Tao Te Ching by Laozi (reading comprehension books txt) 📕

Quiet and unceasing is the operation of the Tao, and effective is the rule of the sage in accordance with it.

The grass-dogs in par. 1 were made of straw tied up in the shape of dogs, and used in praying for rain; and afterwards, when the sacrifice was over, were thrown aside and left uncared for. Heaven and earth and the sages dealt so with all things and with the people; but the illustration does not seem a happy one. Both Chuang-tzŭ and Huai-nan mention the grass-dogs. See especially the former, XIV, 25 a, b. In that book there is fully developed the meaning of this chapter. The illustration in par. 2 is better. The Chinese bellows is difference to look at from ours, but the principle is the same in the construction of both. The par. concludes in a way that lends some countenance to the later Taoism’s dealing with the breath. ↩

成象, “The Completion of Material Forms.” This title rightly expresses the import of this enigmatical chapter; but there is a foundation laid in it for the development of the later Taoism, which occupies itself with the prolongation of life by the management of the breath (氣) or vital force.

“The valley” is used metaphorically as a symbol of “emptiness” or “vacancy;” and “the spirit of the valley” is the something invisible, yet almost personal, belonging to the Tao, which constitutes the Tê (德) in the name of our Ching. “The spirit of the valley” has come to be a name for the activity of the Tao in all the realm of its operation. “The female mystery” is the Tao with a name of chapter 1, which is “the Mother of all things.” All living beings have a father and mother. The processes of generation and production can hardly be imaged by us but by a recognition of this fact; and so Laozi thought of the existing realm of nature⁠—of life⁠—as coming through an evolution (not a creation) from the primal air or breath, dividing into two, and thence appearing in the forms of things, material and immaterial. The chapter is found in Lieh-tzŭ (I 1 b) quoted by him from a book of Huang-ti; and here Laozi has appropriated it, and made it his own. See the Introduction. ↩

韜光, “Sheathing the Light.” The chapter teaches that one’s best good is realised by not thinking of it, or seeking for it. Heaven and earth afford a pattern to the sage, and the sage affords a pattern to all men. ↩

易性, “The Placid and Contented Nature.” Water, as an illustration of the way of the Tao, is repeatedly employed by Laozi.

The various forms of what is excellent in par. 2 are brought forward to set forth the more, by contrast, the excellence of the humility indicated in the acceptance of the lower place without striving to the contrary. ↩

運夷; but I cannot give a satisfactory rendering of this title. The teaching of the chapter is, that fullness and complacency in success are contrary to the Tao.

The first clauses of the two sentences in par. 1, 持而盈之, 揣而銳之, 銳而揣之, are instances of the “inverted” style not uncommon in the oldest composition. “The way of Heaven” = “the Heavenly Tao” exemplified by man. ↩

能爲, “Possibilities.” This chapter is one of the most difficult to understand and translate in the whole work. Even Chu Hsi was not able to explain the first member satisfactorily. The text of that member seems well supported; but I am persuaded the first clause of it is somehow corrupt.

The whole seems to tell what can be accomplished by one who is possessed of the Tao. In par. 3 he appears free from all self-consciousness in what he does, and of all self-satisfaction in the results of his doing. The other two paragraphs seem to speak of what he can do under the guidance of the Tao for himself and for others. He can by his management of his vital breath bring his body to the state of Taoistic perfection, and keep his intelligent and animal souls from being separated, and he can rule men without purpose and effort. “The gates of heaven” in par. 2 is a Taoistic phrase for the nostrils as the organ of the breath;⁠—see the commentary of Ho-shang Kung. ↩

無用, “The Use of what has no Substantive Existence.” The three illustrations serve to set forth the freedom of the Tao from all preoccupation and purpose, and the use of what seems useless. ↩

檢欲, “The Repression of the Desires.” Government in accordance with the Tao seeks to withdraw men from the attractions of what is external and pleasant to the senses and imagination, and to maintain the primitive simplicity of men’s ways and manners. Compare chap. 2. The five colours are black, red, green or blue, white, and yellow; the five notes are those of the imperfect Chinese musical scale, our G, A, B, D, E; the five tastes are salt, bitter, sour, acrid, and sweet.

I am not sure that Wang Pi has caught exactly the author’s idea in the contrast between satisfying the belly and satisfying the eyes; but what he says is ingenious: “In satisfying the belly one nourishes himself; in gratifying the eyes he makes a slave of himself.” ↩

厭恥, “Loathing Shame.” The chapter is difficult to construe, and some disciples of