dedicating yourself in this way,
You can be entrusted with the world.


14.
Look for it, it cannot be seen.
It is called the distant.
Listen for it, it cannot be heard.
It is called the rare.
Reach for it, it cannot be gotten.
It is called the subtle.
These three ultimately cannot be fathomed.
Therefore they join to become one.

Its top is not bright;
Its bottom is not dark;
Existing continuously, it cannot be named and it returns to no-thingness.

Thus, it is called the formless form,
The image of no-thing.
This is called the most obscure.

Go to meet it, you cannot see its face.
Follow it, you cannot see its back.

By holding to the ancient Tao
You can manage present existence
And know the primordial beginning.

This is called the very beginning thread of the Tao.


15.
The ancient masters of the Tao
Had subtle marvelous mystic penetration
A depth that cannot be known.
It is exactly because that they are unknowable
That we are forced to pay attention to their appearance.
Hesitant, like one crossing an ice-covered river.
Ready, like one afraid of his neighbors on all sides.
Dignified, like a guest.
Loose, like ice about to melt.
Straightforward, like an uncarved block of wood.
Open, like a valley.
Obscure, like muddy water.

Who can be muddled, and use clarity to gradually become lucid?
Who can be calm, and use constant application for eventual success?

The one who holds to this path does not crave fulfillment.
Precisely because he does not crave fulfillment
He can be shattered
And do without quick restitution.


16.
Effect emptiness to the extreme.
Keep stillness whole.
Myriad things act in concert.
I therefore watch their return.
All things flourish and each returns to its root.

Returning to the root is called quietude.
Quietude is called returning to life.
Return to life is called constant.
Knowing this constant is called illumination.
Acting arbitrarily without knowing the constant is harmful.
Knowing the constant is receptivity, which is impartial.

Impartiality is kingship.
Kingship is Heaven.
Heaven is Tao
Tao is eternal.

Though you lose the body, you do not die.


17.
From great antiquity forth they have known and possessed it.
Those of the next level loved and praised it.
The next were in awe of it.
And the next despised it.

If you lack sincerity no one will believe you.

How careful she is with her precious words!
When her work is complete and her job is finished,
Everybody says: "We did it!"


18.
When the great Tao perishes
There is jen and justice.
When intelligence is manifest
There is great deception.
When the six relationships are not in harmony
There is filial piety and compassion.
When the country is in chaos
Loyal ministers appear.


19.
Get rid of "holiness" and abandon "wisdom" and the people will benefit a hundredfold.

Get rid of "altruism" and abandon "Justice" and the people will return to filial piety and compassion.

Get rid of cleverness and abandon profit, and thieves and gangsters will not exist.

Since the above three are merely words, they are not sufficient.
Therefore there must be something to include them all.

See the origin and keep the non-differentiated state.
Lessen selfishness and decrease desire.


20.
Get rid of "learning" and there will be no anxiety.
How much difference is there between "yes" and "no"?
How far removed from each other are "good" and "evil"?
Yet what the people are in awe of cannot be disregarded.

I am scattered, never having been in a comfortable center.
All the people enjoy themselves, as if they are at the festival of the great sacrifice,
Or climbing the Spring Platform.
I alone remain, not yet having shown myself.
Like an infant who has not yet laughed.
Weary, like one despairing of no home to return to.

All the people enjoy extra
While I have left everything behind.
I am ignorant of the minds of others.
So dull!
While average people are clear and bright, I alone am obscure.
Average people know everything.
To me alone all seems covered.
So flat!
Like the ocean.
Blowing around!
It seems there is no place to rest.
Everybody has a goal in mind.
I alone am as ignorant as a bumpkin.
I alone differ from people.

I enjoy being nourished by the mother.


21.
The form of great virtue is something that only the Tao can follow.
The Tao as a "thing" is only vague and obscure.
How obscure! How vague! In it there is form.
How vague! How obscure! In it are things.
How deep! How dark! In it there is an essence.

The essence is so real--therein is belief.

From the present to antiquity, its name has never left it, so we can examine all origins.
How do I know the form of all origins?

By this.


22.
The imperfect is completed.
The crooked is straightened.
The empty is filled.
The old is renewed.
With few there is attainment.
With much there is confusion.
Therefore the sage grasps the one and becomes the model for all.

She does not show herself, and therefore is apparent.
She does not affirm herself, and therefore is acknowledged.
She does not boast and therefore has merit.
She does not strive and is therefore successful.
It is exactly because she does not contend, that nobody can contend with her.

How could the ancient saying, "The imperfect is completed" be regarded as empty talk?

Believe in the complete and return to it.


23.
To speak little is natural.
Therefore a gale does not blow a whole morning
Nor does a downpour last a whole day.
Who does these things? Heaven and Earth.
If even Heaven and Earth cannot force perfect continuity
How can people expect to?

Therefore there is such a thing as aligning one's actions with the Tao.
If you accord with the Tao you become one with it.
If you accord with virtue you become one with it.
If you accord with loss you become one with it.

The Tao accepts this accordance gladly.
Virtue accepts this accordance gladly.
Loss also accepts accordance gladly.

If you are untrustworthy, people will not trust you.


24.
Standing on tiptoe, you are unsteady.
Straddle-legged, you cannot go.
If you show yourself, you will not be seen.
If you affirm yourself, you will not shine.
If you boast, you will have no merit.
If you promote yourself, you will have no success.

Those who abide in the Tao call these

Leftover food and wasted action
And all things dislike them.

Therefore the person of the Tao does not act like this.


25.
There is something that is perfect in its disorder
Which is born before Heaven and Earth.

So silent and desolate! It establishes itself without renewal.
Functions universally without lapse.
We can regard it as the Mother of Everything.

I don't know its name.

Hence, when forced to name it, I call it "Tao."
When forced to categorize it, I call it "great."

Greatness entails transcendence.
Transcendence entails going-far.
Going-far entails return.

Hence, Tao is great, Heaven is great, the Earth is great
And the human is also great.

Within our realm there are four greatnesses and the human being is one of them.

Human beings follow the Earth.
Earth follows Heaven
Heaven follows the Tao
The Tao follows the way things are.


26.
Heaviness is the root of lightness.
Composure is the ruler of instability.
Therefore the sage travels all day
Without putting down his heavy load.
Though there may be spectacles to see
He easily passes them by.

This being so
How could the ruler of a large state
Be so concerned with himself as to ignore the people?

If you take them lightly you will lose your roots.
If you are unstable, you will lose your rulership.


27.
A good traveler leaves no tracks.
Good speech lacks faultfinding.
A good counter needs no calculator.
A well-shut door will stay closed without a latch.
Skillful fastening will stay tied without knots.

It is in this manner that the sage is always skillful in elevating people.
Therefore she does not discard anybody.


She is always skillful in helping things
Therefore she does not discard anything.
This is called "the actualization of her luminosity."

Hence, the good are the teachers of the not-so-good.
And the not-so-good are the charges of the good.

Not valuing your teacher or not loving your students:
Even if you are smart, you are gravely in error.

This is called Essential Subtlety.


28.
Know the Masculine, cleave to the Feminine
Be the valley for everyone.
Being the valley for everyone
You are always in virtue without lapse
And you return to infancy.

Know the White, cleave to the Black
Be a model for everyone.
Being the model for everyone
You are always in virtue and free from error
You return to limitlessness.
Know Glory but cleave to Humiliation
Be the valley for everyone.
When your constancy in virtue is complete
You return to the state of the "uncarved block."

