Verse 10 of the Dao De Jing is that of meditation. But its 22 lines take the reader beyond just meditation. They take us to the realm where meditation and everyday life come together. The Dao is always practical. If it were not practical, it would not be the Dao. And it is exactly this quality which makes the Dao De Jing so remarkable in the canon of spiritual literature.

This verse is divided into two sections (we recall that the original Dao De Jing was not divided into chapters or verses - this is a relatively modern approach to providing structure to this document). The first stanza is a description of the process with which we go inwards. Notice that this Verse consists, until the very last stanza, of nothing but questions. Here the author sits just across from you and with a quiet voice asks you these decisive questions.

It is translated by Addiss and Lombardo as:

Can you balance your life force
And embrace the One
Without separation?

Can you control your breath
Gently
Like a baby?

Can you clarity
Your dark vision
Without blemish?

The first stanza speaks of mending the idea of separation, held by the ego, with which we divide the world as “us” and “not us”. When the veil of separation is lifted between the self that we label as “personal” with the universe, that we label as “impersonal”, then and only then do we embrace the One without separation.

The next stanza speaks of breath (prana). In meditation we are asked to bring awareness to the breath and as we relax into our ‘inner’ selves, the breath becomes both deep and even. We breath with the profound spontaneity of an infant. It is a gentle rocking motion - in and out - it is the very current of life that connects us with everything in the universe, for the life breath comes from the universe, enters our physical body, and then it releases itself back to the universe. This is the very process of blending with the One without separation.

The final stanza of this section speaks of the unity with the dark. The dark vision is that which is bereft of physical light, but is the very background of everything in the universe. It is the space without content. It is the substratum upon which everything exists. It is the all without separation. It is the very “I am” that underlies all experience.

The second section of Verse 10 deals explicitly with leadership. The whole of the Verse implies that the true Sage King (Queen) is one rooted in meditation, but now the author takes this being rooted in mediation back into the bright light of the living world. The ‘advice’ implied by the next series of questions cannot be fully realized until one is rooted in that which embraces the all as One.

Addiss and Lombardo translate this section as:

Can you love people
And govern the country
Without knowledge?

Can you open and close
The gate of heaven
Without clinging to earth?

Can you brighten
The four directions
Without action?

This section returns us back to the world of Verse 3; of selflessness and non-action. Rooted in the meditative mind the authentic leader acts without a “personal” self laying claim to the action. He is rooted in the vision of this moment; his own “dark vision”. For when we lead this life liberated from the clinging of the needy self, all the world, the four directions, are brightened by our innocence and spontaneity. Things get done, but there is no one to claim having done them. The people and the leader are one as one. Even conflict and dissent are embraced within that one. This is the very flow of the Dao.

The reference to knowledge is important. In the context of this Verse, knowledge is that of tradition, of belief. It lacks the immediacy of the knowing presence that naturally arises in this very moment. We all experience this, but often block it by substituting our own beliefs and psychological projections onto the immediacy of this very now. If we are to be the conduit of this NOW, just as it is, if we are to allow the energy of the Dao to flow without unnecessary blocks, then we must act without this psychologically-based knowledge. Our natural brilliance, this elusive presence that is always there for us, waiting for us, is the very light of the authentic leader; the Daoist leader.

The final stanza of Verse 10 introduces, for the first time, the word Te (or De). This word has proved to be a bit of a challenge to translators and many, such as Addiss and Lombardo, leave it in its Chinese form. In contrast Jonathan Star translates Te as “primal power”. This is very close to Arthur Waley’s translation of Te as just “power”. Other translators have understood Te as meaning virtue. And still others have translated as integrity. Personally, I think it’s best to just leave it as Te with the knowledge that it possesses each and all of these qualities. The Te element forms much of the second section of the Dao De Jing, so understanding its whole meaning is important to the reading of this text.

Addiss and Lombardo translate the final stanza of Verse 10 as:

Give birth and cultivate.
Give birth and do not possess.
Act without dependence.
Excel but do not rule.
This is called dark Te.

This paragraph combines all the elements of wu wei and selflessness that we have discussed earlier. The line, “Excel but do not rule” corresponds to another theme in the Dao, which is the admonition to be one-pointed in action. To always do our best, but not to possess (lay claim to) the actual doing or its outcomes. The reference to the “dark” Te connects this final stanza with the third stanza of this Verse. Again, dark refers to that inner presence, that place devoid of light that yet lightens all the universe. It is the other side of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, feeling, and thinking. It is the very ground of being upon which all things arise and disappear. It is the “I am” prior to the insertion of any quality with which we might attach to “I am”. This is integrity. This is primal power. This is virtue. This is Te. It is the identity without identity.

