Tao te Ching: 23

Nature says few words.
For the same reason a whirlwind does not last a whole morning,
Nor does a rainstorm last a whole day.
What causes them?
It is Heaven and Earth (Nature).
If Heaven and Earth cannot make them last long,
How much less can man?
Therefore he who follows Tao is identified with Tao.
He who follows virtue is identified with virtue.
He who abandons (Tao) is identified with abandonment (of Tao).
He who is identified with Tao—Tao is happy to have him.
He who is identified with virtue—virtue is also happy to have him.
And he who is identified with the abandonment (of Tao)—
The abandonment (of Tao) is happy to have him.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in others
that others will have no faith in him.

What a kick in the teeth. To me. This is without going to the Analects of Confucius. This is without going back to chapter 17 and discussing faith in others. This is a common theme in philosophy and parables. Let us look at both parts in sequence.

The first line does reference the Analects of Confucius, chapter 17: verse 19.

Confucius: I do not wish to say anything.
Tzu-kung: If you do not say anything, what can we little disciples ever learn to pass on to others?
Confucius: Does Heaven (T'ien, Nature) say anything? The four seasons run their course and all things are produced. Does Heaven say anything?

Nature does say few words. There is an impermanence in the works of even the most fundamental of all things (other than Tao, which is eternal). Not only does this fit in with the impermanence that is so key in Buddhism, but in other works as well. Impermanence is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhism, along with Dukkha (suffering) and Anatman (also anatta, no-self. I use anatman because it fits nicely with the concept of atman in Hindiusm.) Since everything depends on something else for its very existence, there is nothing that is eternal and unchanging says the basic precepts of the Buddha. But where else do we see this?

We see it in the Jewish folktale where King Solomon sends one of his ministers into the world to find a magic ring that will make a happy man who sees it sad, and a sad man who sees it happy. The minister has 6 months to find the ring and on the very last night, he asks a poor man if he has seen such a ring. The poor man etches some words on the inside of the ring and gives it to the minister. The distraught minister reads it and smiles happily.

The minister returns to Solomon, who believes he could not have found such a ring, and the minister gives the ring to the King. Solomon reads the inscription: gimel zayin yud, or gam zeh ya'avor, which means "This too shall pass." Upon reading this, Solomon realized that he and all his works would eventually be no more than dust.

Where else do we see this? Shelly's poem Ozymandias is a good example as well.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

And of the second part? Actions define a man, not his philosophy, the things he thinks or the things that he says. It is truly what you have accomplished that others will associate with you.

The last lines relate back to chapter 17, but the concept of having faith in another is something that is very difficult for me. I like to think that I am steadfast, loyal and trustworthy but I have a hard time finding these qualities in others. Perhaps it is the same. If you can't see these in others, then they will have a difficult time seeing them in you even if it is actually there. One has to make the first move at some point. And in the end? It matters not because it will have all returned to sand except for the people that we leave behind. The Buddhists and their belief in reincarnation adds another dimension.