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Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 19 Eliminate cunning intelligence; abandon critical judgments, And people will benefit a hundred times over. Eliminate skillful opportunism; abandon the hierarchy of profits, And thieves will have nothing to covet. Eliminate deceptive disguises; abandon sources of anxiety, And people will return to the innocence of childhood. Just following these three statements isn't enough. Therefore, make sure there's a place to add these: Seek out what's pure. Protect what's simple. Trivialize selfishness. Diminish desires. Commentary: 19 ~ Relating to other people Most people try to show how much more they have than others. They use all sorts of methods to prove to themselves and others how much more together they are. -Eliminate cunning intelligence; abandon critical judgments, -And people will benefit a hundred times over. They use their quick wits to show how much more intelligent they are. They make judgments about how other people choose to live their lives to show how much more righteous they are. If people didn't act that way, everyone would be much better off. -Eliminate skillful opportunism; abandon the hierarchy of profits, -And thieves will have nothing to covet. They use their skill to bilk others out of their money. Then they prance around with all the possessions they have as though those possessions are more valuable than what others have. If people didn't do that, then there wouldn't be thieves around trying to steal what they have. -Eliminate deceptive disguises; abandon sources of anxiety, -And people will return to the innocence of childhood. They disguise their true motivations in an effort to get others to trust them. When they've gotten people's trust, they stab them in the back. It's no wonder those who have been taken advantage of feel apprehension and anxiety when interacting with each other. If people didn't do that, then everyone would be able to retain the innocence of a young child in their relationships with each other. -Just following these three statements isn't enough. -Therefore, make sure there's a place to add these: Even though eliminating the three behaviors mentioned above would make the world a better place, it still wouldn't be enough. Laozi suggests adding these others: -Seek out what's pure. Look for what's pure in other people. There are those moments when people will let down their disguises and reveal the tender child within them. Seek out that part in others. -Protect what's simple. When someone shows delight in simple things, join them in the pleasure. Too many times people are criticized for enjoying the simple things in life, as though the only things of value are wealth and power. -Trivialize selfishness. Don't feed into other people's demands. They might try to make you feel guilty for not giving them what they want, but show them how much more fun it is if they can give up the need to be controlling. -Diminish desires. If someone feels that they can't be happy because they haven't fulfilled their desires, help them to see that even if they got what they think they want it wouldn't make any difference. Every day is a beautiful gift in itself, and wanting something out of your reach just diminishes the enjoyment of life. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| From the DIO Forum \| BY: Bao Pu \| By: Joshua \| Who was Laozi \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|