Tao te Ching: 41

When the highest type of men hear Tao,
They diligently practice it.
When the average type of men hear Tao,
They half believe in it.
When they lowest type of men hear Tao,
They laugh heartily at it.
If they did not laugh at it, it would not be Tao.
Therefore there is the established saying:
The Tao which is bright appears to be dark.
The Tao which goes forward appears to fall backward.
The Tao which is level appears uneven.
Great virtue appears like a valley (hollow).
Great purity appears like disgrace.
Far-reaching virtue appears as if insufficient.
Solid virtue appears as if unsteady.
True substance appears to be changeable.
The great square has no corners.
The great implement (or talent) is slow to finish (or mature).
Great music sounds faint.
Tao is hidden and nameless.
Yet it is Tao alone that skilfully provides for all and brings them to perfection.

This is a good chapter to follow the statement "Reversion is the action of Tao." There are seemingly paradoxical statements in the Tao te Ching.

Chapter 58 says, "Calamity is that upon which happiness depends; Happiness is that in which calamity is latent." Chapter 22 is full of them. In fact, the majority of the chapter is like that, and I address it in my post on that chapter. Chapter 23 as well. So why does this chapter suddenly cast the others into such light? Because most people cannot hear the Tao, and because they can't they see paradox. If they understood the principle of reversion, the paradoxes would no longer seem to be such.

Am I the average sort of man? I think I probably am. I would like to be in accord with the Tao. There are times I think it fits with the way that I see the world better than Buddhism, but the lack of exploration dismays me. My understanding is imperfect.

I do understand that honors are just as troublesome as dishonor. I do understand that not every good thing appears to be a good thing at first glance.

I do know that the greatest genius takes years to hone and grow. The wild talent of a youth is nothing to the genius displayed after she has honed her talent for twenty years.

Heck, Lao Tzu even includes good multimedia advice: keep your radio down low for better sound quality. I'm not sure he meant it that way, but the Tao brings all things to perfection.

Tao te Ching: 40

Reversion is the action of Tao.
Weakness is the function of Tao.
All things in the world come from being.
And being comes from non-being.

When looking at the Tao, always look backward. Everything depends on its base—on what it originates from. Very much like the Buddhist doctrine of dependent arising, things depend on being, and being depends on non-being.

This is the shortest chapter in the Tao te Ching, but it is a very profound restatement of the basic philosophy, if you have read the rest of the chapters.

Reversion also has another meaning. I've been thinking about it for a while. There is a story that Chuang Tzu and his disciple were walking through the mountains when they saw an enormous oak tree. A lumberjack was standing next to the tree but he wasn't cutting it down. Chuang Tzu asked why he didn't cut it down, and the lumberjack said it was of no use. So Chuang Tzu said "Because the tree has no exceptional qualities, it is able to live out its entire life."

Later, Chuang Tzu stops at a friends house for supper and the friend orders a goose to be killed for dinner. The servant says they have two geese, one that can cackle and one that cannot. Which should be killed? Chuang Tzu said to kill the mute one. The disciple said, "Hold on, Master. The tree lived because it had no exceptional qualities but the goose dies for the same reason? You need to pick a side." Chuang Tzu replies, "I pick somewhere in the middle. Even that isn't exactly right, because even one who stays in the middle will occasionally experience trouble."

You can think of reversion as playing "military golf."  You know—left, right, left, right...

When something gets to one far extreme, it becomes the other far extreme. I think this is probably easiest to see in politics. The most liberal of people become conservative once they have their way and those conservatives displaced by the former liberals become radicalized and attempt to bring about something new (the old ways seeming new). Hence why politics seems cyclical. Or fashion. Wars. Everything, really.

The man who goes to extremes eventually becomes his antithesis. Those who stay to the middle path are preserved.

Nagasena and The Chariot

I have decided to write about this after chapter 39 of the Tao te Ching because there is a reference to this parable in the ending lines:

Therefore enumerate all the parts of a chariot as you may, and you still have no chariot.

The Tao te Ching is hundreds of years older (conservatively 150, but  more likely 450 years), and yet we have this reference to the chariot. Perhaps this shouldn't be alarming. After all, Plato had a parable about the chariot and we can't lay this at his footsteps. Still, it could be a case of historical revisionism. It likely is, as other translations use a completely different line that does not even mention chariots.

