Verse 61 - Living by Remaining Low

Re: Verse 61 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 61 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 61 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

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

When a country obtains great power,
it becomes like the sea:
all streams run downward into it.
The more powerful it grows,
the greater the need for humility.
Humility means trusting the Tao,
thus never needing to be defensive.

A great nation is like a great man:
When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.
Having realized it, he admits it.
Having admitted it, he corrects it.
He considers those who point out his faults
as his most benevolent teachers.
He thinks of his enemy
as the shadow that he himself casts.

If a nation is centered in the Tao,
if it nourishes its own people
and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others,
it will be a light to all nations in the world.

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

                                                      Humility means trusting the Tao.

No one has ever known the answer to Why?  The only true answer is Because.  Why do the stars shine?  Because they do.  Why is the glass sitting on the table?  Because it is.  That's it.  In reality there is no why.  It's hopeless to ask; the question can't go anywhere - haven't you noticed?  Science may give you an answer, but behind that because there's always another why.  There is no ultimate answer to anything.  There's nothing to know, and no one who wants to know.  Just have fun with the asking, because there are trillions of answers, as many as the stars in the sky, and not one of them is true.  Enjoy the stars, but don't think that there's anything behind them.  And, ultimately, do you even care about an answer?

The Work is wonderful, because it leaves you with the real thing, beyond all answers.  It leaves you with no concept of who you should be.  There are no models, no ideals; the goal isn't to be wise or spiritual.  You just notice what is.  I like to say, “Don't pretend yourself beyond your own evolution.”  What I mean by that is “Don't be spiritual; be honest instead”.  It's painful to pretend that you're more evolved than you are, to be in the position of a teacher when it's kinder to yourself to be in the position of a student.  Inquiry is about the truth, which doesn't necessarily look the way you think it's supposed to look.  Truth is no respecter of spirituality.  It only respects itself, just as it appears now.  And it's not serious; it's just God laughing at the cosmic joke.

If someone comes toward you with a gun and says he's going to kill you and you're scared, go ahead and run.  That's no less spiritual than any other reaction.  But if you don't have a belief about it, you're free.  You can run or stay - it doesn't matter, because whatever you do, you're at peace.  Oh, you might think, he thinks he's going to kill me.  You could just as well be filing your nails.  That's freedom. 

Re: Verse 61 - The Tao of Emerson

From The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

What makes a great state is its being like a low-lying,
          down-flowing stream -
It becomes the center to which tend all
          the small states under heaven.


To illustrate from the case of all females -
The female always overcomes the male by her stillness.
Stillness may be considered a sort of absement.


This it is that a great state, by condescending
          to small states, gains them for itself;
And that small states, by abasing themselves
          to a great state, win it over to them.
In the one case the abasement leads to
          gaining adherents,
In the other case to procuring favor.


The great state only wishes to unite men together
          and nourish them;
A small state only wishes to be received by, and to serve, the other.
Each gets what it desires,
          but the great state must learn to abase itself.

From Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays - ”The Sovereignty of Ethics”, ”The Over-Soul”, ”Education”

The excellence of men consists
          in the completeness with which
          the lower system is taken up into the higher -
A process of much time and delicacy.


Those who are capable of humility, of justice,
          of love, of aspiration,
Stand already on a platform that commands
          action and grace.


This is the law of moral and mental gain.
The simplest rise as by specific levity,
          not into a particular virtue,
But into the region of all virtues.


Sympathy, the female force, is more subtle, and lasting,
          and creative.

Re: Verse 61 - Jonathan Star

From Jonathan Star - Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition

A great state is like a river basin
          that receives everything flowing into it
It is the place where all things come to rest
          where all the world is welcomed

The low is greater than the high
The still is greater than the restless
          The low country wins over its neighbor
          The still female wins over the male

The Sage wants to uplift the people
The people want to follow the Sage
          only by being low does this come to be
The Sage bows to the people
The people bow to the Sage
And when they lift up their heads
          only greatness remains

Re: Verse 61 - The Tao of Motherhood

From The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

61


INDEPENDENCE

The mother's energy is so 
powerful because of her feminine
receptivity.  She yields and
conquers through her calm.

The child's energy dominates.
He feels so powerful !  Only the
mother knows it is her strength
upon which he draws to build
himself.

Thus both reach their goal of
independence.

