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Translation by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 74 If people never base their actions on a fear of death, how could the death penalty be used as a detriment?  Making people always fearful of death, taking hold of those who act improperly and executing them - wouldn't that prevent people from daring to act improperly?  If people have no choice but to always be in fear of dying, then they'd be sure to appoint someone as an executioner.  When an executioner is in charge of who is to be put to death, he's been given the authority of a skilled carpenter who determines how to carve wood.  When that skilled carpenter carves his wood, rarely would anyone not find their own hand injured.  Commentary:  74 ~ Threats of punishment   -If people never base their actions on a fear of death, how could the death penalty be used as a detriment?  -Making people always fearful of death, taking hold of those who act improperly and executing them - wouldn't that prevent people from daring to act improperly?   When society tries to mandate people's behavior, there has to be not only a threat of punishment, but actually carrying out the threats in order to get people to comply with the laws. If someone who breaks the law sees others being punished for their crimes, wouldn't that seem to be sufficient to prevent them from doing anything wrong? Throughout history, those forms of threats and punishments haven't prevented people from breaking laws, have they?   -If people have no choice but to always be in fear of dying, then they'd be sure to appoint someone as an executioner.   In an effort to cast blame on others rather than themselves, people set up a judicial system which is supposed to fairly determine who are the criminals and who are the law-abiding citizens.   -When an executioner is in charge of who is to be put to death, he's been given the authority of a skilled carpenter who determines how to carve wood.   The judicial system is given ultimate authority. A skilled carpenter determines what it is he's going to carve, then hacks away the parts that don't fit into his design. If the judicial system takes over the authority for running the world, determining who's to live and who's to die, then those who don't fit into the mold society has designed will be cast off like sawdust or wood shavings.   -When that skilled carpenter carves his wood, rarely would anyone not find their own hand injured.   When people are fearful of their own deaths or receiving punishments from others for what they might have inadvertently done, then give control of the world over to a few people who promise to protect them, they might suddenly find themselves on the sharp end of the executioner's ax. People who side with the executioner, trying to rid the world of those who don't follow society's rules, will eventually end up receiving punishments and retribution themselves.  \| 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 \|