The story begins with King Milinda visiting the Sankheyya hermitage. Milinda was an Indo-Greek king from northern India, and after traveling to the hermitage, he was greeted by Nagasena.

King Milinda: How is your reverence known and what is your name, sir?

Nagasena: I am known as Nagasena, great king, and everyone calls me Nagasena. Even though my parents named me Nagasena, the word 'Nagasena' is just a name, a label, a series of sounds, a concept. It is just a name. There is no real person to be apprehended.

King: (addresses everyone) Listen up everyone, Nagasena tells me that he is not a real person. How can I agree to that? (to Nagasena) If no person can be apprehended, then who gives you alms? Who eats and takes medicine? Who meditates and guards morality? Who kills, steals, and rapes? If someone were to kill you, Nagasena, wouldn't that be murder? What is this 'Nagasena'? Are you the hairs on your head?

Nagasena: No, great king.

King: The hair on your body?


Nagasena: No, great king.

King: What about your muscles, bone, brain, organs, or any other part of your physical body? Is this Nagasena?


Nagasena: No, great king.

King: Perhaps it is this whole form, or a combination of this form, feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness?


Nagasena: No, great king.

King: Is it something outside of the combination of things?


Nagasena: No, great king.

King: (to everyone) I can discover no Nagasena at all. Just a sound, but who is the real Nagasena? Everyone, your reverence has told a lie. There is no Nagasena!

Nagasena: Your majesty, I notice that you have been brought up in great comfort. If you walked here under the noon sun, on the sharp rocks and burning sands, then your feet would be hurt and you would be tired. So how did you come, on foot or on a horse?

King: I came on a chariot.

Nagasena: If you came on a chariot, please explain what a chariot is. Is the pole the chariot?

King: No, reverend sir.

Nagasena: Is it the wheels, or the frame, or the yoke, or any of the parts?


King: No, reverend sir.


Nagasena: Is it the combination of the parts? If we laid out the wheels and the frame and the yoke and all the parts, would that be a chariot?


King: No, reverend sir.


Nagasena: Then is it outside of this combination of parts?


King: No, reverend sir.


Nagasena: Then, ask as I do, I can't discover a chariot. Chariot seems to be just a mere sound. Where is this chariot? Your majesty has told a lie!

Greeks: (applaud) How will you get out of this, your Majesty?

King: Nagasena, I have not told a lie. It is in the dependency and interworking of all the parts that you have a chariot. A pile of parts isn't enough. It is when they all work together that you have this conceptual term, sound, and name of a chariot.

Nagasena: Your majesty is exactly right about the chariot. It is just so with me. Nagasena is the working of all the parts of the body and the five skandhas that make me. But in ultimate reality, however, the person still isn't caught.

King: Well played sir. Well played.

I paraphrased it from my books, and there is a decent online copy here: The Questions of King Milinda.

I'll refer to this post when we get to dependent arising  and Buddhism, but I wanted to explain the reference so that it could be seen in the context of chapter 39. He's saying, like Nagasena, that a pile of parts does not make up a chariot. You have to have the base before you have the thing.

Tao te Ching: 39

Of those that obtained the One:
Heaven obtained the one and became clear.
Earth obtained the One and became tranquil.
The spiritual beings obtained the One and became divine.
The valley obtained the One and became full.
The myriad things obtained the One and became full.
Kings and barons obtained the One and became rulers (cheng) of the empire.
What made them so is the One.
If heaven had not thus become clear,
It would soon crack.
If the earth had not thus become tranquil,
It would soon be shaken.
If the spiritual beings had not become divine,
They would soon wither away.
If the valley had not thus become full,
It would soon become exhausted.
If the myriad things had not thus lived and grown,
They would soon become extinct.
If kings and barons had not thus become honorable and high in position,
They would soon fall.
Therefore humble station is the basis of honor.
The low is the foundation of the high.
For this reason kings and barons call themselves orphaned, the lonely ones, the unworthy.
Is this not regarding humble station the basis of honor?
Is it not?
Therefore enumerate all the parts of a chariot as you may, and you still have no chariot.
Rather than jingle like the jade,
Rumble like the rocks.

