Verse 59 - Living by Thrift and Moderation

Re: Verse 59 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 59 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 59 - The Tao of Emerson

The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman

James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

For regulating the human and rendering service to the heavenly,
          there is nothing like moderation.


It is only by this moderation that there is effected
          an early return to man's normal state.
That early return is what I call the repeated accumulation
          of the attributes of the Tao.
With that repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes
          a subjugation of every obstacle to such return.
Of this subjugation we know not what shall be the limit;
And when one knows not what the limit shall be,
          he may be the ruler of a state.


He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long.
His case is like that of the plant, of which we say
          that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm -
This is the way to secure that its enduring life
          shall long be seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays - ”Education”

By your own act you teach the beholder
          how to do the practicable.
According to the depth from which you draw
          your life,
Such is the depth not only of your strenuous effort,
          but of your manners and presence.
Leave the military hurry and adopt the pace of nature.
Her secret is patience.
Have the self-command you wish to inspire.
Your teaching and discipline must have
          the reserve and taciturnity of nature.
Say little; do not snarl; do not chide;
          but govern by the eye.
See what they need and the right thing is done.

Re: Verse 59 - Jonathan Star

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

Rule the people and serve Heaven
          yet hold nothing more dear than the Mother's harvest
Let every thought and every breath
          be the fruit of your offering -
Do it now
Let her power run thick in your blood
          There will be no obstacle you cannot overcome
          No limit you cannot surpass
          No empire you cannot rule

Ah, but in all your glory
          never lose sight of the Mother
Without her
          your empire will crumble
          your power will waste away
For the Mother brings the harvest
          She alone causes all things to endure

We call this
          ”Deep roots and a solid trunk”
          ”The way of long life and lasting insight”

Re: Verse 59 - Jonathan Star

How interesting to see the different takes that each translation gives us. This one seems to take us to Mother Earth. Apposite for this time..come to think of it, for every time; as  you said, Deb- every day is EArth day! TAo explains why it makes sense to make it so,

Re: Verse 59 - Jonathan Star

Meenakshi,

I too enjoyed this version alluding to a Mother - “never lose sight of the Mother”.  It passed through my mind as well with Mother's Day approaching, that thought could be applied on many levels …

Deb

Re: Verse 59 - The Tao of Motherhood

The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

59

RESTRAINT

In bringing up children there is
nothing like restraint.  This
requires deep roots in your own
spirituality, because it means
releasing your own ideas in favor
of perceiving each child's needs.

Prayer, meditation and the like
can help you stay centered
and aware of the deeper levels
of what is happening.  Take the
time you need for your
spiritual growth.

Cultivate limitlessness,
and you will know how and
when to set limits for your
children.

Re: Verse 59 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-prevading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people's welfare
as a mother cares for her child.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

                                                           She has no destination in view
                                                           and makes use of anything
                                                           life happens to bring her way.

When you have no destination in view, you can go anywhere.  You realize that whatever life brings you is good, so you look forward to it all.  There's no such thing as adversity.  Adversity is just an unquestioned thought.

Without a belief, there's no separation.  Adversity and good fortune are equal.  You can wake up on Mars, you can find yourself in hell, and there's no problem, because The Work is alive inside you.  You can flip into the most unusual mind-states, into emotions that you've been hiding from yourself for decades.  You can enter the worst of your fears, and with inquiry, it doesn't matter where you go or how you appear.  Without a belief, you are all things.  And if you get stuck in a particular identity, you have inquiry to unstick you.

One day in 1986, as I was walking in a shopping mall, I saw a very old woman coming toward me on a walker.  She looked like she was in her nineties.  Her back was bent, and her face grimaced from what appeared to be pain.  As I continued to walk, I noticed, to my horror, that I was looking out through this old woman's eyes at the woman I had been, the one with Katie's body, so healthy, agile, and as bright as all the lights in the world.  As I watched her, the bright one began to round the corner in her usual fast-paced, carefree manner, and I realized that I was now the old woman.  I felt her pain - it wasn't hers now but mine.  I smelled my putrid odor.  I became aware of my body's flesh disconnected and hanging from its bones.  The flesh was wrinkled and gray, with no muscles to hold it.  The pain shot through my joints with each movement.  The slowness of my motion was infuriating.  The thought that accompanied the anger was “I want to move as fast as that young woman.  It's not fair”.

