Tao is always nameless.
Small as it is in its Primal Simplicity,
It is inferior to nothing in the world.
If only the ruler could cling to it,
Everything will render homage to him.
Heaven and Earth will be harmonised
And send down sweet dew.
Peace and order will reign among the people
Without nay command from above.
When once the Primal Simplicity diversified,
Different names appeared.
Are there not enough names now?
Is this not the time to stop?
To know when to stop is to preserve ourselves from
danger.
The Tao is to the world what a great river or an ocean
is the streams and the brooks.
Smallness is a useful metaphor for the Tao, for the small is that which can’t
be seen. So even in the age of
microscopes, if we can see a thing, then that cannot be the Tao itself. And if it can be seen, then it can be named,
but the Tao is that which can’t be named.
The thing named, and even the act of naming, are both just evidence of
the action of the Tao. The Tao is therefore
inferior to nothing. That which can be a
thing, is just more of the Tao. The Tao
is inferior to nothing, therefore is superior to everything – yet in humility
the Tao does not show itself and remains forever in the background.
If only the ruler could cling to it,
Everything will render homage to him.
That is, if only the ruler could make himself the perfect expression of
the Tao without introducing vulgar adulterations, then everything would be in
obedience to him. The perfect ruler acts
as the Tao acts. Utterly free and
surrendered to the necessary, the appropriate acts always issues from him. He has no objection to the course events are
taking; there is therefore no need for the people to oppose him. The people do not need to address his
errors by their subordination.
They are ever able to do whatever they wish and whatever their good sense
tells them to do.
The mysterious principle that brings about this harmony is recognised by
the people and worshipped. The ideal
ruler is the clear symbol of the Tao itself, and he is not afraid, through the
sense of false modesty, to play the role that they need him to play. He knows that Tao works through him, and if
he is exalted then he knows it is because he is ever willing to be docile to
the needs of the Tao.
Heaven and Earth will be harmonised
And send down sweet dew.
When Heaven and Earth are harmonised, our will and necessity are not in
opposition. That which need happen is
that which we want to happen. Our
desires are not out of place; they do not conflict with those of others. We are mostly whole, but when a need arises
in ourselves, there is a need in our whole system and events seem to conspire
to allow it to happen. We have the whole
will of the Tao on our side, for there is no difference between our will and
the Tao’s. Of course to live this way is
‘sweet dew’. Whatever we wish for is
precisely that which will automatically be granted.
Peace and order will reign among the people
Without nay command from above.
Commands only come from above when something has already gone awry, and
needs to be corrected. But the flow of
the Tao only went awry in the first place because the Ruler was not open and
surrendered to the direction things were going and resisted the fitting
transformation. Disorder had set in, and
now the command must be given to get things back on track. But by now many of the people are more than
happy with the disorder! For disorder, is that which creates imbalance and pleases
some people but not all. Once the Tao is
lost it can be very hard to get it back.
When once the Primal Simplicity diversified,
Different names appeared.
Are there not enough names now?
To see the Tao for ourselves is to see the one thing that is common to
all. If we use only our senses then the
Tao cannot be seen, for to the senses, everything appears unique. But when we can see that one that is in all,
our lives become very simple and straightforward, Our minds are not thrown here and there by
the apparent difference in things. We
are centred, with our eyes fixed on the one constant aspect and this is known
as the Primal Simplicity.
To lose it is to see a world full of many, many different things, And because we see difference, and because
our mind is focussed on discriminating between the different we must give each
thing a name and identifier. Science
assumes the more things that can be identified and named, the fuller our
understanding grows. But with spiritual
awakening we begin to realise that knowledge can never be found in mere
diversity. We most complement diversity
with the vision of oneness, and ask ourselves ‘Are there not enough names now?’
Is this not the time to stop?
To know when to stop is to preserve ourselves from
danger.
The Tao is to the world what a great river or an ocean
is the streams and the brooks.
With the vision of diversity comes the arising of value. This is better than that, and we must chase
after more of this and avoid or exterminate more of that. This is the mindset that throws the world out
of balance and we with it. If we can
stop the tendency in time, and return to the pursuit of oneness then we may
avert the danger. Indeed, the sage here
guarantees that this will happen: to escape diversity and find the One is a
gravitational force that acts upon us – just as the various streams and brooks
will necessarily return to the ocean.
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