Remember that the Tao dwells in the lowest of places like water. It is forever the base and it dwells in the valleys. Do we worry about the sky cracking or the earth shaking on a physical level? Perhaps not nearly so much as we once did. The lesson still stands though: all things are supported on the lowest level or they cannot reach the heights that they aspire to.

Lao Tzu says that the missing element is the Tao.

I think this question has been around for nearly as long as humanity, or at least human consciousness. What makes us different than the stuff around us? We have answered with the idea of the soul. Lao Tzu answers not with the soul, but the Tao.

The chariot reference at the bottom is sometimes translated as "Supreme praise is no praise", which is catchy and short. I like it very much and it is easy to remember. I left in the chariot reference it is a link to one of my favorite parables. How odd that it would be a Buddhist parable from around 150 B.C.E. called The Chariot. I will address Nagasena and the parable in my next post, instead of the next chapter of the Tao. It will resume normally after that.

Tao te Ching: 38

The man of superior virtue is not (conscious of) his virtue,
And in this way he really possesses virtue.
The man of inferior virtue never loses (sight of) his virtue,
And in this way he loses his virtue.
The man of superior virtue takes no action, but has no ulterior motive to do so.
The man of inferior virtue takes action, and has an ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior humanity takes action, but has no ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior righteousness takes action, and has an ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior propriety (li) takes action,
And when people do not respond to it, he will stretch his arms and force it on them.
Therefore, only when Tao is lost does the doctrine of virtue arise.
When virtue is lost, only then does the doctrine of humanity arise.
When humanity is lost, only then does the doctrine of propriety arise.
Now, propriety is a superficial expression of loyalty and faithfulness, and the beginning of disorder.
Those who are the first to know have the flowers (appearance) of Tao but are the beginning of ignorance.
For this reason the great man dwells in the thick (substantial), and does not rest with the thin (superficial).
He dwells in the fruit (reality), and does not rest with the flower (appearance).
Therefore he rejects one, and accepts the other.

The beginning is a condemnation of pride and praise for humility, or at the very least a practical hsü (vacuity). When someone is truly good, they seldom notice it. They simply think that is the way that is natural and often reply, "Isn't everyone like that?" Those who are proudest of their virtue are those who seldom have much and are on their way to losing it by bragging about it. Imagine someone who works at a homeless shelter for 10 hours a week, but spends the remaining time letting other people know that they are doing it. Eventually, that person becomes known not for their good work, but for letting others know about it.

I suffer from some of this myself. I want validation and approval, and that is a way to get it. It just proves that I don't have all of my own ducks in a row. How many people have you met with the kind of unaware virtue that Lao Tzu discusses? I think you will find it is a small number. Yet, I can't think of many who would not think well and want to emulate such a person.

Lao Tzu does an excellent job of pronouncing and then explaining the next section about the fall from virtue to disorder. This is rightly taken, again, as a condemnation of Confucianism for the same reasons as before. The Confucian ideals discussed in chapter 18 are the natural response of humans to come back to a state of harmony with Tao, and therefore existence, without actually coming back into harmony with Tao.

It is an emulation of an the ideal state, not the achievement of the ideal state.

Wang Pi, a Neo-Taoist from about the 9th century (birthdate unknown, presumed to die in 805 C.E.), wrote many commentaries, including one of the Tao te Ching. He notes:

How is virtue to be attained? It is to be attained through Tao. How is virtue to be completely fulfilled? It is through non-being as its function. As non-being is its function, all things will be embraced. Therefore in regard to things, if they are understood as non-being all things will be in order, whereas if they are understood as being, it is impossible to avoid the fact that they are products (phenomena).

 This is interesting to me. I see it as a marriage between Taoist thought and Buddhist thought.

Tao te Ching: 37

Tao invariably takes no action, and yet there is nothing left undone.
If kings and barons can keep it, all things will transform spontaneously.
If, after transformation, they should desire to be active,
I would restrain them with simplicity, which has no name.
Simplicity, which has no name, is free of desires.
Being free of desires, it is tranquil.
And the world will be at peace of its own accord.