The block is cut into implements.
The sage uses them to fulfill roles.

Therefore the great tailor does not cut.


29.
If you want to grab the world and run it
I can see that you will not succeed.
The world is a spiritual vessel, which can't be controlled.

Manipulators mess things up.
Grabbers lose it. Therefore:

Sometimes you lead
Sometimes you follow
Sometimes you are stifled
Sometimes you breathe easy
Sometimes you are strong
Sometimes you are weak
Sometimes you destroy
And sometimes you are destroyed.

Hence, the sage shuns excess
Shuns grandiosity
Shuns arrogance.


30.
If you used the Tao as a principle for ruling
You would not dominate the people by military force.

What goes around comes around.

Where the general has camped
Thorns and brambles grow.
In the wake of a great army
Come years of famine.
If you know what you are doing
You will do what is necessary and stop there.

Accomplish but don't boast
Accomplish without show
Accomplish without arrogance
Accomplish without grabbing
Accomplish without forcing.

When things flourish they decline.

This is called non-Tao
The non-Tao is short-lived.


31.
Sharp weapons are inauspicious instruments.
Everyone hates them.
Therefore the man of the Tao is not comfortable with them.

In the domestic affairs of the gentleman
The left is the position of honor.
In military affairs the right is the position of honor.
Since weapons are inauspicious instruments, they are not the instruments of the gentleman
So he uses them without enjoyment
And values plainness.

Victory is never sweet.

Those for whom victory is sweet
Are those who enjoy killing.
If you enjoy killing, you cannot gain the trust of the people.

On auspicious occasions the place of honor is on the left.
On inauspicious occasions the place of honor is on the right.
The lieutenant commander stands on the left.
The commander-in-chief stands on the right.
And they speak, using the funerary rites to bury them.

The common people, from whom all the dead have come
Weep in lamentation.
The victors bury them with funerary rites.


32.
The Tao is always nameless.
And even though a sapling might be small
No one can make it be his subject.
If rulers could embody this principle
The myriad things would follow on their own.
Heaven and Earth would be in perfect accord
And rain sweet dew.

People, unable to deal with It on its own terms
Make adjustments;
And so you have the beginning of division into names.
Since there are already plenty of names
You should know where to stop.
Knowing where to stop, you can avoid danger.

The Tao's existence in the world

Is like valley streams running into the rivers and seas.


33.
If you understand others you are smart.
If you understand yourself you are illuminated.
If you overcome others you are powerful.
If you overcome yourself you have strength.
If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.
If you can act with vigor, you have a will.
If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.

If you die without loss, you are eternal.


34.
The Tao is like a great flooding river. How can it be directed to the left or right? The myriad things rely on it for their life but do not distinguish it.
It brings to completion but cannot be said to exist.
It clothes and feeds all things without lording over them.

It is always desireless, so we call it "the small."
The myriad things return to it and it doesn't exact lordship
Thus it can be called "great."
Till the end, it does not regard itself as Great.

Therefore it actualizes its greatness.


35.
Holding to the Great Form
All pass away.
They pass away unharmed, resting in Great Peace.

It is for food and music that the passing traveler stops.

When the Tao appears from its opening
It is so subtle, it has no taste.
Look at it, you cannot see it.
Listen, you cannot hear it.
Use it

You cannot exhaust it.


36.
That which will be shrunk
Must first be stretched.
That which will be weakened
Must first be strengthened.
That which will be torn down
Must first be raised up.
That which will be taken
Must first be given.

This is called "subtle illumination."

The gentle and soft overcomes the hard and aggressive.

A fish cannot leave the water.

The country's potent weapons
Should not be shown to its people.


37.
The Tao is always "not-doing"
Yet there is nothing it doesn't do.
If the ruler is able to embody it
Everything will naturally change.

Being changed, they desire to act.

So I must restrain them, using the nameless "uncarved block (original mind)."

Using the nameless uncarved block
They become desireless.
Desireless, they are tranquil and
All-under-Heaven is naturally settled.


38.
True virtue is not virtuous
Therefore it has virtue.
Superficial virtue never fails to be virtuous
Therefore it has no virtue.

True virtue does not "act"
And has no intentions.
Superficial virtue "acts"
And always has intentions.
True jen "acts"
But has no intentions.
True righteousness "acts"
But but has intentions.
True propriety "acts" and if you don't respond

They will roll up their sleeves and threaten you.

Thus, when the Tao is lost there is virtue
When virtue is lost there is jen
When jen is lost there is Justice
And when Justice is lost there is propriety.

Now "propriety" is the external appearance of loyalty and sincerity
And the beginning of disorder.

Occult abilities are just flowers of the Tao
And the beginning of foolishness.

Therefore the Master dwells in the substantial
And not in the superficial.
Rests in the fruit and not in the flower.

So let go of that and grasp this.


39.
These in the past have attained wholeness:

Heaven attains wholeness with its clarity;
The Earth attains wholeness with its firmness;
The Spirit attains wholeness with its transcendence;
The Valley attain wholeness when filled;
The Myriad Things attain wholeness in life;
The Ruler attains wholeness in the correct governance of the people.

In effecting this:
If Heaven lacked clarity it would be divided;
If the Earth lacked firmness it would fly away;
If the spirit lacked transcendence it would be exhausted;
If the valley lacked fullness it would be depleted;
If the myriad things lacked life they would vanish.
If the ruler lacks nobility and loftiness he will be tripped up.

Hence
Nobility has lowliness as its root
The High has the Low as its base.
Thus the kings call themselves "the orphan, the lowly, the unworthy."

Is this not taking lowliness as the fundamental? Isn't it?

In this way you can bring about great effect without burden.
Not desiring the rarity of gems
Or the manyness of grains of sand.


40.
Return is the motion of the Tao.
Softening is its function.
All things in the cosmos arise from being.
Being arises from non-being.


41.
When superior students hear of the Tao
They strive to practice it.
When middling students hear of the Tao
They sometimes keep it and sometimes lose it.
When inferior students hear of the Tao
They have a big laugh.

But "not laughing" in itself is not sufficient to be called the Tao, and therefore it is said:

The sparkling Tao seems dark
Advancing in the Tao seems like regression.
Settling into the Tao seems rough.
True virtue is like a valley.
The immaculate seems humble.
Extensive virtue seems insufficient.
Established virtue seems deceptive.
The face of reality seems to change.
The great square has no corners.
Great ability takes a long time to perfect.
Great sound is hard to hear.
The great form has no shape.

The Tao is hidden and nameless.

This is exactly why the Tao is good at developing and perfecting.


42.
The Tao produces one, one produces two.
The two produce the three and the three produce all things.
All things submit to yin and embrace yang.
They soften their energy to achieve harmony.

People hate to think of themselves as "orphan," "lowly," and "unworthy"
Yet the kings call themselves by these names.

Some lose and yet gain,
Others gain and yet lose.
That which is taught by the people
I also teach:
"The forceful do not choose their place of death."
I regard this as the father of all teachings.


43.
The softest thing in the world
Will overcome the hardest.
Non-being can enter where there is no space.
Therefore I know the benefit of unattached action.
The wordless teaching and unattached action

Are rarely seen.


44.
Which is dearer, fame or your life?
Which is greater, your life or possessions?
Which is more painful, gain or loss?
Therefore we always pay a great price for excessive love
And suffer deep loss for great accumulation.
Knowing what is enough, you will not be humiliated.
Knowing where to stop, you will not be imperiled

And can be long-lasting.


