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Translation by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 80 The smaller the nation, the less the population.  Provide the people with tens of thousands of tools, but they don't find a use for them.  Threaten them with death, but they'd have little thought of changing their residence.  They may have boats and cars but seldom have reason to use them.  They may have weapons and shields but seldom have a reason to display them.  Offer them the opportunity to go back to the old practice of tying knots for record keeping and they'll find a use for that.  They're satisfied with the food they eat.  They find their clothing to be beautiful.  They find joy in a rustic life.  They feel safe in their homes.  They look forward to hearing the sounds of their neighbor's chickens and dogs as a means of learning news about each other.  They're allowed to get old and die naturally without being carted to and from foreign places. Commentary:  80 ~ The Advantages of Small Communities (and simple needs)   In ancient China, the large nations were always at war with each other. There was a quest for World Power, with the ruler of each nation thinking he should control the entire world. At that time, the entire world was believed to consist of the nations within China. Small nations were left alone on the most part, as they didn't pose a threat to the larger nations.   -The smaller the nation, the less population.   A small nation (or community) contains less people. As nations expanded by conquering other nations, the needs of the people expanded as well.   -Provide them with tens of thousands of modern conveniences, but they don't find a use for them.  -Threaten them with death, but they'd have little thought of changing their residence.   In a small community, since the needs of the people are less, they have more time on their hands to enjoy performing various tasks. There isn't a rush to get things done in a hurry, so the people would have little use for time-saving devices. If a ruler tried to impress them with saying he could give them modern conveniences to make their lives easier, they'd find no lure in that. If a ruler tried to threaten them with death if they didn't follow his mandates, they wouldn't consider that a reason to leave their homes.   -They may have boats and cars but seldom have reason to use them.  -They may have weapons and shields but seldom have a reason to display them.   Since they already have what they need close at hand, there's seldom reason to use their cars or boats to go anywhere. Since they're not involved in battles with each other, their weapons and shields remain stashed away.   -Offer them the opportunity to go back to the old practice of tying knots for record keeping and they'll find a use for that.  -They're satisfied with the food they eat.  -They find their clothing to be beautiful.  -They find joy in a rustic life.  -They feel safe in their homes.   Since the people were content with what they had, they wouldn't find a need to borrow money, charge things to their credit cards and deal with a stack of bills and ledgers. All they'd need would be a simple cord with a few knots in it to remind them which bills needed to be paid. They wouldn't have a need to go out for lavish meals, buy the latest fashions, build elaborate houses or erect security systems to protect what they'd accumulated. If they weren't bombarded with advertisements telling them which things they needed to possess in order to be happy, it would be easier to find their own happiness in themselves and appreciate the things they already have.   -They look forward to hearing the sounds of their neighbor's chickens and dogs as a means of learning news about each other.   We live in a time where people get much more involved in what's going on around the world - what they learn from newspapers and other media - than they are in what's going on in their own closer environment. People tend to ignore the needs of their neighbors, while becoming infuriated with horrible things they hear are happening on the other side of the world. In a small nation, without being lambasted with news from around the world, people could tell if danger was approaching by listening to the sounds of the animals in neighboring communities.   -They're allowed to get old and die naturally without being carted to and from foreign places.   In ancient China, people who lived in a large nation that was regularly at war with another nation would be dragged away from their homes and enlisted to fight in the war. Many of those people were killed on the battlefield in places they had no connection with and had never visited before. In a small nation, the people could go about their lives without having to be worried they'd be snatched up by the government at a moment's notice.   Many people look at this chapter of the Dao De Jing as describing a Utopian society, as though something in the outside world could create a place like this where people could reside and live a simple life. However, maybe Laozi was suggesting that each one of us has the ability to create this type of environment for ourselves. As long as we look for someone else to make the rest of the world a happy place for us, how could we ever arrive there? It could be possible to create our own small nation within ourselves - then share the concept with others. \| 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 \|