The concept of simplicity is very similar to the Buddhist concept of the Four Noble Truths, and by extension, the Eight Fold Path. I will cover both in much more detail later, but very briefly the Four Noble Truths are:

1. There is suffering in the world.
2. Suffering is caused by craving/grasping for things.
3. There is a way to stop suffering.
4. The way to stop suffering is to follow the Eight Fold Path.

And the Eight Fold Path goes on to describe a code of conduct that includes Right View, which basically means to see things (including and especially your own motivations) for what they are. Often it is just an animal craving for more or an avoidance of pain. Pain isn't to be confused with suffering. Everyone will get sick and stub their toe or break an arm, suffering is primarily psychological and emotional. In this case, being free of desires is very similar to an ideal on the path to enlightenment in Buddhism.

Tao te Ching: 36

In order to contract,
It is necessary first to expand.
In order to weaken,
It is necessary first to strengthen.
In order to destroy,
It is necessary first to promote.
In order to grasp,
It is necessary first to give.
This is called subtle light.
The weak and tender overcome the hard and the strong.
Fish should not be taken away from water.
And sharp weapons of the state should not be displayed
to the people.

This irritates the Confucianists because it goes against the rectification of names. Names should agree with the thing, in their philosophy. Not only that, doing one thing with the goal of getting another is deceitful. I say that it is possibly cunning, but there is nothing to be gained by it.


The beginning is a natural law, and it fits within the idea of the taiji. One action leads into another and both depend on each other. Very few would disagree with this, especially with the analogy of a muscle.

Do you get something from giving? Perhaps not in the physical sense, but some would make an argument that giving has intangible rewards such as good will or positive feelings. Good karma. Lao Tzu puts this principle with the other natural laws and gives it a name, the subtle light, which is the light of nature from chapter 27.

He also includes a caveat about not disturbing a harmonious environment. It makes sense to me, but I don't find it very satisfying. This could be because I am going through my own period of reaching and grasping. At the moment, samsara has me firmly in its grasp.

Time Off

I just took a week off of posting. I'll post Chapter 36 later today (since it is technically past midnight) but I have been dealing with my own existential crisis. Crisis is probably too dramatic. Still, I feel like a passenger and not the driver. I feel like I haven't made a difference, done anything, or been anywhere.

So I remembered Solomon's magic ring. I looked at my own version, strung with string to keep around my neck.

I reread Ozymandias.

Pause and consider. Selah.

Tao te Ching: 35

Hold fast to the great form (Tao),
And all the world will come.
They come and will encounter no harm;
But enjoy comfort, peace, and health.
When there are music and dainties,
Passing strangers will stay.
But the words uttered by Tao,
How insipid and tasteless!
We look at Tao; it is imperceptible.
We listen to it; it is inaudible.
We use it; it is inexhaustible.

Why this feeling of sarcasm here? The modern mind isn't alone in using the wit of sarcasm, but here Lao Tzu is voicing the unenlightened and their disdain for the Tao. Why would we listen to something we can't hear, look at something we can't see? Because it is inexhaustible when we use it. It is always there, and the tool never dulls. Only the user.

How does that tie in to the first part?

Ruling through wu-wei does not cultivate cunning or ambition, so the world is comfortable and peaceful and healthy. Theoretically. They didn't really suffer from the population pressures we do now back then, though they had their own versions. There have always been optimal spots to live. And that is the last part. If there are things that delight the senses, then visitors will stay. If there are not, then they will pass on through to wherever they need to be.

Tao te Ching: 34

The Great Tao flows everywhere.
It may go left or right.
All things depend on it for life, and it does not turn away
from them.
It accomplishes its task, but does not claim credit for it.
It clothes and feeds all things but does not claim to be
master over them.
Always without desires, it may be called The Small.
All things come to it and it does not master them;
it may be called The Great.
Therefore (the sage) never strives himself for the great, and
thereby the great is achieved.

 This goes back to chapter 10 very soundly when we think of The Great. Finally we have a word, or at least a concept, for nurturing all things but not mastering them as a good parent ideally should. The small goes back further, to chapter 2.

I wonder how many times "the great" from the last lines have been interpreted to mean not the nurturing without ruling, but actually whatever great goal of society was important at that time.

"Let us all do our thing, and this magnificent thing will come from it," they might say. It sounds like reaching to me.