45.
Great perfection seems flawed, yet functions without a hitch.
Great fullness seems empty, yet functions without exhaustion.
Great straightness seems crooked,
Great skill seems clumsy,
Great eloquence seems stammering.

Excitement overcomes cold, stillness overcomes heat.
Clarity and stillness set everything right.


46.
When the Tao prevails in the land
The horses leisurely graze and fertilize the ground.
When the Tao is lacking in the land
War horses are bred outside the city.
Natural disasters are not as bad as not knowing what is enough.
Loss is not as bad as wanting more.

Therefore the sufficiency that comes from knowing what is enough is an eternal sufficiency.


47.
Without going out the door, knowing everything,
Without peaking out the windowshades, seeing the Way of Heaven.

The further you go, the less you know.

The sage understands without having to go through the whole process.
She is famous without showing herself.
Is perfected without striving.


48.
In studying, each day something is gained.
In following the Tao, each day something is lost.
Lost and again lost.
Until there is nothing left to do.
Not-doing, nothing is left undone.
You can possess the world by never manipulating it.
No matter how much you manipulate
You can never possess the world.


49.
The sage has no fixed mind,
She takes the mind of the people as her mind.

I treat the good as good, I also treat the evil as good.
This is true goodness.
I trust the trustworthy, I also trust the untrustworthy.
This is real trust.

When the sage lives with people, she harmonizes with them
And conceals her mind for them.
The sages treat them as their little children.


50.
Coming into life and entering death,
The followers of life are three in ten.
The followers of death are three in ten.
Those whose life activity is their death ground are three in ten.
Why is this?
Because they live life grasping for its rich taste.

Now I have heard that those who are expert in handling life
Can travel the land without meeting tigers and rhinos,
Can enter battle without being wounded.
The rhino has no place to plant its horn,
The tiger has no place to place its claws,
Weapons find no place to receive their sharp edges.
Why?

Because he has no death-ground.


51.
Tao gives birth to it,
Virtue rears it,
Materiality shapes it,
Activity perfects it.
Therefore, there are none of the myriad things who do not venerate the Tao or esteem its virtue.
This veneration of the Tao and esteeming of its virtue is something they do naturally, without being forced.
Therefore, Tao gives birth.
Its virtue rears, develops, raises, adjusts and disciplines,
Nourishes, covers and protects,
Produces but does not possess,
Acts without expectation,
Leads without forcing.

This is called "Mysterious Virtue."


52.
All things have a beginning, which we can regard as their Mother.
Knowing the mother, we can know its children.
Knowing the children, yet still cleaving to the mother
You can die without pain.

Stop up the holes
Shut the doors,
You can finish your life without anxiety.

Open the doors,
Increase your involvements,
In the end you can't be helped.

Seeing the subtle is called illumination.
Keeping flexible is called strength.
Use the illumination, but return to the light.
Don't bring harm to yourself.

This is called "practicing the eternal."


53.
If I had just a little bit of wisdom
I should walk the Great Path and fear only straying from it.
Though the Way is quite broad
People love shortcuts.

The court is immaculate,
While the fields are overgrown with weeds,
And the granaries are empty.
They wear silk finery,
Carry sharp swords,
Sate themselves on food and drink
Having wealth in excess.
They are called thieving braggarts.

This is definitely not the Way.


54.
The well-established cannot be uprooted.
The well-grasped does not slip away.
Generation after generation carries out the ancestor worship without break.

Cultivate it in yourself and virtue will be real.
Cultivate it in the family and virtue will overflow.
Cultivate it in the town and virtue will be great.
Cultivate it in the country and virtue will abundant.
Cultivate it in the world and virtue will be everywhere.

Therefore, take yourself and observe yourself.
Take the family and observe the family.
Take the town and observe the town.
Take the country and observe the country.
Take the world and observe the world.

How do I know the world as it is?

By this.


55.
One who remains rich in virtuous power
Is like a newborn baby.
Bees, scorpions and venomous snakes do not bite it,
The wild beasts do not attack it,
Birds of prey do not sink their claws into it.
Though its bones are weak
And muscles soft,
Its grip is strong.
Without knowing of the blending of male and female
S/he is a perfect production,
The ultimate in vitality.
S/he cries all day without getting hoarse.
S/he is the ultimate in harmony.

Understanding harmony is called the Constant.
Knowing the Constant is called illumination.
Nourishing life is called blessing.
Having control of your breath is called strength.

After things blossom they decay, and
This is called the non-Tao.

The non-Tao expires quickly.


56.
She who knows does not speak.
She who speaks does not know.
Close your holes, shut your doors,
Soften your sharpness, loosen your knots.
Soften your glare and merge with the everyday.

This is called mysteriously attaining oneness.

Though you cannot possess it, you are intimate with it
And at the same time, distant.
Though you cannot possess it, you are benefitted by it,
And harmed by it.
You cannot possess it, but are esteemed through it
And humbled by it.

Therefore the world values you.


57.
*** Use fairness in governing the state.
Use surprise tactics in war.
Be unconcerned and you will have the world.
How do I know it is like this?
Because:
The more regulations there are,
The poorer people become.
The more people own lethal weapons,
The more darkened are the country and clans.
The more clever the people are,
The more extraordinary actions they take.
The more picky the laws are,
The more thieves and gangsters there are.

Therefore the sages say:
"I do not force my way and the people transform themselves.
I enjoy my serenity and the people correct themselves.
I do not interfere and the people enrich themselves.

I have no desires

And the people find their original mind.


58.
When the government is laid back
The people are relaxed.
When the government is nitpicking
The people have anxiety.
Misfortune depends upon fortune.
Fortune conceals misfortune.
What has a definite delimitation?
Or abnormality?
The normal reverts to strangeness.
Goodness reverts to perversion.

People certainly have been confused for a long time.

Therefore the sage squares things without cutting.
Edges without separating.
Straightens without lining up.

Shines but does not glare.


59.
In governing the country and serving Heaven
There is nothing like frugality.
Only by being frugal can you recover quickly.
When you recover quickly you accumulate virtue.
Having accumulated virtue,
There is nothing you can't overcome.
When there is nothing you can't overcome
Who knows the limits of your capabilities?
These limits being unfathomable
You can possess the country.

The Mother who possesses the country can be long-living.
This is called "planting the roots deeply and firmly."

The way to long life and eternal vision.


60.
Ruling a large country is like cooking a small fish.
When you govern people with the Tao
Demons will have no power.
Not that they don't have power,
But their power will not harm people.

Since the sage doesn't harm people,
The two will not harm each other.

Here their power merges and returns.


61.
The great state should be like a river basin.
The mixing place of the world,
The feminine of the world.
The feminine always overcomes the masculine by softness
Because softness is lesser.
Therefore if a large state serves a small state
It will gain the small state.
If a small state serves a large state
It will gain the large state.

Therefore some serve in order to gain
And some gain despite their servitude.

The large state wants nothing more
Than to unite and feed its people.
The small state wants nothing more
Than to enter into the service of the right person.
Thus both get what they want.

Greatness lies in placing oneself below.


62.
The Tao is hidden deeply in all things.
It is the treasure of the good
And the refuge of the not-so-good.
With skillful words you can be successful.
With honorable actions you can be included.

People may not be so good, but how can you deny them?

Therefore, even though there are great jewels brought in by teams of horses at the coronation of the emperor and the installation of the three princes,
This is not as good as staying where you are
And advancing in this Tao.