Tags: Awakening, enlightenment, Leadership

As was said in the introduction to this Tao Te Ching commentary, this book is thought to have been, primarily, a manual of leadership and it is this theme that dominates Verse Three.

The taoist conception of the ideal government was one where people would not contend for power and have their basic needs taken care of. It is when basic needs are not taken care of, that division and conflict ensue.

At the risk of using language and labels that are too contemporary and fraught with projected emotional value, we also would say that the Taoist envisions the most minimal of governments; a kind of libertarian conception of government. Although this quality is not specifically described in this Verse, it will emerge later in the Tao.

The first stanza deals with implementing social values that reduce conflict. Jonathan Star translates:

Putting a value on status
will cause people to compete
Hoarding treasure
will turn them into thieves
Showing off possessions
will disturb their daily lives.

Taoists envision a society that is, essentially, classless. It is the unequal distribution of wealth and possessions that provides the foundation for a society where everyone is defined by their status. Moreover, such a society will be rife with violence, envy, and crime. This is, of course, the very society we not only have, but one which we promote as “natural”, as a consequence, we mindlessly assert, of “human nature”. We award competition massively and tend to contextualize cooperative approaches as weak, “girly”, socialist, or worse.

The next stanza defines the role of the Taoist government. Star translates:

Thus the Sage rules
by stilling minds and opening hearts
by filling bellies and strengthening bones
He shows people how to be simple
and live without desires
To be content
and not look for other ways
With the people so pure
Who could trick them?
What clever ideas would lead them astray?

When action is pure and selfless
everything settles into its own perfect place.

Here are some stanzas that ‘modern’ people might have some problem with. We must wonder whether, it is the role of government to still minds? Also, is it the role of government to motivate people to be simple and without desire?

I was raised in a family where questioning just about everything was encouraged (except my own father’s authority). As the all but perennial outsider, Jews are encouraged to find a kind of comfortable, but separate place and one of the ways this is done is through clearly delineating the values and beliefs of the dominant culture from our own. Thus, an active and critical mind is encouraged. This active mind is not there only to serve as a means to establish our rightful separation, but to be the manifestation of intelligence itself. Thus, for me, this stanza is particularly challenging.

The over-riding concern expressed in this verse is creating and sustaining a society of tranquility through contentment. The searching, questioning mind is not, at face, a persona that is tranquil or content … or is it?

So many elements of our personalities are akin to the qualities of our appearance; they resist change and are part of our physical being. So, if you are a person who finds happiness and fulfillment by questioning, then that is the very “song” you are here to sing. The decisive question here is one of intent. When we questions and criticizes as a consequence of ego, of needing to bring unnecessary attention to ourselves, to look smarter than our fellows, then yes, this is a clear contradiction of what the Tao is saying in this Verse. But if our questioning is simply inspired by wonder about our world, an interest in learning, of inquiry, then this is the Tao itself.

You will note that essentially every quality possesses two sides. One points to the hurting ego and the other to the vast web of connections that touches all of us. This is the rule which underlies all other rules. It is also an quality of the Tao Te Ching that we see time and again. The difference between enlightenment and its absence is a very thin one; on one side is that of separation and injury and on the other is connection and balance. This single very thin line seems to have the hardness of diamonds.

Returning to this stanza, we also see that the Tao advises government to “fill bellies and strengthen bones.” The role of government is to serve the basic and essential needs of all people. A full stomach and physical vitality are necessary for thriving in this world and government can play a pivotal role in making that happen.

When we are happy and content, we have little attraction to ideas that would divide and undermine the social good. As I’ve noted in several posts, the quality of incessant psychological desire is simply the visible side of the underlying identification with lack and personal inadequacy. When government provides for its people, when happiness and well-being abides to all, the world of lack vanishes from the human condition. As has been described in fairly massive detail in my book Liberation from the Lie, only a world organized around class division, frequent war, constant power striving, is one that demands obedience and achieves socialization goals through punishment and constant correction. It is this very world of obedience demands and punishment that creates the psychological condition of persistent lack. The Tao argues for a very different world and society.

The final two lines of Verse Three return to the essence of the awakened life. “Pure and selfless action” is a life not of separation and exile, but of connection and inclusion. The life of separation is, truly, life out of balance. To use a taoist metaphor, it is truly trying to live one’s life on one foot. Only when when we are selfless are we connected to the earth by both our feet and to the heavens with our head and hands.