Tao te Ching: 33

He who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who conquers others has physical strength.
He who conquers himself is strong.
He who is contented is rich.
He who acts with vigor has will.
He who does not lose his place (with Tao) will endure.
He who dies but does not really perish enjoys long life.

Whether or not you agree with the last two lines, the first lines are true so far as I can tell. I suppose there is a metaphysical truth, objective truth, subjective truth, etc, and it's hard to say which is which. Still, the first two lines are the best definition of wisdom versus enlightenment that I have seen.

The middle dichotomies are likewise interesting, but not as powerful as the first two.

The last lines make me think of karma. It isn't necessarily you, or your "soul" or something that moves forward, but if you live in accordance with Tao, if you make a difference in the lives of others, that part will propagate forward even after you have stopped making that particular wave.

Tao te Ching: 32

Tao is eternal and has no name.
Though its simplicity seems insignificant, none in the world
can master it.
If kings and barons would hold on to it, all things
would submit to them spontaneously.
Heaven and earth unite to drip sweet dew.
Without the command of men, it drips evenly over all.
As soon as there were regulations and institutions, there
were names (differentation of things).
As soon as there are names, know that it is time to stop.
It is by knowing when to stop that one can be free from
danger.
Analogically, Tao in the world (where everything is
embraced by it), may be compared to rivers and streams
running into the sea.

Much of this goes back to previous chapters on ruling. Rulers try too hard to control everything and rule with an iron fist, even in a Democracy. They need to take less action to control and simply do the things that need to be done.

It is interesting that he says that one should stop when there are names, but it is important not to go too far.

I think like this whenever I meet someone. Either I like them, or I don't. I prefer not to enumerate reasons why on either side, because it simply goes too far. Not to mention, then you have a ready list of peeves.

Tao te Ching: 31

Fine weapons are instruments of evil.
They are hated by men.
Therefore those who possess Tao turn away from them.
The good ruler when at home honors the left (symbolic of good omens).
When at war he honors the right (symbolic of evil omens).
Weapons are instruments of evil, not the instruments of a good ruler.
When he uses them unavoidably, he regards calm constraint as the best principle.
Even when he is victorious, he does not regard it as praiseworthy,
For to praise victory is to delight in the slaughter of men.
He who delights in the slaughter of men will not succeed in the empire.
In ausipcious affairs, the left is honored.
The lieutenant-general stands on the left.
The senior general stands on the right.
That is to say that the arrangement follows that of funeral ceremonies.
For the slaughter of the multitude, let us weep with sorrow and grief.
For a victory, let us observe the occasion with funeral ceremonies

You know, it's said that the line about the arrangement of funeral ceremonies was just a side note, not the original text? You have to be wary of the text. It is thousands of years old and subject to interpretation.

Notice how Lao Tzu doesn't say to be a pacifist. He doesn't say not to use weapons or force. He says they are hated and thsoe that have Tao turn away from them, yet there are times when men must take up arms. Remember that the left is the black, the feminine, the receiving side and so the opposite is true of the right. In war, stay to the right, the masculine, the acting side but do not regard it as praiseworthy. Though you have to act in the right, remember the left if you are to stay with the Tao.

Tao te Ching: 30

He who assists the ruler with Tao does not dominate the
world with force.
The use of force usually brings requital.
Wherever armies are stationed, briers and thorns grow.
Great wars are always followed by famines.
A good (general) achieves his purpose ands tops,
But dares not seek to dominate the world.
He achieves his purpose but does not brag about it.
He achieves his purpose but does not boast about it.
He achieves his purpose but is not proud of it.
He achieves his purpose but only as an unavoidable step.
He achieves his purpose but does not aim to dominate.
(For) after things reach their prime, they begin to grow old,
Which means being contrary to Tao.
Whatever is contrary to Tao will soon perish.

The beginning sounds so much like the Golden Rule. Or Murphy's Law, depending on your bent of mind, I suppose. Still, there is a cause and effect here, and endless cycle of reaping what you sew. The Buddhists call this Samsara in the large scale, though it would be apt to say this about the small scale as well.