And then the full horror of the situation appeared.  If I were to give it words, the thought would be “Oh, my God, I'm trapped here !  I'm supposed to be the young, bright one !  There's been a mistake, I'll never get out, I'll be like this forever !”  Immediately inquiry arose:  ”I am this” - is it true ?  Is it true that I am this forever ?  How do I react when I believe that ?  What would I be without the thought ?  The questioning, too, was beyond words.  It didn't come after the wordless thought:  thought and questions arose at the same instant and canceled each other out.  The horror was equivalent to a deep gentleness, a caressing, a full, immovable acceptance.  There was no discomfort.  It began, from its new position, to celebrate the whole life of itself, to love itself as the old woman, and to appreciate the slow pace, the withered flesh, the pain, the stench.  The stench was as sweet as the fragrance of spring.  I was able to love that it had found the perfect home for a me.  There was no longer even the slightest desire to be anywhere else.  I wanted nothing other than what is.  And as soon as I realized this, I found myself, to my amazement, rounding the corner of the mall as the body of the fast-paced, bright woman who had apparently been lost to me forever.

I had come to feel just as comfortable in that decaying old body as I am here, but now it was a Katie.  And people wonder why I can look at my hand and become ecstatic.  It's no different from being trapped forever in a body that was almost dead.  Inquiry can hold any condition, whatever it is, in a state of loving awareness.  After that experience, everything was child's play, the freedom of being everywhere, the dance and the bodilessness of it all.

Inquiry is grace.  It wakes up inside you, and it's alive, and there's no suffering that can stand against it.  It will take you over, and then it doesn't matter what life brings you, “good” or “bad”.  You open your arms to the worst that can happen, because inquiry will continue to hold you, safely, sweetly, through it all.  Even the most radical problem becomes just a sweet, natural happening, an opportunity for your own self-realization.  And when others are experiencing terror, you are the embodiment of clarity and compassion.  You are the living example.

Re: Verse 59 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

I loved this essay by Byron Katie.  Though I have not had the exact experience that she did, I could easily understand it.  As I helped my in-laws in their last days, both over 80 yrs, and looked at their bodies and capabilities, I found myself musing about what I will be like.  The joy in contemplating that is the greater appreciation of our current state.  My MIL was a delightful crone.  I'd don't know whether she enjoyed being such or not; but I found in her an excellent example of acceptance of those age related, physical body appearance, changes.

Maybe 10 years ago, before my boys were born, on a visit to my parents, my husband and I went through old family photo albums.  I found myself marveling at that beautiful young woman who never had a clue she was.  I wish I had appreciated it.  Now, I can't say I love the changes aging has brought to my physical appearance but I do love the freedom not being young and beautiful have brought and the wisdom that youth does not compensate for having.

Deb

Re: Verse 59 - Dr Dyer's Essay

There are four words that crop up repeatedly in many of the translations of this passage of the Tao Te Ching: restraint, frugality, moderation, and thrift.  Here, Lao-tzu is advising you to examine the way you look at these qualities in relation to your supervisory and parenting roles - he doesn't say that you should sit on the sidelines and do nothing, but he does counsel you to practice self-control.  When you cultivate a style of leadership that creates “a good store of virtue, then nothing is impossible”, for there are no limits.

Living in thrift and moderation means being in harmony with the world through your generous nature.  Rather than continually prodding, directing, giving orders, setting down rules, and demanding obedience, it's important to be a leader who accumulates a warehouse full of virtue by living in accordance with the Tao.  When that's what you have to give away, you'll naturally interfere less.  Feel joyful knowing that the example you're modeling is helping others make the right choices, as this is the essence of Tao leadership.  As Lao-tzu specifically states, “If a man knows no limits, he is fit to lead”.

People whose lives are run by rules, dogma, and fear can only do what they've been told to do … nothing more.  The options for self-direction are nonexistent for the blindly obedient, so practice restraint, moderation, frugality, and thrift when making pronouncements about how others must behave.  Children raised in families where that blind obedience is demanded have the highest levels of prejudice when they become adults.  Why?  Because they've been taught to “prejudge” what's acceptable, according to someone in a position to lead them.  That's why it's so vital to give your kids an example of leadership that encourages them to make choices based on higher standards.

I have a gift from my daughter Saje that I've placed on my desk, which I've titled Nothing Is Impossible.  It's a green plant growing out of a rock - there's no dirt or earth, only hard rock, yet it thrives, despite what all of us have been taught to believe.  When Saje gave this to me, she remarked that it reminded her of me because I've always said that I refuse to believe in anything being impossible.  My plant helps me remember that nature knows no limits, and that I am as much a part of nature as both the rock and the greenery growing within that hard stone.

Lao-tzu reminds you that “if nothing is impossible, then there are no limits”.  So practice living without limits by gathering virtue and modeling it.  When you do, you'll see the “lasting vision” in those you've been selected to lead in one way or another, and they'll see it in you, too.