Why did the ancients so value the Tao?

You can't say that it was for seeking gain
Or to have punishments to deter crime.

Therefore it is the most prized in the world.


63.
Do without "doing."
Get involved without manipulating.
Taste without tasting.
Make the great small,
The many, few.
Respond to anger with virtue.
Deal with difficulties while they are still easy.
Handle the great while it is still small.

The difficult problems in life
Always start off being simple.
Great affairs always start off being small.
Therefore the sage never deals with the great
And is able to actualize his greatness.

Now light words generate little belief,
Much ease turns into much difficulty.
Therefore the sage treats things as though they were difficult,

And hence, never has difficulty.


64.
That which is at rest is easy to grasp.
That which has not yet come about is easy to plan for.
That which is fragile is easily broken.
That which is minute is easily scattered.
Handle things before they arise.
Manage affairs before they are in a mess.

A thick tree grows from a tiny seed.
A tall building arises from a mound of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.
Contriving, you are defeated;
Grasping, you lose.

The sage doesn't contrive, so she isn't beaten.
Not grasping, she doesn't lose.
When people are carrying out their projects
They usually blow it at the end.

If you are as careful at the end
As you were at the beginning,
You won't be disappointed.

Therefore the sage desires non-desire,
Does not value rare goods,
Studies the unlearnable
So that she can correct the mistakes of average people
And aid all things in manifesting their true nature

Without presuming to take the initiative.


65.
The ancients who were skillful at the Tao
Did not illuminate the people
But rather kept them simple.
When the people are difficult to rule
It is because of their cleverness.
Therefore
If you use cleverness to rule the state
You are a robber of the state.
If you don't use cleverness to rule the state
You are a blessing to the state.

If you understand these two points, you know the proper norm for governing To be continuously understanding the proper norm is called
Mysterious Virtue.
How deep and far-reaching Mysterious Virtue is!
It makes all return

Until they reach the Great Norm.


66.
The reason the river and sea can be regarded as
The rulers of all the valley streams
Is because of their being below them.
Therefore they can be their rulers.
So if you want to be over people
You must speak humbly to them.
If you want to lead them
You must place yourself behind them.

Thus the sage is positioned above
And the people do not feel oppressed.
He is in front and they feel nothing wrong.
Therefore they like to push him front and never resent him.

Since he does not contend

No one can contend with him.


67.
The reason everybody calls my Tao great
Is because there is nothing quite like it.
It is exactly because it is great
That there is nothing quite like it.
If there were something that were consistently like it

How could it be small?

I have three treasures which I hold and cherish.
The first is compassion,
The second is frugality,
The third is not daring to put myself ahead of everybody.

Having compassion, I can be brave.
Having frugality, I can be generous.
Not daring to put myself ahead of everybody
I can take the time to perfect my abilities.
Now if I am brave without compassion
Generous without frugality, or
Go to the fore without putting my own concerns last,
I might as well be dead.

If you wage war with compassion you will win.
If you protect yourself with compassion you will be impervious.
Heaven will take care of you,

Protecting you with compassion.


68.
The best warrior is never aggressive.
The best fighter is never angry.
The best tactician does not engage the enemy.
The best utilizer of people's talents places himself below them.

This is called the virtue of non-contention.
It is called the ability to engage people's talents.
It is called the ultimate in merging with Heaven.


69.
Strategists have a saying:
"I prefer to be able to move, rather than be in a fixed position
Prefer to retreat a foot rather than advancing an inch."
This is called progress without advancing;
Preparing without showing off;
Smashing where there is no defense;
Taking him without a fight.

There is no greater danger than under-estimating your opponent.
If I under-estimate my opponent
I will lose that which is most dear.
Therefore
When opponents clash

The one who is sorry about it will be the winner.


70.
My words are easy to understand
And easy to practice.
Yet nobody understands them or practices them.
My words have an origin;
My actions have a principle.
It is only because of your not understanding this
That you do not understand me.
Since there are few who understand me
I am valued.
Therefore the sage wears coarse clothes.
Yet hides a jewel in his bosom.


71.
There is nothing better than to know that you don't know.
Not knowing, yet thinking you know--
This is sickness.
Only when you are sick of being sick
Can you be cured.
The sage's not being sick

Is because she is sick of sickness.

Therefore she is not sick.


72.
When the people do not fear your might
Then your might has truly become great.
Don't interfere with their household affairs.
Don't oppress their livelihood.

If you don't oppress them they won't feel oppressed.

Thus the sage understands herself
But does not show herself.
Loves herself
But does not prize herself.
Therefore she lets go of that

And takes this.


73.
If you are courageous in daring you will die.
If you are courageous in not-daring you will live.
Among these two, one is beneficial and the other is harmful.

Who understands the reason why Heaven dislikes what it dislikes?
Even the sage has difficulty in knowing this.

The Way of Heaven is to win easily without struggle.
To respond well without words,
To naturally come without special invitation,
To plan well without anxiety.

Heaven's net is vast.
It is loose.

Yet nothing slips through.


74.
If the people don't fear death
How will you scare them with death?
If you make the people continuously fear death
By seizing anybody who does something out of the ordinary
And killing them,
Who will dare to move?

There is always an official executioner to handle this.
If you play the role of the official executioner
It is like cutting wood in the capacity of Master Carpenter.

There are few who will not cut their hands.



75.
The reason people starve
Is because their rulers tax them excessively.
They are difficult to govern
Because their rulers have their own ends in mind.

The reason people take death lightly
Is because they want life to be rich.
Therefore they take death lightly.
It is only by not living for your own ends
That you can go beyond valuing life.


76.
When people are born they are gentle and soft.
At death they are hard and stiff.
When plants are alive they are soft and delicate.
When they die, they wither and dry up.
Therefore the hard and stiff are followers of death.
The gentle and soft are the followers of life.

Thus, if you are aggressive and stiff, you won't win.
When a tree is hard enough, it is cut. Therefore
The hard and big are lesser,
The gentle and soft are greater.


77.
The Way of Heaven
Is like stretching a bow.
The top is pulled down,
The bottom is pulled up.
Excess string is removed
Where more is needed, it is added.

It is the Way of Heaven
To remove where there is excess
And add where there is lack.
The way of people is different:
They take away where there is need
And add where there is surplus.

Who can take his surplus and give it to the people?
Only one who possesses the Tao.

Therefore the sage acts without expectation.
Does not abide in his accomplishments.
Does not want to show his virtue.



78.
Nothing in the world is softer than water,
Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.
This is because nothing can alter it.

That the soft overcomes the hard
And the gentle overcomes the aggressive
Is something that everybody knows
But none can do themselves.
Therefore the sages say:
"The one who accepts the dirt of the state
Becomes its master.
The one who accepts its calamity
Becomes king of the world.

Truth seems contradictory.


79.
After calming great anger
There are always resentments left over.
How can this be considered as goodness?
Therefore the sage keeps her part of the deal
And doesn't check up on the other person.

Thus virtuous officials keep their promise
And the crooked ones break it.

The Heavenly Tao has no favorites:

It raises up the Good.


80.
Let there be a small country with few people,
Who, even having much machinery, don't use it.
Who take death seriously and don't wander far away.
Even though they have boats and carriages, they never ride in them.
Having armor and weapons, they never go to war.
Let them return to measurement by tying knots in rope.

Sweeten their food, give them nice clothes, a peaceful abode and a relaxed life.
Even though the next country can be seen and its doges and chickens can be heard,

The people will grow old and die without visiting each others land.