Tags: Awakening, enlightenment

Over the next 3 months I hope to write a post for each of the 81 chapters of the immortal Tao Te Ching. I will be using my three favorite translations; those of Jonathan Star, Stanley Lombardo, and David Hinton.

In my own ‘spiritual’ life, it was the Tao Te Ching that opened the first door. I read it for the first time when I was around 17. A Chinese woman I knew said that it could not be understood by a westerner and even the wisest people in China are profoundly challenged by its mysterious words. But for me, I felt that I understood its many themes and over-riding understanding of this world the first time I read it.

I could understand the Tao because it needed no understanding. It is not a matter of understanding, but of an openness to the real; the underlying thread that connects everything in its perfect changeless and ever-changing web. The Navajos (Dinè call this spiritual energy Grandmother Spider woman, the weaver of all the stories.


A painting of a Chinese sage - described as “like” Lao-Tzu

Explicitly, the Tao Te Ching was a manual for leaders. Its 81 chapters were put together around the 5th century BCE, the time of the Buddha and the compiling of the Hebrew Bible. While we are told that its author is the mysterious Lao Tzu, many scholars assert that the text has more than one author. Perhaps Lao Tzu is the main one, but we will probably never know for sure. It is believed that the age of many of the chapters of the Tao are much earlier than the approximate age of its first known compilation.

The Tao Te Ching is the primary text of the Chinese way of art and thought called Taoism. Its sister writing is the equally powerful and transformative Chuang Tzu. Like the Tao, the Chuang Tzu is believed to have more than one author. Scholars claim that it was written in a particularly chaotic and war-like period in Chinese history in the 3rd century BCE. Some scholars have said that the section of the Chuang Tzu called the Inner Chapters might have a single author; perhaps the semi-legendary Chuang Tzu.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the Tao is that is so deeply personal. Thus my own words reflect only my own experience. While it may have been a manual for leadership it is so much more. its short chapters possess immense depth and we will attempt to plumb these depths in these posts. I offer them to you as an invitation for each of us to re-enter this majestic text with an open heart and mind. Always feel free to contribute your own insights and experience.

Tags: Awakening, enlightenment

Let’s pretend that we have lost our sight. We are blind because we cannot see our eyes.

Have you ever tried to see your eyes without using your eyes? Why not give it a try? Find your eyes and make sure that you look everywhere. Keep on looking. Don’t give up the search easily. Find your eyes.

You will discover that it can’t be done.

What sees cannot, itself, be seen. It’s an interesting irony.

The very same principle applies to spiritual seeking. When we ask ourselves the question, “What am I?” and we continue to ask ourselves the question, we discover that all we will ever find is our mind responding with the word “me”. This is the best it can do. It tells us, time and again, that what we are is “me”. And this answer is no help at all, because it just takes us back to where we started for now we must ask, “Who is this “me”?”

If we dig deeper, we will discover that this word “me” is just a label that the mind applies onto life experiences out of habit. It’s a deeply entrenched habit, but it’s just a habit that we learned from our parents and our world as we grew up. Socialization requires us to refer to this mysterious me until we believe that this simple word is who we are.

It isn’t. It’s just a pointer to something a lot more elusive yet ever-present.

Just like we cannot ever find our eyes by seeking, we cannot find ourselves by seeking. You see - the game is over even before we begin the search! We are prior to any thought. This presence, this sense of being is there and yet it can never be grasped or defined. But it is there. We can more certain of this than anything else in our experience.

It is the only the mind that demands that we seek for what can never be found. And the mind does this because it is identified with lack. Aligned with this identity, we come to believe that we lack something and, it just so happens, that all of the literature of enlightenment confirms our fears. We are nothing like these enlightened sages. We are just these poor saps wandering about our pathetic lives searching for the one thing that can never be found.

This is what happens when we become a slave to the psychological identity of our already invalidated minds. We embraced the identity of the Wound (see the Liberation from the Lie book) and covered it up with the many masks of the False-Self (again see the book).

The key to our prison lies in simply watching and observing the mind with the knowledge that our identity is not it (the mind). We are the vast river upon which all of life is seen, felt, tasted, heard, and perceived. We are THAT.

The mind is an object to this living presence. We can never be an object of ourselves. We are, rather, the subject of everything in our experience without exception. Even our conceptions of God cannot be an exception. Even God (if you have this belief) is an object to this living presence. Perhaps God is this presence.

Disengage from the trance of the mind and find the empty freedom that is our true awakened self.

Tags: Awakening, enlightenment