Re: Verse 61 - Dr Dyer's Essay

Most of us have been taught that it's important to tower over lesser folks in virtually all of life's endeavors.  We're told to “get to the top”, “stand out in the crowd”, “be the best”, and “honor champions” who defeat challengers.  We're expected to pay homage to those who make the most money, collect the most material objects, and evoke the most fear and obedience because of their positions of power; and those who deign to live among the “commoners” are the least deserving of our respect.  This passage of the Tao Te Ching invites us to reevaluate these beliefs.

Look at the ocean: It's the most powerful force on the planet because it stays lower than the streams, which are necessarily and inescapably drawn to it.  As the rivers flow downward to become one with it, the sea is able to be the great reservoir of all under heaven.  This is what Lao-tzu refers to throughout the Tao Te Ching as the “great Mother” or the “feminine of the world”.  That female energy, or yin, is the true receptor of all; by remaining quiet and still, it ultimately overcomes male (yang) efforts to subjugate and conquer.

In the 61st verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu speaks of the advantages of leading by remaining low, using entire countries as his examples.  He makes the case for nations both large and small to be like the great ocean.  As he observed warring territories attempting to vanquish each other by exerting their strength, he saw that peace and harmony could only be possible if the territories behaved in accord with the Tao - that is, by subjugating their egos rather than their neighbors.

Lao-tzu was addressing countries and their political leaders in this chapter, but countries are made up of individual men and women.  We need to become a critical mass of individuals who are willing to model the wisdom that the great Chinese master offers us.  We all must learn the value of making a dramatic change in the way we think of ourselves and each other.  Yes, it may require a complete about-face on our part, but if we begin to lessen ego-dominated thinking, sooner or later the world will get the message that Lao-tzu proposed in ancient times.  Nations all over the globe will find that leaders with feminine yin energy are beneficial.  After all, this is the way of nature … it is the Tao at work.

You can apply the wisdom of this verse in the business world or with anyone you encounter by updating the notion that towering above others in the yang approach of masculine domination is the way to get ahead.  Instead, see the value of living as if you can win trust and friendship through a yin approach of feminine receptivity and stillness.

Re: Verse 61 - Living by Remaining Low

I'm not really sure what the lesson is, in my having these thoughts, but I will share them with you.  On my hike today, I found yet another area of severe damage to trees.  Almost any spot in our forest that I can stand, I can see such damage within my line of sight.

The striking thing about the damage is that it is ALL the big, old Oak trees, with the large crowns, that have gone down.  Those that tower over the others and take the majority of sunlight and nutrients from the area where they stand.  I am reminded of the saying - “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”.  It must have been uttered by someone observing such damage as I have had to absorb.

I have struggled with these lines as I contemplated this verse -

Re: Verse 61 - Living by Remaining Low

Re: Verse 61 - Living by Remaining Low

Jujitsu : Ju, yielding; Jitsu, art or technique. A martial art that employs the illusion of yielding to an attack to overcome it.

~~~~~

Ju-jitsu (or Yawara) is an ancient Japanese Martial Art. Its origins date back to the sixteenth century when legend narrates that its founding father, a young Japanese man called Shirobei Akiyama who was studying medicine in China, witnessed a heavy blizzard. He was able to appreciate how branches of most trees broke while the elastic branches of the Willow tree bent and efficiently freed themselves from the snow.
The Gentle Art or Art of Subtleness (for this is the meaning of Ju-Jitsu) would not aim to neutralize power with power but rationally absorb an attack and convert that energy to the opponent’s own detriment. This basic principle became the heart of the teaching of the Yoshin ryu school, founded by the Akiyama and considered to be the foremost Ju-jitsu dojo.

~~~~~~~~~

Yoshin-Ryu Jujutsu (Yo, meaning “willow,” and Shin, meaning “heart or spirit”) was devised by a military doctor from Nagasaki named Shirobei Yoshitoki Akiyama. Akiyama had studied battlefield and healing arts in Japan, and was already a master of several systems of Jujutsu, as well as ken-jutsu and weaponry. Wishing to extend his knowledge, Akiyama went to China to study in the 1600s. There he studied medicine, katsu, and various martial arts, especially striking arts and their use as applied to vital areas (Kyusho-jutsu). He also studied Taoism, Taoist healing, Taoist martial philosophy and acupuncture. He created, with the assistance of his nephew, Takei Akiyama, the foundation of the art by incorporating his training in China with Japanese methods, forging a syllabus of over 300 techniques.