Dao De Jing - Chapter 30


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

Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 30 When one who's an adviser to a person who wields power expresses Dao, he'll recommend no need to use offensive weapons forcefully in the world. That method shows that if you're endearing to others, they might treat you the same way. Where an army finds a place to encamp, thistles and thorns are all that will grow there. One who's kind will get results and then stop. He doesn't try to grab it all forcefully. Getting results, and yet he won't destroy anything in the process. Getting results, and yet he won't become arrogant. Getting results, and yet he won't lord it over others. Getting results, and yet he won't stop and bask in the glory of it. This is correctly described as getting results without using force. That method shows that if you're endearing to others, everyone will be increased. A living thing may pretend to be stronger than they actually are, then they'll age quickly. This is correctly referred to as not being like Dao. What is not like Dao will soon cease. Commentary: 30 ~ Throw Away Your Weapons Do you always feel like you're having to do battle with others? Possibly you feel as though you're not getting what you want, and you have to use force to get people to accommodate you. -When one who's an adviser to a person who wields power expresses Dao, he'll recommend no need to use offensive weapons forcefully in the world. -That method shows that if you're endearing to others, they might treat you the same way. -Where an army finds a place to encamp, thistles and thorns are all that will grow there. You can show people how to achieve their goals without having to resort to bullying or being oppressive. All you create by being hostile is more hostility. Most people won't become kind if you bully them into it. If you spread kindness, you're more likely to get what you want than if you throw daggers. -One who's kind will get results and then stop. -He doesn't try to grab it all forcefully. You might find that you don’t always get everything you want by being kind, and that can be frustrating. Some people will try to take advantage of your kindness; some will give a smile back with no sincerity; some will return your kindness with kindness. Each of those reactions is a result. If you prefer one reaction over another, you’ll never stop trying to get the result you want. You’d try to forcefully get it, and in that way you might no longer be kind. Knowing when to accept the result - whatever it might be - is also a form of kindness. -Getting results, and yet he won't destroy anything in the process. -Getting results, and yet he won't become arrogant. -Getting results, and yet he won't lord it over others. -Getting results, and yet he won't stop and bask in the glory of it. -This is correctly described as getting results without using force. -That method shows that if you're endearing to others, everyone will be increased. When you watch the effect your kindness has on others, it might be tempting to become smug and feel like you have a certain power others don’t have. You might even end up pretentiously using kindness to get what you want. In that way, you’re not being kind, but using kindness to force others to do what you want or treat you the way you want to be treated. If you stop looking for the results that might come about due to your kindness, everyone would benefit. -A living thing may pretend to be stronger than they actually are, then they'll age quickly. -This is correctly referred to as not being like Dao. -What is not like Dao will soon cease. As long as you feel like your relationships with other people are battles you have to wage, you’ll always be trying to show how much stronger you are than they are. Whether you use weapons, cleverness, arrogance, intelligence or..... even kindness as a method of showing how much stronger you are, you’re expending energy for a useless cause, and you’ll wear yourself out very quickly. Dao doesn’t have those human attributes - like trying to force anything to happen. If you move in ways that are counter to the flow around you rather than with it, it’s like trying to fight the force of gravity. All you'll end up accomplishing is your own destruction. Alternate translation: Someone who’s tuned into the process of Dao wouldn’t tell people in power to go to war with the world. By looking for ways to help others instead of waging war against them, they might not wage war against you either. Anyone who’s a warrior would just find thorns in their sides all the time. Someone who’s kind can get all sorts of reactions, but they’d let them go. They wouldn’t use force to get the reactions they wanted. Whatever reactions they got, they wouldn’t try to get rid of them. If they got reactions they liked, they wouldn’t get arrogant about it.. If they got reactions they liked, they wouldn’t brag about it. If they got reactions they liked, they wouldn’t feel like they’d done anything special. That’s because they didn’t use force to get those reactions. If kindness becomes something that feels natural, everyone can get off on it. If someone acts forcefully, pretending to be stronger than they really are, they’ll get old before their time. That’s not going with the process of Dao. If someone goes against the process of Dao, they won’t be around for long. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| 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 \|