81.
True words are not fancy.
Fancy words are not true.
The good do not debate.
Debaters are not good.
The one who really knows is not broadly learned,
The extensively learned do not really know.
The sage does not hoard,
She gives people her surplus.
Giving her surplus to others she is enriched.

The way of Heaven is to help and not harm.

Taoist Origins and Philosophy

Taoism and Confucianism are the two great philosophical traditions of China. While most Westerners trace Taoism to the Tao Te Ching written by the mythological Lao Tzu, Taoism derives at least as much from the philosopher Chuang Tzu, who lived in the 4th Century BC. Taoism's umbrella covers assorted naturalistic or mystical religions. Because of its focus on nature, Taoism can accommodate any local Chinese religion with its regional natural Gods. Taoism became accepted throughout China because it is malleable.

Both the Tao Te Ching and the Tao of Chuang Tzu are composite texts written and rewritten over centuries with input from multiple anonymous writers. Each has a distinctive style, the Tao Te Ching poetic mysticism, the Tao of Chuang Tzu funny fantasy dialogues. Both texts flow from reflections on the nature of Tao, which was the central issue in Ancient China's philosophical dialogues. Although we treat Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu as the founders of Taoism, Taoism arose long after their deaths. Chuang Tzu never knew he was a Taoist, and he didn't know he was following Lao Tzu. While the Tao of Chuang Tzu reveals an affinity for the Tao Te Ching and uses the character of Lao Tzu in some parables, anonymous students of Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu, reshaped the texts to make them better reflect one another.

The traditional story of the Tao Te Ching credits the text to Lao Tzu who was stopped at a gate while attempting to leave China—to go to India and become the Buddha. The gate-keeper required Lao Tzu to leave behind his Tao, so Lao Tzu dashed off 5000 characters of poetry. Chuang Tzu inherited Lao Tzu's insights and recast the Taoist outlook in parables. Lao Tzu's existence is disputed because the traditional story seems impossible, and we have no credible historical record of Lao Tzu. However, a credible alternative story reveals how Lao Tzu came to be regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu translates Honorable Man, and the term is applied to scholars and teachers in general. The existence of Chuang Tzu is more probable, though we know nothing of him except what we learn from his Tao, and most of his stories are clearly fanciful. The linkages between the two texts began when students of Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu exchanged ideas.

Tao translates as path or way, but that is the lesser tao. The Great Tao is both a way of living to the fullest, and the essence of the universe—the source of all power, matter, and natural laws. Western philosophy hardly notices the word way, but it dwells endlessly truth, reason, beauty, existence, and goodness. Early Chinese thought was dominated by ethics, politics, and psychology, while metaphysics and epistemology dominated early Western philosophy. Chinese nouns lack plural forms, so the word tao is both singular and plural. What we think of as one way is one part of the Great Tao that includes numerous ways. So we can talk about, my-Tao, the King's-Tao, and nature's-Tao. To be human is to be in a realm of ways. Humans encounter each other in Tao as fish do in the ocean. Tao resembles the ocean—a realm where fish live, but fish are also part of the ocean. Although it is insightful to say humans live in Tao as fish do in water, the insight is lost if we simply treat Tao as being. Tao also serves as a guide. Tao paired with Te, forms the Chinese term for ethics. Te means virtue. Taoists explore all aspects of Tao, while Confucians focus on their favorite part of Tao—the rules of conduct in society. Unlike the English word way, Tao can be used as a verb. The first line of the Tao Te Ching, translated literally is "Tao can be Tao not constant Tao." The Tao in the middle is usually translated as the spoken. Throughout classical texts, Taos are spoken, forgotten, studied, understood and misunderstood, distorted, mastered, and performed with grace.

Around 100 BC, Han dynasty historians named six schools of classical thought—Confucian, Mohist, Yin-yang, Legalist, Taoist, and the School of Names. They identified Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu as founding Taoist philosophers. So Han historians defined Taoism as what Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu taught. Subsequent Taoist writers restated ideas from the original texts but exhibited little original thinking. The Han Dynasty, 206 BC–AD 220, is considered by most Chinese citizens to be one of the greatest periods in Chinese history. Most Chinese people are Han descendents and they gladly accept propaganda asserting that the Han period was a golden age. Chinese people to this day call themselves People of Han. However, many Western historians consider the Han Dynasty to be China's Dark Age. During the Han Dynasty, China became an oppressive Confucian state. Rice agriculture became well established, and the well-fed population exploded to over 55 million. Through military conquest the empire extended its influence over Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Central Asia. Han rulers established an exploitative feudal system to feed the Han bureaucracy and its war machine. Oppression and conquest did have an upside—the empire's westward expansion allowed secure caravan traffic across Central Asia, which we call the Silk Road. The Han Dynasty declined due to internal strife resulting from government corruption and the government's oppression of the peasants. In 311, Huns sacked the capitol and erased lingering Han residue. The Chin Dynasty followed and gave its name to the country we know as China.

China's Dark Age was spawned by two anti-intellectual movements. Confucianism engendered oppressive social policy and the Five-Element Theory was a silly theory of matter that corrupted Chinese thought. Five-Element Theory categorizes natural phenomena into the Five Elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Five element theory influenced diverse fields including art, music, medicine, military strategy and martial arts. Five element theory corrupts thought because it is preposterous. Rather than enriching thought, it promotes superstition. Modern chemistry has developed valid theories of matter and correctly identified the elements.

The superstition contained in five-element theory is not merely silly. Five-element theory's assertion that we are what we eat threatens endangered species. The tiger symbolizes strength and power, and traditional Chinese medicine uses its bones treat arthritis and muscular diseases, while rhino horn is used to treat fever, convulsions and delirium. Bile from bear gall bladders is used to treat inflammation and bacterial infections. While these remedies cannot ameliorate disease, trade in poached endangered animal species adds to the conservation crisis. Ginseng is used both as a universal cure-all and as a fertility enhancement. Licorice root is used for pain relief and to treat coughs, skin infections, food and drug poisoning. While these plants can be cultivated, Chinese herbalists believe that wild herbs are more efficacious than cultivated sources. Rising demand threatens the survival of ginseng and licorice in the wild. Beyond threatening species with extinction, five-element theory spawned some preposterous medical treatments. Invoking the ancient Chinese medical principle fight poison with poison, traditional Chinese herbalists routinely prescribe arsenic, mercury, and lead. While heavy metals can poison microorganisms, they also poison the patient.

Confucianism arose in northern China from a foundation provided by the legendary scholar Kung Fu Tzu. The name Kung Fu Tzu was Latinized to Confucius by Catholic missionaries. Kung Tzu's greatest deed was nothing less than saving Chinese society from social anarchy. Before China was unified as a nation, the region was a patchwork of small warring kingdoms. Warlords ruled the peasants through despotism. Despotism, coupled with interminable wars, produced social chaos. Chinese culture had been fragmented beyond repair. The Warlords' laws had restrained gross misconduct, but they failed to foster virtues. Kung Tzu understood that no state can forcibly constrain its citizens all the time. Societies need the voluntary cooperation of their members.

Kung Tzu understood that culture can shape people's behavior. We internalize cultural systems automatically. Kung Tzu reasoned that when spontaneous tradition loses its bearing, people could bolster culture by consciously directing its evolution. In directing cultural evolution, Kung Tzu shifted Chinese culture from an unconscious accumulation of ideas to an architect's deliberate effort to shape an ethos. Ethics prescribes ends without providing means. Thus, after determining the essential values, Kung Tzu needed to find the means to promote these values.