What plant can live in the middle of concrete and bunkers, tough parade grounds and challenging obstacles? Not only is it visually appealing and easy to imagine a tough thorny plant growing up out of the sidewalk near a building, but also that the rough environment of war will not foster creativity or beauty, only survival at any cost.

Great wars being followed by famine is probably demonstrably true. It makes me think of war rationing, or how a country must deal with the lack of resources that war caused. Economically speaking, war is one of the very few ways to actually dispose of a resource or personnel. Otherwise, it's simply a shifting game.

The good general is a good ruler, acting with wu-wei. There is no valor or glory or anything good about accomplishing his goal, other than it must be done. It is best that he be vacuous when he does so.

Watch for these last two lines in chapter 55, but understand that they mean that acting in accordance with Tao allows for a thing to last and acting against it, without wu-wei, creates something that will eventually be weathered and torn down.

Tao te Ching: 29

When one desires to take over the empire and act on it
(interfere with it),
I see that he will not succeed.
The empire is a spiritual thing, and should not be acted on.
he who acts on it harms it.
He who holds on to it loses it.
Among creatures some lead and some follow.
Some blow hot and some blow cold.
Some are strong and some are weak.
Some may break and some may fall.
Therefore the sage discards the extremes, the extravagant,
and the excessive.

When you try too hard, you will not get what you want. All things have a role and perform the way that they should, if simply left to perform as they must. It is overt action, not ruling through wu-wei, that causes the failure.

Tao te Ching: 28

He who knows the male (active force) and keeps to the
female (the passive force or receptive element)
Becomes the ravine of the world.
Being the ravine of the world,
He will never depart from eternal virtue,
But returns to the state of infancy.
He who knows the white (glory) and yet keeps to the
black (humility),
Becomes the model for the world.
Being the model for the world,
He will never deviate from eternal virtue,
But returns to the state of the Ultimate of Non-being.
He who knows glory but keeps to humility,
Becomes the valley of the world,
He will be proficient in eternal virtue,
And returns to the state of simplicity (uncarved wood).
When the uncarved wood is broken up, it is turned into
concrete things (as Tao is transformed into the myriad things).
But when the sage uses it, he becomes the leading official.
Therefore the great ruler does not cut up.

Chapter 28 has a lot of repetition like some of the other chapters, and it reaches back to them as well. Again we talk about the feminine as a passive virtue, but here he discusses the masculine force briefly. Remember that this black and white, female and male dichotomy is also present in the taiji. Isn't it interesting that the black is the virtuous over the white? Turns spaghetti westerns and Star Wars on its head.

Consider that Taoism looks for ultimate practicality and simplicity, and glory is neither.

Ultimately, Lao Tzu reaches back to chapters 6 and 8 by discussing the virtue of the passive feminine and the dwelling in the low places of the world.

Tao te Ching: 27

A good traveler leaves no track or trace.
A good speech leaves no flaws.
A good reckoner uses no counters.
A well-shut door needs no bolts, and yet it cannot be opened.
A well-tied knot needs no rope and yet none can untie it.
Therefore the sage is always good in saving men and
consequently no man is rejected.
He is always good in saving things and consequently nothing
is rejected.
This is called following the light (of Nature).
Therefore the good man is the teacher of the bad,
And the bad is the material from which the good may learn.
He who does not value the teacher,
Or greatly care for the material,
Is greatly deluded although he may be learned.
Such is the essential mystery.

The word for following is hsi, which can mean many other things. For instance, it could also mean to cover, pierce, or practice. The rendering used here means to follow, but there is a nice homophonic key here which rings back to chapter 2.

When you are good at something, truly good at something, you can be good at it without leaving any evidence that it was ever there. This isn't simply leaving no evidence, but a much deeper impermanence. It is something of quality that does not exist to stand out or be remembered. We judge a lot of our successes by how we will be remembered or what our peers thought of us. In fact, some judge their entire worth on this. This sort of striving does not allow for hsü. The need to create such a feat speaks of the utmost planning and drive on the part of the actor.

But the sage wouldn't reject any man or material for these flaws. If he did he would be undermining the taiji, also known as yin and yang. It would be undermining cause and effect. It is only by names such as "good" that we even know the "bad". Lao Tzu is very clear about the relationship between the two.

