#76 The Gentle, the Resilient, and the Awakening Shall Prevail
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 76: Unconventional principles for an untethered life.
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
This week, we are reading Chapter 76 of the Tao Te Ching, in which Lao Tzu challenges our perception of the strong and the weak in his typical paradoxical tone.
Do you think outward power indicates true strength? And, what does the hardness and softness of a plant say about living?
Let’s find out together.
**76**
人之生也柔弱，其死也堅強。
草木之生也柔脆，其死也枯槁。
故堅強者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。
是以兵強則滅，木強則折。
強大處下，柔弱處上。
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
When man is born, he is tender and weak;
At death, he is hard and stiff.
When the things and plants are alive, they are soft and supple;
When they are dead, they are brittle and dry.
Therefore hardness and stiffness are the companions of death,
And softness and gentleness are the companions of life.
Therefore when an army is headstrong, it will lose in battle.
When a tree is hard, it will be cut down.
The big and strong belong underneath.
The gentle and weak belong at the top.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
Human beings in life are soft and weak, in death are always stretched, stiff, and rigid.
The myriad things, grass and plants, in life are soft and pliant, in death are withered and dry.
Therefore it is said,
‘Stiffness and rigidity are indicators of death;
Softness, weakness, (tiny and small) are indicators of life.’
For this reason,
When an army is rigid it will not win;
When a tree stands erect it will not last;
What is stiff and large lies below ground;
What is soft and weak, tiny and small, stands above ground.1
#3 D. C. Lau’s version
A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff
when dead.
Grass and trees are pliant and fragile when living, but dried and shrivelled when dead.
Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and the weak are the comrades of life.
Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish;
A tree that is strong will suffer the axe.
The strong and big takes the lower position.
The supple and weak takes the higher position.2
Deeper dive
In the last chapter, Lao Tzu uses the example of taxation to illustrate the dominant position of political power over the average individual.
Given his experience in the Zhou Dynasty (as the director of the state library), Lao Tzu sensed the difficulties ordinary people faced to live a good life in a society undergoing unpredictable changes.
In this regard, he advised political leaders/rulers not to rely on excessive intervention and meddling, in his own words,
Govern the state by being straightforward;
wage war by being crafty;
but win the empire by not being meddlesome.
...
I take no action (wu-wei) and the people are transformed of themselves.
To help individuals, he advised focusing on self-transformation 自化 because in a world full of uncertainty and darkness, making things happen by oneself is the most reliable way to control one’s fate.
Thus, Lao Tzu’s political philosophy can be understood as the idea that non-action and self-transformation go hand in hand.
For this principle to work in real life, the ruler must be wise, capable, and moral. He or she must appreciate boundaries and not overstep or overexert power (the spirit of wu-wei 無為).
On the other hand, individuals need to face reality, experience spiritual awakening, and take full responsibility for themselves.
However, this is still an ideal condition based on the assumption that the fundamental political order can be shaped toward that ideal.
What if the basic assumption does not resonate with reality?
In times of upheaval, when social and political arrangements become incorrigibly beyond repair and crises and instability encroached to erode and paralyze the system, having the wisdom to survive and endure tough times becomes a priority, especially for the ordinary individual.
Therefore, throughout the text, Lao Tzu conveys the message of the wisdom of the gentle and the weak.
Survival of the most resilient
Circumstances shape one’s worldviews, values, and ways of doing things.
Lao Tzu suggested a counterintuitive path to stepping out of the confines of specific circumstances: embrace the weak, the gentle, and the soft.
It’s a radically realistic approach to deconstructing and going through a harsh world that laughs at the innocence of ideals. It’s a camouflage to outwit and outlive the forces that intend to control and demonstrate superficial strength.
Sometimes, he also stresses the strategic advantage of lying low and being submissive to illustrate the point of non-contending.
Non-contending is an essential life principle in Lao Tzu’s view.
By not contending, one is not exerting oneself. Our perception of strength, influenced by ego and desires, usually causes us to project strength onto the outside world.
This contending gesture invites confrontations and conflicts. We become inflexible, leaving limited space to retreat and readjust, causing unnecessary fights and even failures.
As Lao Tzu illustrated, a powerful and mighty army may demonstrate its strength, which could alarm a group of small forces to unite.
Similarly, a full-grown tree can easily attract a logger’s axe due to its appearance of strength (usefulness).
From Lao Tzu’s perspective, true strength is exemplified by resilient gestures that allow one to prevail in the long term.
In this sense, accepting and choosing a lowly position is a sign of inner strength.
Spiritual Taoism
Reading these paradoxical words from Lao Tzu often makes me think about the different ways of life we can choose. To some extent, this statement is problematic.
