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Translation by Nina
 
 
Dao De Jing Chapter 59

When trying to cure people's problems, the job of Nature is to be appropriately stingy.
You see, it's only by that stinginess that it would become natural to make early preparations.
To naturally make early preparations has been correctly described as putting importance in accumulating De.
Putting importance in accumulating De results in being without anything that cannot be overcome.
Being without anything that cannot be overcome results in no one having a perception of their own limits.
One who has no perception of their own limits would even be willing to possess the country.
Possessing the country, their mother (Mother Nature) would be able to last for a long time.
This has correctly been described as inquiring into the reason a tree's roots are strong enough to last for so long.
Living so long though old and worn.
Look for its Dao.





Commentary:
59 ~ Work With What You’ve Got


-When trying to cure people's problems, the job of Nature is to be appropriately stingy.
-You see, it's only by that stinginess that it would become natural to make early preparations.


Nature is stingy so people will put out an effort to do something themselves. In any situation, if you put out a lot of effort into make things comfortable for others, they won't see the necessity in working to make their lives better. They might float along on your coat tails, not only denying themselves the satisfaction of making their own way, but dragging you down in the process.

-To naturally make early preparations has been correctly described as putting importance in accumulating De.
-Putting importance in accumulating De results in being without anything that cannot be overcome.
-Being without anything that cannot be overcome results in no one having a perception of their own limits.
-One who has no perception of their own limits would even be willing to possess the country.
-Possessing the country, their mother (Mother Nature) would be able to last for a long time.


Instead of following along blindly with what others tell them to do, it would be more beneficial to each person if they searched their own hearts for what sings to their natures. That's called "accumulating De." If people get to the core of who they really are, and discover what it is that they do best in life, they'll find that nothing can't be dealt with using their own abilities. At that point, instead of looking at how ineffective they are, they’d find how effective they really can be. When they stop feeling ineffective, they can take on any task they come upon - ruling their own world (the country within them). Instead of dragging down those who provided for them, they’d begin to find ways to nourish everything around them.

-This has correctly been described as inquiring into the reason a tree's roots are strong enough to last for so long.
-Living so long though old and worn.
-Look for its Dao.


How can a tree survive for so long? Because it plants its roots deeply into the soil. If a tree received too much water (nourishment) its roots would stay at the surface and the tree would eventually be toppled by a strong wind. The rain only provides enough water for a tree to survive, but doesn't make the tree so dependent on it that it's roots don't go searching for underground water - thus having a stronger base.

The same theory can be applied to people. If a person is a nurturer, they might feel good about themselves for helping others, but in the process might make the other person so dependent on them that they'd never find satisfaction from creating their own lives. Too much nurturing - soothing the hard lessons someone else has to learn for themselves - makes them flimsy and insubstantial. In the process, more harm can be done than good. Each person can connect in their own way to the process of Dao - and what a wonderful gift it is to watch them do that.

Alternate translation:

It isn’t Nature’s job to solve your problems.
Since you can’t rely on it for that, you’ve got to work on them yourself.
In order to work on your own problems, you’ve got to find out how you really feel.
If you can figure out how you really feel and go with it, nothing would be a nagging problem.
If you don’t let things be nagging poblems, you could deal with anything.
If you can deal with anything, the whole world would become a playground.
If the whole world became a playground, you wouldn’t want to destroy any of it.
Did you ever wonder how redwood trees could live for so long?
They can get really old but still stand up straight and strong.
They work with what they’ve got.






| BY: Nina | Guodian Laozi | DDJ Concordance | Comparisons | Who was Laozi |
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