Kung Tzu found a greater purpose for education—cultivating moral character—instilling the same moral code in everyone through either education or coercion. His strategy focused education on ensuring the universal acceptance of his prescribed values. Through anecdotes and proverbs, called the Analects, Confucius forged the Chinese ethos. Moral ideals were taught through every conceivable vehicle: religion, entertainment, schools, until they became habits of the heart. This system gave the power of suggestion enough strength that it prompted people to behave properly even when the enforcers were not looking. While Confucianism returned China to social order, it was so oppressive that intellectuals first went underground and eventually disappeared from Chinese society. Despite justifiable criticisms of Confucianism's oppressive indoctrination, the system was effective. Although it strengthened dictators, it also reestablished social order.

After four centuries the Han declined. Confucianism lost its oppressive grip, and intellectuals turned to Taoism for inspiration. But now under the influence of Five-Element Theory, the Chinese viewed Taoism through superstitious cosmological lenses, and under the influence of Confucianism, religious Taoism emerged as an authoritarian institution.

While Taoism eludes definition, scholars have an easier time differentiating between philosophical Taoism and religious Taoism. Both philosophical and religious Taoism seek mystical contact with the Great Tao. Mystical contact is essential because the Tao lies beyond language and reason. While both religious and philosophical Taoism rely heavily upon mysticism, philosophical Taoism is genuinely philosophical, since it explores philosophical arguments. Taoist philosophy explores a mystical metaphysics and ethical-political thought through second-level reflection—thinking about thinking. Religious Taoism seeks to control phenomena through direct access to the Great Tao. Because mystical insight eludes those with ordinary perspectives and mystical insight cannot be put into language, Religious Taoism employs esoteric authoritarian systems. Religious Taoism crosses the line separating philosophy from religion, because it claims mystical insight resides in dogma and revelation. Thus, religious Taoism employs a Confucian-style epistemology where students obediently follow teachers and traditions. Furthermore, Confucianism and religious Taoism share an interest in prescribing morality. Thus, Confucianism and religious Taoism complement one another.

Philosophical Taoism displays a distinctive ambivalence—manifested in its indirect, non-argumentative poetry and parables. Philosophical Taoism advocates living according to natural law. Anything contrived opposes natural law, and anything opposed to Tao will cease to be; hence, any contrivance is folly. Taoism's list of contrivances includes religious authority, government, and society in general. Because philosophical Taoism regards government as a contrivance, it favors anarchy. Taoist spontaneity contrasts Confucianism' indoctrination. Taoist philosophers typically express their doubts about Confucian Tao, by considering it a contrived Tao, which is at odds with the Natural Tao and Great Tao. Natural Tao and Great Tao are constant while contrived human Tao is inherently changeable and subject to interpretation.
Before diving too deeply into philosophical Taoism, a brief overview of philosophy might come in handy. Philosophers divide ethical theories into three areas: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics investigates the origin of ethical principles, and what they mean. Are they merely social inventions? Do they involve more than expressions of our individual emotions? Meta-ethics focuses universal truths, the role of reason in ethics, and the meaning of ethical terms. Normative ethics examines standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. This may involve articulating the good behavior, or the consequences of our behavior on others. Finally, applied ethics examines specific controversies, such as abortion, animal rights, environmental concerns, or war. By using meta-ethics and normative ethics, applied ethics attempts to resolve issues.

Philosophical Taoism is a sophisticated meta-ethics rooted in language analysis that leads to skepticism and relativism. Philosophical Taoism employs anti-logic and deliberately self-contradictory mysticism, as it rebukes rationality and acculturation. Philosophical Taoism includes nihilism, relativism, intuitivism, contrarianism, skepticism, mysticism, primitivism, and naturalist stoicism. Primitive Taoism asserts that nature endorses a particular Tao, but human discourse cannot reveal the true Tao. There is a correct Tao, but it cannot be expressed in any form of communication. Contrarian Taoism deliberately contradicts all the norms and attitudes in the conventional Tao. The Masters are so incomprehensible as to be the opposite of whatever we normally respect. Much of Taoism is a reaction against oppressive Confucianism. Taoist withdrawal from society is an antithesis to Confucianism. Taoism's naturalist, mystical, and intuitive strains draw nuanced conclusions by analyzing the role of Tao in nature. We have an intuitive sense of the Tao because it is our nature, and we can develop that sense by listening to the Tao within.

Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu understood that the world remains in a continual state of flux. What is possible today might become impossible tomorrow. What is good today might become evil tomorrow. What seems right according to one point of view is wrong viewed from another perspective. Right and wrong? Lao Tzu does not see them as the same thing, but he refuses to cling to one or the other as the absolute. When we view a perspective as the absolute good, it immediately becomes evil. To cling to one partial view as the ultimate answer obscures the Tao. Those who harmonize with the Tao understand that happiness pushed to an extreme becomes calamity—that beauty overdone becomes ugliness.

Lao Tzu's stance on language:

The tao that can be named is not the Eternal Tao.
Names can be named, but not the eternal name.
As the origin of heaven and earth, it is nameless.
As the Mother of all things it is, it is nameable.
As ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence.
As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.
These two flow from the same source, though differently named.
And both are called mysteries.
The mystery of mysteries is the Door of all essence.

What does Lao Tzu deny when he says: The Tao that can be named is not the Eternal Tao? The text does not explain, but the issue traces to the Confucian practice of rectifying names. Confucians asserted that a name is rectified if a law containing it correctly guides action. Confucians rectified a name by providing an example of its correct use, or by identifying a correct action taken by following a Tao that contains the term. What does Lao Tzu reject by saying: Names can be named, but not the eternal name? We can view this skepticism in two ways—there is no correct way to use a name, or a pattern of right use in the past cannot determine correct use in the present. Tradition cannot determine correctness in the present, even if tradition was correct in the past. We can interpret this uncertainty in several ways. It might be nihilism—there is no such thing as correct Tao. It might be skepticism—the correct Tao can never be known, or as anti-language—the correct Tao cannot be put in words that convey accurate meaning. The skepticism and anti-language perspectives are compatible with their being a correct Tao. The anti-language option even allows that someone can know the Tao, but it simply cannot be conveyed. The fact that Lao Tzu followed his opening gambit with eighty other chapters, suggests that the nihilist interpretation is off the mark. However, the story of Lao Tzu suggests that we should not place too much emphasis on the fact that after this opening stanza, he wrote a text. Lao Tzu wrote only because the gate-keeper compelled him to write.

Lao Tzu often pairs words—opposites. When we learn the way to use a word by rectifying names, the name becomes associated with a value, and these values then shape our opinions. The artificially created values lead to unnecessary competition and strife. When we see that it is not natural to acquire status, we must conclude that pursuing status is folly. To fall under the spell of social control, is to lose natural spontaneity. Furthermore, Lao Tzu hints that naming systems dull our capacity for appreciation for nature—the five colors blind the eye. We learn to name everything and understand nothing.

