The Tao Te Ching

This is a very small book physically. It has an introduction and then the verses, each with their own commentary. The book is actually smaller than a normal paperback.

Verse 12

Colors can make us blind!
Music can make us deaf!

Flavors can destroy our taste!
Possessions can close our options!
Racing can drive us mad
and its rewards obstruct our peace!

Thus the wise
fill the inner gut
rather than the eyes
always sacrificing the superficial
for the essential.

(Again, this is one of the translations that helps to make sense out of the first part. It's still not perfect in making sense, but it's better than a lot of other translations. The commentary points out that this verse deals with the concept of paying more attention to the inner self than outer things.)

Verse 17

There are four types of leaders.
the best leader
is indistinguishable from the will
of those who selected her.
The next best leader
enjoys the love and praise of the people.
The poor leader
rules through coercion and fear
And the worst leader
is a tyrant despised by the multitudes
who are the victims of his power.

What a world of difference
among these leaders!
In the last two types,
what is done is without sincerity or trust-
only coercion.
In the second type,
there is a harmony
between the leader and the people.
In the first type
whatever is done happens so naturally
that no one presumes to take the credit!

(In the commentary, he refers to the second type of leader and says examples include Thomas Jefferson, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse-Tung and Fidel Castro. The poor leader was like Josef Stalin, and Hitler was an example of the worst type of leader. )

Verse 29 refers to human relationship to the planet. The commentary says we operate under three illusions:

1. We are separate from the world in which we live.
2. The world is there for us to use as we wish.
3. Each of us is in competition with other humans.

This is very much the same situation we find today. The entire ecology movement and all the arguments about global warming deal with the first two sentences. As far as global warming goes, let me clear one thing up. Global warming is, without any doubt at all, going on. Anyone who denies that is an idiot, period. Where the actual problem comes in is determining the cause of the warming.

It is happening, period. All scientific long-term measures point to that fact. However, the Earth can go through periods of warming on its own and even periods of freezing on its own and has done so long before any humans were around to comment on what was happening.

There is also no doubt that humans, by their actions, do contribute to global warming. That is an undeniable fact. The question, though, is how much of the warming that is going on is due to natural processes, and how much is due to human activity?

Verse 47

We can understand the world
as it is without leaving our home.
We can understand the world
as it might be
without peering dreamily out of window.

The farther we go,
the less we know.

Wise people understand the 10,000 things
without going to each one
They know them
without having to look at each one
and they transform all
without acting on each one.

(The first part differs from the average George Harrison-type opening. Without looking out the window, we can know the way of Heaven.)

Still, this is a good overall translation of the Tao Te Ching.


Back to start of Spirituality section

Back to start of Taoism section

Back to main Index page