Tao te Ching: 26

The heavy is the root of the light.
The tranquil is the ruler of the hasty.
Therefore the sage travels all day
Without leaving his baggage.
Even at the sight of magnificent scenes,
He remains leisurely and indifferent.
How is it that a lord with ten thousand chariots
Should behave lightheartedly in his empire?
If he is lighthearted, the minister will be destroyed.
If he is hasty, the ruler is lost.

Did you know that the Chinese word for baggage means "something heavy"? I expect to eventually hear from someone who knows Chinese and have them ask in what language or to give something more specific, but that is what this translation shows and it works when going back to the first sentence.

The heavy is the root of the light. I don't find this surprising. This is the boy holding the kite, the earth holding the tree, and so forth. There is a solid root to things. Likewise, the tranquil is the ruler of the hasty. It makes me think of an infinitely patient parent minding the frantic antics of a small child.

The sage has no ability to quit his responsibility. If you were to fly half way around the world, you would want to put down your luggage and take a nap. The sage cannot do that, but instead he remains like that patient parent. Could he be whimsical with his nation? Could he make rash decisions? The sage would not, because this would not be ruling with wu-wei.

Remember wu-wei as a guiding principle on the path of the Tao.

Tao te Ching: 25

There was something undifferentiated and yet complete,
Which existed before heaven and earth.
Soundless and formless, it depends on nothing
and does not change.
It operates everywhere and is free from danger.
It may be considered the mother of the universe.
I do not know its name; I call it Tao.
If forced to give it a name, I shall call lit Great.
Now being great means functioning everywhere.
Functioning everywhere means far-reaching.
Being far-reaching means returning to the original point.
Therefore Tao is great.
Heaven is great.
Earth is great.
And the king is also great.
There are four great things int he univers, and the king is
one of them.
Man models himself after Earth.
Earth models itself after Heaven.
Heaven models itself after Tao.
And Tao models itself after Nature.

Taoism is very cyclical. The returning to the root is a very prominent concept in the east. The beginning of the chapter reiterates what the Tao is, in a way we saw in chapter 1. We see how it arose from nothing and is undifferentiated. Lao Tzu says it has no name so he calls it Tao. This "Tao" isn't a label to differentiate it and hence break it apart, but a way to try to discuss the concept with others. Of course, eventually one would be forced to give it a name which does indeed pull it apart.

I think it's interesting how he describes great as functioning everywhere, and functioning everywhere as far-reaching. That part is easy enough to understand but, when functioning everywhere means to return to the original point one can see how far reaching it must be. It encompasses and circumscribes all things and returns to the center. There are a lot of meditations that are like that. Returning to the center isn't necessarily a shrinking, in fact my experience says that it seldom is. Instead it is expansion to the point that all is encompassed and you wind up back where you started.

Two quick notes on the translation. When he talks about the king, he also means the sage or man. The king is simply a proxy for a successful human in this instance. Remember the emphasis put on ruling by the Tao te Ching. It isn't simply ruling of a land, which it could apply to, but also to ruling one's own life and affairs.

The other is in the progression from man to Earth, Earth to Heaven, Heaven to Tao, and.... Tao to Nature? Nature is often translated as Heaven and Earth. This could be the cyclical nature again, and I think it is. Certainly Tao does not model itself off of man, but since Heaven and Earth are the two things descended from the great Tao, it is only natural that it functions very similar to them and identical to the two of them taken as a whole.

Tao te Ching: 24

He who stands on tiptoe is not steady.
He who strides forward does not go.
He who shows himself is not luminous.
He who justifies himself is not prominent.
He who boasts of himself is not given credit.
He who brags does not endure for long.
From the point of view of Tao, these are like remnants of
food and tumors of action,
Which all creatures detest.
Therefore those who possess Tao turn away from them.

Reaching, making a concerted effort, and showing off are all signs that one isn't doing the thing they should be doing, but instead are making a show for others benefit. "Look at me, I am fantastic because..." and because the effort is put into appearances instead of actualities, the actuality falls short.

These things are the symptoms of the effort being put into appearances, and Lao Tzu says from the view of Tao, of which a Taoist would be practicing wu-wei, these things are excrement and left over parts. They can be offensive, and those who follow the Tao stay away because they know what it signifies.