The Tao Te Ching entices us to free ourselves from confining social systems by wu-wei, acting through non-action. We must lose our unnatural socialization and return to the state of a newborn. Wu-wei is even formulated in the text in paradox—lack acting and lack non-action. The bulk of the Tao Te Ching fosters this paradoxical attitude. In passage after passage, the Tao Te Ching reverses the values usually taken for granted in society—either rejecting the usual positive connotation of the term or motivating us to value the opposite. The result is a fascinating exercise in normative ethics, including anarchistic political theory. Lao Tzu's anti-logic forces to paint ourselves into a corner, and it induces us to accept one of the three negative positions introduced in the first chapter—there is no Tao; we cannot know Tao; or we cannot communicate Tao. It gives the text a tone that nullifies culturally imposed values that grate against human nature while it cultivates natural attitudes and actions. While the Tao Te Ching teaches nothing, it helps us to become comfortable in our own skins, to look beyond selfish inclinations, and to harmonize with forces greater than ourselves.

Chuang Tzu's stance on language: While Lao Tzu held language in contempt, Chuang Tzu's contact with Chinese philosophy of language, led him to recognize that a blanket anti-language position is self-censuring. Although Lao Tzu analyzes language, he reveals no exposure to the theories of language explored by the School of Names. However, Chuang Tzu clearly does. Ancient Chinese thinkers treated all words as names, and the School of Names emerged in response to the practice of rectifying names. Most disputes about Tao are tied to language—how it works and, what is a correct use of words.

Hui Tzu claimed that the correct use of words depends on patterns of similarity and difference. We can use large and small as an example. Some large things are smaller than other things called small. A small elephant is considerably larger than a large ant. So correct naming must not be based on objective distinctions in the world, but on our point of view. From this, Hui Tzu concluded that we can speak of a great One—nothing lies outside it, and of a small one, a finite object that derives from the Infinite. The One concept is intended to reveal that there are no real distinctions—the cosmos is One, and we should love all things equally.

Hui Tzu had much more influence on Chuang Tzu than Lao Tzu or the Tao Te Ching. Hui Tzu appears more often in dialogue with Chuang Tzu than any other figure, and the stories suggest a long-term philosophical interaction, a relationship between philosophical friends. The Tao of Chuang Tzu shows mastery of the technical terminology and ancient China's theories of language. Chuang Tzu marks the apogee of Taoist philosophy as he finds a better way to answer the School of Names. The way to avoid the anti-language trap is to acknowledge that language is natural, and to avoid the language trap by concluding that since language is natural all language is right or permissible. While this perspective allows Confucianists to claim that the Confucian Tao has nature's endorsement, it deprives the Confucianists of what they really want—to declare that their Taoist rivals lack similar approval. Chuang Tzu asserts that normative questions must be answered from within Tao, not from authority. Thus Chuang Tzu's acceptance of language does not warrant treating all discourse Tao as equal. Normative ethics only works when it harmonizes with the Tao.

Rather than prescribing right action, the Tao of Chuang Tzu is filled with fantasy conversations among diverse individuals including millipedes, convicts, musicians, and the wind. His poetry and parables teach an essential lesson—open-minded receptivity to all the different voices of Tao. Each has insights that might be surprisingly valuable. However, we gain nothing from trying to imagine an ultimate source of guidance. If there were a perfect person, we probably could not understand him. Would his ways have any relevance for us with our limits? Perfection would likely look like the opposite to ordinary humans.

Chuang Tzu prefers fishing to high status and political office. He asks what a turtle would choose if offered the option of being nailed in a place of worship or staying at the lake and "dragging its tail in the mud." Politics has no attraction for Chuang Tzu, because schemers who struggle against the Tao fall into pits that they dig for themselves. This anti-political stance is more than self-preservation. Chuang Tzu's egalitarian perspectives undermine China's Confucian authoritarianism. While Confucians assert that proper order occurs only when a society follows a single Tao, Chuang Tzu suggests that society could function just fine with people following many Tao's. Chuang Tzu differs in one important attitude from the Lao Tzu—according to Chuang Tzu we need not try to escape from social life and conventions. Conventions underlie the possibility of communication; thus, they are useful. Chuang Tzu's Taoism has less of the primitive thrust than the Tao Te Ching.

Chuang Tzu's most dramatic stories link Taoism to Zen—the mysticism of losing oneself in activity, the absorption in a highly cultivated way. His most famous example describes a butcher who carves flesh with the concentration of a dancer immersed in elegantly choreographed performance. We discover our untarnished human-nature by exercising skills with focus that reaches beyond ourselves to connect intimately with the Tao.

Wu-wei, Taoism's catchphrase, has puzzled translators for centuries. The first character is not the problem. Wu means nonexistent. Pairing wu with wei begins complicating matters. Wei means avoid. Thus, Lao Tzu tells us to avoid nonexistence, but he also warns that we should also not avoid nonexistence. When we give up on translating wu-wei and shift our attention to interpreting what it means, English equivalents include creative quietude, acting through non-acting, and action becoming second nature. Wu wei is not inactivity; instead, it is perfect action. It is action carried out in accord with the Tao, in harmony with nature. It is spontaneous activity that suits our place in the scheme of things. Wu wei can occur in any behavior executed in a state of harmony between mind and action—we act while in an aesthetic trance. Chuang Tzu's parable of butcher who carves meat with grace exemplifies wu wei. Such behavior requires a focus that that resides beyond ordinary self-conscious action. Through wu wei, we become one with our daily activities.

Taoism asserts that humans and all things in nature are endowed with virtue by the mere fact of their existence—every thing in nature has intrinsic virtue. Taoists believe in intrinsic virtue rather than seeing virtue as the fruit of labor. Taoism does not impart virtue through teaching; instead, virtue resides in wu wei, acting through non-action. When we act through wu wei, we act without concern for rewards—doing nothing calculated to bring happiness. In wu wei, we act according to our true human nature, which we do not need to contrive, since it comes to us naturally. Through wu wei we act spontaneously in accord with the Tao; because, wu wei accords with Tao, it is the source of virtue. By acting through wu wei, we grow quietly in the humility, engaged in a simple ordinary life.

The way of conscious striving is fundamentally a way of self-aggrandizement that conflicts with the Tao. Hence, it is self-destructive because things against the Tao will cease to be. For Taoists, virtue arises not from a lifetime of study and practice, but instead from a lifetime of acting without impediment. Acting in accord with wu wei, we must be content of wait, listen, and give up on useless striving. We grow without watching ourselves grow and without an appetite for self-improvement.

Self-conscious cultivation of virtue renders virtue intangible. The more we chase virtue the more elusive it becomes. Taoists retain their virtue by not dwelling on self-conscious contemplative philosophical speculation. All deliberate focus on the self is selfish—whether it be egotistical, contemplative, or socially altruistic. Selfishness distances us from the mysterious Tao. True tranquility resides in the action of non-action, a tranquility that transcends the division between action and contemplation by entering into a union with the nameless and invisible Tao.

Buddhism's influence on Taoism: The Taoist movement coincided with the spread of Buddhism in China. Taoism helped introduce Buddhist ideas into China, and Taoism heavily influenced Chinese Buddhism, particularly Chian, which evolved into Japanese Zen. Buddhism arrived in China when intellectuals were hungry for fresh ideas. However, most of Buddhism was beyond Chinese acceptance. Buddhism was too focused on its desire-psychology and its notion that reason is both an innate human faculty and faculty that can be enhanced through education. Taoism, with its abstruse metaphysics of being and non-being, was the only Chinese philosophy that could domesticate Buddhism. The Taoist anti-logic of being and non-being resonated well with the Buddhist mystery about the nature of Nirvana. If Nirvana is the opposite of Samsara, the cycle of reincarnation, then is Nirvana a state of being or of non-being? Buddhism brought a paradox that would delight Taoist thinkers—the paradox of desire. Desire caused the cycle of suffering and Nirvana could be reached only by ending desire. That meant that to reach Nirvana, we had to cease wanting to reach Nirvana.