There are common experiences in which, in hindsight, we realize that we did not consciously choose how to live. Or, we can easily justify our reasons for living a specific way of life.
Examining the different life choices embodied by ordinary scholars during the pre-Qin (before 221 BC) period reminds me how similar the human condition has very much maintained its essential elements throughout the ages.
The first group is really busy making a stand in the world. For some, like Confucius and Mo Tzu/Mozi (the founder of Mohism 墨家, which preaches universal love 兼愛 and non-aggression 非攻), it’s not really about livelihood.
They are primarily concerned with realizing their dreams, building a better society, bringing harmony, peace, and prosperity to the world, and being remembered as worthy people. So, they fought for their passions wholeheartedly and lived sincerely and truthfully.
Among this general group of scholars were also those who actively pursued power and status by associating themselves with powerful and ambitious rulers during the Warring States period (475-221 BC).
They were the masterminds of states exploiting statecraft for political gains. For this, they were remembered as the early political strategists belonging to the School of Diplomacy 縱橫家 and the Legalists 法家.
There were also the type of individuals who were more than happy to abandon worldly pursuits just for the purpose of self-preservation. At least, this is the image they presented to the outside world.
Yet, they also had their sound reason. For in a world that has vastly and quickly degenerated into chaos and darkness, finding shelter in private life, even being misunderstood, is still a viable way to preserve something good about living in this world.
For them, it’s not about dwelling on the little comforts they can enjoy that matter; rather, it’s about holding onto the assumption or wish that there still exists something reasonable in the universe where one can find ultimate salvation. They are the world abandoners who were remembered as hermits 隱士.
Then, there are Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and their followers.
Lao Tzu simply states that unorthodox approaches are necessary to survive in a chaotic human world. Therefore, his teaching is full of paradoxes and unconventional wisdom.
Know the white, but keep to the black. Be gentle, adaptable, and submissive.
Dim your light and blend in with the world’s turmoil. Follow the way of water to benefit the myriad things. Do not contend for rewards and recognition.
Keep low. Retire when your work is done.
Yet, taking his life principles as a whole, we see that he is conveying the message that, sometimes, adopting the most unrecognizable presence is the secret to keeping the resistance force alive.
Therefore, choosing to be gentle and weak is a resilient strategy. One must endure first before rescuing the realm when conditions are met.
Why talk about rescuing the realm?
Because the Taoist mode of political participation is radically different from that of the other scholars mentioned above.
“The sage always excels in saving people, and so abandons no one; always excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing.” (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 27)
Sacrifice, they must. Taking credit for their deeds, they must not.
Unlike the Confucians, the Mohists, the political strategists, and the Legalists, who would accept working with the political establishment, Taoists were not trained to serve the government.
The Tao is above any political authority. In Taoist philosophy, the political order obtains its “existential basis” by following the natural order of the Tao.3
In essence, Lao Tzu’s principles for the awakening individual can be summarized as:
Be a peaceful warrior in times of darkness.
Be a resilient fighter to navigate the intricacies of the world.
And be a force for good to restore natural order.
Chuang Tzu was also concerned with the vulnerable fate of the ordinary individual. He practiced his life philosophy, as he “came and went alone with the spirit of the heaven and earth.”獨與天地精神往來
His ideal of the “true human” 真人 is a person who simply cannot be tamed and institutionalized.
He enlightens us that everything in the universe changes, and we must adapt, transform, and transcend. And, of course, this means challenging oneself by dissolving the self 忘我.
Therefore, everything must be reevaluated and reassessed. He empowers his listeners with the ideas of “using your mind as a mirror,” 用心若鏡 “fasting of the heart” 心齋, “sitting in forgetfulness” 坐忘, for the purpose of cultivating one’s spiritual strength.
If you become the master of your spirit, you see things through, and nothing can make you give in.
Chuang Tzu’s philosophy can be understood as an undertaking to restructure one’s relationship with oneself, others, the political world, and the cosmic order.
Fundamentally, this is about figuring out how we are supposed to live in this world independently, not conforming to others’ dictates.
In essence, Chuang Tzu is telling us: You, a sovereign individual, can wander in the world freely and spontaneously.
Together, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu offer a philosophy for the gentle, resilient, and awakening individual.
Thanks for reading!
All my best,
Yuxuan
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 157.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 83.
Yü Ying-shih 余英時, “Individualism and the Neo-Daoist Movement in Wei-Jin China,” in Chinese History and Culture: Sixth Century B.C.E. to Seventeenth Century, ed. Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael Duke (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 151.
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I really enjoyed the post, however.
Using the mind as a mirror is such a powerful concept! 至人之用心若鏡, 不将不迎, 應而不蔵 reject nothing, welcome nothing, respond but not store.