Mahayana Buddhism includes the notion of the Bodhisattva—someone who qualifies for Nirvana but voluntarily stays behind in the cycle of rebirth to help the rest of us. The Bodhisattva concept parallels the Taoist concept of the Sage. Furthermore, Mahayana Buddhism resonated in China because it is egalitarian—everyone can become a Buddha, just as everyone can be a Taoist Sage. Madyamika Buddhism gained ground in China because it answered the question of the Buddha nature by not answering it. To Madyamika Buddhists, enlightenment is inexpressible and mystical, which sounds like Lao Tzu's Tao. The introduction of Buddhist monasticism to China launched organized Taoist religions modeled in the style of Buddhism. Progressively the content of Taoism and Buddhism converged.

Although much of Mahayana dwells on fanciful notions of afterlife and supernatural beings, its mystical thread parallels Taoist mysticism. Madyamika Buddhism provided Mahayana with its mystic perspectives. Madyamika asserts that the mind's original nature is pure, but it can be contaminated by passions and defilements. Meditation provides the means of discovering the conscious mind. Madyamika teaches that the self is non-existent, but also the finite phenomenal world is non-existent. Madyamika negates phenomena through a kind of anti-logic to arrive at the ineffable absolute or Void that is the only Reality. All finite phenomena have temporary existence; thus, no finite thing absolutely exists. True existence resides in a single, underlying essence, a stream of existence with an everlasting becoming. Only Void has Infinite Reality. The everyday world exists, but it is composed of finite phenomena, which lack Infinite Reality. The phenomenal world arises from the Infinite Reality, so all finite phenomena have the Buddha nature, and every person has already reached Nirvana. We just need to realize it. To modern science the Infinite Reality is really just the Universe—infinitely vast, infinitely miniscule, infinitely powerful, the source of all wisdom, beyond beginning, and beyond end. At conception, we emerge from the Universe. We spend our lives in the Universe, and when we die, we return to the Universe. We can never escape the Universe. The Universe, the Great Tao, Nirvana, and Heaven are all names for the same thing. Madyamika deemphasizes the cycle of rebirths; since, Nirvana is omnipresent. Why would we need a cycle of rebirths to reach Nirvana, if everyone has already reached Nirvana? Madyamika ruthlessly negates all dichotomies—good versus bad, beautiful versus ugly—to distinguish relative truth from Ultimate Truth. Relative truth derives from finite phenomena experienced by the senses, while we can glimpse the Ultimate Infinite Truth through transcendent intuitive insight.

Madyamika asserts that Buddhist scriptures occupy the realm of relative truth, and they are subject to change and constant improvement. Scriptures are like a finger pointing at the moon. When we recognize the moon and its brightness, the finger is of no more use. As the finger has no brightness, likewise the scriptures are not sacred. Scripture is religious currency representing spiritual wealth. What scripture represents is sacred. But by itself, scripture is only as valuable as paper and ink.

Yogācāra provides Mahayana's methodology for embarking on the Bodhisattva path. Meditation provides the laboratory where we study how the mind operates. Yogācāra examines consciousness from a variety of approaches, including meditation, psychological analysis, meta-analysis—how we know what we know, how perception operates, what validates knowledge, scholastic categorization, and karmic analysis. To Yogācāra, consciousness is neither the ultimate reality nor the solution; instead, consciousness is the root problem. What we think using our consciousness is really self-consciousness. The human problem emerges from ordinary mental operations, and it can only be solved by bringing those operations to an end. We are like the mythological Prince suffers amnesia and wanders his kingdom in rags, not knowing that he has everything worth having. Our consciousness leads us to seek Enlightenment, to reach Nirvana, to ascend into Heaven. Consciousness leads us to believe that Heaven is elusive, when in reality, we cannot escape it.

Chian is the most Taoist of Chinese Buddhists sects, and Chian evolved into Japanese Zen. Chian reveals its Taoist character when it addresses the paradox of desire. Lao Tzu asserts that artificial desires emerge from learned distinctions. If we eliminate the desire for Nirvana, it must be by forgetting the distinction between Nirvana and Samsara. To forget the dichotomy between Nirvana and Samsara, we must become absorbed in wu wei as we practice living here and now—every moment Zen. Through wu wei, we realize that we are already enlightened. The Buddha-nature is our true human-nature. Chian abandoned elaborate Buddhist theories to focus on wu wei. Chian is dominated by the notion of sudden enlightenment, which denies that practice can lead us closer to the Buddha-nature. We cannot be led to enlightenment—we are enlightened. Pay attention.

Taoism versus Confucianism: Virtues prescribed by Confucianism produce well-behaved cultured people. But Confucianism also imprisons people within fixed norms dictated by society. Prescribed systems make it impossible for people to act freely and creatively in response to the world's ever changing conditions. A system that pursues tranquility, peace, and joy makes such demands on human nature that it cannot be realized; instead, it cramps and distorts humans. The lesser tao of Confucianism never comes close to the Great Tao of Taoism, the Tao that resides beyond names. Kung Fu Tzu refused to concern himself with an unknowable Tao, because an unknowable Tao resides beyond the realm of rational discourse. Chuang Tzu asserted that only when we contact the mysterious Tao could we really understand how to live. To live merely by the Tao of Man is to stray from both the Tao of Nature and the Mysterious Tao. We abide by the lesser and stray from the Great.

Chuang Tzu observed that prescriptive social systems fail because their prescriptions dictate human virtues, without understanding human nature. Happiness resides neither in hedonism nor utilitarianism. Pursuit of riches, social status, and pleasure leads to intolerable servitude—we pursue what is always out of reach. In pursuing goals, we struggle to live in the future and become incapable of living in the present. The self-sacrificing public servant ultimately lands in the same ambiguities as the hedonist, because the public servant views the public good as the object. He engages in a self-conscious campaign to do his duty in the belief that public service is good; therefore, it will lead to happiness. He sees happiness as a thing that can be obtained; thus, he places happiness outside himself in the world of objects. He separates himself from both the present and happiness because happiness dwells within some distant goal. He separates himself from his own nature because he pursues an unnatural prescribed nature.

We estrange ourselves from the Tao both by the means that we seek happiness but also by our vision of the happiness we seek. Taoism regards the concepts of happiness and unhappiness as ambiguous; since they reside in the world of objects. For all virtues—good versus evil, right versus wrong—from the moment we treat them as objects to be attained, we are doomed to delusion and alienation. Good becomes evil because it becomes something that we do not have and we must constantly pursue it. We transform good into the unobtainable. The more we seek it, the more we analyze it. Analysis leads to abstractions that confuse the issue. Thus goodness degenerates into some unobtainable abstraction residing in the future. The means to obtain happiness become increasingly elaborate until the study of happiness becomes so complex that we must devote all our effort on analyzing happiness. In the end we lose happiness. We devote ourselves to a useless pursuit of a means that leads nowhere, while we ignore the good that is intrinsic to all elements of the Tao's creation.

While Taoism is usually seen as critical of the Confucian system, Taoism is also critical of Taoists who try to impart knowledge of the Tao, since it cannot be imparted. When people are ready to realize the Tao, they realize it. Badly timed zealous communication of the Tao fails. The Tao communicates itself, in its own way, when the right moment arrives. After realizing the Tao, we become at home on two levels—at home with the divine mysterious Tao and with ordinary everyday existence.